I reached for the bottle of scotch and put it to my lips. This time when I lifted it, nothing came out. 

It was empty. 

Again. 

"Goddammit." 

I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to move. I got back from Everly's funeral four days ago and have only gotten up from this chair a handful of times.

I didn't want to get up. But the bottle was in the kitchen. If I wanted to drink more, I needed to get the hell up and go—

Knock—knock—knock

"Ryan?" 

I closed my eyes tight. The voice was familiar, but my brain wasn't working well enough to match a name to it. Whoever was on the other side of my front door needed to leave. If I didn't want to get up for scotch, then I definitely wasn't getting up to answer whoever that was. 

"Go away," I muttered. I wanted to direct the command to the woman who was disturbing my slump, but I knew they couldn't hear me. 

"Ryan, I know you're in there. I can smell the scotch from here." There was a slight pause. "If you don't open the door on the count of three, then I'm going to call Jackson or Harper and tell them to come check on you."

Shit. It was Danielle. Out of all of Anne's best friends, Danielle was the one that had that pushy personality. 

"One!"

I groaned in my seat. Maybe she wouldn't actually call Anne or Jackson. I really didn't want to see them right now. Especially Jackson. He was just as bad off as I was—perhaps even more so. 

"Two! I'm pulling out my cell phone, Ryan!"

"Shit." 

I got up from the chair on my patio and walked through the open sliding door. I shuffled my feet through the living room, ready to tell the brunette to leave. 

"I'm dialing the number!"

Just as she finished her threat, I opened the door. 

"What." 

She put her phone away and adjusted the glass dish she was holding in he hands. "Finally. Can I come in?" 

"No."

I tried to shut the door, but Danielle—pushy, stubborn Danielle—pushed her way inside. "Thank you. I'm going to put this in the kitchen."

I glanced to the left and debated if I should run through the open door, down the hallway, and to my car in the garage. The other option was dealing with Danielle and whatever funeral food she brought me. 

I hated funeral food. 

It was like people thought you couldn't take care of yourself just because something happened. It was unwanted attention. I couldn't fucking stand it. People looked at you and talked to you in a certain way. It was like they thought I was made of glass and at any moment I was going to shatter into a thousand pieces. 

I wasn't fucking made of glass. 

"I also went against my better judgement and brought you this." 

I walked over to the kitchen and watched Danielle pull out a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue from her large purse. She sat it on the counter and gripped the neck of the bottle. 

"You can have this after you eat some of this food." 

"I don't need a babysitter, Danielle." 

But I did need some Johnny Walker Blue...

Danielle gave an amused snort before searching through my cabinets for a plate. "I never said you needed a babysitter. I'm just here to help. You don't have to do this alo—"

I slammed my hand on the counter. 

"I'm not fucking made of glass! I can handle this on my own!"

That got her attention. But when she turned to face me, she didn't seem alarmed by the raise of my voice. She wasn't scared or anything. She was calm and collected—like it didn't even faze her. 

Danielle set the plate next to that fucking funeral food before she walked around the counter to stand in front of me. The way she held my stare told me that she was determined to get through to me. One way or another.

"Listen to me, Ryan. Harper told me what happened to Everly." 

I tried to look away at the mention of her name. It's been less than a month since she died, and I still couldn't bear to hear her name. 

Danielle cupped my face with her hands and forced me to meet her gaze again. 

"Ryan, I'm so sorry for what happened. If you want to fall apart, I wont stop you. But I'm not going to let you do it alone. No one should be alone when they're going through something like this. And before you ask me, no, it isn't because I think you're made of glass. Or that you're going to break. I've known you for a long time and you are one of the strongest people I've ever met. Nothing can break you."

Danielle smiled before she added, "So you are going to sit down on that chair and let me fix you some food. Then we can open that bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. Whatdya say?" 

I don't know what possessed me to do it. I had absolutely no fucking idea why it happened. 

But it did. 

Instead of answering Danielle with words, I crushed my lips to hers. 

Her gasp of surprise wasn't unexpected. Neither was her reaction. She pushed against my chest to separate us. Her hand flew to her mouth, and when her eyes narrowed, I knew what was coming next. 

The impact of her hand slapping the side of my face caused my head to whip to the side. Thank god I was drunk, otherwise that probably would have hurt a lot more than it did. 

"How dare you!" 

"Danielle, wait—

"You are engaged to my best friend! I was trying to help you, not—"

"Listen to me! We are in an open—"

"—trying to come on to you, Ryan Hale. Ugh! You know what? I'm going to call Harper right now and tell her that you're a cheating, lying, sleazy—"

Desperate to tell her the truth, I covered her mouth with her hand. "She and I are in an open relationship, Danielle." 

Her eyes widened slightly once she processed my words. When I was sure she was done yelling at me, I lowered my hand. 

"Please tell me what's going on here, Ryan." 

I gestured to the couch. "Can we sit? It's a long story."

Danielle nodded and followed me to the plush sofa. "Start from the beginning," she said when she turned to face me.

I exhaled a deep breath. "She and I...are in an arranged marriage." 

Danielle echoed my words. "An arranged marriage? Harper would never—"

"It's to save her family's business. They want to merge with my parents' business. They convinced us to do this. But anyway, Anne and I were talking a few weeks ago and decided that an open relationship was best for us. She and I don't really have, uh, sexual chemistry. So we agreed to sleep with other people and to keep it between the two of us." 

I looked in her eyes so she knew I was sincere about this next part. "I honestly thought you knew that this marriage was arranged. You're one of her best friends. I thought she told you. And I thought you knew about the open relationship. I wouldn't have kissed you otherwise." 

I wasn't the cheating type. Well, not technically. But kissing and hooking up with my fiancée's best friend broke every single rule that we agreed to. 

"Is that why you call her Anne?" 

After everything I just confessed to, that was what she asked me? 

"Yeah," I answered awkwardly. "My family kind of dragged her into this. I know how she feels about it. It doesn't feel right to call her by her first name." 

She just stared at me. 

"Do you believe me?" I asked hesitantly. 

After several seconds, she nodded. "Yes. It would be a stupid lie. I mean, I could always ask Harper if I thought it was bullshit." 

"If you believe me, then why are you looking at me like that?" 

"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you kiss me?" 

When my eyes dropped to her lips, mine tingled at the memory of what happened. "Honestly, it was an impulse. I just had this feeling." 

"What feeling?" 

"It was like...fuck. It was like I really was made of glass—like I would shatter if I didn't kiss you." 

"That's a pretty good line," she shot back. 

"It's not a line, Danielle. It's the truth." 

Her eyes fluttered closed when I reached out and brushed her bottom lip with my thumb. 

"Please Danielle, let me do it again." 

That heated look in her eyes told me she wanted this as much as I did. 

"Okay."

This time when I kissed her, I moaned against her lips. I never felt this with Anne. Not once. This was something different. It felt so incredibly right. Why had we never done this before? 

She responded to my kiss immediately. Her lips parted, inviting my tongue inside to finally taste her. 

Christ. Kissing Danielle felt like home. She felt like fucking home—and I couldn't get enough. I pulled her across my lap so that she was straddling me. She fit perfectly, just like I knew she would. 

The kiss turned heated as Danielle locked her hands around the back of my neck. Needing to feel more of her, I placed my hands on her bare thighs. Right where her black dress had risen up. 

"Wait," she breathed when she pulled away. 

I brushed her black hair out of her face. "What? What is it?" 

"I don't know if we should..."

"It's okay if you don't want this, Danielle. Just say the word and we'll stop." 

Her hands slid down from my neck and rested on my chest. "It's not that I don't want it, I'm just worried." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Maybe the timing isn't the best? With Everly?" 

I looked away from her and the words tumbled from her lips. 

"I do want this with you, Ryan. But I'm worried that you're feeling vulnerable and I don't want—"

"Do you wanna know how I feel right now, Danielle? Happy. Relaxed. For the first time in a long time, I finally feel something good—and it's because of you." 

Her face softened. "Ryan..."

When she didn't say anything more, I asked her a simple question. "What do you want, Danielle? Do you want to leave my apartment and pretend like this never happened? Or do you want me to take you to my bedroom and make love to you for the rest of the night?" 

Disappointment filled me when she climbed off my lap and started walking to the front door. She was leaving. I didn't even realize how much I wanted her to pick the latter until she started to leave. 

My eyes were still drawn to her, though. They followed her movements to the point where I had to get up so I could see her more clearly. 

She reached for the knob and—wait, she didn't reach for the knob. She reached for the lock instead and slid it into place. 

"Danielle?" 

She turned back towards me. Each step she took towards me made my heart to speed up. I knew my erection was obvious as it pressed against my sweats. It ached more the closer she got. 

Goddamn I wanted her. 

I had never looked at Danielle this way before tonight. Why, I wondered?

There would be time to think about that later. Right now, only one thing mattered. 

Danielle stopped in front of me and reached behind her dress. I heard the sound of the metal separating when she unzipped it. The dress fell to the floor, exposing her matching set of black lace underwear. 

My eyes devoured her appearance. 

She smiled before leaning forward to give me a hot, searing kiss. 

"Take me to your bedroom," she breathed against my lips.  

Without hesitating, I scooped her up in my arms. 

***

Finally! I have been holding on to this scene since I wrote One Night a little over a year ago! That's four books ago (mind blown). I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm so happy to finally be telling Ryan and Danielle's story.

xoxo