Fool for You (Southern Bride 7)

“You’re bleeding. Landon, you’re bleeding!” I shouted, dropping down in front of him. He had a gush of blood coming from his nose.

“Ice! You need ice!” I stood back up, grabbed the ice bucket, and made for the door.

“Emme, sweetie, you should probably get dressed first.”

I glanced down at my naked body and dropped the ice bucket as I rushed back toward my bag and grabbed the first thing I could find. Once my body was covered, I scooped up the bucket and made for the ice machine.

Why? Why did this happen on my first attempt at being a sex goddess?

As the machine filled up the bucket, I chastised myself.

“What made you think you could be sexy, Emmerson? I mean, you licked your best friend’s dick. You licked it!”

Someone cleared their voice from behind me, and I froze as I closed my eyes.

If there is a God above, no one actually heard that.

When the ice started to tumble out of the bucket and onto the floor, I quickly yanked it back. With a deep breath in, I slowly turned around to see an older man in his seventies, standing there with his own ice bucket in his hands.

He smiled, and I forced myself to smile back.

Then the flood gates opened, and I felt tears well up as I blurted out, “I am…well, I…I think I broke his nose.”

The older man tilted his head. “Wow, it sounds like you two kids are getting crazy.”

I shook my head. “No. We haven’t even had sex yet!”

Holy shit…did I really just say that to a perfect stranger?

The man tossed his head back and laughed. With a sincere smile, he looked back down at me. “I married my best friend fifty-two years ago. I’ve known her since I was five, and the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was going to be the love of my life.”

I sighed and smiled. “I bet she didn’t break your nose.”

He winked at me. “No, but she did break my leg once.”

“How?” I asked, suddenly forgetting all about poor Landon back in the room bleeding.

“Let’s just say we got a little crazy up in my deer blind and she sort of…fell.”

I felt my cheeks heat, and I looked away as I tried not to giggle.

“You better go get some ice on that boy’s nose. And don’t worry, sweetheart, some of the most remarkable love stories have started out with something like a broken nose.”

I had the urge to reach up and kiss this man’s cheek but decided against it. I wasn’t really making the best decisions today.

“Have a good night,” I said as I rushed past him and back to my room. When I walked in, Landon was sitting in the chair, his pants back on and a towel against his nose.

I ran into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel, put ice into it, and brought it to Landon. “Sorry it took so long. I ran into a man who was also getting ice and well…anyway…” I held the towel full of ice out to him, and he removed the other one from his face.

Reaching for the blood-soaked cloth, I took a quick look at his nose. It didn’t look like it was broken. “How does it feel?” I asked as I tossed the towel into the bathroom sink.

“It hurts like a sonofabitch, and I have a massive headache. Your head is hard.”

With a smile, I replied, “You always did call me hardheaded.”

He glared at me, obviously not finding the humor in my sad attempt at a joke.

I dropped down to his feet and knelt there as I stared up at him. “I’m so sorry. I was trying to be this sexy, fearless, grab-ahold-of-your-inner-goddess badass, and in truth I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.”

Landon frowned. “What do you mean, you don’t know what you’re doing? You’re not a virgin, Emme.”

I swallowed and looked down at my hands resting on his knees. “No, I’m not, but I’ve never been adventurous with men. In the bedroom, I mean. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I’ve just never felt the way I’ve felt over the last two weeks. And the way you look at me and touch me… It’s brought something to life I’ve never known before, and I just didn’t want you to be disappointed. I know you’ve had more experiences than me and—”

“Hey,” Landon whispered as he placed his finger on my chin and lifted my head until our eyes met—although the towel full of ice blocked his gaze a bit. “The rumors you heard, I promise you, are most likely ninety-nine percent false. Yes, I’ve been with women—not a huge number of women, though. I’ve had a few girlfriends, that’s true, but I’ve been in love with you for so long. I was always trying to use those relationships to convince myself that I didn’t want to be with you, but none of them have ever come as close to making me feel alive as your smile and touch does, Emme. When I walked in here and saw you in that towel—and when you dropped it—I was pretty sure I could have died right there and been a happy man simply from looking at you.”