Fool for You (Southern Bride 7)

By the time she called the bride back and reassured her, once again, that everything was taken care of, I had planted my ass on the sofa and turned on a movie. Not just any movie, though: Emmerson’s favorite movie, Brother Bear.

She flopped down on the sofa and sighed.

“How do you deal with those brides? I’d want to throat punch them.”

With a giggle, she snuggled into my side, and I had to focus on keeping my breathing even and my body at bay as she settled right next to me. We’d be doing this again for Monday movie as well. Christ.

“It’s all worth it on their wedding days. To see them so utterly happy and in love. All the pre-wedding hassle pays off.”

“Are you going to Instagram this?”

“Hell yes, I am. I’ve already asked the restaurant to send me pictures of the flooded dining room, and tomorrow I’ll take pictures of the tent when it’s set up. It will be good to show how well I can work under pressure.”

“Show off your super powers as a wedding planner, huh?”

She pinched my thigh. “It’s called smart marketing.”

Laughing, I hit start on the movie and everything fell into place. This felt so damn normal. So right. I wouldn’t fucking snuggle up with any of my guy friends and watch a Disney movie. Hell, most of the women I’d dated wouldn’t have been interested in spending a night at home being lazy, looking at the sky, and then watching a kids’ movie. But with Emmerson, this all felt so right. We’d done this for as long as I could remember, and there was no better way to spend an evening in my book.

I looked at her light brown hair and fought the urge to kiss the top of her head. As if she had read my thoughts, she let out a soft sigh and relaxed deeper against me.

“Why does this feel so right?” she asked softly.

“What?” I asked, wondering if I had spoken my thoughts out loud.

“Just the two of us sitting here watching a movie. I feel so…content.”

I swallowed hard and stared down at her. What would happen if I told her how I felt? Would she laugh and tell me I was crazy? Would she pull back and tell me it would never work out? Or would she feel the same?

Could she really feel the same way? Emmerson hadn’t shown me any feelings other than friendship since we were in middle school. She had clearly put us in the friends-only box, and I was fucking sick of being trapped inside alone.

With the only answer I knew to give her, I replied, “I don’t know why it feels so right, but it always has.”

She moved to lay her head on my lap, and I quickly grabbed the blanket to put down and separate her head from my dick, which was already hard from her simply being snuggled up next to me.

Yawning, she said, “You put on my favorite movie. How did you remember I liked this movie?”

I used my fingers to brush her hair back behind her ear and stared at her beautiful side profile. “I remember everything, Emme.”

She smiled, and I watched as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. I vowed to not move a muscle if it meant having her near me like this. And I didn’t. Not for the entire night.

My eyes fluttered open, and I saw light filtering in from somewhere behind me. It took me a minute to even realize where I was. My body felt warm, as if the softest blanket in the world was covering me. Then I looked down at Emmerson in my arms. We had both somehow managed to lay down on the sofa, and I had my arms wrapped around a sleeping beauty. Her face was buried in my chest, and when I felt her stir, I snapped my eyes shut and pretended I was still asleep.

A deep exhale heated my chest, and I felt her stretch. I didn’t dare move. If I did, I was positive I would say to hell with friendship and kiss her senseless.

“Landon?” her soft voice whispered as she pulled away slightly. Then I felt the softest of touches as her finger traced along my jawline and over my lips. It was so soft; if I had truly been asleep, I would never have noticed it.

“Landon.”

This time she whispered my name with something I couldn’t read in her voice. She moved ever so slightly, and I swore I felt her breath inches from my mouth. My heart started to pound against the wall of my chest, and I had to force myself to breathe normally.

Was she going to…kiss me?

Then the heat was gone and I felt her slowly move off of the sofa as her phone rang with that fucking obnoxious ring again. I stirred as if just waking up. When I opened my eyes, she was rushing to answer her phone.