Always (Bold As Love 4)

Emily pouts and rolls away from me. I let her think about it for a minute before I say anything else. “Is eloping your dream wedding?”

“Who cares about the wedding? Shouldn't it be about us?”

Good point, but not good enough. “That doesn't answer my question.”

“No,” she growls.

“Tell me about it,” I say softly.

“Honestly, I don't have a dream wedding, Jake. It's always been about the person I was going to marry than the wedding itself. I've never given those details much thought.”

“I thought every girl dreams about her wedding day.”

“I do. I dream about the man I'm going to marry that day. Not what my dress will look like or what flowers I'm going to hold.”

“God, I love you.” I begin kissing her neck and soon, we're tangled together and the day's events are forgotten. We are content, until there's a knock on my door. Emily throws the covers up over her head, and I chuckle at her.

“Come in,” I call out.

Drake walks in. He goes to jump into bed with us, but I stop him by holding up a hand.

“What do you need?”

“I wanted to hang out with my future sister-in-law. That's what it's called, isn't it?”

Emily sneaks a glance from under the covers and nods.

“I told him yesterday and I think he was more excited than you,” I tease before turning my attention to Drake. “We'll be in your room in a minute.”

Drake lets out a little sigh, swivels on his heel, and leaves the room. I pull Sweetness, who is still mostly hiding under the blankets, atop of me. She finds my neck and kisses it softly. Her lips brush across my neck as she says, “I'm still scared.”

Just now, Sweetness' words burn into my skin. Quickly, I search my brain for the right words. They come easily.

“Sweetness, do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then believe me. No. I want you to know it in your heart that I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm not going to let anything happen to us. I've never wanted someone to be so happy before I met you. Don't be scared. Everything will work out as it should.”

“What if that means choosing between you or Dad?”

“That won't happen. Neither of us would make you do that. We just need to give him time to chill.”

“But...” she begins.

“Let's go hang with Drake for a bit, and we'll talk about it later.”

Emily slides out of bed, and I'm right behind her. We dress and walk across the hall to Drake's room, where we play video games and Emily seems to enjoy herself. Worries have been placed on hold for now, and it does Emily good. I would love to know where Drake got his humor from. Emily is clutching her sides, laughing. Drake makes the corniest joke hilarious.

“Emily, what do you call cheese that isn't yours?”

“Um, I don't know.”

“Nacho cheese!”

With Drake finding extreme hilarity at his own joke, Emily and I laugh harder. Night falls quickly and Emily decides to spend the night, not yet wanting to go home and wishing to finish our earlier conversation. Back in my room, Emily sits at attention on the bed Indian style.

Part of me can't believe that I'm about to share this with Emily and part of me can't believe that I haven't already. Sitting in the same position, I face Emily.