My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

by Erin Nicholas

  “So, I was thinking,” she said, propping up on her elbows, the comforter pulled up to her chin. “We could still share the bed. Even if we’re not naked.”

  She was such an idiot. She’d been talking about having sex with him all night. She’d tried to drag him upstairs. If he hadn’t stopped to dance with her, they could be well into round two by now. Or three. Round one probably wouldn’t take long. She wanted him. She knew he wanted her. Their chemistry was explosive. A first hard and fast, take-the-edge-off, up-against-the-wall screw would have been just fine with her.

  She blew out a breath. If she wasn’t going to sleep with him, she had to stop thinking about sleeping with him.

  “Yeah, we could do that,” he agreed.

  “Great. I think that will be…good.” It wouldn’t be good. It would be torture. She’d probably barely sleep. Josh Landry, the guy she’d been thinking about for almost a year, was going to be lying next to her. In a bed.

  “Yep. That will be…good.” He glanced toward the bathroom. “I’ll just go brush my teeth. I’ll be back.”

  “Okay.” She gave him a bright, everything-is-great smile.

  The smile died the second the bathroom door shut behind Josh.

  This was going to be a long night.

  She could change her mind, of course. She could roll over to him, kiss him, run her hand over his abs, and ask him to undress her. He’d do it. She was ninety-nine percent sure.

  But did she want to go back to Iowa, to the good, hard-working men in her small town, with memories of a hot night in a mansion with a playboy bartender who would talk dirty to her in a sexy Southern drawl?

  That was hardly fair to them.

  She’d want to be thrown over their shoulders. She’d want to wear a hot red dress that made them look at her hungrily. She’d want them to kiss her passionately in the middle of a room full of people. She’d want them to tell Andrew that they were taking her to bed and they were going to have breakfast together and that Andrew could just fuck off. No, Josh hadn’t said that in so many words, but he’d implied it.

  None of the guys at home would ever tell Andrew any of that.

  She could never wear that dress in Elton, Iowa. There was absolutely no occasion for it.

  And her father would be mortified if anyone kissed her in public, not to mention throwing her over their shoulder.

  She heard the water running and felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

  From running water? What? She pulled her pillow over her head again and groaned. How could running water be sexy? He was brushing his teeth. Other guys would do that. They’d run water in the next room while she waited in bed. They’d come and join her under the comforter with minty fresh breath.

  She heard the door open and she moved the pillow to look over at him.

  He smiled at her as he crossed to the bed and she realized that in that moment, Josh Landry had just ruined watching other men come to bed.

  Crap.

  Then it got even worse. He started to unbutton his shirt.

  Look away. You should look away. Don’t let him ruin watching any other man take his shirt off.

  She didn’t look away.

  The slow reveal of tanned, smooth skin, light brown hair, and deliciously defined pecs and abs made her feel a tight, hot coil tighten in her stomach. She wasn’t sure she was breathing. She couldn’t be distracted by something trivial like taking oxygen into her lungs.

  Holy…

  The guy was ripped. His abs were absolutely drool-worthy. His muscles rippled mouthwateringly as he shrugged his shirt off and tossed it toward the chair in the corner.

  He was right beside the bed now, looking down at her. His expression was hard to read. He looked faintly amused but also pained. He stopped, blew out a breath, then leaned and switched off the lamp on the bedside table. It had been the only light in the room other than the faint glow that trickled through the window from the moon and lights at the front of the house.

  It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust so she missed him shedding his pants and kicking them toward the chair. That was probably for the best, but she couldn’t deny the stab of disappointment. She felt the mattress dip, however, as he sat down and then twisted to lie back, and she scooted closer to the opposite edge of the bed. She wasn’t sure she could handle having even his big toe touch her.

  Josh tugged on the comforter and shifted a few times, getting comfortable. Then everything was quiet.

  Tori lay still, for some reason trying to quiet her breathing and not wiggle. Maybe he fell asleep quickly. Maybe he snored. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything else charming or sexy or sweet.

  “So, tell me about Fiona.”

  Crap. He’d said something sweet.

  “You don’t really want to know about my goats,” she said lightly.

  “I do, actually,” he said.

  The dark seemed to make his voice huskier. Or maybe it was her imagination. “Really?”

  “I do,” he said again. “I like hearing you talk about your passions. And it will distract me.”

  “Distract you?”

  “Thinking about how sweet you are will help me not think about how fucking good you smell or the fact that you’re lying over there in your pajamas.”

  And that was sexy. “I’m really sorry.”

  “For?”

  “Not…following through on…things.”

  He gave a soft huff of laughter. “Tori, you have nothing to apologize for. When it happens, I want you all in, feeling every bit of it. If there’s even a niggle of doubt, then…we wait.”

  She felt heat snake through her. She was quite sure she would feel every bit of it. In fact, that was the whole problem. She was sure she’d feel things that she might never feel again.

  Thank goodness Andrew hadn’t hesitated to interrupt them. She’d been caught up. She’d been in a lusty, fun, excited haze. She’d been throwing herself at Josh. In front of all of Andrew and Paisley’s guests. She’d kissed him when she’d first seen him. She’d suggested the over-the-shoulder thing.

  But she needed to dial it back now. She just needed a date to the wedding. She needed people here—okay, mostly Paisley—to believe that she and Josh had a relationship. But that didn’t mean they had to make a spectacle of themselves. She’d had her heart—or at least her hormones—on her sleeve. Being overly emotional and demonstrative was not always welcomed by people. That was why she stuck with animals. There had never been a dog who didn’t want to be cuddled and loved.

  Josh was a fun guy from a big, crazy, effusive family. He was going to go right along with all of this for the wedding weekend. And Tori appreciated that. But it wasn’t necessary.

  She cleared her throat. “Okay, Fiona.”

  He gave a low chuckle, and Tori had to squeeze her legs together to reduce the sudden tingling between them.

  “She’s a fainting goat. I got her from a guy in the next town over when he was selling his place and moving to be closer to his daughter. I already had Fergie and I figured he could use a friend.”

  “And no one else wanted her, right?” Josh asked.

  Tori smiled in the dark. “That’s what the guy said, anyway.”

  “So either it was true or someone tipped him off that that was the surefire way to get you to take her.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice and it made the tingling worse. Or better. Stronger anyway. “Well, whatever the case, I ended up with Fiona in my family,” she said. “I would put her and Fergie out in my east pasture. But every day I went out to feed them, Fergie was there by himself. Fiona had wandered off. I found her, every time, down by the fence that ran along my neighbor’s property. I had no idea why she kept going to that same place, but getting her back up to the barn was a battle. Then one day when I went to find her, there was this other goat on the opposite side of the fence. Another fainting goat. They were just standing there on either side of the fence grazing together. This kept happening day after day until
finally I called my neighbor and told him I thought our goats were in love. Turns out, he’d gotten his goat about the time I did…from the same farmer.”

  “No way. They knew each other?” Josh asked.

  Tori grinned even though he couldn’t see her. “Yep. And they were definitely in love. They’d found each other even after being taken to separate farms and with all that distance between them. I don’t know how they knew where the other was, but Don, my neighbor agreed that they should be together and gave Frodo to me.”

  “So now they’re together.”

  “Now they’re together.”

  They lay there, not talking for several long moments. Tori felt herself relaxing. At least, not feeling like she had to lie totally still. It was…comfortable.

  Except for the tingling in her panties, of course.

  “Okay, so now tell me about Valentine’s Day 2006.”

  Ah, crap.

  And everything had been so nice there for a bit.

  She blew out a breath. “I don’t want to.”

  “It was what Andrew said to remind you that red dresses and hot Louisiana bartenders aren’t your style.”

  She laughed. “Not sure Andrew thinks you’re hot.”

  “I don’t really care what Andrew thinks of me.”

  There was no humor in his tone now.

  “Fair enough,” she said.

  “But you care what Andrew thinks of you.”

  She took a deep breath. “Of course I do.”

  “So him not wanting you to be up here with me, matters to you.”

  Tori hesitated over that. “Andrew is just looking out for me. But once he makes me think, if I still go ahead with something, he doesn’t try to stop me.”

  “Maybe not when it comes to cow shit and prom dresses,” Josh said. “But I’m thinking with another guy it might be different.”

  Tori felt a little knot form in her gut. “He’s got Paisley.”

  “But you make him homesick.”

  “There’s nothing between me and Andrew. Like that.”

  Josh didn’t reply right away.

  Tori licked her lips. “Andrew feels the need to protect me.”

  “From guys?”

  “From myself.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I tend to be…embarrassing.”

  Josh blew out a disgusted breath. “Defending animals and taking care of ones that need extra help should not embarrass you.”

  She shrugged even though it was dark and he couldn’t see her. “I don’t embarrass me.” At least, not exactly.

  “I think it’s only right you embarrass a girl who’s willing to sell her dog for a prom dress.”

  Tori couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, maybe her a little, but mostly my dad. And Andrew.”

  She could practically hear Josh’s scowl. “Really?”

  “Yeah. But Andrew sticks around. For some reason, he decided to try to save me from myself rather than ignoring me or not being my friend.” She paused. She didn’t know if it was okay to be spilling things about Andrew to Josh. But she still went on. “I’ve always thought maybe my dad asked him to…be there for me. To look out for me.”

  “Your dad thought you needed that?”

  “My dad isn’t into making a big deal of things.” She hesitated again. Could she also tell Josh stuff about her dad? Her dad and Andrew were the most important men in her life, and it felt a little like she was telling their secrets. Except, they weren’t really secrets. People in Elton definitely knew that her dad and Andrew were often embarrassed by her and that they made apologies for her. “When I was little, my dad was the one telling me when things were inappropriate or pulling me back. But when I got older and was at school all day, someone else had to be there reminding me that acting emotionally was not always the answer. That I needed to think and try to keep my cool.”

  “And that was Andrew.”

  “It was. I don’t know if Dad actually asked him to watch out for me or if Andrew just took it on, but yeah, he was good at reading me. He could tell when I was getting pissed off or upset and always seemed to know what to say.” She sighed. “Andrew and my dad are a lot alike. It’s possible Andrew just decided he needed to be my guardian.”

  “So he kept you from doing things like the cow-poop-prom-dress bit sometimes?” Josh asked.

  She couldn’t help the little huff of laughter that escaped. “Oh yeah. There would have been incidents like that. And just…arguments and things. I was always kind of…”

  “Feisty. Passionate. Loving. Empathetic.”

  Josh’s words made Tori suck in a little breath. Wow, he was something. “Thank you,” she said softly. “But I definitely let my emotions get the best of me, and I would debate almost anyone about anything I felt strongly about.”

  “Animals?”

  “Definitely. But other stuff too. I would debate about anything from the best Supreme Court Justice to the best superhero.”

  Josh laughed softly. “Yeah, you’ll fit in perfectly at Ellie’s. The regulars love nothing more than a great debate.”

  Warmth swirled through her at the way he said it as if she’d be back at Ellie’s. A lot. “They love a debate more than a grand gesture love story?”

  Josh’s laugh rumbled across the bed again. “Okay, no. Love stories first. Then arguments. But they’ll also tell you that all great love stories have great arguments. The fighting means there’s passion.”

  Tori thought about that. She couldn’t argue. Nothing got the blood pumping like being really fired up about a topic.

  Well, nothing besides maybe lying in bed next to a hot bayou bartender in nothing but a tank and panties.

  “Okay, so now…Valentine’s Day 2006,” Josh reminded her.

  It was getting easier to tell him her embarrassing moments. Probably because so far, he’d used the words feisty, passionate, loving, and empathetic. She liked all of those.

  Tori blew out a breath. “Okay. When I was a freshman in high school, I had a huge crush on Marcus Turner. He was new and sat behind me in Algebra. He was always very sweet and we talked every morning. Over the course of the first semester, I decided that I really liked him and wanted to date him. Andrew talked me out of it. He told me that if Marcus liked me, he’d ask me out. He never did. But I couldn’t shake this idea that he really liked me. So…on Valentine’s Day, I decided to let him know that I liked him.”

  She felt Josh roll toward her. He was listening intently. She could feel the heat from his body and her palms itched with the desire to reach over and run them across his chest. His naked chest.

  She swallowed and balled her hands into fists beside her. “So, having really only dealt with loving dogs and pigs to that point, I, um, misjudged the size of the gesture I made to show Marcus how I felt.”

  Josh didn’t say anything. But she could somehow sense that he was smiling.

  “I got my dog, Buck, and my pig, Priscilla, involved.”

  “Of course you did.”

  She laughed. “The day before Valentine’s Day, I ran home right after school and loaded them both up. Then I waited outside the locker room. He was on the track team. When he came out to go to practice, I sent Buck up to him. He was wearing a big bow and holding a note in his mouth.” She smiled, remembering. Yes, it had been embarrassing and Andrew had hated it, but looking back now, she thought it had been creative. And very her.

  “And the note said Be My Valentine or something?” Josh asked.

  “Oh no.” She shook her head. “That would have been too plain.”

  “Of course.” He was still smiling.

  “It said, ‘Doggone it, I like you.’” Tori waited, grinning in spite of herself.

  There was a beat and then Josh laughed. “Of course it did.”

  “And that wasn’t nearly enough,” Tori said.

  “Right, Priscilla had to be in on it too.”

  “Exactly. I sent her in after Buck. The note was hanging from her neck and
said, ‘I’ve even been bacon for you.’” Tori paused. “And then I came in carrying a plate of four cupcakes that did say Be My Valentine.”

  Josh started laughing harder this time, shaking the mattress as he did, and making Tori’s grin grow.

  “I’ve been bacon for you?” he asked. “Seriously? Priscilla wasn’t offended by that?”

  Tori giggled. “In retrospect, it was a little insensitive. Good thing pigs aren’t good readers.”

  Josh’s laugh got deeper. “Okay,” he finally said when he took a breath. “Why four cupcakes? There are only three words.”

  He really did listen to her. Tori loved that about him. “Valentine is a really long word to fit on one cupcake,” she said. “It took up two. One with Valen and one with tine.”

  “Wow,” Josh said, clearly enjoying himself. “What was Marcus’ reaction?”

  “Oh, he blushed and stammered and said thank you and then…” Tori paused for dramatic effect, “…Priscilla pooped on the floor.”

  “Noooo,” Josh groaned. Then he laughed. “Really?”

  “Yes. And I kind of yelled, “No!” and then lunged for her, which spooked her and she took off running down the hall. I dropped the cupcakes. Buck went for the cupcakes. So I went for him. But Priscilla was escaping. It was absolute pandemonium.”

  Josh was laughing harder now and Tori was as tempted to roll closer to him because of that as she had been just seeing his naked chest.

  “Everyone was gathered in the hallway, horrified and fascinated. There was lots of ‘ew, gross’ and I, of course, ended up slipping on frosting and landing on my butt in front of Marcus.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t slip in the Priscilla poop,” Josh offered.

  “Oh no, I landed in that.”

  “Oh my God.”

  She saw Josh run a hand over his face in the dim light. He clearly found this all highly entertaining. As did Tori. Now, thirteen years later.

  “Admit it,” she said. “You would have been super embarrassed if a girl had done that to you.”

  “Okay, maybe a little. But I would have loved it too.”

  She believed him.