“Ten!” another voice shouted.
I glanced up to see Landon smiling. All the bastard was doing was standing up there. He didn’t even have to walk around. Then he slipped his hands into his pant pockets, and that seemed to unleash the doors of hell, because another woman stood up.
“Eleven!”
“Do I hear fifteen thousand?” Gus called out.
“Sixteen,” came a smooth reply from Claire.
“Seventeen!” a voice from the very back yelled.
“Wow, I knew my brother was cute, but holy shit.”
“Eighteen, and that’s my final bid,” Claire called out. She glanced around the room as if daring anyone to outbid her.
Gus looked around. “Do I have eighteen and some change? Anyone?”
I met Landon’s eyes and he lifted a single brow, as if to remind me of my promise to not let Claire bid on him.
“Nineteen thousand!” I shouted before thinking better of it. It felt as if every single eye in the room was on me.
Oh wait, they were.
I chanced a look at Claire, and she smirked. Surely she wouldn’t bid again.
“Twenty,” she purred as she winked at me.
Gasps could be heard rippling through the entire room.
Hailey poked me in the ribs. “Bid again!”
I turned to look at her. “I don’t have that kind of money!”
Hailey lifted her chin at Landon. “He does.”
When I looked at him, Landon subtly nodded.
Claire stood and gave Gus a look that told him to declare her the winner.
“Twenty once, going twice…”
I opened my mouth—and what came out not only shocked the entire room, but I was positive would land me in jail when it came time to pay up.
“Thirty-thousand dollars!”
Hailey lost it laughing next to me, and Landon’s face went so white, I was positive he was going to pass out. Or was that me who was on the verge of hitting the ground? Everything seemed to be going black.
I looked at Gus and lifted my brows in a silent plea for him to end this.
“Thirty thousand it is to the lady in the front, Ms. Emmerson Wallace,” Gus quickly declared.
That was when I knew I’d made the first mistake of the night. The second would come only a few minutes later.
Emmerson
THE ROOM FELT like it grew smaller by the second. I felt someone take my elbow and lead me away from the stage. No, not someone, it was Landon. And he looked furious.
As we walked past, men slapped him on the back, and women looked at him as if a million dollars had just slipped through their fingers. I knew where he was taking me—to the kitchen area, most likely to strangle me and cut me into little pieces to make it easier to dispose of the evidence. How in the world was I going to come up with thirty-thousand dollars?
Before we made it to the door to the kitchen, Jason stepped in front of us, his date by his side.
“Running off so fast before we can catch up?” He looked from me to Landon, and then back to me.
“Jason,” I said as I tried to even out my voice. I hadn’t been able to breathe since this whole damn auction started, and Landon practically dragging me across the room didn’t help.
Jason gave a slight head nod as he said, “Hello there, Emmerson. Landon.”
Landon gave Jason a tight smile. “Jason. You’re a little far from home, aren’t you?”
He laughed and wrapped his arm around the blonde who stood next to him. “My folks are large supporters of the hospital, and they asked me to be here tonight on their behalf.”
I knew it was a lie the moment it came out of his mouth, but I could not have cared less. All I could currently think about was what I could sell off to pay the large debt I had just gotten myself saddled with.
“Well, thank you for your support,” I said, noticing that Landon had moved his hand from my elbow and that he was now holding my hand.
Jason nodded and then said, “Where are my manners? Emmerson Wallace, Landon Lewis, this is my fiancée, Lillian Russel.”
His…fiancée? That poor girl.
“Lillian, this is an old friend of mine. We dated for a while, but things didn’t work out between us. Third party in the relationship,” Jason said as he shot Landon a smirk.
I was positive my mouth dropped open some. I chanced a look at Landon, who now seemed more confused than angry.
Lillian looked at me with something like satisfaction in her eyes before she turned and eye-fucked the hell out of Landon. I stepped closer and wrapped my arm around him. He didn’t even flinch, as if the action was something I did often.
“Congratulations,” I said with a wide smile. “When’s the big day?”
Lillian looked up at Jason and giggled. “We’re thinking a Halloween wedding! I’ve always wanted one.”
I wanted to groan internally. Good Lord, a themed wedding. I should have known.
“I heard you were a wedding planner, one of the best,” Lillian said. If she asked me to plan their wedding, I was going to laugh in her face. I didn’t care that Jason was getting married, but planning his wedding would just be plain weird.
“She is indeed the best,” Landon said as he pulled me closer.
“Oh stop,” I said, hitting him playfully on the chest.
Jason looked between us and shook his head. “I thought the two of you were simply friends. Wasn’t that what you always told me, Emmerson?”
I gave him a fake smile as I said, “Sometimes feelings change, Jason. You should know that better than anyone.”
He raised a brow. “Well, it worked out for the best. If not, I wouldn’t be marrying my best friend this October. I truly understand what love is now, and what it feels like to be loved.”
Lillian glanced down at her ring and then beamed up at Jason before she looked at me and Landon. “Like you bidding for Landon!”
“Well, can’t let anyone else take my guy out on a date!” I said as Landon stiffened next to me. Shit. Shit. Shit. First I’d spent thirty-thousand dollars—twenty of it his—and now I’d just invented a fake relationship for us.
“Aw, how cute that you love him so much to bid so high for him,” Lillian said.
“In love?” Jason asked in a disbelieving voice. “Emmerson?”
That made Landon tilt his head. “What does that mean?”
Jason laughed. “Nothing. I just never thought Emmerson had it in her to fall in love.”
“What? She’s a wedding planner! Of course she has it in her. Don’t you?” Lillian asked.
I nodded as I tried to force myself to smile. “As a matter of fact, Landon and I are engaged as well. We’re planning a December wedding.”
Oh my God.
Oh. My. God.
Did that really just come out of my mouth? I felt, more than saw, Landon whip his head around to look at me.
It’s okay. I’ll fix this all once I get Jason out of the way, and then I can talk to Landon.
“Oh, holy shit.”
The voice came from behind me and Landon. I didn’t have to turn to see that it was Hailey.
I ignored the way Landon’s eyes were boring into me as I plastered on my best smile.
Lillian gave a squeal of delight. “Oh, my gosh! No wonder you got in a bidding war with that other lady! I wouldn’t want anyone going out with my man, either.”
Jason frowned as he looked from me to Landon and shook his head slightly. “I always knew there was something more than friendship between the two of you.”
I could feel Landon’s eyes still on me as he softly said, “Is that right?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and decided to ignore that statement as well. Maybe I could just ignore the last thirty minutes. Pretend none of it even happened. No, that wouldn’t work. I’m a fixer, so I’d just simply fix it all. It was only Jason and Lillian. Two people, one little white lie.
“When did he ask you to marry him?” Lillian asked in a voice
that was way too excited and way too loud.
“Marry? You’re getting married?” Janet asked. “To who?”
Before I had a chance to dig myself out of the mess I had made, Lillian took the shovel and dug another few feet down for me. “To Landon! They’re engaged and getting married this December. A Christmas wedding!”
I held up my hands. “I never said it was a Christmas––”
Janet’s eyes went wide. “No wonder you bid against Claire!”
And before I even knew what was happening, Janet rushed off, back toward the stage.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
“Things just got crazy fun!” Hailey declared as we all watched Janet move quickly through the crowd.
Landon pointed at Janet. “What’s she doing, Emme?”
“We need to stop her!” I cried out as I broke away from Landon’s hold on me and started to push my way through the crowd, calling out Janet’s name.
“Janet! No! Wait, we don’t want people to know yet!”
I wasn’t sure how in the hell the woman moved so fast. It was like she grew wings and flew over everyone, because she was on the stage before I could stop her.
“Ladies and gentlemen, oh my, let me get your attention!” Janet said.
“Wait!” I called out. “Janet, no!”
“I just heard the most exciting news, and we all know I can’t keep a secret!”
The crowd laughed.
“That last auction we had…well, let’s just say, don’t come between a woman and the man she loves.”
“Janet! No!” I whisper-shouted from the bottom of the steps. If she heard me, she ignored me.
“Emme, stop her!” Landon said as he gave me a little push.
I started up the steps. If I had to rip the microphone out of her hands, I’d do it. But as I got to the last step, I tripped and landed on my hands and knees.
“Right, because that is just my luck,” I mumbled as I tried to stand up.
“Emmerson! Shit, are you okay?” Landon asked, rushing over to help me.
I stood and realized it was too late. I had really fucked up this time, and I had dragged Landon down with me.
“Janet!” I whisper-hissed again, willing her to stop speaking.
“The reason our very own Emmerson Wallace got into that bidding war was because she’s engaged to her longtime best friend, Landon Lewis!”
And just like that…time stopped.
The floor I stood on felt like it had been ripped out from under me. I swayed and would have fallen over if not for Landon’s strong arms grabbing hold of me. I followed his gaze to the table where our parents were sitting, and we both let out a groan at the same time. They were all staring at us with shocked expressions on their faces.
“You’re engaged! Oh my goodness, this is amazing,” I heard someone in the crowd say. I honestly didn’t want to see who it was. “I can’t wait to see you Instagram this journey.”
“Oh yes! Please say you’re going to share every part of your wedding with us!” another female voice said.
I met Hailey’s gaze, but instead of smirking, she gave me a sympathetic look.
Closing my eyes, I internally let out a string of curse words.
“Should we have the happy couple come up onto the stage, y’all?” I heard Janet ask.
My eyes snapped open, and I looked at Landon. With a pleading expression, I silently asked my best-friend-now-faux-fiancé what in the hell we were going to do.
That carefree, easygoing smile suddenly appeared on his face as he moved his gaze from me to the rest of the room. “Smile, Emme.”
“Smile?” I asked in a weak voice.
He nodded and took my hand in his. “You can’t go out there onto the stage looking like you’re about to throw up.”
“The…the…stage? Landon, are you insane?”
Suddenly, Landon was guiding us out onto the stage, where we stood next to a beaming Janet.
“When were you going to tell us, you brat!” Janet asked me.
When I didn’t answer, Landon did. “Well, I asked her tonight, on the way here, so you can understand why we wanted to keep this to ourselves for a bit.”
I snapped my head to look at him so fast that I got dizzy. What was he doing? He’d taken the shovel from Lillian and had just thrown the first bit of dirt on us.
It was then I noticed all the flashes and that they weren’t coming from phones—they were cameras. Oh holy hell. I had forgotten there were reporters and news crews here. It was, after all, a huge social event in Austin that was held each year.
“Oh my God,” I whispered as I tried to stand behind Landon.
Janet handed the microphone to me, and I shook my head like a wild, trapped animal.
Thankfully, Landon took it, wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me next to him. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was worried I would run for my life, or if it was all for the show he was clearly putting on. My entire body shook.
Landon looked down at me, his eyes imploring me to act normal. “Well, looks like the cat is out of the bag, sweetheart.”
The entire ballroom erupted into laughter, and I forced myself to smile. Landon was playing along to keep me from looking like a fool…and worse yet…a liar.
“When’s the big date?” someone called out.
I jerked my head over to look at my parents. Daddy looked confused, and my mother had a goofy smile on her face. Surely she knew this wasn’t real. Then I remembered the stunt Landon had pulled at dinner to get Claire off his tracks. He’d held my hand. Kissed the back of it.
I swallowed hard and then looked up at Landon. He wasn’t going to answer. He was waiting for me to say something.
Crap. He wanted me to give them a date.
Forcing myself to smile brighter, I cleared my throat and took the mic. “Well, I’ve always wanted a winter wedding. I’m thinking December. That gives us six months to plan things.” And six months to come up with a reason why there would never be a wedding between me and Landon.
A plethora of sighs and gasps filled the room.
“Before you ask any more questions, we should probably give them some time to digest their engagement, with it being so fresh and new. I do think that they should start off the dancing, though, what do y’all say?” Janet asked as she motioned for us to head to the dance floor.
A rush of applause filled the room, and Landon leaned down and kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “Shall we?”
Okay, looked like Landon was officially on board with my little white lie.
Landon held onto my hand as I lifted my dress to walk down the steps of the stage. Hailey stood there with a bemused Mike behind her. No one else could see it, but Landon shot Mike the middle finger in a covert way, which caused Mike to laugh and Hailey to cover her mouth in a sad attempt not to laugh.
As we walked over to the dance floor, I tried not to look like I was freaking the hell out, which was kind of hard to do because I was most certainly freaking the hell out.
Landon pulled me into his arms and a song began to play. We were the only two on the dance floor, and I could feel every eye in the room on us.
Looking up at him with a smile, I started to speak, but he beat me to it.
“What in the hell was that all about, Emme?” he asked with a charming smile and nothing but anger in his voice.
“I don’t know what came over me, Landon. I’m so sorry!”
His smile faltered slightly as he looked at someone over my shoulder. “I know what came over you. Jealousy that your ex is getting married.”
The absurd statement made me stumble, but Landon was right there, and he covered it up so effortlessly, you’d think it was on purpose. He pulled me closer to his body, and for a moment, I forgot what we were even talking about. Oh, that’s right. Jealousy.
“I’m not jealous. I don’t even care that Jason’s getting married!” I whisper-shouted. It was harder to do that when you had to keep a smile on your face and
all you wanted to do was scream.
Landon’s smile faded, and he rolled his eyes.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Not jealous, my ass. If you weren’t bothered that he was getting married, you wouldn’t have popped off with the ridiculous lie in the first place.”
I tried to ignore the way those words felt like they ripped at my heart. “It’s not like that at all, Landon. I don’t have any feelings for him anymore. None. He made me mad. He said I wasn’t capable of being in love. That’s why I said that.”
Landon spun us around as he let out a bark of laughter. He didn’t seem convinced as his eyes looked back at someone.
“Who do you keep looking at?” I asked, feeling real jealousy once again.
“Your ex. He keeps staring at us.”
I exhaled. “I don’t care about him. Landon, what are we going to do now?”
“Nothing.”
I widened my eyes as I laughed. “Nothing? The entire ballroom full of people thinks we’re engaged, including our parents.”
He let out a humorless laugh. “Trust me, our parents do not think we’re engaged.”
“Well, you didn’t see the look on my father’s face then.”
His eyes went back to the same spot, and this time I looked to confirm it was Jason he was glaring at.
“For fuck’s sake, Landon. I do not have feelings for him. Why can’t you believe me? It was a stupid, crazy thing to do, but I’m tired of everyone else getting…” My voice trailed off as I saw the way Landon was looking at me.
Suddenly and without warning, Landon leaned down and kissed me. Not a friendly peck on the cheek or lips, or the cute little forehead kisses he often gave me. He full-on kissed me.
And oh my word, what a kiss it was.
It didn’t take long to open up to him. The feeling of his warm breath caused a rush of electricity as his tongue found mine. I couldn’t help myself, I moaned. He growled low in the back of his throat and pulled me closer. Before I knew what I was doing, I brought my hands up and curled them around his neck. I laced my fingers through his thick hair, and I fought the urge to tug him even closer. God, I wanted to crawl into his body and get lost in there. The way my body naturally reacted to his both surprised me and made me fall easier into the kiss.
Fool for You Page 7
