I nodded.
“It’s the idea of it. Everyone has always thought the two of you would end up together, our folks included. If they know that you’re dipping your toes into something more than friendship, it’s only going to make this harder.”
“So, you want us to pretend to the world that we’re engaged and lie to our family that we’re not attracted to each other while secretly exploring what this is between us?”
“Exactly!”
I closed my eyes and dropped my head. “I have a headache.”
“Mike is over with Landon now telling him the same thing I’m telling you. Emme, I love my parents with every breath I have. But they tried so hard to micromanage my relationship with Mike in the beginning.”
I felt my eyes widen in surprise. “They did?”
“God, yes! My mother was the worst. She asked me constantly how things were going, offered suggestions on things Mike and I could do for dates. God love her, but she is a classic Southern, busy bee mother. With Mike working so much in Dallas, my mom is constantly offering her advice when I don’t ask for it. She actually asked me once if I had enough sexy outfits.” Hailey closed her eyes and shuddered. “She wanted to take me shopping for some. And Paislie is no better. Hell, if it were up to our mothers, Clarisse would still be our nanny simply so she would have someone on the inside to report back!”
I couldn’t help but giggle, because I knew it was true. Clarisse had worked for our parents as our nanny for as long as I could remember. They even kept her on when we were in high school, in case we ever needed her.
“I’ll talk to Landon and see what he wants to do. I mean, all we did was kiss. Twice.”
The corner of Hailey’s mouth rose into something that looked like a smile but was a bit more wicked. “How was it?”
Then she closed her eyes and threw her hands out in front of her and gagged. “O-M-G. I feel like I just crossed a line by asking that.”
“So don’t answer?”
She sighed, shuddered and then said, “No, I really want to know. You’re my best friend and he’s my brother. I want you both to be happy.”
Closing my eyes, I sighed as I buried my face in my hands. “So amazing. It made me…” I dropped my hands to my lap and looked at her. “It made me want…”
She nodded and motioned with her hands. “Made you want what!”
“More.”
Slapping her hand on her leg, she jumped up. “Then tell him that! Christ, Emme. If you want more, take it.”
“Take it?”
Hailey rolled her eyes. “Yes. Take it. Dig down deep and let the inner sex goddess you have hiding in there out.”
I laughed. “This is Landon we’re talking about.”
Her hands went to her hips. “Okay, let me attempt to forget this is my brother we’re talking about for a moment so I don’t throw up.” She paused. “Close your eyes.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
Closing my eyes, I waited for her next direction.
“Now, remember how your body felt when Landon kissed you. Either kiss. The one on the dance floor or the one y’all shared in the limo. How did that make your body feel?”
“Hot,” I answered without thinking.
“Was it the kiss that made you feel hot, or Landon who made you feel hot?”
My eyes snapped open, and I met her gaze.
She waggled her brows and asked, “Well?”
“It was…it was Landon.”
“There you go. Stop thinking of him as Landon, your best friend, and think of him as Landon, the guy you want to have hot sex with.” She frowned. “Eww, I think I might gag.”
Laughing, I stood and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, Hail. I’d be lost without you.”
“That’s what best friends are for.”
Her phone rang, and she smiled. “That’s my mom. She’s asking when we’re heading down to the bar; they’re waiting on us.”
I nodded and reached for my phone to send Landon a text that I was nearly ready. Hailey texted Mike as well.
Walking over to my bag, I pulled out my sneakers and socks and sat down to put them on. A knock on the door had Hailey heading over to answer it. I looked up to see Mike and Landon standing there.
“Hey, my mom wants us to get down there,” Hailey told Mike.
“We’ll see you down there then, Landon,” he said.
Landon and Hailey walked past one another, switching places. She and I exchanged another look, and she smiled as Landon told them to let our folks know we would be right down.
When the door shut, he turned and then leaned against it. God, he was so handsome. I’d always thought he was, truth be told. I had just never wanted to explore that thought process too much.
After tying my sneaker, I dropped my foot to the floor and glanced around the room, really taking it in for the first time. The large, floor-to-ceiling windows took up one whole side, with the bed, a dresser, and a desk filling the rest of the room. It was elegant, but nothing too fancy.
“So, Mike thinks we should keep what happened between us in the limo to ourselves.”
I nodded. “So does Hailey.”
Landon walked over and pulled the desk chair out, swung it around, and sat down on it. He had changed into a long-sleeve black shirt and jeans. He had on sneakers and a baseball cap with the number of the car he owned on the front. Lord, he looked so yummy sitting there.
“What do you think?” I asked as I twisted my hands together in my lap.
Landon looked out the window and stared for a few moments before he faced me again. “I think first we need to be honest with one another.”
My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach. Why did those words create both panic and excitement? I nodded. “Okay.”
“Emme, my feelings for you are not platonic, and they haven’t been for some time.”
His words made my eyes widen. “How long have you felt this way?”
He swallowed hard. “Years.”
“Years!” I nearly shouted. “How many years, Landon? One, two, five?”
With a shrug, he said, “Since middle school.”
If I wasn’t already sitting down, I was positive my legs would have given out. “Why…why did you never say anything?” I brought my hand up to my mouth as I gasped. “All those times I shared my breakups and…and…and more with you. Oh my God, and you felt that way about me, and I had been talking about other men?”
“It’s okay, Emme. The only thing I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy. For you to find the person who makes you happy.”
“Yet, you didn’t think it was important to tell me you had feelings for me? Romantic feelings?”
“I didn’t think you felt the same, and if I said something and things didn’t work out, where would that leave us?”
I could feel the anger building inside of me. “Friends still. I would hope that we would always stay friends no matter what, Landon.”
He looked away again. “I never want to hurt you, Emme. Never.”
My mouth fell open, and I stared at him. “And you think telling me how you truly feel would have hurt me?”
“I’m not sure. I’m not sure about anything other than the fact that tonight I went through a gamut of different emotions in a very short period of time.”
“Such as?”
“Lust, anger, jealousy, desire. And it all revolved around you, Emmerson.”
I felt my breathing pick up, and I opened my mouth to say something but then promptly shut it. I had felt the same swing of emotions in the same amount of time.
We sat there in silence for a few moments before I cleared my throat. It was time for me to be honest as well. With myself and with Landon. “Do you know why I’ve never been able to make any of my relationships work?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t want to commit to any of them. I never saw a future with any of the guys I dated. I didn’t know why at the time, and a part
of me thought something was wrong with me. I had too high of expectations or something. I had no idea why none of them seemed to be the right guy. All I knew was that when things turned serious, I pulled away. And I know you did the same thing, and a part of me deep down inside always wondered why we both did it. Why neither of us could commit to anyone.”
I shifted in my seat. “Then everything started to change when you came back to Waco and opened up your business. And it was us again. Movie nights and camping trips. I felt happier with you here, happier when I was with you. I kept telling myself it was because you were Landon, my best friend. One of the few people I truly felt comfortable with. Happy with. Then Hailey had to go and open her big mouth and tell me she thought you had feelings for me, and all I could think about was why I couldn’t commit to those other guys…and I kept coming back to the same conclusion.”
Landon leaned a bit closer to me. “And that was?”
I looked at him blankly. It felt like his question had such an obvious answer. “You! It was you, Landon. Every guy I’ve ever gone out with I’ve compared to you, whether I meant to or not. Hell, I’m positive half the time I didn’t even realize I’d done it. But these last two weeks, you’re all I can think about. I see you differently, feel things differently. I want to…I want us to…”
“You want to what, Emme?”
I lifted my eyes to meet his. “I want to kiss you.”
He smiled. “Is that all?”
I felt my cheeks burn, and I shook my head. “No, Landon, that’s not all.”
His smile grew wider.
“I think we need to do this slowly,” I said. “It’s so complicated right now because we’re fake engaged and everyone thinks we’re madly in love. And our parents…I don’t even want to know what they think. Although, I know they are about five minutes away from telling us what they think.”
“So are you saying you want to explore this thing we feel between us?”
I nodded. “Do you want to?”
He nearly laughed. “Did you not feel how my body reacted to you earlier in the limo, Emme? Yes, I want to see where this takes us, but I also don’t want to hurt you. Or lose my best friend.”
“Why do you think you will?”
Landon lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know. I think it’s my greatest fear.”
I reached out a hand and he took it, gently giving me a squeeze. “Then let’s make a promise right here. If things get weird, or if it’s not working, we vow to be honest with each other. Our friendship comes first, no matter what.”
With a nod, Landon replied, “Our friendship comes first.”
“And we agree to let our parents think this is all a ruse? At least until we explore this a bit more?”
“Agreed,” Landon said.
We both stood, and when he smiled at me, I could have melted into his body. Hailey’s words came back to me like a bolt of lightning.
Take what you want.
I drew in a slow, deep breath and stepped closer to him. I stretched up onto my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think we should seal this promise with a kiss.”
Landon’s blue eyes seemed to sparkle as he gently pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was soft and oh so very sweet. I opened to him and our tongues danced in a lazy circle for a few moments before we drew slightly apart, and Landon rested his forehead to mine.
He smiled and whispered, “I think we should seal all future promises with a kiss.”
I giggled. “I agree.”
Landon
I PACED IN the hallway outside Emmerson’s hotel room while she quickly ran to the restroom. My arm was bruised from pinching it so many times. I thought I was dreaming when we were in the limo. I’d seen it in her eyes—the desire and need—before she’d demanded that I kiss her. And before I could think or second guess anything, I acted like a greedy bastard and hauled her onto my lap. Like a caveman.
“Don’t fuck this up, Lewis,” I whispered as I looked at the door to her room.
It opened and Emmerson walked out. “Ready?” she asked, holding her hand out for mine.
“Yep, let’s get this over with.”
Twenty minutes later, we all sat at a table in the very back of the bar that was off the lobby of the hotel. Both sets of parents sat patiently as Emmerson explained how the events of the night had unfolded. I had completely forgotten all about the auction—and the thirty-thousand dollars—and how it had been the catalyst that spurred on all the other shit.
“So you told her to bid on you so that no one else would win the date?” Malcolm asked.
I nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t tell her to go that high. By the way, when do we have to pay it?”
“You don’t, I took care of it,” my father stated. “I figured that kind of money wasn’t really floating around in Emmerson’s bank account.”
“That was so sweet of you.” Emmerson reached across the table and squeezed my father’s hand. “But I’m sure Landon will pay you back.”
Dad shot me a look. “Trust me, he’ll most definitely pay me back.”
And I would, but I had no doubt that my father would tease the hell out of me for years to come.
Malcolm glared at my dad. The two of them were the best of friends, but at times I wondered if that sense of competition between them was still there. “I should have known it was you who paid it,” Malcolm growled out.
My father gave Malcolm a one-shoulder shrug and smirked, knowing he had won this round. “I always was faster than you.”
Malcolm huffed. “Bullshit.”
Both of our moms sighed, and Paislie rolled her eyes and lifted her wine glass to her lips.
“Get back to the story!” Hailey said before she took a sip of her martini. I wasn’t sure why she was being so pushy—she already knew the whole story and then some.
Drawing in a breath, I slowly let it out. “Well, after the bidding war went down, I pulled Emmerson off to the side to ask her why in the hell she went so high, and that’s when Jason showed up.”
“I never did like that guy,” Malcolm mumbled, and my father nodded in agreement.
Emmerson picked up the story once again. “Anyway, Jason introduced us to his fiancée, Lillian, and then he made some messed-up comment about me not being able to love someone.”
“What did he mean by that, the little punk?” Paislie shouted more than asked.
Malcolm jumped in. “So wait, he pops off with some stupid remark and you come back with the idea that you’re engaged? Emmerson, it doesn’t sound like you to be so…what were you being? Jealous? Competitive?”
With a long groan, Emmerson replied, “I know, I know! I don’t really know what came over me. It’s just, everyone I know is getting engaged, and then that jerk-off said I wasn’t able to love. It really pissed me off.”
“So you invented a fake engagement?” my mother asked.
“I honestly don’t know what came over me. I couldn’t care less if he’s engaged or married or whatever. But when he said that about me, I…I…”
What is it, Emmerson? You wanted to prove him wrong because deep down inside you know you’re in love with me?
Okay, so I couldn’t say that.
“It was me not thinking and running my mouth off. I guess I was hurt by his comment more than anything. So yeah, I blurted out that we were engaged. Then Janet walked up and heard it and then Lillian shouted out that we were getting married in December.”
I cut in. “Janet took off like a damn race horse for the stage so she could announce it, not even once thinking to ask us first.”
Malcolm rubbed at his temples. “Why get up onstage with her and confirm it?”
I had to keep the anger out of my voice when I replied, “What were we supposed to do, Malcolm? Say ha ha, not really, Emmerson simply said that to her ex because he was engaged and told her she wasn’t capable of loving anyone? Think about what that would do to her business. Janet had already opened her big mouth, but we did try to stop h
er first.”
“He’s right, sweetheart. We all know what a bit of bad press can do to someone or their business,” Paislie added.
Emmerson cleared her throat. “That’s why Landon and I have agreed to keep up this charade for a few months. It really won’t be hard since we’re always together anyway, it seems like.”
“Wait, you’re going to continue this lie?” This came from my father.
“I don’t see the harm in letting it go for a few months,” I said. “Plus, it will give Emmerson a chance to relate a bit more to her clients and to pull in more clients once they see her going through the motions of her own wedding planning.”
“Fake wedding planning,” my father stated.
With a sigh, I went on. “Emmerson and I will amicably split at some point, and that will be that.”
Hailey opened her mouth to say something, but shut it when Emmerson and I both shot her a look of warning.
“Besides, I’ve already gotten so much publicity today,” Emmerson said. “Both from the People article and from tonight. If I come clean now and say I had only made it up to get back at an old boyfriend, my clients would lose trust in me. And think about Landon’s business as well.”
“Some press? I’d say you’ve gotten more than some,” Hailey mused.
Paislie leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I don’t know, Emmerson and Landon. What if you get caught in a lie or someone figures it out?”
Emmerson sighed. “The only people who know it’s a fake engagement are sitting at this table. For years, everyone has been talking about Landon and me being a couple. Maybe now that it’s out there, they’ll stop being interested in when we were finally going to admit it, and they’ll move on.”
I nodded in agreement. “I’m not going to lie and say I won’t be upset to be off the market for a bit.”
“So while you’re in this little fake engagement, you don’t plan on dating anyone?” my father asked.
My throat suddenly got thick, and I fought to form words. I had never in my life lied to my parents.
“No, we’ll be dating,” Emmerson answered with a huge smile. “Each other, just not how everyone thinks.”
Fool for You Page 10
