Page 3

“What are you looking at?” my former roommate, Adam, asked. I snapped my gaze to him and adjusted my blue bow tie in a lame attempt to divert his attention. I couldn’t have him know what, or more appropriately, who , had caught my eye.

He narrowed his gaze, glaring at me, and when I said nothing, he turned toward the tables. Chuckling, he shook his head. “Still? After three years? I thought you’d gotten over that little crush?”

“Crush?” I gulped. I knew where this was going, and I was tired of talking about it.

He raised his blond brow. “Don’t act like any of us could forget your not-so-secret crush on Britt.” My palms got sweaty, my heart beat a little faster, and my mouth went dry. “And don’t think I didn’t know what you were trying to do when you set us up last year.”

I glanced down at my whiskey and pressed my fingers against the etched glass, knowing I couldn’t drink too much because Devin had threatened us with murder when we got here.

I got it. He was obsessed with Reign, and the mere idea of anyone ruining her big day would send him into a tailspin no one wanted to see.

“I don’t have a crush on Britt.” It was the most unconvincing lie I’d ever tried to sell. Even as the words came out of my mouth, they sounded lackluster and unbelievable, but I didn’t care. I had to deny, deny, deny when it came to my best friend, who just so happened to be the hottest woman alive. “We’re just friends.”

As I looked back at the other tables, I smiled. She was sitting next to Adam’s girlfriend, Hayden, tapping her feet gently to the music.

Britt’s blonde hair swept over her shoulder, emphasizing her sculpted, bare arms as she threw her head back on a laugh. My chest constricted. Even though I couldn’t hear her, I knew exactly how it sounded. Breathy and lighthearted. That girl was goddamn perfection without even trying.

Britt had been in my life for three years, and I couldn’t remember a day on the Covey U campus without her. Jackson was right, I was a simp for her. No matter what I was doing, I’d always find myself thinking about her, which was pathetic, really. We were just friends. That fact was cemented in my brain a long time ago, yet I was always trying to chisel away at it.

“Friends? Try telling that to your face.” My lips flattened as I turned to Adam. “Or your girlfriend, for that matter. You know, I’m surprised she let you out on your own tonight. Would have thought she’d gate-crash to make a point about not being invited like she’s done so many other times.”

And just like that, I could breathe again. Olana made me feel the opposite to Britt—cold and angry. “We broke up, don’t you remember?”

Adam shrugged. “Yeah, but you break up once a month.”

I gritted my teeth, tired of talking about a girl who was out of my life for good this time. There was no way I could take her back. Not after what she did.

“Nope. Not this time. It’s over now.” Olana was controlling, overbearing, and stubborn. Those were her best qualities. Frankly, she’d been carrying my balls in her handbag since we were seventeen, and it was only now that I realized how much I needed them back. She and my dad had developed this weird hold over me after my mom passed away. I was never good enough, yet, I strived for perfection for two people who didn’t like me. I was determined to break the pattern this time.

“So why are you here?”

What does he mean? “Because one of our best friends just got married?”

“No, you idiot. Not here at the wedding, but sitting here with me and Jackson.” Adam poked my other roommate in the back, who looked bored out of his mind as he turned to us. “We like you, but we’re in no way as entertaining as the blonde bombshell in the blue dress.”

He was right. Britt would stop traffic if she was walking outside, and I itched to know what it would feel like to have my hands on her hips. To have her breath skating across my skin. To just have her .

God, I’d wanted Britt for longer than I could remember. All those times we studied together, I wanted to pull her hair back and kiss her senseless, but I never did. I was taken, and there was no way Britt would be interested in a guy like me anyway. She deserved someone flashier. One with less baggage and a family that could love her just as deeply as her own.

“Aww, Adam, are you sad you’re not the only blond bombshell of the group?” Jackson teased, sitting up straighter and giving me a wicked grin. “Actually, this begs the question. Adam, why aren’t you wearing a bridesmaid dress? You are the maid of honor, after all.”

Adam rolled his eyes and adjusted his lacy bow tie. “I’m man of honor and best man, thank you very much. No need to wear a dress.”

“Too bad. Bet you’d look just as hot as Britt.”

“Watch it.” Both guys jumped at my interruption, but Jackson had a tendency to take things too far if he wasn’t kept in check.

Jackson leaned over and nudged me on the side. “Aww, Matty. Are you sad that someone else noticed how hot Britt is? Gotta make a pass if you want to play.”

“I’m not playing with Britt tonight. We’re just friends. Best Friends,” I stated, more to myself than him.

They glared at me. Adam was unconvinced, and Jackson didn’t seem to care either way.

“Sooo…” Jackson drawled out, cutting a look to Britt. “Does that mean I’ve got a shot with her?” he asked with a mischievous grin and wiggling eyebrows. Britt’s skirt had ridden up, causing her toned thigh to peek out of the slit, but she hadn’t noticed his ogling. Jackson raised his hands, framing her. “Because I’m not sure I could handle all that greatness.”

I clenched my jaw, refusing to say anything. I knew better than to respond to Jackson’s goading. Guys were always looking at Britt. How could they not? She was beautiful, and I didn’t know how she did it, but every outfit she ever wore always fit her seamlessly. Like it was made for her. She was perfect, but I didn’t have a claim on her, and I never would.

“You know, it’s been a seriously long time since I’ve been with someone. Nearly failing out of college and having to go to summer school is a real boner killer, but I’m on vacation now, and I could use a little stress relief.” Jackson’s eyes were on me, so I kept my focus on the R it was my nerves.

She slowly turned toward me with furrowed brows. So caught up in watching another couple, she had no idea what I was even talking about, and I wanted to laugh. How could she not see that she was golden in my eyes?

“What do you mean?”

“Britt, do you remember the day when we first met?” My voice was surprisingly calm, considering my heart was beating so erratically.

“Yeah, at the bonfire. Why?”

“I have a confession. I may have purposely hit my marshmallow against yours just so I had an excuse to talk to you.”

“Wh-what?”

Laughing, I shook my head. The next words out of my mouth would make me sound like a stalker, but I didn’t care. I was halfway there, anyway. What did I have to lose at this point?

“When I got to the bonfire, you were the first person I saw. I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Still do, by the way. You were sitting there alone, and I couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste because all I wanted to do was to spend the rest of my night talking to you.”

She stopped swaying and dropped my hand as though it was taking everything in her to process my confession. It couldn’t have been that much of a shock to her? If it was obvious to all my friends that I had a crush on her, then I had no doubts she realized too.

She shook her head before daring to look at me again, and her forehead crinkled.

“I-I don’t know what to say.”

Fuck. I heard it in her voice. Disappointment laced with pity. I’d gotten it all wrong, hadn’t I? I could see it in her eyes. She pitied me because I just put it all out there, and she didn’t feel it. She would tell me she liked me as a friend or some stupid shit like that, and I would have to pretend I was okay with it.

Giving her my best forced smile, I said, “Don’t say anything. A girl like you, I bet you hear it all the time. I mean, what guy isn’t looking at you? I think there are at least three cowboy cousins waiting for me to back away so they can ask you to dance. Something I can do, by the way, if that’s what you want.”

I was rambling. So much for me taking my destiny by the horns.

She shook her head, stopping me as I stepped away. “No. No. That’s not what I want. It’s just that it doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t? That everyone’s looking at you? Because, believe me, I know they are. I always am.”

She swallowed, seemingly unsure. “But you had Olana.”

Ah, there it was. How could I think Britt was the most beautiful girl in the world when I had Olana on my arms? Easy. “I stayed with Olana because we had history. A hell of a lot of it, and it was only after some of that history smacked me in the face that I realized Olana and I should never have lasted as long as we did. It was in part because I didn’t think I deserved better, and by better, I mean you.”

Britt’s eyes widened. Yeah, I was probably getting a little too open on the dance floor, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“You are so far out of my league, it’s not even funny. I never thought you’d be interested in a guy like me, so I decided to go for the next best thing. Friendship. Little did I know how much torture that would put me through.”

There. I put it out there. I said the words that solidified my feelings. Not only did I think she was beautiful, but I wanted to take things further. I always had.

Her lips pursed, and her eyes searched mine. I didn’t know what she was looking for, but my heart was beating so fast it echoed in my ears. She was still staring, and I was still waiting for her to say something.

“Matty…” Her chest deflated as she said my name, and her lips turned up. “That’s a heck of a lot to take in,” she said with an almost sarcastic smile. “I never expected to hear those words come out of your mouth.”

My body was preparing for the worst.

“You have been by my side for the last three years and watched me try to date other people and fail miserably. Do you know why they always failed?”

“Because you’re perfect and no one is good enough for you?” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but I wasn’t in a joking mood, and it definitely came across as stalker-like.

“Nooo, because I was always comparing them to you.”

My eyes snapped to her for confirmation, and she smiled before continuing. “No one has ever made me feel the way you do.”

Those words. That was all I needed to hear. I stepped toward her and cupped her cheeks, then before anyone could stop me, I kissed her.

Her hands went up to my wrists as she kissed me back. Her body melted into mine, and when I heard clapping, I assumed it was for the bride and groom, but after I pulled away from her overly plump lips, I realized it was for us.

“Finally,” Reign cooed, skipping to Britt and hugging her like I’d asked the woman to marry me, which would have been a huge faux pas at a wedding. Although, our kiss was drawing so much attention that it was feeling like its own faux pas.

Devin smirked at Adam. “You owe me fifty bucks,” he called to his blond-haired friend across the dance floor.

Adam grinned. “Nope, you said it would happen at the after party, so I win.”

I laughed. Of course they had a bet on this. That was why they encouraged me to speak to Britt in the first place. I really was at prom again. Only this time, instead of Olana bitching at me about how it was my fault she didn’t get prom queen since I refused to rig the results, I had Britt.

Beautiful, perfect Britt smiled coyly to her friends from over her shoulder. Did I have the same goofy grin on my face?

Everyone was acting as though it was the first time I’d been kissed.

It sure as hell felt like it. I’d only ever kissed Olana before, so feeling someone else’s lips—someone I’d been drawn to for years—was more intense than I could’ve ever imagined.

As the music shifted, thankfully, people started to lose interest, leaving Britt and me alone again.

She was a few steps away, so I swallowed the distance and brought her back into my arms. Britt squealed, but I took no encouragement to wrap her arms around my neck. Happiness consumed me as I looked down at her. With my hands on her hips, my lips were still wet from hers. I couldn’t believe this was something I was allowed to do. Her hand moved across my cheek, her thumb brushing the freshly shaven skin. For the first time in my life, it felt like I had everything I ever wanted. I felt complete, so I’d just kissed her again.

When I broke the kiss, I rested my forehead against hers to keep the connection between us. We swayed haphazardly to the beat, not caring about anything else but us, and I was living for every single moment of it. Her eyes were closed, but she had this small, serene smile on her face that made me want to kiss her for the rest of the night.

“So,” I said, and her eyes fluttered open as her face broke into a wide smile. “That happened.”

She let out an amused breath. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

“Well, I’d very much like to do it again if that’s okay?”

“That’s perfectly fine by me.” She bit down on her bottom lip and tipped her chin up, waiting for me to kiss her.

I dropped my lips against hers, and we kissed for what felt like hours. When she pulled away, she rested her head against my chest, and I leaned my chin on the top of her head while we gently swayed to the music. This was the closest we would get to a moment of silence to decompress. We needed to talk about things, but we wouldn’t do that here, not with everyone around us.

I wasn’t sure how long we were dancing, but by the time Jackson interrupted us to tell us about the after party, we were the only ones left on the dance floor. Not that I cared. Having Britt in my arms was too good to take for granted. She reluctantly stepped out of my hold and patted down the creases on her dress. Like she needed to do anything. She looked fucking perfect.

“Would you like to go to the after party together?”

Say yes. Say yes.

In all honesty, I didn’t want this night to end. It was only the start of our summer break, and I didn’t know what Britt’s plans were for the rest of it, but I wanted to be with her every single day.

“Uhhh…” She dropped her gaze to the floor.

“Or maybe you could come to my hotel room, and we could talk?”

And I did really mean talk. As much as I’d dreamed about Britt naked, I wanted this to be more than a one-night thing.

“As fun as that sounds, I think we should go to the after party. Devin and Reign only get married once, after all.”

She tipped on her toes and kissed me quickly before squeezing my hands. I couldn’t deny that I felt the slightest bit of rejection, but I wouldn’t let that deter me. There was no need to rush anything with her. Now that I had her, I wouldn’t let her go.

“And then maybe after I can come to your room?” she said with a coy smile that matched mine.

“Sounds like the perfect plan.”

This was the start of an awesome night.