Page 49 of The One I Stood Beside

“You can take it at the wedding,” Sadie says.

I hold the fork out toward her, and I feel fucking lame. Sadie laughs right before she opens her mouth for me to slide the fork in, and I miss her mouth, getting whipped cream on the side of her lips. She gets her fork in my mouth perfectly. Of course I fuck it up.

The cake tastes great. What’s not to love with cake? But raspberry isn’t my thing.

“Oh, Sadie, you have a little whipped cream.” Laurel grabs a napkin and hands it to me to hand to Sadie since I’m closest.

“That’s not how you get whipped cream off the woman you love.” Ben laughs.

“Ben, shut the fuck up.”

He shrugs. “I’d lick it off Gillian.”

“Since you practically hump her every time you’re around her, I’m not surprised.”

Sadie reaches for the napkin.

“At least use your finger, Jude,” my future sister-in-law says.

Okay, I’d like Ben and Gillian to leave now.

Not wanting to hear any more shit and to keep up the charade, I ditch the napkin and swipe my finger on the corner of her mouth. But Sadie doesn’t realize I’m going to do it and slides her tongue out to get it right as my finger lands there, so she licks the whipped cream off the tip of my finger.

My dick twitches, my jeans suddenly get tight. Holy shit.

“There you go,” Ben says. “He’s a slow learner, Sadie, way to take the reins.”

I’m not even paying attention to Ben because her tongue on my finger instantly makes me think about her mouth wrapped around my dick. Which is the last thought I need right now.

“Should we all leave?” Gillian asks in jest.

My eyes lock with Sadie’s, and I’m sure my cheeks are as red as hers. I gulp to get a hold of myself.

“What else do you have, Laurel?” Sadie asks. I’m slightly irked that she’s able to recover so quickly.

“Red velvet and cream cheese frosting. The most popular.” She slides it past me, and I pick up a fork.

“Don’t miss this time,” Ben eggs me on, and I grind my teeth.

I don’t miss with any of the eight other cake variations we try. By the last one, I never want to see cake again.

We ultimately decide to have three different tiers. Chocolate on chocolate, vanilla bean with a buttercream, and a red velvet. The cakes will be scattered instead of stacked, each one decorated with a lace pattern Sadie picked out. If she’s getting one thing she would’ve picked out for her real wedding, it’s the cake, which makes both of us happy.

And all I ever want is for Sadie to be happy.

Chapter Fifteen

Sadie

So far, we’ve completed all the items in Romy’s package. We did the dance lesson last night, which thrilled Jude about as much as having a tooth extracted. What started as a disaster with us stepping all over each other’s toes turned out pretty well in the end. Unless you consider that the nearness of having him so close and having his hand on the small of my back, where he’d rub his thumb up and down, made sparks of electricity pulsate through my body. This charade is making me want him more, which isn’t great. I need to keep my eye on the prize—my family farm.

Now, we have the tantric yoga session, which is going to test my willpower even further. I should’ve come up with some excuse when Romy originally brought it up.

The instructor comes to your home, and since my cottage is too small, we’re back at Jude’s. I’m on the porch, waiting for him to shower and change. I sip the white wine that he keeps chilled in the fridge for me and prop my feet up on the railing, wishing—as I do all the time lately—that our situation was different. I wish I was in this chair because we are a couple, and I wasn’t full of nerves about touching him in intimate ways today.

“What the hell do I wear?” Jude says, walking out the door in jeans and a T-shirt.

I look him up and down. “Not jeans.”

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