Page 42 of The First Best Man

Penny looks over at Logan, who gives her a nod of encouragement. Then she sighs before saying, “Fine. Let’s go home.”

“Feel better and text me later,” Kate says, hopping up to give her best friend a hug.

Kate retakes her seat as they leave, and Miss Ginny arrives with platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits. After Kate explains to her why Penny and Logan left, she offers her sympathies and leaves us to ourselves.

We start to eat, and the silence turns a bit awkward. I’m trying to come up with a suitable topic for conversation when Blaine sighs.

“Well, what are we going to do now?”

“I’m actually going to head home after this. I have some stuff to do for the wedding,” Kate says.

“I’ll come with you,” I say quickly, and Kate’s eyes widen. I swallow thickly. “To, you know, help.”

Blaine looks back and forth between us, rolls her eyes, and focuses on Sam. He holds up his palms and shakes his head.

“I’m going back to bed. I didn’t get back to the island until after midnight, and I’m wiped.”

Blaine huffs and looks back at Kate, who keeps her gaze locked on her plate. There’s obviously no invitation to join us forthcoming, and Blaine rolls her eyes again.

“It’s fine,” she says. “I wanted to go to the mall on the mainland before the wedding, anyway, so I’ll just go today.”

“Well, have fun,” Kate says, biting off the end of one of her bacon slices.

Thank God, Kate didn’t cave and invite Blaine to join us at her house. If she were truly put off by my text messages last night, she would’ve used the blonde as a buffer, right?

Knowing we’re going to be alone in just a little while, I eat my breakfast with gusto. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can get to Kate’s and talk to her about last night. And kiss her.

Ireallywant to kiss her again.

Once we finish eating and thank Miss Ginny for the delicious breakfast, I follow Kate out of the house. We’re silent as we climb into her golf cart, and there’s zero conversation during the ride back to her place.

As soon as we walk into the house, I close the door and grab Kate’s wrist before she can take another step. She looks back at me with questions in her eyes, and I take a deep breath.

“Kate, I’m sorry if I took things too far and made you uncomfortable last night. That wasn’t my intention, at all.”

“It’s fine,” she says with a slight shake of her head. “I’ve just never…done anything like that before, and I didn’t know what to say.”

With my free hand, I cup her cheek and use my thumb to lift her chin so she’s looking into my eyes. “I know. Logan told me.”

She flinches back, her expression filling with mortification as she stares at me with wide eyes. “Told youwhat, exactly?”

Oh, shit. Why did I say that? Retreat! Retreat!

Kate must see it in my eyes, though, because hercheeks turn crimson, and she tries to pull out of my hold while muttering, “Oh, my God.”

I tighten my grip on her as my expression turns pleading. “Please don’t run. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve just…”

I close the distance between us as I say those last three words, bringing our mouths close together. Kate freezes, then blows out a breath before moving in and pressing her lips to mine.

Thank God!

I take over the kiss, nibbling and nipping playfully to get her to relax a bit. Some of the tension drains out of her, and I move my mouth downward, blazing a path down her neck.

“I’ve wanted to touch you and taste you since the night we met,” I say between kisses. “Getting to know you these last few days only made the cravings worse. Logan could see it, so he tried to warn me off, thinking the truth would put an end to this before it even started.”

A husky chuckle slips out of her as she tilts her head back, giving me better access to her throat. “Penny tried to warn me off you, too.”

I chuckle against her skin and pull back to meet her gaze. “I’m sure she did. But tell me, Kate, what is ityouwant?”

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