Page 29 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“Doubt it.”

“But you said you’re a footballfan.That means you’d like to watchgoodfootball.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and he wanted to kiss her so badly that he had to grip the edge of the desk to keep from grabbing her.

He coughed and shifted.“Okay, so, you’re not in love with Andrew, but you do want to break up the wedding?”

Tori sighed and slumped down in the chair.“I know that makes me a horrible person.”

“Why do you want to break it up?”

“Because I don’t like Paisley,” she said, fiddling with the bottom of her T-shirt.

“Why not?”

“She’s just…not nice.And not what I would expect Andrew to go for.She’s so…different from him.”

“She’s from Louisiana?”

“New Orleans,” Tori said with a nod.“Her dad was the mayor and is a senator now and—”

“PaisleyDarbonne?”Josh asked, straightening.

Tori rolled her eyes.“Yep.”

“Oh well…shit.”The Darbonnes were practically celebrities.Then he thought about it.“Yeah, I guess she probably is a little different from Andrew, unless he grew up with a ton of money and is used to hanging out with politicians.”

“Nope.He’s just a small-town boy.His dad is a farmer, his mom is a teacher.He grew up down the road from me.We climbed trees and rode dirt bikes and went swimming in the pond between our places.He was the one I first got drunk with, and he was the one that always stuck up for me when I…embarrassed myself.”

Josh studied her face.That was the second time she’d said something like that.She’d also said something about being weird.“How did you embarrass yourself?”

“It’s not important.”

“It is to me.”

She looked up at him and gave him a half smile.“Are you going to tell meyourembarrassing stories too?”

“Sure.Or my family gladly will.Either way, I promise you’ll hear all about me being a dumbass,” he told her with a grin.

“Okay.”She sat up a little bit.“I’ll give you one example.When we were juniors in high school, I found out a guy was catching frogs and blowing them up with firecrackers.So I collected a whole bunch of bugs and snuck into his bedroom and let them loose.He had bugs and flies all over his bedroom, in his sheets, in his clothes and shoes and backpacks.”

Josh blinked at her.That was not what he’d been expecting her to tell him.

“Because frogs eat all of those things,” she said, her cheeks getting pink.“So if they’re not around, there will be more bugs and flies.”Her cheeks got even redder.“I thought it seemed like appropriate revenge for the frogs.”

Finally Josh nodded.“I agree.Wow.I’ll bet he hesitated to do anything like that again.But how is that embarrassing?”

She looked surprised.“Everyone at school found out about it, of course, and thought I was really weird to do something like that just to save some frogs.And that I would go to that much trouble to catch bugs.And that I was willing to catch bugs in the first place.”

“No offense, but the people you went to school with sound like dickheads.”

She stared at him for a moment, then her face broke into a huge grin.“They were,” she said.“But I was…am…animal crazy.That’s not the only weird thing I’ve done for something with four legs.”

Josh couldn’t help but lean over, grab the arms of the chair, and drag her closer.He kissed her softly and said, “You arereallyunderestimating my tolerance level for crazy.”

She took his face between her hands.“Thank you for going to the wedding stuff with me.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s totally selfless, you know.I figure it exponentially increases my opportunities for more kissing.”He kissed her again.“And more than kissing.”

---