Page 70 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

He reached out and took her hand, tugging her close.“You asked me to come to this plantation and be your date for the wedding.That’s all you asked me to do.Everything else is just extra.”

“Me eating crawfish pie with your grandma?You saving me from golf tomorrow by arranging the city tour?”

He grinned.“Extra.Like a great garnish on the side of a mojito.”He loved that she’d sat at Ellie’s bar and had her first taste of crawfish pie in the shack across the road that felt like a second home to him.

She laughed.“Playing tour guide tomorrow will be like a sprig of mint and a lime slice?”

It would be.“You do know what I do for a living, right?”

“You charm people into falling in love with Louisiana.”

Her expression and tone of voice were full of affection, and the warmth of it was like a shot of whiskey.The really good stuff.

“That’s right.And I love it,” he said, his voice inexplicably husky.“I love people.I love meeting new people and showing off New Orleans and my home state and our traditions and history.Tomorrow will be fun.And saving people from golf is a truly noble pursuit.”

She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes.A classic seductive move.That Josh knew was completely an accident from Tori.

“I don’t feel the itchiness anymore,” she said quietly.

So she wasn’t uncomfortable when she was around him.That was really good to know.

He leaned in, kissed her on the nose, and said, “I’m gonna give you a little time and space.I’ll run down to my truck and get my bag.Why don’t you put your pajamas on, get under the covers, and…we’ll figure the rest out when I get back up here.”

She thought about that and finally nodded.“Okay.”

He let her go and turned for the door.He needed some air.That was a great idea.Air and space.Because something really crazy was going on.

He suddenly didn’t want to fuck Victoria Kramer.

But he did want to sleep with her.

Just sleep.Cuddled up.Spooning.With pajamas on.

What the fuck wasthat?

9

Tori did exactly as he’d suggested.She got out of the scratchy dress, examined the abrasions left behind, studied her tan lines, brushed her teeth, and got under the covers.

The one hiccup was the putting-on-her-pajamas thing.

Because she typically slept naked.

So she was now wearing a tank top and panties and wondering what she was going to do with Josh.Not specifically in bed and without pajamas—though that too—but with him in general.

Because she was pretty sure she was falling for him.

Of course she was.

She wasn’t good at human relationships.When she did try to have them, she went overboard.So, of course she’d be falling for the guy who was herepretendingto be her boyfriend.

Just like that stupid red, sparkly dress, she’d taken something basically simple—go buy a cocktail dress for Andrew’s party—and turned it into something awkward—a cherry red look-at-me number that upstaged the bride.

And then it had scratched the hell out of her and been uncomfortable all night.

Typical.

Just like Valentine’s Day 2006.

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