Page 3 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“Me either.”That was a huge understatement.He’d certainly noticed her the moment she took the stool across the bar from him, but there was no way he could have expected the connection, the way she made him laugh, the way he wanted to make her laugh.

It had been two days.They hadn’t even gotten naked.They’d just sat and talked and flirted and laughed.For hours.And he wanted a hundred more days with her now.

She sighed as he kissed the side of her neck.“This is just the romance of New Orleans,” she said.

“And I was the first Southern boy who grinned at you?”

She laughed.“You’ve been the first a lot of things but no, not that.”

He gave her one of those Southern-boy grins.Southern boys couldn’t help flirting with pretty Yankees.And pretty Southerners, for that matter.But it was especially fun to give the girls who spent their time above the Mason-Dixon line a taste of Southern charm.

“I just think maybe I’m getting...swept up in things.This is all so different from my usual weekend.”She laughed softly.“My usual life.I’m probably going to get off the plane in Des Moines and realize that this was all just…like a dream.And I’m guessing the second another girl takes that stool and asks for your specialty, you’ll forget my name.”

That made his gut clench.No way would he forget her.

He blew out a breath.“At least tell me you’re going to give me your phone number so we can keep in touch.And I can work on talking you into coming back down here.”

She looked at him for a long moment, then rose on tiptoe, and pressed her lips to his.Then she stepped back.“I think the spell will wear off, Josh.I really do.And I don’t want to be sitting at home, waiting for you to call, and then be heartbroken when you don’t.”

“I will.”

She gave him a little smile.“And if you do, I won’t know what to do with it.With you.”

“I can give you a very long list of things you can do with me.”

There was a flicker of heat in her eyes even as she shook her head.“I know you will want to call.I believe you.It might last for a while.But, I think that…” She sighed.“We both have lives.Very different lives.It’s probably better to leave it at that.”

Maybe that would be better.But he didn’t want to do that.At all.

He probably shouldn’t say what had just come to his mind.But he was going to.Because he came from a long line of very passionate, romantic, slightly crazy people.And this idea was all of those things.

“Meet me next year.”

She frowned, clearly puzzled.“What?”

He nodded.“We’ll give it a year.And then, if we’re still thinking about each other and want to see each other again, we’ll both show up at Bourbon O on Mardi Gras.If we’re both there, we’ll know.”

She stared at him.It was a wild suggestion.But it was…safe.If one of them showed up and the other didn’t, no harm, no foul.If neither showed up, the world would go on.There were four million things that could keep them from getting together again.But there was the…possibility of it.

He wanted at least that much.

That was extremely romantic.His dad would be very proud.So would his mom.And his grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles… yeah, the family was going to love this story.

They would, of course, also all be the assholes giving him shit if she didn’t show up next year.But that was a risk he was willing to take.The Landry family lived by the motto that the only things worth doing were the things that made your heart pound.

“That’s—” Tori shook her head.

“Come on.At least agree to that much.Give me this crumb,” he said, grinning and stepped close to her again.“Let me cling to this for now.If it really does fade as soon as your plane takes off, then so be it.But at least this way there’s a chance if it doesn’t fade.”

She laughed.“Okay.Fine.Next year.Mardi Gras.Bourbon O.”

He kissed her long and deep.Then said, “I’ll be there.”

She’d just smiled.

She hadn’t believed him.But she’d played along.He’d realized that even at the moment.

Now he was dodging beads and boobs, making his way down Bourbon, on his way to see her.

---