Page 62 of The Wedding Wrecker

Emma wiggled her eyebrows. “Well…” she said, clearing her throat as she curled in beside me, head against my chest.

We were both breathing hard, bodies slick with sweat as the scent of our sex lingered in the room like some primal perfume.

I wanted to tell her how perfect she was. How much this meant to me. How I hadn't been able to get her out of my head for three years and how damn badly I’d needed what we just did. I almost wanted to tell her that I didn’t need to pretend this was meaningless. It felt like something more to me. Something that mattered—like maybe my cynicism about the doomed nature of all serious relationships could use a slight amendment in cases of extreme chemistry and perfect fits.

But I let all those words die in my throat until the silence between us lingered.

I settled for holding her close. I reminded myself that my heart had only ever gotten me into trouble. Letting my body have what it wanted, though? That was easy. That was simple. It wasn’t complicated.

But as her breathing evened out in sleep, I knew I was fooling myself. This woman was going to destroy every wall I'd built, and I was powerless to stop it.

The worst part? I wasn’t sure I wanted to, even if I knew it would be a huge mistake.

20

EMMA

Lily sat across from me with a tea cup in one hand, sipping as she eyed me above the brim. We were in a small breakfast room of the resort, surrounded by the quiet murmur of sleepy conversation and the occasional clink of silverware on plates. Well-dressed and smiling servers circulated the room, refilling drinks and taking orders.

“So,” Lily said, raising her eyebrows and looking around the room. “This is cute.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling as I took a cautious drink of my tea. I was more of a coffee kind of girl, but when I saw the resort offered “traditional tea breakfasts,” it sounded like the perfect little checkpoint to spend some time with my sister. I knew the whole process was going to be a busy mess, and figured it would be wise to make sure I scheduled some time with her.

Now, I was honestly wishing I hadn’t.

I felt like the whole room could look at me and tell I’d just had the kind of sex that ruined women on other men—that justlast night, I’d ridden James Carter’s fingers, lips, and tongue to heights of pleasure that I’d never seen before.

Sure,we did technically stick to our no penetration rule. Although his fingers definitely penetrated me. And, well, I suppose I let him penetrate my mouth. But hey, we were trying our best!

And now I imagined the dirty deeds I’d done were practically flashing over my head in neon letters.

Girl who just orgasmed like six times in less than an hour! Look here! Stare at her!

I spent extra long in the bathroom, just looking at myself from various angles to make sure none of my internal chaos was visible on my face. In the end, I was convinced I still looked like regular, boring, Emma Marshall.

James left the room early for “exercise,” but something in his body language made me think he was going to find a way to keep investigating Marcus while he was out. The idea filled me with a whole different flavor of dread. Each time I suspected he went out to investigate, I couldn’t help imagining him uncovering some dirty, disastrous secret that would blow this otherwise perfect wedding to shreds.

But I was here. I needed to make sure I was enjoying the time with Lily.

“How is the room?” I asked.

“Huh?” Lily asked.

“You and Marcus. Are you, um, liking your room?”

God, Emma. Stop being so awkward.

“Oh, it’s great,” Lily said. “Did you know the bathtub fills itself from the ceiling? Like this massive stream of water just… dumps straight out of a little hole in the ceiling and lands in the tub.Very dramatic.”

I grinned. “That’s cool. Before I had to surrender my room to ‘Aunt Martha,’ I had heated towels and robes in mine.”

“I still can’t believe Marcus’ dad made you give up your room. Do you want me to talk to him about it? Maybe we could work something out.”

“No,no,” I said, a little too fast. “James’ room is fine. And I’m the wedding planner. I’m not here for pleasure. Or… fun,” I said.Was I talking too fast, or was I just imagining that?“Sharing a room with James is completely fine. I don’t mind it. Ilike it, actually. He’s my boyfriend, right?” I paused awkwardly, eyes bulging slightly as I gulped the tea.

“Are you okay, Em?” Lily asked, voice soft.

“I’m great. I just want to make sure everything goes perfectly for my little sister. You’re only supposed to do this once, so it should be everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

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