Page 4 of The One I Love
Fuck it. What do I have to lose? I know she’s with Paul. I know she’s going to have his baby. I know that if anyone found out what I’m about to do, my friends would fly to wherever I’m stationed and grill me about it.
I don’t care. Because I need to do something stupid.
And I do. I kiss her. I pull her face closer to me and kiss her with everything I have.
For a second, she doesn’t move. She stills as our lips meet. But that doesn’t last long. Before I know it, she’s kissing me back.
Holy shit, Amelia is kissing me back.
Her hands are gripping my biceps as our mouths fumble and we try to find a rhythm. Despite popular belief, I haven’t kissed that many girls. How could I when only one girl ever truly interested me? I tried to get her out of my system, but it never worked. Amelia has always been it.
And now that I’m kissing her? I might be doomed for life.
Our tongues connect, and we’re finally finding our groove when a loud thump breaks our moment. We jump apart, both gasping for air. When I look back to the porch I see Emily sprawled onto the porch.The drunk fool fell out of the porch swing.
“Where am I? Shane? Where are you?”
Amelia and I look at Emily before turning back to each other. The look of shock and confusion in her face is apparent.And I know the chivalrous thing is to go check on Emily, but I honestly couldn’t care less right now.
“Amelia…”
She shakes her head. “Don’t say anything else.”
“But…”
“No. Nothing else. That’s how we’re going to leave this. No talking. No apologies. This is our see you for now. No goodbye. Got it?”
I nod. “Got it.”
“Good.” She leans up and gives me one more kiss on my cheek. “Be brave, soldier. And make sure you come back to us.”
I stand back and watch Amelia walk back toward the house, stopping to help Emily up before she goes back inside. I don’t move. I just watch. When she turns back to look at me one more time, my heart about breaks. But at least I know that if something does happen, I kissed the girl of my dreams.
Even if I’m not the guy of hers.
Chapter 1
Amelia
“Wow…Whitley…you look amazing.”
I’m in awe as I watch my future sister-in-law come into the bridal suite in her wedding dress. It’s a fitted, lace, floor-length gown with spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline. There’s just a small amount of sparkle in the dress, which gives her the look of a princess. The diamond necklace and diamond teardrop earrings she’s wearing doen’t hurt either.
I expect nothing less from the former beauty queen.
“Is it too much?”
“Why are you asking questions you know the answer to?” That comes from Betsy, her best friend and maid of honor. “You look gorgeous. Jake is going to cry. It’s going to be awesome.”
“I hope it is,” she says, taking another look at herself in the floor-length mirror. “I just want today to be perfect.”
Betsy goes up and hugs Whitley from behind. “It will be. Y’all have waited so long for this day. All that’s left is to go out and do the damn thing.”
I smile as the two share a laugh. I’ve gotten to know Betsypretty well over the past few months. Not only did she move to Rolling Hills because of Whitley, but she’s dating Wes, one of my closest friends. She’s also his nanny. Though right now I don’t know if they are dating. Or if she’s nannying. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I do know they had a huge fight last week. Wes hasn’t said anything to me or the guys. Betsy has been going nonstop with maid of honor and wedding duties. I didn’t stand in her way or ask questions. She was a woman on a mission.
“Speaking of, did the cupcakes arrive?”
Betsy nods. “Delivered and currently chilling.”
