Page 38 of Marry Me, Right Now

Mia looked surprised. “This is my job now. Everywhere I work, I try to be the best, even if it’s a dump.” She gestured to the room. “Obviously this is a bit nicer, so I need to up my game.”

Pulling up a seating chart, she had her friends names with a drop shadow of pink, and my friends with a drop shadow of blue. “I was taking mental notes of which people got along well tonight so that tomorrow I can make sure that they’re seated together at the wedding. If they already have a connection, the mood of the room will be more comfortable. That will bring any stray family members on board.”

“How… how the hell did you think to do this?”

“I’ve been reading psychology articles on how to put people at ease, and bring disparate groups of people together.”

“You’re magical,” I whispered. I sat down on her bed, as she closed the laptop, sitting beside me.

My arm slid around her without thinking, pulling her over to sit beside me. “Honestly, I don’t know if anyone has ever shocked and impressed me as much as you have from the second I met you, and especially tonight.”

She absolutely beamed, her smile overtaking over her face. Unfortunately, that drew attention to her lips. Leaning in, I kissed her softly.

Mia shifted to bring us closer, her lips gently pressing to mi

ne, then parting. Her arms circled my shoulders until we were melted together. Her soft little hand cupped the side of my face, then she pulled back, staring deeply into my eyes.

“Is this a good idea?” she whispered.

“Probably not,” I said, capturing her mouth again. My hands wandered along her back, then unzipped the back of her dress so that my fingers could glide across her smooth skin. I felt her tiny moan against my lips, then realized that this was crossing all sorts of lines.

Pulling away, I clasped her hands between us like a shield. “Mia, I’m so sorry. Being a couple with you all night just…” I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

She tried to laugh, but I could see that she was hurt and confused that I stopped. “I know.”

“And we’ve both been drinking.”

Her bright giggle was the perfect tension breaker. “Actually, I only had one glass after our announcement, then had the servers bring me non-alcoholic wine.”

I laughed so hard it shook my spine. “Clever thing.”

“I have a lot to remember.”

My hand flew to her cheek, my thumb tracing her cheekbone. “You amaze me. Dazzle me. I’m so lucky.”

Blinking hard, she looked at me strangely. Desire was flooding me on a level I’d never felt before. We were sitting on her bed. I knew she wanted me too, and she was biting her lip slightly, looking up at me with those huge soulful eyes. I had to keep it together.

“We need sleep,” I said, standing up. “Sweet dreams.”

I didn’t dare look back at her again, quickly going to my room and closing the door.

There was no way I could risk everything just because she was the most brilliant, hard-working, irresistibly beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Off-limits. Forbidden. Perhaps I should tattoo these words backward across my forehead as a reminder so that every time I passed a reflective surface I could yell at myself.

M I A

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WEDDING PLANNER

Most of my friends were the sorts of people to never make a phone call before noon. With musicians, artists, writers, and anyone who worked in kitchens or nightclubs, the hours we sometimes kept ran quite late. Pre-noon calls were usually met with a sense of emergency.

So my heart jumped unreasonably Monday morning when I had a call from an unknown number at ten am.

“Mia, my dear,” Rosalind’s voice trilled, “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Rosalind. How are you today?”

“Wonderful, dear. I’m just checking in to see how moving in was coming along.”

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