Fool for You by Kelly Elliott

Emmerson

THE LIMO RIDE to the Fairmont should have only taken five minutes. Instead, it was going on fifteen, and we were still only sitting two blocks away from the country club. Only in Austin, at ten at night, would there be a freaking traffic jam.

Landon hadn’t uttered a word to me since we’d slipped into the limo. Every few minutes, I stole a glance at him as he stared out the window. I knew he was angry, and he had every right to be. I had gotten us into a huge mess, and I had no earthly idea how to get us out of it.

I was engaged. Albeit it was a fake engagement, but I finally got what I wanted. No longer the bridesmaid and all that nonsense.

“I’m sorry I got us into this mess,” I said. “I swear to you, I’ll figure out a way to get out of it before things get too…serious.”

He turned and faced me, and my breath caught in my throat. His blue eyes looked like a storm was brewing in them. “What did he say to you?”

Confused, I asked, “Who?”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “You know who, Emmerson. Jason. What did he want to talk to you about?”

Oh. That.

I twisted my hands in my lap. How in the world do I tell him I’ve dug us deeper into this lie?

He stared at me, and there was something in his eyes that looked like a mix of fear and anger.

I decided the best thing to do was to be honest. “He wanted me back.”

Landon’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“He said that he broke up with me because he didn’t think I wanted to settle down, at least not with him. He said he could walk away from Lillian, that all I had to do was tell him I’d take him back and he’d leave her.”

“What. An. Asshole! His fiancée was standing only a few feet away!”

I nodded. “I thought the same thing.”

“How did that make you feel? What did you say?”

His question took me aback. “How did it make me feel? I didn’t feel anything but sorry for him. I told you, Landon, that I don’t have feelings for him. And what I told him was that I felt sorry for him, but more so for Lillian. And then I said…”

Landon drew in a breath and held it as he waited for me to keep speaking.

“I said I was in love with you and that we were getting married, so he was too late.”

His eyes grew wide.

I shook my head and then buried my face in my hands. “I know, I know! I made things worse, but it was the only thing I knew to say to get him to understand I wasn’t interested in getting back together. I’m so sorry, Landon.”

“You…you really don’t want to get back with him, then?”

I dropped my hands to my lap and gaped at him. “Have you not been listening to a damn thing I’ve said?”

The corner of his mouth twitched with a hidden smile. He nodded. “I heard. You told him we were in love in an attempt to get him to realize it was truly over.”

I sighed. “God, this whole thing spiraled out of control so fast. I still can’t believe it.”

Landon reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry, Emme. We’ll get it all settled. I do agree with Hailey, though; I do think it would be good for Serendipity if we played this out a bit longer. Once we get back to Waco, things will calm down. Every now and then you can post a picture of us on your Instagram or do some research trip like Hail said, and then in a few months we’ll release a statement or something that says we’re better friends than lovers. It won’t be hard to find stuff to post. We’re always doing something together. We can post about movie night or we can start doing ice cream Sunday.”

My mouth instantly went dry, and I had the urge to burst into tears. The only thing I’d heard was that we were better friends than lovers. What in the world was happening to me? Why had his words felt like a knife straight to my heart? Why did the idea of breaking up this fake engagement feel like it would rip my heart out?

I gasped and covered my mouth with my free hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

I stared straight ahead. The truth of what I had said to Jason rang so loudly in my ears, I wanted to cover them and squeeze my eyes shut.

Glancing over at Landon’s hand in mine, I felt my heart slam against my chest. Slowly, I let my eyes move up until they met his.

Lord above. I was in love with my best friend. I was in love with Landon.

Those words I’d said to Jason hadn’t been a lie to throw him off. They had been the truth. They had spilled from my lips so easily when I’d said them.

I was in love with Landon.

I blinked rapidly as I stared at him.

I’m in love with you, Landon.

And even worse, my body ached for him to touch me. Kiss me. Oh God…make love to me. I wanted Landon on top of me, under me, inside me. The reality of it hit me like a bolt of lightning.

Damn you, Hailey Lewis!

He reached his hand up and gently cupped my face. “Hey, are you okay, Emme?”

With a shake of my head, I whispered, “No.”

Frowning, he moved closer. “Talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

I swallowed hard. “I’m not sure you want to know, Landon.”

“Of course I do, Emme. You mean the world to me. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make you happy.”

I swept my tongue over my lips, and I saw how his eyes darkened as he watched the motion. Did he want me as much as I wanted him?

Had I always known somewhere deep inside that answer? Was it buried deep down because I was terrified it would ruin our friendship? There was no way he kissed other women like he’d kissed me earlier. I’d heard it in the way he’d moaned, and felt it when he’d pulled me closer to his body.

“Anything?” I whispered, my voice not even sounding like my own as an edge of desire slipped in.

With his eyes still on my lips, he nodded, and then he looked up to meet my gaze. “Anything.”

Before I could think any more on it, I said, “Kiss me, Landon. Kiss me now.”

A low rumble came from the back of his throat as he pulled me onto his lap until I was straddling him. My gown draped down on either side of his body, and when I pressed against him, I gasped at how hard he was. My God. He must have been hard before I even asked him to kiss me.

Oh my…the idea that he was hard because of me nearly sent me into a tailspin.

“Oh dear,” I whispered as I moved my hips and pressed my core against him. Heat bloomed in my womb and sent a rush of wetness between my legs.

“Emme,” he gasped and put his hand behind my neck and pulled me to him, sealing his mouth over mine in another mind-blowing kiss. The moment his tongue touched mine, an explosion of heat filled our joined mouths, and we both moaned in pleasure.

The fingers of his other hand gripped my waist tightly, as if he wanted to hold me against him, afraid I would move. My hands went to his hair, and I slipped my fingers through it and tugged slightly, causing him to jerk his hips up. I reacted and pushed into him more, grinding my hips and nearly gasping at the feeling of his hard dick against the sensitive bundle of nerves between my legs.

It wasn’t like me at all to crawl onto a man in the back of a limo and rub myself against him like a cat in heat. But this was different. Everything about the whole night had been different. The feel of Landon’s body against mine. His hands on me in a possessive way that made my own body catch fire. The feeling of his tongue dancing with mine. It was almost too much. And the need to come. Lord, I desperately wanted him to touch me.

“Landon,” I gasped as I pressed harder against him. “Landon, I…”

His eyes jerked open and for a moment we did nothing but stare at one another. Our breaths mixed together in pants as if we had both run a marathon. Tell him, Emmerson. Tell him to kiss you again. To touch you.

A voice came over the speakers and broke the trance we had fallen into. “Mr. Lewis, we’re two minutes from the hotel.”

And that was when the real world came crashing back in. Landon slowly helped me move off of him.

I smoothed my dress and drew in a deep, calming breath.

Landon cleared his throat and looked at me. Our eyes met, and I held my breath.

“We should probably talk before we meet with our parents.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He glanced at the door and repeated what I had said. “Okay.”

When it opened, my father was standing there. He looked between the two of us as if he thought he was about to catch us being naughty. If he had opened that door three minutes ago, he would have found me grinding against Landon like a wanton, no shame at all. Simply driven by a lust I hadn’t ever truly experienced before. And that confused the hell out of me and also scared me. Judging from the pale complexion on Landon, he felt the same way.

“About damn time you two got here. Get checked in and then meet us at the bar,” my father barked before he turned and marched back into the hotel.

Landon helped me out of the limo, and we both watched my father stalk away. I felt like I was ten years old again and had been caught sneaking the horses out to go for a ride with Landon.

We exchanged a look before Landon said, “I’ll get the bags. You go ahead and check in.”