Page 79 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

Normally Andi and I meet on Thursdays for drinks. It’s our tradition since the first week we worked together at the law firm. But this problem? It couldn’t wait another minute.

She’s now caught up on Florida. Our vacation fling pact. Our now work relationship.

I did though leave out the threat—or was it a promise—he made today about bending me over the desk. I liked that one more than I care to admit.

“Stella, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to know there is no wrong answer.”

I lift an eyebrow to Andi. “This sounds like a question where there’s actually many wrong answers.”

“No. I just need to see where your head’s at before I proceed with any advice.”

“Go on,” I say before taking a healthy sip of my lemon drop martini.

“Do you have feelings for him?”

And I nearly spit out that drink. “What? That’s absurd. I don’t have feelings for Emmett.”

Either my voice got too high or Andi knows me too well, because she’s clearly not buying it.

“Is it? He got you through the hardest day of your life. You shared a lot with him, in many ways, while you were in Florida. And the way you just said his name? A nickname, might I add…it just seems like you have feelings for him. Real ones. Not ones you think you have because of orgasms.”

I could keep protesting, but it’s pointless. “I mean, yes, I have some feelings. He’s a friend. A very good friend.”

“A very naked friend.”

“Then. He was a naked friend then,” I correct. “Did we have sex? Yes. Did he eat ice cream off my body? Yes. Did his dick make me speak in tongues? Yes. But do I have romantic feelings for him? No. I do not.”

“Okay, when we’re done with this conversation, we’re going to revisit the ice cream thing,” Andi says, turning my barstool so I’m now facing her. “Feelings aren’t bad, Stella. You’re allowed to have feelings for a person.”

“But I don’t,” I protest. “Not like that. Emmett is my friend. Yes, we shared a lot, and I have affection for him. I think that’s normal. But I’m not in any place to be in a relationship, let alone have feelings for a man. Just a few weeks ago I was supposed to get married. I’m not in any place to be having any sort of feelings that are more than friendship. Plus, Emmett is very antirelationship. He made that abundantly clear. So even if I did, which I don’t, they wouldn’t be returned. So, the answer to your question is, no, I don’t have feelings for Emmett. And I won’t. I just need to figure out how to forget how he looks naked while I’m at the office.”

“Okay then,” Andi says, though I can tell from her tone she clearly doesn’t believe me. “I just want you to know, it’s okay if you do. Finding your person isn’t on a timeline. It happens when you’re meant to. It’s not a check box on a to-do list. Feelings, real feelings, for that person who was meant for you? Sometimes it happens when you aren’t expecting it. So if you did feel that way for Emmett, just promise me you won’t ignore them or push them to the side. Don’t reject them because others are saying it’s too soon. When it’s right, it’s right. Fuck a clock.”

She’s right. In theory. Except I don’t feel like that toward Emmett so it doesn’t matter.

“But as for you and Emmett, if you really are just friends, then you’re going to need to quickly forget about the ice cream and the penis and remember that you work for him. He’s a very close friend to your brother. And if he’s not a relationship guy, then it should be no problem pushing any gray-area feelings to the side. Right?”

“Right,” I agree, though the word leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Which is silly, because I don’t have feelings like that for Emmett.

Keep saying it, Stella…the more you say it, the more in denial you can live.

23

emmett

“What are you doing here?”

Simon looks perplexed as I enter the office from the back door, which leads into the hallway between our two offices.

“Working?”

He makes a show of checking his watch as he meets me in the hallway. “But it’s Wednesday.”

“Yeah? So?”

“You don’t come here on Wednesdays.”

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