Page 136 of Best Served Cold

Her lips are soft and inviting, and they already feel like home. She’s exactly the person I want to be with after hearing big news. The safe place I want to go to when I feel weighed down by the heaviness of the world and my own memories.

I pull back to look at her, soaking in the fact that she’s here in my car, and not walking down the aisle toward my brother.

“If everything had gone the way it was supposed to, and you’d married him today,” I say, my voice ragged, because even the thought sets me off, “it would have been the worst day of my life, and I wouldn’t have even known it. That’s really awful to think about. It’s kind of messing with my head, to be honest.”

She smiles at me. “It would definitely have been the worst day of my life. Maybe Dottie had a point, and it all happened exactly the way it was supposed to.”

I run my fingers over her lips and then her jaw. “She usually does.”

I want to ask her to run off with me, to marry me today, the day when she was supposed to marry my brother. But that would be a selfish request. So I ask for less than I want, because I want her to have everything she needs, including the time to process everything that’s happened. “Will you move in with me?”

I know she’ll be worried about Otis being alone. But they’re deep into planning The Crafty Monster now that Sophie has funds from the NA drink line, so they’ll be spending plenty oftime together. And while her aunt extended her vacation, she’ll be returning in another couple of weeks.

Sophie’s eyes widen, and for a second I’m terrified she’ll say no and I’ll have fucked up this day for her. But then she leans in and kisses me hard. She pulls back and says, “Yes.Yes.But please tell me we don’t have to go back to the party.”

“You don’t want to go back?” I say, surprised. “I heard there’d be cupcakes and a really kick-ass band with no drums.”

She laughs. “Otis played the drums in marching band.”

“There you go. Perfect.”

“But I’m going to have to beg you to cancel your performance, just this once.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” She leans in to kiss me again, her lips soft but insistent. “Because I’m going to need you to take me home, right away.”

“Say that again.” I grin at her. “Possibly three to five more times.”

“Take me home, Rob.”

“Gladly,” I say. “And if the mood strikes, feel free to tell me what you’d like me to do to you when we get there.”

She smiles at me, and God, I’m so happy I can barely understand it—or stand my sappy self.

As I pull away from the curb, I catch a glimpse of Sophie glancing back at Travis’s house. I can practically see what she’s thinking.

“You think Hannah’ll be okay?”

“Yeah,” she says thoughtfully. “I think this is good for her.”

“I hope so, because I’m definitely not going back.”

She gives me a wicked grin. Then she puts her hand on my thigh and starts to detail what’s going to happen as soon as we close the apartment door behind us. And if I speed a little?

Well, I’m only human.

You know what? I stole my brother’s girl, and I’m not the least bit sorry about it.

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