Page 16 of Wedding Bet

“I like it, too,” I said, but his expression had changed. “What’s that look on your face, though?”

“I… don’t want you to get hurt, Jamie. I know you don’t like no-strings-attached hookups. If you don’t want to do any of this with me, then don’t.”

“No,” I said. “I know the deal.”

“The deal?”

I swallowed. “I know I shouldn’t expect more, and I don’t. But I want to have a little meaningless fun, too. I’m starting to think I’m okay with that.”

Even as I spoke the words out loud, my brain was sending off every alarm bell it had.

Play with fire, and you’ll get burned.

You know you always end up wanting more than something casual.

You’re only going to get hurt.

But maybe being a fake boyfriend could be as fun as being a real one.

As Landry turned his head to the side to kiss me more, along my temple, my cheek, then down to my neck, every warm littlekiss was like a beacon, unraveling something inside me that I hadn’t felt in so long.

It was like I was finally exhaling for the first time in years. Maybe I’d been missing out, not letting myself have any time for flings or fun like this.

And even though Landry and I were from different worlds, somehow right here, right now, we were in our own little snowglobe.

4

LANDRY

Hot water pounded against my shoulders as I stepped into the shower in my hotel room. It was early in the morning and the temperature was nearly scalding, but it was exactly what I’d been looking for. Instantly I started to relax.

I’d gotten up at dawn today. After last night, when Jamie and I had kissed under the stars, I wanted to drag him back to my room more than anything.

But I’d been a gentleman.

I’d kept my cock in my pants.

And then I’d come back to my room and slept deeply and dreamlessly.

It was when I gotupthat the problems had started. When I padded over to the bathroom and caught my reflection in the mirror. Sunlight was streaming into the bathroom after the sun had just come up over the mountains, and I saw that there was a telltale mark on the bottom of my neck. I ran my fingers across it, feeling a little bit of heat.

Jamie had kissed me in that spot a little too long, and now I had a hickey.

A freakinghickey.I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had one, but I was sure it wasn’t since I was a stupid teenager who got all of my action in the back sections of movie theaters.

I hopped into the shower to try to clear my head, but instead, the memories of last night kept coursing through my thoughts. Regret started coiling through my insides like a snake.

In reality, I knew Jamie and I shouldn’t have kissed, no matter how badly I’d wanted it. It had felt incredible, and what I’d really wanted was to go much, much further with him. But he’d made it abundantly clear that he was looking for… a deeper connection.

And a deeper connection just wasn’t something I could offer anymore.

Parker and his boyfriend—no, hisfiance—had just waltzed in and put a big, stinking damper on my night, and I hadn’t been able to get that stain off of me. When Jamie had kissed me, it was like the perfect antidote to the mountain of shit that was my ex-boyfriend.

I got out of the shower and my phone buzzed, jerking me out of my thoughts. For a split second I found myself wishing it would be Jamie calling, even though I knew he had no reason to do that.

But it was Emmett’s name on the screen.

“Morning,” I answered. “I should have known you’d be the only one up at dawn like me.”

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