Page 36 of Wedding Bet

“Whydidn’tyou get any sleep last night, if you don’t mind me asking?” Jamie said over the sound of our shoes hitting the stone sidewalk.

I cut him a glance, then turned back toward the street ahead.

“What?” he protested, his breath appearing in the air.

“Well, first of all, because of everything,” I offered. “Everything with you.”

“Oh, God,” Jamie said. “Not only did I accidentally make you sing your breakup song, but I’m also the reason you haven’t gotten any sleep?”

I puffed out a laugh, my hand instinctively reaching out for his.

I laced my fingers through his, holding his hand as we walked. And suddenly, my heart was warmer.

Bad.

Mistakes ahead.

It didn’t make any sense, and in reality I probably shouldn’t have been holding hands with someone that I only wanted to be friends with. But it felt right. And at the moment, I was too tired to question that.

“It’s not your fault,” I told him. “I just couldn’t stop wondering if I’d done the wrong thing. I wanted more, too. For at least an hour I contemplated going down to your room and knocking on your door andbeggingfor more, actually, but I held back.”

“Damn,” he said softly, glancing at me for a second.

“And then, of course, I felt bad for making you feel awkward. About the cheap rent comment.”

Jamie nodded once. “Thank you, but I know you were only meaning well. You wanted to offer help, and that was a way to offer it.”

I nodded. “Exactly. But it was too much, and it was off-base. I know that you don’t want to add money and rent and the wholelandlordthing into the equation.”

Jamie was quiet, but he squeezed my hand. “It means a lot that you understand.”

We turned the corner onto the street where the resort was, up ahead, glowing in the evening like the promised land.Sleep. God, I needed sleep.

“There is another reason I couldn’t get any sleep, but it’s more embarrassing,” I admitted.

“Tell me,” Jamie said. “If it’s embarrassing, I really want to know.”

“In Denver and LA, both of my places are in the busy city streets. I usually fall asleep with the window cracked open, and the sounds of the city lull me to sleep. It’s been way too quiet here.”

“That’s not embarrassing,” Jamie said as we walked up to the front doors of the hotel, the bellhops opening them wide for us. “It’s a normal thing to need certain sounds when you go to bed. I listen to long ambient audio tracks to fall asleep sometimes.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I can show you some of my favorite ones, if you want.”

As we walked inside, Chase and Adam happened to be walking out of one of the ballrooms. Their rehearsal dinner must have just ended. A woman with a cane followed them.

“Jamie, Landry,” Chase said, smiling at us both. “Hi.”

I saw his eyes flicker downward and I realized suddenly that Jamie and I were still holding hands.

I felt my cheeks heating up and I gave Jamie’s hand a little squeeze before letting my fingers drop away.

“Landry, have you met my mom?” Chase asked.

She smiled up at me, reaching out her hand to shake mine. “I heard your friend Emmett talking about you earlier. You’re Lucky Landry, right?”

“That would be me,” I said. “It’s so nice to meet you. Jamie’s told me about you.”

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