Page 94 of Kissing for Keeps
Thank you, Amy. Thank you for believing in me.
I stare at her contact name for a few seconds, then tap it and change her name to Amy Stewart.
The song draws to a close, and Rémy stands up. He makes his way around the table and cuts into the dance. Jack kisses Madi on the cheek and surrenders his spot, taking a few steps back so he’s standing on the edge of the dance floor, watching.
The song switches to Austin’s original song,In the Stars, and we all watch Madi and Rémy enter their cocoon of wedded bliss, snuggling up to dance, whispering, laughing, kissing. It’s oddly calming to watch, even as it fills me with an achy envy.
When Austin’s soft voice draws out the last note of the song, Madi and Rémy give the audience what they want—a final kiss to seal their first dance as husband and wife.
We all clap, with a wolf whistle added in, originating very unsurprisingly from Jack’s general vicinity.
“Anyone who wants to is welcome to come to the dance floor and join in,” Austin says.
Rémy leans toward Madi and whispers in her ear, and Madi nods, looking up at him like he’s her whole world. Letting go of his hand, Madi heads toward Jack and takes his hand.
He looks at her quizzically. She pulls him along behind her toward the head table, then looks at me and motions with her free hand. I check to my right to see if she’s talking to her mom. Madi laughs and motions again for me to come over, more insistent this time.
She reallyistalking to me.
35
SIENA
Heart in overdrive,I stand slowly, ignoring Tori’s eyes on me. It’s a scriptural canon-worthy miracle I don’t fall on my face during that eternal walk around the table to Madi and Jack. Refusing to let myself look at them until I’ve made it safely, I focus on navigating the chair and table legs.
Madi grabs my hand, and I finally look up. Jack’s eyes are on me, as are most people’s in the room, based on how hot my skin is. Madi takes our hands and puts mine in Jack’s.
“Consider this my blessing,” Madi says with a small smile.
My lung capacity is obliterated as Jack holds my gaze. He brushes his thumb along my hand, which is apparently connected to my knees. They turn to Jell-O that’s been left out on the counter for hours.
“But no more secrets, okay?” Madi says with exaggerated severity.
“You sure you really want no secrets at all?” Jack cocks a provocative brow.
Madi narrows her eyes, no doubt imagining all the things he could feasibly tell her that she wouldn’t want to know. “Within reason.Now go dance before I change my mind.” She shoos us toward the dance floor, and Jack threads his fingers through mine as we head to an open spot, like I didn’t just spend two weeks trying to avoid touching him at all costs.
Worst two weeks ever.
Except they weren’t. They were hard, but they were also… fun. And that’s thanks to him. But they can’t compare to holding his hand out in the open, in front of all the wedding guests.
He stops and faces me, then slides his free hand around my waist and raises our clasped hands together.
I don’t even know what to say, which is good because I couldn’t talk if I wanted to. Maybe Jack’s feeling the same, since he pulls me toward him and rests his temple against mine, swaying to the sound of Austin’s voice.
“This feels even better than I had imagined,” he says in my ear, his hand pressing against my waist more firmly.
The words send a trickle of chills down my neck and back. His breaking the silence releases some of my pent-up nerves, and I smile into his hair. “You been fantasizing about me all day, Just Jack?”
He gives a breathy chuckle that tickles my neck. “I’ve been fantasizing about you for seven years, Sheppard.”
My cocky attitude collapses, and all I can do is take refuge in the hollow of his neck, hoping the lack of oxygen there starves the flames in my cheeks.
Jack’s cheek leans into my burrowing head, and I can feel the smile in the firmness of his cheek and in his tone. “Am I off my rocker here, or have I managed the impossible and deprived Siena Sheppard of words?”
“Off your rocker, definitely,” I say, my comment a grinning, muffled jumble.
“Hey.”
