She's With Stupid

by Amanda Dennis

  Trying to regain just a smidgeon of her typical calm, Emilie gave him a bored look. “Maybe I don’t always care for your particular brand of fun, Ethan.”

  “Emmy, who are you kidding?” He grinned and pulled a lock of her hair through his fingers. “You know you’d be lost without me.”

  Emilie’s breath caught at his words. He was right, of course. She knew precisely how poorly she functioned without him. It was like half of her was just…gone. And no matter how determined she was to move forward with Ethan, the reality of how it had felt to live without him never really left her.

  The grin slipped from Ethan’s face as she tried to maintain her composure under his suddenly intent gaze. Emilie could tell by the clenching of his jaw and the unbreakable grip he now had on her upper arm that he was regretting his words.

  “I’m here, Emmy. You know I’ll always be here.”

  Emilie shrugged with feigned nonchalance. “You spent the last decade treating me like I had the plague, Ethan,” she said softly. “Did you think all those fears and memories would go away just because we’ve slept together?”

  Ethan winced at the jab but refused to back off, instead moving even closer and forcing her to breathe in the heady scent of summer that always clung to his skin, whether she wanted to or not.

  “I hadn’t seen you in over a decade, Emmy, other than at a few stupid parties where you made damn sure to keep your distance from me.” He sighed wistfully. “I thought we’d gotten past this.”

  As he stared down at her with those annoyingly perceptive green eyes, Emilie had to force herself not to run as fast and as far as her legs could carry her. Instead, she quietly said, “I thought we had, too. Then you decided to revert to your seventeen year old self and ignore me for two weeks.” His eyes widened but she could not seem to stop talking, despite her resolve not to let him know how freaked out she had been by his silence. “I was subsequently forced to remember in excruciating detail what it feels like to be left behind by you, Ethan. Thanks for that.”

  Ethan watched the emotions flashing across her face, irritation, suspicion, and fear foremost among them. That fear was always there whenever she spoke of their shared history. He was dismayed to realize that she really had been scared he had left her again, and he could have kicked himself for not anticipating that. But things had seemed to finally be going right, and he had thought she was ready to let go of the past enough to go a few days without him checking in. He had failed to understand how deep her fear of him abandoning her went.

  Or maybe he had simply chosen to ignore it because it made him feel like such an ass.

  “Emmy,” he said gently. He cupped her face in his palm and forced her chin up so that she was looking directly at him and not the floor. “I was working. I told you that.” Her mouth opened to reply, but he brushed his thumb across her bottom lip to quiet her. “Listen to me,” he ordered tenderly. Her eyes narrowed, but she stayed silent. “There are going to be times when I have to go out of town on business but, no matter where I go or how long I’m gone, I will always want to be with you. Nothing will ever change that.”

  When she pursed her lips skeptically, he bent to press a warm kiss to her forehead. “I barely had time to sleep, Emmy, and I didn’t call you because…well, okay, maybe I was being a smart ass and giving you a little payback for ignoring me after Valentine’s.”

  He couldn’t suppress his laugh when she glared up at him.

  “I really hate feeling like this, Ethan,” she confessed in a murmur so soft he had to strain to hear it. “I don’t want to be the kind of girl who needs constant affirmation from a guy. In fact, I sort of despise that kind of girl. I just don’t know how to stop this panicky feeling I get whenever I’m not actually in the same room with you.” She closed her eyes and leaned forward to rest her head against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

  Ethan felt the tension that had been building inside him start to unravel at the vulnerable note in her voice. “You don’t have to be sorry, Emmy.” He kissed the top of her hair before sighing. “There’s another reason I didn’t call,” he admitted. Emilie pulled back to stare at him warily, and he rolled his eyes. “You know, baby, you could at least pretend to have a little faith in me.”

  “Sorry.” She blushed and smiled in apology. “So what’s the reason?”

  “The reason, you little minx, is that I was more than a little afraid that if I called you, I might have very easily ditched the damned job to run right back here and fall into bed with you for the next fifty years. I figured you might appreciate my restraint given that our future would be pretty bleak if I can’t even complete one assignment.”

  Ethan smiled at her befuddled expression. He could tell she was struggling to understand how he was able to speak so easily of their future when he had run from the very idea of one for so long, and he reminded himself that it might take awhile before she was able to put aside her ingrained caution and accept that this was real.

  “Baby, I promise that the only thing I really wanted was to finish that job as soon as possible so I could get back here to you.” His gaze hardened and he gave her a fierce scowl. “So give a guy a break.”

  His commanding tone startled Emilie into a smile, just as he’d hoped it would. When she gave him a coy smile, he thought it might be time for them to ditch this party.

  “I am far too busy at the moment to give anyone a break,” Emilie teased.

  Ethan inwardly groaned. She was clearly not thinking what he was thinking.

  “Check back with me next week,” she suggested with a wink. Then she turned to go with a cool glance and a twitch of her hips.

  Emilie hadn’t taken two steps when she felt a light swat on her bottom. Shocked, she turned back to flash him a look of annoyance.

  He gave her an unrepentant and utterly endearing grin. “I’m home for good now, Emmy. If you want me to only take job assignments that keep me close, I will.”

  She barely had time to process the lovely feeling of warmth spreading through her chest at his willingness —some might say eagerness— to hand over his freedom when Ethan pulled her flush against him, holding her so tightly that her feet were dangling in the air and she was clinging to his shoulders for balance.

  Swallowing her mewl of surprise, he proceeded to kiss her breathless. Only when she began to feel dizzy did he finally break away.

  “I meant what I said before, baby,” he whispered against her lips. “We belong together. No matter what obstacles you try to throw at me, I am not going anywhere.”

  Her breath caught in her throat again as she stared into his eyes, oddly serious for a change. Possibly she was testing him when she tentatively said, “Well, okay then. But what you do in your job shouldn’t really concern me.”

  “It concerns you,” he said confidently, brushing a strand of hair from her face before rubbing his cheek against hers like a cat.

  He continued to nuzzle her, and she could feel him inhaling the scent of her hair. He was always doing that, and Emilie was quite sure that she had entered some sort of twilight zone because nothing so simple should ever feel so good.

  “You seem kind of stressed right now, honey.” His words brought her out of the lethargy that had been overtaking her body, and she blinked slowly to refocus. Ethan adjusted his grip so that he had a firmer grip on her rear, humming approvingly when she trembled at the sensation and pressed herself closer to him. “So I’m willing to wait till after this whole production is over to remind you again that everything I do concerns you and vice versa.”

  Ethan’s voice had taken on that yummy growly quality she found so appallingly attractive, and she shivered when his fingers began tracing patterns on the base of her spine.

  “I’ll even be a nice guy and let you get some sleep tonight,” he rasped. “Because I can guarantee you won’t be getting any once I get a hold of you again. And Emmy?” he murmured against her neck, causing another delicious shudder to course through her body from the top of her hea
d to the tips of her toes.

  Pulling his head back, he waited for her to lift her curiously heavy eyes, and then she watched him watch her with a decidedly wolfy grin on his face that caused her to shiver again.

  “Yes, Ethan?” she whispered.

  “I will be getting a hold of you just as soon as this wedding nonsense is over,” he promised with a glint of determination in his eyes. “And once I do, I’m not letting go. Got it?”

  Emilie blushed. For all her talk of caution and incessant worrying over what it meant to be with him again, it seemed like every time he touched her she ended up cheerfully falling into his arms with nary a backward glance. The man wreaked absolute havoc on her self-control, and if she wasn’t careful she was going to be abandoning all of her morals and jumping him not ten feet from a church altar.

  She smiled softly. Her mother would be so proud.

  Ethan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that she was fully amenable to his plan. Placing a lingering kiss on the indention between her neck and shoulder, he gave the spot a light nip before gently setting her back on her feet. Then, after another one of those sure-to-be-detrimental-to-her-health smoldering looks, he turned and sauntered towards the few stragglers exiting the sanctuary, leaving Emilie rooted to the floor with a dreamy expression on her face.

  She didn’t stir until Lana and Kate approached a few minutes later.

  “Hey, are you okay?” asked Kate. “You look like someone could knock you over with a feather.” Kate stepped in front of Emilie and examined her expression closely for a full twenty seconds before wincing. “Oh, jeez, it’s back.”

  “What’s back?” Emilie absently asked. She was still staring dazedly off into space, and Kate and Lana grinned at the goofy look on her face.

  “That starry-eyed, “So This Is Love” look you always used to get whenever Ethan rang your bell,” Kate said affectionately. “It’s disgusting.”

  “I’m afraid she’s right,” Lana laughed. “You look like you’re about to burst into song at any moment.”

  Emilie blinked twice in an effort to focus on what her friends were saying. “Who’s singing?”

  Kate and Lana rolled their eyes in unison.

  “Earth to Emilie,” joked Lana. “What were you and Ethan talking about for so long? It looked awfully intense.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  “And why were you so late tonight?” Kate asked.

  Emilie looked at them both askance before responding with a vague shrug. “Sorry for being late. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, after the wedding.”

  “What about Ethan?” Lana persisted.

  “That was nothing.” Emilie’s cheeks darkened and, when she noticed the look Lana and Kate were exchanging, she stamped her foot. “It wasn’t!”

  Though neither Lana nor Kate seemed convinced by her protestations of innocence, they let it go for the moment.

  “And you’re sure that you’re okay. You weren’t late because you fell down and hit your head?” Kate asked with a grin.

  “No, nothing like that, I promise.” Emilie met Kate’s unconvinced gaze with a serene smile, thoroughly uninterested in discussing Leo.

  Kate looked like she wanted to argue, but a quick glance around showed that they were already the last ones in the church. Everyone else had walked on to the banquet hall, so she reluctantly let it go with a sigh. “Whatever, that’s fine, lie to The Bride.” Lana and Emilie snickered and followed Kate towards the door.

  Kate stopped unexpectedly, causing her friends to bump into her back with a surprised “oomph,” and glanced back at the spot behind the organ where Ethan and Emilie had been having their impromptu rendezvous.

  Emilie was slightly alarmed by the expression of utter delight on Kate’s face.

  “By the way, Em,” Kate said with a mischievous grin. “Be sure to let me know when you and Ethan give in to all that sexual tension again.”

  “Why on earth would I do that?” Emilie asked with narrowed eyes.

  “Oh, because Lana and I started a pool back in junior high,” Kate said breezily. “I win fifty bucks if you guys do it more than three times before you turn thirty, and I am obviously going to win that bet with time to spare.”

  Emilie gaped at the two of them, who were giggling over their friendly wager of yesteryear. “What, when, why?” she sputtered.

  Kate’s grin deepened. “We made it when we came back to New Bern after that last summer by the lake. Em, you may recall that this was shortly after you fervently declared to anyone who would listen that you hated Ethan “with the fire of a thousand suns” and then vowed to “cut his black heart out with a very dull spoon” should he dare to ever come near you again.”

  Emilie’s arms crossed defensively as she scowled at Kate’s gloating expression. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but why three times?” she sighed.

  There was a definite sparkle in Kate’s eye when she replied. “Well, we figured you’d probably pretend the first time didn’t happen and tell yourself that the second time didn’t really change anything. But by the third time, we knew that even you would have to stop pretending and admit to being in an actual relationship with him. I had to win the bet, Emmy, so you and Ethan never really stood a chance at staying apart. It was inevitable that you would eventually give in to temptation.”

  Emilie put her hands on her hips. “No matter what you had to do to guarantee that outcome, right?”

  Kate grinned unrepentantly. “Yep.”

  Lana giggled and nodded her agreement.

  Her friends continued to laugh at Emilie’s glower as they strolled down the hall, where everyone was waiting for them.

  When Emilie glanced at both of their smug faces, she couldn’t help but shake her head in disgust. “Have I mentioned lately how much you guys suck?”

  Chapter 23

  The day of Kate’s wedding dawned clear and bright, with an uncharacteristic chill hanging in the May air. Emilie and Lana, however, were far too disgruntled by Kate’s insistence the night before that they meet promptly at eight-thirty in the morning for breakfast to notice. They hadn’t finished cleaning up the banquet hall until well after midnight, which made Kate’s strange desire for an early breakfast entirely unacceptable.

  The girls were even less inclined to forgive Kate’s sudden early bird mentality when they stumbled into the Echo Diner at 8:33 and Kate was nowhere to be found.

  “I know it’s her wedding day,” Lana mumbled twenty minutes later. She and Emilie were slouched on a bench with their heads lolling on each other’s shoulders, waiting for Kate to make an appearance. “But I am really going to have to kill her this time.”

  “I hear ya, sister.” Emilie yawned and rubbed her bleary eyes in a futile attempt to get them to focus. “I’ll help you hide the body.”

  Before Lana could accept that gracious offer, there was a loud crash in the doorway announcing the ever-graceful bride’s arrival.

  “Hello, hello girlies! I am here! Let’s do this thing!” Kate paused, noticing the not-so-friendly looks on her friends’ faces. “What? Am I late?”

  Emilie looked pointedly at her watch and then held it up to Kate. “It is now 8:55, Katherine. You specifically said 8:30. In fact, you insisted we—”

  “Aww, but that was just a ballpark time! Anyway, I’m here now, so we can get our eat on!”

  Before Emilie could inquire as to whose medicine cabinet Kate had recently raided in order to achieve such perkiness on a Saturday morning, Kate was hauling them to a table by the window.

  The waitress/proprietress, who also happened to be Emilie’s second cousin, approached their table with a smirk. “Emilie Thatcher, what on earth are you doing here so bright and early on a Saturday morning?” Her sarcasm was tempered by the friendly smile on her face.

  “So not my idea, Lou-Lou,” Emilie said with a sigh as they plopped down into their seats.

  Lou-Lou rolled her eyes as she filled their coffee cups. “’Nuf said, honey. What�
�ll you all have?”

  Lana ordered pancakes and bacon, Emilie ordered an omelet and toast, then Kate proceeded to order the entire breakfast menu. Emilie’s eyes widened comically as Kate asked for eggs, bacon, sausage gravy and biscuits, hotcakes, and a side of hash browns. Even the usually stoic Lou-Lou looked thrown by the blonde’s voracious appetite. She gave her a sideways glance and went off to place their order with a shake of her head and a mumbled “crazy kid” to herself.

  “Uh, are you okay, Kate?” asked Lana.

  “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” Kate’s eyes were suspiciously bright and her tone was definitely brittle as she played with the prongs on her fork, pressing them hard enough to leave deep indentations in her fingertips.

  “Kate,” Emilie said softly. She reached over and firmly removed the fork from her grasp. “You know if there’s anything you need to get off your chest—”

  “I said,” Kate interrupted. “I’m fine. Can we drop it and get on with the best day of my life?” She took a huge gulp of her coffee to halt any more questions and didn’t even flinch when the scalding liquid hit the back of her throat.

  Emilie almost protested, but Lana’s warning look stopped her. With a sigh, Emilie smiled tolerantly and, despite her better judgment, held her tongue.

  “Okay, Kate,” she said softly. “You’re right, it’s your day. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about.” Emilie lightly laid the fork back on the table and began to stir cream and sugar into her coffee cup. “Did your mom drive you nuts last night?”

  Relieved that her friends were apparently willing to lay off of her for the moment, Kate visibly relaxed and settled back into her seat. “Oh, you know Mom.”

  After a breakfast that would have made a Sumo wrestler nauseous, a quick stop to drop Kate’s car off at her Mom’s house and another for a much needed caffeine jolt from the Perfect Perk, the girls headed to the church. They were ten minutes away when Kate started screeching that she had forgotten to fix up the “bridal suite,” otherwise known as the same bedroom she slept in every night.