I smile back. “No. I’m not.” My arm moves around his neck as I pull him into my body so tight until we can’t get any closer. “God, I missed you.”
Alexander releases our hands and puts his other hand around my waist, holding me tightly. I bring my other arm around his neck, resting my cheek on his broad chest.
He kisses the top of my head and whispers, “I’ve missed you more.”
Leah and Adam’s first dance song ends and then a faster song plays. I am temporarily broken from the spell that is Alexander Asher and then realize where we are. We are at Leah’s wedding. She didn’t want him here yet here he is anyway. I have to approach her. I have to tell her that I am in love with him and if she loves me, she has to love him too.
But when I look over at her, I see she is smiling. Not just in wedding bliss, and not at me. She is looking directly at Alexander and smiling.
I look back at him as he pulls me back in and we start dancing to the fast beat. He is a really good dancer. In between spins and dips, I ask him, “She knew you were coming?”
“She did.”
“And she wasn’t mad.”
“She was a little mad.”
“How did you get her to change her mind?”
Alexander pulls me into his chest. Our feet stop moving. His honey-wheat eyes gaze into mine, and his lips part to say the sweetest words I’ll ever hear.
“I told her I’m in love with her sister.”
My hearts stops beating. Like, really, heart? Are you in there?
Lungs, you can breathe too.
Alexander moves a stray hair behind my ear. “I love you, Emma.”
My smile is so wide I think it will break my face. I want to kiss him. Instead, he takes my hand and is pulling me off the dance floor. We walk away from the room and his head looks from left to right in search of a place to talk. I pull him down the hallway and into the bridal suite.
As soon as we are inside the door, I try to throw myself on top of him and kiss him but he is holding me back.
“Are you serious? I need to maul you right now!” I am eager to get to him.
He laughs and holds me in a way that we are embracing but I can’t kiss him. “Emma, wait, I have to say this first and then I plan to do more than kiss you.”
I groan in anticipation at the thought but I let him talk.
“I have always gotten what I want. Ever since I went to live with my grandfather, I have prided myself on getting exactly what I wanted when it came to business, luxuries, women . . .”
I make a sour face at the mention of other women but he ignores that.
“I wanted you and I got you. But the way I felt for you scared me so I ran, and I promised I wouldn’t run again. I thought a lot about what you said the other night. I never gave you a reason to trust me. I wanted you to fight for me but I never did the same.
“So I called your sister and I told her how I feel about you. I even told her how you put her feelings before mine and she cried.”
I shake my head, “When was all this?”
“Yesterday. Emma, I can’t live without you. I didn’t follow you once and it almost ruined us. I wasn’t about to let it happen again and not without their blessing.”
“Their?” I ask.
“I spoke to your mom and dad too.”
“Oh, God.” I place my hand on my forehead and try to comprehend the conversation I am going to have with them about Alexander.
Alexander takes my hand away from my head and lowers his eyes so they grab my attention. I give him my most disapproving look. “Why did you talk to my parents?”
He shrugs his shoulders and says, “I needed somewhere to stay while I was in town.”
My inside release and I laugh out loud. “You’re staying at my parents’ house?”
Alexander nods. “I am.”
“You know there is zero privacy in my parents’ house and there is no way they’re letting you stay in my room.”
“I know. I have Leah’s room,’ he says with a face of mock fright. I laugh and he pulls me into him.
His hands come up to my cheeks and he holds my head as if it’s the most precious thing in the world. “I love you, Emma. I should have told you before. This. Is. It. For. Me. I’m all in.”