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“I’m going to step out to call her.”
“Babe.” Britt caught my arm as I headed off. “You really don’t have the time for that. You have to be on stage soon, so if you’re not okay, we can take a minute somewhere and calm you down,” she said
, stroking her thumb against my forearm. “Whatever way you need to decompress, you know I’m more than happy to help,” she added, dropping her voice. “In whatever way you need.”
I could actually see the blood rush to her lips with the last sentence she spoke. I knew what she was getting at because she’d been dropping these same hints every meeting since we started planning this event.
“What do you say?” Britt asked, her hair falling into her eyes as she tilted her head. I watched her step closer, my brain scrambling as she dropped her hand into mine, entwining our fingers.
As I felt the warmth of her palm press against mine, I clasped my other hand over hers. And in a way that was both gentle and firm, I pried her fingers off me.
“Thanks, Britt, but I’m good,” I said, catching the fire in her eyes before heading for John and Dev, two of my chairmen waving over to me at the other end of the bar.
I excused myself through the crowd to get to them, though that process alone took another five minutes because of all the people I needed to say hello to. By the time I got to the guys, I managed my first real smile all night because they were laughing hard at the amount of people I was drowning in.
“You’re used to Julian doing this part, aren’t you?” Dev snorted.
“Yeah, but he deserves a break this year since – ”
I cut off when I saw a flutter of rose gold and blonde at the top of the stairs. The guys followed my eye line and I heard John go, “Whoa.”
I couldn’t blame him as my eyes caught first on that long skirt skimming the floor. It was the same one I’d held scrunched in my hands last week when I dressed and undressed that beautiful body in that fitting room.
Lifting my gaze, my eyes finally locked on Aly standing at the top of the steps. And like a dam had broken, relief poured through me, carrying my feet to her before I even knew what was happening.
“Welp. There goes our chance, Dev.”
“Yep, we lost him. It’s over.”
I grinned, ignoring the guys’ jokes as I passed them and several others to get to the stairs.
I knew there were eyes following me, but all I could see was her.
Unlike the day she’d tried the dress on, her hair was swept up, giving me a clear view of that gorgeous neck I just wanted to bury my lips in already. For once, she had jewelry dangling from her ears and it drew my eyes to them like candy. All I wanted was to grab her, kiss her and put my hands all over her body, but in a room full of people, I held back and settled on meeting her halfway up the stairs.
True warmth flooded my veins when I saw that she was already smiling for me.
“Emmett, I had an emergency with Evie and Mike – I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“You’re here now. That’s all I care about,” I said, standing a stair below her so that we were for once the exact same height.
Our hands were clasped already. I didn’t know when it had happened, but I knew that I needed it. Just the touch of her skin on mine made me feel almost completely at ease. It made all the stress trapped under my bones break up and disperse, freeing the weight in my chest, allowing me to breathe. It felt like I was inhaling long and deep for the first time in two days, and judging from the concern deepening in Aly’s eyes, she could see it – that in the past forty-eight hours, I’d been to hell and back.
“Baby,” she said so softly it hurt. “What happened?”
I’d expected the question but the way she said it made me heart ache. I was so fucking sure she’d be furious with me. I thought that even if she did show up, I’d have to spend an hour groveling before she finally spoke to me.
But I should’ve known that she’d surprise me. She hadn’t stopped doing it since that night we found each other again.
“I don’t… even know where to start,” I finally said, letting myself lean tiredly against her soft palm. “But I promise I’ll explain it soon. Not now, but tonight, when all this is over. Is that okay?”
“Of course,” Aly nodded, letting me just gaze at her for a bit. Then she bit a shy smile back and peered past. “Emmett, everyone’s staring at us,” she whispered, barely moving her lips.
“Yeah?” I chuckled. “Who?”
“Everyone. Julian. Sara. Drew. Britt’s looking at me like she wants to eat my head.”
“Yeah, ignore that.”
