AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But I really hoped she wanted to be my girlfriend.
I took the mic from Adam with a hand so unsteady I might have been back on the surfboard in the wave machine. Had he really just declared he loved me while giving a toast at my sister’s wedding?
I was ready to drag him away from the reception and admit how I’d invented the crisis that separated us, then interrogate him about his shifting beliefs on love. Oh, and kiss him within an inch of his life. In no particular order.
Too bad everyone was staring at me in expectation of a brilliant toast.
I swallowed hard and tried to recall the message I’d worked on for the last week. “Um, Beth, it’s your special day, and I’m thrilled to share it with you. Your amazing taste has permeated every detail. I can’t tell you how much I....” I fought to find anything to say, mind blank. “How much I appreciate your valuable contributions.” Adam’s lips twitched, and I suddenly recognized the words from the Connect app.
There were so many more things I’d planned to say, but none of them were coming to mind. I glanced at Adam, and he smiled back encouragingly. “I wish I could just say ditto to everything Adam just said about love.” And not just because I couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought of my own. “Chase, welcome to the family.”
I sat down, handing the mic off to a waiter.
Adam wrapped an arm around me as the DJ invited Beth and Chase to cut the cake. He whispered in my ear. “Way to use your brain! That was a tricky one.”
“That was terrible,” I moaned. “I didn’t say any of the things I meant to.”
He rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. “Maybe you can write them down and send them to your sister later?”
“Good idea. Come on, better join them.” I stood from the table to get to the cake-cutting, and Adam followed me, his hand in mine.
He stayed by my side all through the cake-cutting and the first dance, and when it came time for the wedding party to join the couple, I shamelessly ditched Chase’s best man and pulled Adam out onto the floor. Ben didn’t seem to mind, since he got to dance with his wife instead.
Adam and I held onto each other as we slowly shuffled circles in time with a soulful cover of a much older love song. The way he kept watching me with adoring wonder left me in no doubt of his feelings.
“Is this a good time to finish that conversation we started earlier?” I asked. As embarrassing as it was to tell him I’d snooped in his email (albeit accidentally), I didn’t want to put it off any longer. Once we cleared the air, we could move forward with our relationship.
Adam’s sudden nervous expression made me want to hug him closer and reassure him he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Okay.”
“That last day of the cruise, when you went to get the scrapbooks, I saw something in your email.”
Adam frowned slightly.
“I wasn’t intending to, honestly,” I hurried to explain. “But I accidentally saw what you were drafting, and I jumped to conclusions.”
“The email to Cassidy—Dr. Croft?” His frown deepened. “I didn’t think I’d sent anything unprofessional.”
“No, you didn’t, but I thought you were agreeing to present at a conference today instead of coming to this wedding. And I kind of figured out that she was the woman who you really wanted to bring on the cruise.”
He drew in a breath. “Oh. Is that why you told me I didn’t need to come to the wedding? To give me a way out. A test of sorts, to see if I was serious about you.”
I looked down at his chest, knowing I had to tell him the rest. “I also wanted you to choose to tell me about the conference. When you didn’t, I got scared you had something to hide.”
“Which made you wonder if I was just like your last boyfriend.” He nodded in recognition.
Adam’s tone wasn’t accusing, but I still winced from embarrassment that I’d created a problem out of nothing but my insecurity. “And I thought if Cassie was the woman you’d rather be with, I was only second best. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” His smile was gentle. “You didn’t have any reason to trust me, especially when I was still adamant love didn’t exist. And I’m a little happy to find out you weren’t trying to uninvite me to the wedding because you thought I’d be awful with your family.”
“What? Of course not! You’ve been great, and it seems like my whole family likes you.”
“Except your dad.” He wrinkled his nose. “I got a little carried away trying to put my best foot forward.”
“I’m sure he’ll come around.” I fiddled with Adam’s tie, the same dark blue one he’d worn on the cruise. “Your toast was way better than mine.”
His lips curved in the sweetest smile I’d ever seen. “Only because of who inspired it.”
My eyes closed as Adam bent to kiss me the way I’d been longing he would for hours.
