Sweet Nothing(60)

“I want to. Let me do this. You’ve been working so hard at everything else.”

Her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she slowly bit down, unsure.

I placed my hands on either side of her face, looking her in the eye. “Please. I want to do this.”

She nodded as I pressed my lips to her forehead.

The sizzling in the frying pan snapped us from our tender moment as Avery whipped around to take the pan from the burner.

“Damn it,” she yelled as the pan clattered on the counter. She rushed to the sink and pushed on the cold water, soothing her burnt hand under the stream.

“Jesus Christ, Avery!” I grabbed her hand, stretching out her palm so I could inspect it. The pink outline of the handle on her skin was already beginning to fade.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” I said, offering an encouraging smile.

Groaning, she looked up at me with her bottom lip jutting out. “I give up. I am going back to bed and will try again tomorrow.”

“Hey.” Rubbing the pad of my thumb over her lip, I pulled her back against me. “It’s going to be all right. I promise.”

Her head moved against me as she nodded.

“Go ahead. I’ll finish up the eggs and bring them in to you, and we can both spend the day in bed.”

“You’re too good to me.”

“I didn’t say what it is we’ll be doing while we’re in bed.” I patted her ass as she walked away.

She stopped in the doorway, a sexy grin on her lips. “Like I said, you’re too good to me.”





I’d spent the last two weeks doing my part, booking plane tickets and finalizing time off work. Even a simple wedding took some time to figure out. I still wanted our day to be special, regardless of how simple it was.

Avery didn’t seem as stressed, but she’d stopped discussing the wedding. Every day, I worried more that she was having second thoughts.

“I said no, tit bag. Quit worrying,” Deb said.

I pressed the phone closer to my ear. “Don’t f*ck with me. This is important.”

“You know, I used to like you. Back when you were cool. Now you’re like a weepy vagina all the time and trust me, those aren’t fun. I miss when you were fun, Josh.”

“Double D!” Quinn called in the background. “Get your hot ass in here!”

I rolled my eyes. “Can’t you be serious, Deb? Just this one time? It’s important.”

She was quiet for a moment. “No. Can I go now? Your bestie wants a post-dinner hand job.”

“Christ. Bye,” I said, poking END and dropping my phone in my lap. I covered my face and groaned.

A noise across the room prompted me to look up. Avery was in her scrubs, leaning against the kitchen doorframe with her arms folded over her chest.

“Hi.”

I did my best to pretend I didn’t want to choke out her friend. “Hi, baby.”

She hesitated. “Who was that?”

“Just last-minute plans for the wedding.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Is something wrong?”

She shrugged, pushing from the door and walking to the fridge. “I just thought we were going to elope … quick and dirty. Now you’re on the phone all the time, but I don’t feel like there’s been a lot of progress.”

“Baby, it’s only been a few weeks. I had to get some things together, but it is almost there.”

“A few weeks? Do you know what today is?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Cinco de Mayo?”

“It’s May, Josh. You chose June. You wanted to take over the planning because you felt it was too stressful for me. Now you’re dragging your feet.”

“Avery,” I chided. I cleared my throat. My exasperation with Deb was bleeding into our conversation. “What is going on? First it was all happening too quickly and now it’s not fast enough. I’m trying.”

“Are you stalling?” She turned around slowly, a tear slipping down over the apple of her cheek. “Because you don’t have to do that. You can talk to me.”

She touched the penny at her neck, and I panicked and pointed at her. “Don’t walk out on me.”

She blinked. “I wasn’t … I … was going to offer it to you. For your thoughts. Just asking doesn’t work as well anymore.”

I sighed. “We definitely need to talk. I can’t keep wondering, but I don’t want to upset you.”

“About what?” she asked, shifting her weight.

“I’m nervous.”

Her face fell. “About marrying me.” It wasn’t a question. She said the words as if she’d expected everything I was saying.

“No. Absolutely not,” I said, walking over to her. I held her arms in my hands. “You’ve been quiet. You clam up when I ask you about the wedding. I’m okay. I don’t want to wait, but if you do, I will.”

She shook her head.

“You don’t want to wait?” I asked, nearly allowing myself relief.

“There’s been talk at work,” she said, biting her lip.

“Talk? What kind of talk?”

“Michaels mentioned she saw you at Corner Hole the other night when you said you were at work. She didn’t say it to me. Deb overheard her telling someone else.”