“Well, it’s Simon’s,” I confessed. “I don’t know how to sew.”
“I do,” Madelaine said, setting her coffee aside and straightening. “Kind of.”
Audrey’s smile widened. “Then I need both of you. Come on.”
SeeingSimon was always like watching the sunrise to me, but after the morning I’d had, meeting him in the temporarily deserted entryway of the house was like dawn breaking over the longest night of the year.
I didn’t speak, and I didn’t give him a chance to. Instead, I stepped right into his space, put both hands on his face, and caught his lips in a soft, slow, insistent kiss, breathing in his scent, soaking in his warmth, tasting his mouth.
“Orange?” I murmured, registering the taste on his lips with a little surprise.
“Breakfast mimosas,” he said. “Delilah was right.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“She cuts her orange juice with soda water,” Simon said. “She’s right about the bubbles.”
I laughed. I’d known that about Delilah since we were teenagers, but the delight in Simon’s voice was infectious. All the tension that’d built over the course of a morning dealing with a panicking little sister, out-of-her-depth older sister, and Audrey desperately trying to wrangle the whole show melted away as I looked into Simon’s eyes.
He’d always grounded me.
I kissed him again, deliberately licking the seam of his lips before pulling back. “I’ll have to try it.”
Simon laughed. “That’s what I said to her!”
With a sigh, I let my eyes fall closed and my forehead lean against his, both hands still on his face. I’d been this close—closer—to him thousands of times, but right now I was soawareof him. Of his body, and what it felt like under my hands, between my thighs. Inside me. On top of me.
I wanted him.
If I only had him for another handful of hours…
“C’mere,” I murmured, grabbing him by the elbow. We couldn’t go to our room—that was the first place anyone who was looking for either of us would look.
Wecouldmake use of the reading nook in the living room, which was out of sight of all the main routes through the house. Most of the guests were spending the morning at the beach or exploring the area while the house and grounds were set up for the wedding and reception. We could be alone for a little while.
Simon laughed again, low and warm, as I shoved him onto the bench seat of the nook, straddling his lap.
“Missed you,” I said, staring down into his eyes.Definitelybetter with the glasses on. “So much.”
“Rough morning?” he asked, settling his hands on my waist.
“I had to borrow your sewing kit,” I said, resting my forehead against his again. I’dmeantfor this to be a sexy encounter, but I couldn’t resist the comfort of being with him. Simon was the only person in the world who made me feel like I was exactly where I was meant to be when we were together. “One of the other bridesmaids stepped on the train of Delilah’s dress. Huge rip.”
“And...yousewed it back up?” Simon raised an eyebrow. “You could’ve?—”
“Come and gotten you?” I finished for him, a smile tugging at my lips.
“Well, yeah.” He squeezed my waist lightly. “Could’ve used the rescue.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “That bad?”
“Tell me the rest of the story,” Simon said, pulling back to look at me. “Then I’ll tell you about mine.”
“Not much to tell.” I sighed, wriggling closer to him, letting myself relax into his lap. “Madelaine took care of the sewing part. Audrey covered up the worst of the seam by pinning some flowers to it. Even Delilah had to admit it added something. The bridesmaid who did it might need a few months of therapy to get over some of the things Delilah said to her, but... crisis mostly averted.”
Simon chuckled. “I bet that bridesmaid has said worse things to Delilah,” he said. “Girls aremean.”
“You know, Audrey’s okay.”
