Chapter Thirteen #3
Normally she would make a joke to cover up her true feelings, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. How could she joke around when her heart was breaking?
“Oh,” she said. “Did I do something wrong?” Had she messed up in some way in front of his family?
“No, of course not,” Landon swiftly said. “You’ve been perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Stupid, stupid, stupid! She’d thought that things had been going so well between them until this exact moment. Now it felt as if everything had blown up in her face. She hadn’t even seen this coming.
And even though she’d been trying to convince herself that Hattie was the main reason she’d agreed to Landon’s plan, she now knew that wasn’t true. Bailey had been all in due to Landon. From day one she’d had a massive crush on him that had become so much more.
She willed herself not to cry. This hurt way more than she would’ve imagined, and it scared her. Her feelings for Landon had really intensified over the past few weeks. Why had she allowed herself to be in such a vulnerable position? Was this what it felt like to fall in love with someone?
“The thing is, I don’t want to pretend anymore, Bailey, because I want this to be real between us. And I may be talking out of my head as far as you’re concerned, but that’s how I feel.”
“What?” she asked, stunned by his admission. He wanted their relationship to be the real thing! “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I am.”
“Landon!” She choked out his name, buoyed by the words coming out of his mouth. “That’s what I want too.”
Landon exhaled. “I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, if I’m being truthful.”
“I totally get that. But wanting to kiss each other when no one’s watching is a big clue,” she said, feeling a little breathless. She had wanted this so badly. And now it was happening.
Landon cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “I don’t know where this will end up, Bailey. I just know that I want to be with you. I want to be your man.”
Bailey wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have died and gone to heaven.
“I’m a bit rusty on relationships, but I want to try,” Landon said. “See where this can go.”
He sounded so sincere and a bit shy. And he was waiting nervously for her to say something back to him. She didn’t want to leave him hanging.
“Me too,” she said, wanting to let him know that they were on the same wavelength. “I want to be with you on a genuine level.”
Landon moved closer to her and placed his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “From this point forward, everything is real. I won’t have to feel guilty anymore about lying to Hattie or my family.”
“Good point. It was getting complicated.” She had started to feel bad about how happy her family was for her and Landon. Not to mention it had felt wrong at times to trick Hattie, even though she’d been over the moon about their relationship.
“So, are we going to come clean to everyone?” Bailey asked, trying to keep from laughing. That was the very last thing she wanted to do, but she wanted to tease Landon.
Just as she thought, he looked horrified. “Absolutely not,” he said. “My brothers would never let me live that down, and I don’t think Hattie would like it very much either. Consider this a win for us. We’ll never have to come clean now.”
“I was teasing you,” Bailey admitted. “Something tells me nobody would even believe it if we tried.”
She reached up and placed her arms around his neck, drawing him closer.
“You’re right about that,” Landon said. “That’s how I got myself into this situation in the first place. Caleb and Hattie didn’t believe any of my denials, so I just rolled with it.”
“And I’m very glad you did,” she said, tilting her head upward so that their gazes were locked. “Not only did you make Hattie incredibly happy, but you got yourself a girlfriend too.”
Landon’s eyes roamed over her with appreciation. “I sure did. And a gorgeous one at that. Do you mind if we continue where we left off earlier?” he asked. “I really wasn’t done kissing you.”
“I don’t object, but we still have some work to do. You know I’m very goal oriented.”
“We’ll get to that in a little bit, but this is my number one goal for now,” Landon said.
He dipped his head down and placed his lips over hers.
The moment his lips touched hers, Bailey felt a little jolt.
She went weak in the knees. This kiss was fiery in its intensity, different from their other kisses.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
Landon parted his lips, inviting her in and raising the heat level.
She had never been kissed like this before, never experienced these dizzying emotions rising up inside her.
Well before she was ready to stop kissing Landon, it ended.
“Back to work,” Landon murmured. “Time is ticking away on our deadline.”
Bailey turned toward Foxy Brown, who was sitting a few feet away in her doggy bed. “Foxy Brown, please close your eyes,” she instructed.
She turned back toward Landon. “We’ve got plenty of time,” Bailey said, pulling him back toward her and planting a resounding kiss on his lips. This kiss, she thought, signified the start of their new relationship, one that she knew would rock her world.