I tried to swallow. “I mean, who doesn’t want to be engaged and getting married?”
Her brows lifted.
“It’s nothing, Aunt Autumn. It’s fine. It’s all going to be fine.”
“Famous last words,” she mumbled under her breath before she reached for my hand. “So, are you really going to do all of this wedding stuff and pretend that it’s real?”
“Why not? There’s zero pressure, and I think it’ll be fun.”
“What about dating?”
I flinched. “Oh, we’ve got that covered. I mean, we’re dating each other, just not in the way people think.”
Ugh. I wanted to punch myself. There was something about my aunt—she could always tell when I was hiding something. Or maybe it was because lying to her seemed to be so hard. Hell, I had no problem at all doing it with my parents. But I knew Autumn was different. She wouldn’t judge me and wouldn’t stick her nose into my business like my mother and father would.
“I was asking if you and Landon would have a problem if you wanted to date other people,” she said, giving me a knowing look.
“Oh!” I said with a laugh that sounded so fake I’d probably be booed off stage. “Well, neither one of us is interested in dating other people right now.”
Okay, that wasn’t a lie.
“Because you’re seeing each other secretly.”
“Exactly!” I said then frantically shook my head. “No! I mean, of course not. No. Nope. No.”
Why do I keep saying no?
Instead of calling me out on my bullshit, Autumn gave me a warm smile. “Well, I think you should let me throw you a fake engagement party along with Hailey’s real engagement party. A co-engagement party if you will. It’s a good excuse to get the family all together.”
Was she really going to drop it? I had just admitted that Landon and I were dating. For real.
“You don’t have to do that, Autumn. And I don’t want to take anything away from Hailey. I already am stealing her thunder with this fake wedding. I feel awful about it, and I hope Hail doesn’t hate me for it.”
Autumn brushed off my worry with a flick of her wrist. “I already spoke to Hailey about her engagement party. I asked to throw her one, and it was her idea to toss your party in with hers. So, I doubt she’s upset with you.”
I pulled my head back in shock. “Hailey suggested a joint party?”
Nodding, Autumn replied, “She sure did. She said something about how it would look great for your Insta.”
She put more stress on the word Insta, most likely because she really had no clue what Instagram was.
“Well, if Hailey doesn’t mind, then sure. I would love to help you plan the engagement party, though. I mean it is really for Hailey.”
Autumn stood. “I’ll take you up on that offer. Now, I need to get back to the ranch. I’m sure Malcolm has Jack doing something that involves horse shit or something dangerous.”
Laughing, I shook my head and walked with her back toward my door. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive Uncle Jack for leaving you that one time?”
“I don’t think so.” She paused. “I take that back. I think he’s forgiven him, he just can’t forget.”
“That sounds like my father.”
We both laughed. I went to open the door, but then jumped when I saw Landon standing there. He held a bouquet of flowers and smiled even wider when he saw Autumn.
“Aunt Autumn! What are you doing here?” he asked as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
“I came rushing back to Texas when I heard both of my nieces were getting married.”
Landon’s smile faltered for a moment before he recovered. “Yeah, about that…”
She waved off his worry. “No worries; all has been explained. And hopefully I’ll see you before the engagement party! Bye, kids.”
She started to walk off but then turned. “By the way, Landon, those are beautiful flowers.”
He looked at the bouquet and then back at Autumn. “I thought so.”
With a smile and a wink, she started walking again.
I motioned for Landon to come in and took the flowers from him. “Thank you, they’re beautiful.”
The second I shut the door, we both said at the same time, “She knows.”
Laughing, Landon leaned down and kissed me.
“I never could hide anything from Autumn. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her anything. And I know she won’t say anything to my folks.”
“How’s Sophie doing?” Landon asked as he followed me into the kitchen.
Grabbing a vase, I filled it with lukewarm water and then started to trim the bottoms of the flowers Landon had brought me. “She’s good. Autumn and I didn’t talk for very long. I think she wanted to come over and see for herself what was going on. It didn’t take her long to trick me into saying something. I tried to cover it, and bless her heart, she didn’t call me out on it.”
Landon leaned against the counter and watched as I adjusted the flowers in the vase.
Once I got the last flower where I wanted it, I said, “You’re early.”
“I missed you.”
My stomach became a fluttery mess as I took a step closer to him. “Is that so?”
He nodded. “Are you busy with work?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter.”
He smiled, and Lord how it made my chest instantly warm. “It matters to me, Emme. I don’t want to bug you if you’re busy.”
I moved closer to him and placed my hand on my chest. “Do you know what I really want, Landon?”
Slowly, he shook his head and said, “Tell me.”
I ran my tongue over my suddenly dry lips and looked down at his mouth and then back up at those eyes that reminded me of crystal-clear blue ocean water. “You. I want you, Landon.”
He pressed his mouth to mine, and before I knew it, I was sitting on the counter and we were making out like teenagers. I worked at getting every article of clothing off of him that I could reach, and he did the same. Soon we were both naked from the waist up, and when Landon bent and put my nipple into his mouth, I let out a cry of pleasure.
“More,” I panted. “Please.”
He lifted me off the counter, allowing me to wrap my legs around him as he practically sprinted to my bedroom. When he gently laid me on the bed, I prayed nothing or no one would interrupt us this time. I was going to combust if I didn’t have him inside of me soon.
As I lay on the bed, Landon undid the button and zipper on my jeans. I lifted my hips as he pulled them down so slowly that I soon was ready to sit up and just start kicking the damn things off. He smiled and then pressed his mouth to where my clit was hidden, causing me to gasp when he blew air through the lace of my panties. My entire body shivered. His tongue came out and played with my clit through the cotton, the friction giving me the most incredible teasing effect.
“Landon!” I whimpered, lifting my hips toward his mouth, silently begging for more.
“Tell me what you want me to do, Emme.”
I felt my cheeks heat. I’d told him that I liked it when he talked dirty to me, so I decided to play this game differently. “Tell me what you want to do to me, Landon.”