In a Rush (Friendship, Rhode Island #2)

by Kate Canterbary

For soft girls.

feeling like I’m living in the in-between. I want to stop looking for someone to love me.” When I was finished heaving my sob story into his lap, he met my eyes with a dark, even gaze and said, “You can.” “What?” I turned the water glass, letting the condensation slick my palms. “What do you mean?” “Stop looking. Marry me.”

“Don’t even fucking think about it” when one guy went in for a side hug I hadn’t requested.

“And you’re willing to get married,” I said. “To get these teams.” He started to respond but stopped himself. His gaze flicked to me before he drained his water and snagged a few grapes from the plate. After a moment, he said, “Yeah, I am. But only to you.”

guess it’s nice to know I’m not at the bottom of your list or something depressing like that.” He met my eyes. “You’re the list, Em. You’re it.”

Am I registering for a waffle iron? These are the important questions.” The corners of his eyes creased as he asked, “A waffle iron?” “Yes, and I can only conspire with you if I know the whole conspiracy,” I said.

“What about your family? How are you going to explain this to them?” He stared into my eyes like he was trying to find something in there. Better judgment and common sense, perhaps. “There’s nothing to explain. They’ll get it.”

He went back to the hair spilling over my shoulder and dragged his fingers through it. I must’ve had a lot of fuzz from my scarf in there again. “What do you want?” “I—I haven’t thought about it,” I admitted, and it was the truth. “Well, I have,” he said, his words low, like a secret. “And I know I want to marry you as soon as I can.”

“Wedding planners, stylists, private jets,” I teased. “You sure know how to spoil a girl.” “Yeah, I’m counting on it,” he said under his breath.

“Yeah. I’ll take care of it for you.” A small smile broke across his face. “Wife.” My lips parted and I reached for the pearls I still wasn’t wearing as he jogged down the stairs.

I never should’ve touched her hair. Not the first time, definitely not the second.

But if we did this, I’d get everything I’d ever wanted. And I’d ruin my entire life in the process.

He ran his fingers over his mustache. “I’m going to like her, aren’t I?” “So much.”

That way, it at least looks like we have a reason to throw money at your girl’s school.” My girl. Liquid heat spread through my chest. It felt good for a minute, but then the truth of it seared straight through my skin and all the way down to my bones. It fucking hurt. Just like it always had. “There’s one more thing.” I tapped my phone and turned it toward Jakobi. “We might need to buy this building.” Another slow blink, a slight pinch of his brows. “She’s requesting real estate?” “No,” I said carefully, “and she can’t know that I’m looking into this.” “Oh, Jesus,” he muttered.

“Because then I can repair the roof and windows and whatever else the fuck is wrong with it. I offered up my condo, but she blew that off like a multimillion-dollar penthouse had nothing on her quirky corner of the North End. So what am I supposed to do? Sit on my fucking hands?”

“I’ll be damned.” “What?” I snarled. He smiled at me then, wide and toothy and definitely smug. “Ryan Ralston has a heart,” he said. “I haven’t seen it until now because you left it with her.”

“He wanted to put you in his pocket and carry you around all day.”

“You signed it, ‘Love forever, Your (probably) future wife,’” Jamie said, zooming in on the screen. “You also wrote that it was a binding contract and even if he tossed his yearbook off a pier, you’d always have proof.”

years ago as his proof. It simply read, I’ll hold you to it. Your husband. “Goddammit that’s romantic,”

“He’s here,” Jamie said, awe in her voice, “because he’s come to collect. You texted him on his birthday and he wanted to see you that weekend.” “He waited until it was time,” Audrey said. “After all these years.” “He wants to go through with it,” Grace said.

“How do you know her again?” Stella asked. I watched Emme help the karate-kicker tuck a disaster of papers in his desk. When she was finished, she gave me a nod. I felt my lips turning up into a smile. The obvious answer was from back home, from high school, from ninth-grade biology, from listening to music in her car during lunch all of senior year so I didn’t have to talk to anyone. But I heard myself say, “She’s my favorite thing in the world.”

So, when I found myself staring into the eyes of the only woman I’d ever loved, I knew it wouldn’t feel like work at all.

“Next time, waste the money,” he said, a few strands of my hair twisted around his finger. “I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.” “You want me to just…buy jewelry.” He nodded as he rubbed my hair between his index finger and thumb. “Yes.” “Does it have to be jewelry?” “Is there something else you want?”

“Buy whatever you want. I’ll add you to my Amex account.” A startled laugh burst out of me. “I was kidding about—about the books. I don’t need⁠—” “If you don’t order the books, I will.” He wasn’t being serious. About any of it. I knew that. Even so, I said, “Okay, but don’t be surprised if you see some major bookstore charges coming your way.” “Even if you ordered class sets of every second-grade book you could ever want, that would still cost less than the jewelry Wren selected for you.”

He dragged his fingers down the length of my hair, pulling just enough to send a wave of tingles running over my scalp and down my neck. “I’m going to spend a little over sixty million on these teams when the ink is dry,” he said, the words low and husky. “That’s less than what I earn in a year before postseason bonuses, before endorsements.” He released my hair and let his fingers trail down my bare arm to circle my wrist. “Buy all the books you want, wife.”

Ignoring her, Ryan leaned in close, saying, “In the future, I’ll take care of the jewelry.”

“Be a good girl for me and keep your head down.”

“You look like the first day of spring after the coldest, most brutal winter,” he said. “No one is going to be able to take their eyes off you.”

dragged a hand up my back and over my shoulders to rest at the base of my neck. “Fuck it,” he growled. He tipped my head back, and within the space between blinks, he went from staring at me to kissing me. At first it was a slow, firm press but then a quiet, strangled noise vibrated between us and I understood what he’d meant about coming out of a long, cold winter because I felt like the world was new again and I was too. I linked my hands behind his neck and let him press me closer, closer while murmurs rose and camera shutters clicked around us. I couldn’t let myself think about the audience. I told myself it was Ryan they were after and I was an

No one had ever kissed me like this before. Like they were damn certain they wanted to kiss me.

Ryan said. “I never forget my promises to you.”

We stared at each other. I knew she was thinking we would hurt my family when we split up. But I was thinking we could spare everyone and just keep this ruse going for the next fifty, sixty years.

After the pilot announced we’d be landing in twenty minutes, Ryan slid off his seat to kneel in front of me. I started to join him because what the hell did I know? Maybe this was what you did on private planes. But Ryan settled his hands above my knees and held me in place. A slight smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he said, “Stay there. Let me do this.” “Do what?”

He laughed and blew out a breath. Then, “This probably isn’t what you had in mind for yourself and I am sorry for that but believe me when I say there is no one else in the world I’d rather marry. I just hope there’s some part of you that wants to marry me.”

“As long as it’s convincing, that’s all that matters. Right?” “What matters to me is that you like it,” he said. “I chose this. For you.

kind of round but also square, and it made me think of you.” “Because I am both round and square?” I teased as I motioned between my hips and breasts. “Because you’re many things at once,” he said with a laugh. I pointed at him. “Smooth.” He shrugged as he leaned back on his heels. Straightening the ring once again, he said, “Is that a yes?” “You have to ask?” He dragged his lower lip between his teeth as he met my gaze. “I wanted to give you another chance to back out.” I dropped down to the floor and pulled him into a hug. “Nah. I’m a sure thing.”

“Can I kiss you?” I tipped my chin up. If only he knew how long I’d waited for him to ask. “Always.” And when he touched his lips to mine, I pretended—just for now—that all of this was real.

I stared at the ring on her finger as she slept. I’d spent an entire week looking for the right one. Jakobi almost strangled me. Apparently, other people didn’t need to visit eighteen jewelers in four cities to find the right ring. I doubted other people were hoping their fake fiancée actually fell in love with them before the jig was up.

had to respect that. I couldn’t bully my way in—no more than I already had—just because rubbing up against her while fully clothed was the best sex of my life.

“Will you learn ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’?” Ines squinted at him. “What’s that?” I snorted out a laugh. “It’s the song from Top Gun.” Shaking my head at him, I said, “You can’t be serious.” “I never joke about Top Gun.” He had the audacity to look offended. “It’s a great song. The best song.”

“Because Shay’s husband’s a jam farmer and he always sends us home with a bunch when we visit. I swear, he grows the best jam in the entire world.”

insurance or citizenship or something.” She thought about it for a second. “I’d make a great fake wife for someone who needed a hetero-looking relationship.”

I gripped the flowers as the officiant got right down to business welcoming us to this ceremony of marriage. “Ryan, do you take Emmeline to be your⁠—” “I do.” He brought his free hand to the bouquet, lacing his fingers with mine as I laughed. A grin started at the corner of his mouth and it unfurled into a wide smile that had my heart pounding in my chest and a few overwhelmed tears fogging my eyes. After all these years, I was marrying this sweet, broody boy. “Yes to all of it. Everything. I do.” “Not wasting any time. I like it.” The officiant chuckled. “Emmeline, do you take Ryan to be your⁠—” “I do too,” I said, still laughing.

“That’s one of my favorite observatories.” “Mine too.” He glanced at his watch. “I have a dinner reservation in the Back Bay before the tour. Would you join me?” She pointed to the velociraptor dress. “Do I have to change or can I wear this?” “Don’t you change a damn thing, beautiful,” he crooned.

the sheets and brought it back to my neck. “Don’t let me go,” I said. “I won’t,” she said, “if you don’t.” It was the easiest thing in the world to say, “Never.”

“How are you—” She rocked her hips against me and my whole body twitched. “Still going strong?” I wasn’t about to correct her so I held her waist as I bucked up into her. “Because it’s you, wifey.”

“You can just”—she glanced down at my torso—“keep going?” So I’d have to explain a few things to her. All right. “I’m hard because I want to fuck you. Because you’re gorgeous and sexy, and because I want to spend so much time in your cunt that you’ll expect me to pay rent.”

“He’s not my boy,” I said, running my knuckles along the scruffy line of his jaw. “He’s not mine at all.” “Good.” Ryan pulled me back to him again, a growl low in his throat. “Because I don’t share.”

where I exist without you and I don’t want there to be one.”

“That’s my girl.”