The Mistake (Bad Bridesmaids #1) - Noelle Adams Page 0,47

was the last time.

She clung to him desperately, as if she needed him too.

Surely he hadn’t been so wrong. So foolish. He was usually good at reading people, and he knew Amanda better than anyone. How had he not seen this coming? He’d been so happy just a few minutes ago.

She couldn’t seem to stop crying, so he didn’t let her go.

Finally he couldn’t stand the pain she was in, so he said thickly, “Amanda, please tell me what I can do to make it better. I love you, sunshine, so I’ll do whatever it takes. If you need me to back off, I will. If you need to take it slower, we can do that. If you need me to—”

He was on a roll, babbling all kinds of things he’d never intended to say. But she yanked herself out of his arms midsentence and gasped, “What?”

He blinked. “What?”

“What did you say?” Her face was transforming as she stared at him, the brokenness turning into something else. Stunned. Awed. And more than that.

Very confused now, he tried to answer her. “I said I’ll do what you need me to do? Why are you looking like that? I was so happy today, but obviously you aren’t, and I need you to be happy even more than I need to be happy myself. So just tell me what I need to do, and I swear I’ll—”

“Did you say you loved me?” The choked sound of her voice was more than tears now. It was joy.

It sounded exactly like joy.

His heart began to pound like a jackhammer. “Of course I love you. I’m hardly telling you new information here.”

“Not new— Oh my God, Robert! Yes, it’s new information. You think I already knew that?”

“Didn’t you?” He was cold and hot at the same time, but the world was shifting back now to where it had been a few minutes ago. The ache and panic he’d been slammed with were dissipating, leaving him so relieved he was shaking with it. “Amanda, you can’t possibly have been upset just now because you thought I didn’t love you! What did you think all this was about? I’ve never let someone in the way I have you. Why else would I have turned into someone who babbles out cheesy, sentimental endearments? Of course I love you. But if you aren’t ready—”

“Yes, I’m ready!” she burst out, beaming with a radiance that left him breathless even as her face was still streaked with tears. “I thought I was doing the same thing I did before, imagining what I wanted out of the relationship. If you expect me to know something, you actually have to say the words, you big dummy.” She gave him a couple of light swats on the chest.

Before she could give the third swat, he gathered her into a tight hug. “I love you, sunshine. I’m saying the words. I love you more than anything. I didn’t think I was even capable of feeling this way, but you’ve opened up all kinds of new places in my soul. I love you.” He was kissing her hair. Her temple. Any part of her his lips could reach since her face was buried against his suit coat.

She mumbled something that sounded like, “I love you too,” so he pulled back and took her head in his hands so he could see her face.

“What did you say?”

She was laughing and crying at the same time. “I said I love you too.”

He hugged her again, tighter than before. “Okay. Just making sure I heard you right.”

AMANDA SPENT THE REST of the day in a ridiculous state of giggling bliss.

It was almost embarrassing. Or it would have been if she hadn’t been too happy to care.

She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but the nature of reality had apparently altered. Life hadn’t turned out for the worst. What she wanted most hadn’t cruelly been snatched away. She loved Robert, and he loved her back.

Maybe the world wasn’t always out to hurt her after all.

She had no doubt she’d return to a more tempered and realistic perspective soon enough, but for the moment she couldn’t stop laughing and hugging herself. She did manage to pull it together enough to return to the reception with Robert. He was holding her hand when they returned, so their relationship was immediately made public.

But it wasn’t weird or awkward or cringeworthy. As clichéd as it was, she actually enjoyed showing the rest of the world