Nerdy (Unexpected Lovers, #2) - J.B. Heller Page 0,31

cheek, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Oh, Emmy, you’ve always had the most beautiful heart. If this boy is worth your love, he’ll see it too.”

Her words play on repeat in my head as Sebastian drives us out of the city Friday afternoon on our way to the vineyard the wedding will be held at. Should I just tell him how I feel? Lay my heart on the line and hope he reciprocates? Can I even do that?

I’m the first to admit I’m a hopeless romantic, but when it comes to my own love life, I’m freaking terrified of getting hurt. I thought I’d found my person once; he was perfect, and sweet, and everything I could have ever dreamed of. Until he wasn’t.

Ever since then, I’ve been cautious of anything that seems too good to be true. And Sebastian Bailey is like all my favorite things rolled into one neat package. He’s hot; he’s funny; he loves words; he has asshole-ish tendencies, yet he’s sweet when he wants to be. And the way he is with his nieces... Stick a fork in me, ’cause I’m done.

“You okay over there?” he asks, drawing me from my thoughts.

I turn to face him, smiling at his profile. “Yeah, I’m good.”

He glances at me for the briefest of moments from the corner of his eye. “You sure? You’re awful quiet. Did everything go okay with your mom yesterday?”

“It was great. I’ve missed her. We don’t spend enough time together,” I tell him then change the subject. “So, what’s on the agenda when we arrive?”

“We’ll check into our cabin, get settled, and then we’ve got the rehearsal dinner tonight,” he says, keeping his attention on the road ahead.

“Cool-cool-cool,” I mutter, more to myself than him, but he chuckles.

“You get that from Brooklyn Nine-Nine?” he asks. “I love that show.”

My grin is instant and the first real one I’ve worn all day. “I’ve been saying it way longer than Jake Peralta.”

“Sure you have.” Sebastian chuckles. “Who’s your favorite?”

“As if I could even choose. I mean, Rosa is the shit, but there’s just something about Jake that I’m a little bit in love with,” I say.

“I’d have picked you as more of a Gina fan.”

I nod. “Gina is up there. Her confidence is something else,” I muse. “I honestly don’t think I can pick just one. That’s probably why it’s one of my all-time favorite shows. It’s like the new Friends.”

“Explain that,” he demands. “Because I see no correlation between Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

“Okay, so you know how there are just some shows you can watch over and over and they never get old? Friends, The Nanny, MASH, Happy Days...” I list off a few of my personal preferences, and when Sebastian nods, I resume. “So, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is like one of those. It will never get old.”

He continues nodding. “Yeah, okay, I get what you’re saying. The Fonz will never die,” he says. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he mimics running a comb through his hair with the other, saying, “Ayyy.”

I crack up, laughing at his Fonzie impression. “Exactly.”

The remainder of the drive is spent chatting about TV series, movies, and even the actors we like and dislike. Unsurprisingly, we agree on a lot of them, and it’s just another thing that makes me think we could actually make this work in real life.

When he pulls up in front of a gorgeous log cabin and turns the car off, I cannot wipe the smile off my face. “This place is really nice,” I tell him as he unloads our bags from the trunk.

“Just wait until you see inside,” he says, a seductive smirk on his lips.

Swinging open the front door, he steps back and allows me to enter first. Holy shit, he wasn’t wrong. This place is freaking amazing. My gaze bounces from the lavish bed with a cozy-looking duvet and big fluffy pillows to the lounge area by a large, already-roaring fireplace, admiring the open-plan layout.

“See what I mean,” he says against my neck.

My skin prickles as his breath washes over the sensitive skin behind my ear, and I lean back into him. “Wow,” I mumble. It’s all my brain will allow me to say right now.

Sebastian drops our bags just inside the entry then closes the door, blocking out the outside world. I feel his presence at my back before he gently glides a fingertip down my spine, causing a shiver of anticipation to race through me.

We haven’t done