Wedding Bet (Fixer Brothers Construction Co #8)

5. Jamie

5

JAMIE

The side of my body pressed up against Landry’s as we crammed in on one of the narrow Ferris wheel seats, squished up against each other like sardines.

“There,” I said, looking over at him. “Is this coupley enough for you?”

He had a wistful, dreamy smile on his face. “It’s perfect. This is definitely something that a real couple would do.”

I’d seen Landry earlier tonight in the elevator, but he’d freshened up before coming to the festival. His hair was in a perfect swoop and smelled like some impossible slice of heaven, a warm scent that made me want to lean in even closer to him.

It had been fun to set up the wedding bet and agree to be his pretend boyfriend for the rest of the week, but now I was starting to realize just how much I enjoyed having a little mission for the week. I’d seen Parker and his new man around the fairgrounds, each looking very snide as they inspected each booth, and I’d wanted to do something to make Landry feel better about his shitty situation.

Parker had done him fucking dirty .

And I wanted to help him out.

Especially if it meant sitting with him on a Ferris wheel and making me feel less pitifully single and alone tonight.

“A couple would definitely do this,” I told Landry. “Every couple has to take at least one ride on a Ferris wheel every single day. Every relationship counselor agrees.”

He snorted, looking out over the fairgrounds as the wheel clicked into motion and we were lifted from the ground. Little by little, tall pine trees gave way to more views of the tall snowy mountain peaks. The night sky twinkled above as the laughter and chatter of the festival filtered through the air.

“A Ferris wheel ride a day keeps the bad relationships away, huh?” Landry said. “No wonder my proposal failed.”

I squeezed his arm. “I’m just trying to joke around. Hope I didn’t go too far.”

“Of course not,” he said. “I need to laugh about it. Otherwise I’ll end up going back over to Parker and punching him, and I’m really not a violent kind of guy.”

The Ferris wheel was halfway through its turn now, and we could see the whole fairgrounds below us, people milling around between stalls.

“I see Chase and Adam,” I said, pointing down. “You can always tell where they are because they’re surrounded by adoring friends.”

“Everyone loves them,” he agreed. “Everyone loves all of the Fixer Brothers, and I see why.”

“You’ve liked working with them?” I asked. “My brother has raved about them since the moment he started filming their TV show.”

“They’re the real deal,” Landry said. “Shawn and Nathan built a company that people actually want to work for. Their personalities on the TV show are just as genuine and friendly as they are in real life. They have two pro football players in their crew now, too. It’s like a little family.”

I looked down, seeing the group of people surrounding Chase.

My brother really had found a little family for himself in the Fixer Brothers friend group. Shawn and Nathan were the founders of the construction company and ever since my brother had started working for them, I’d watched every episode of their renovation TV show.

It seemed like everyone in the little Fixer Brothers community was a good person. And I was comfortable here with Landry, knowing that he was their friend, too.

I relaxed into the cozy little seat, and even though I could see the cloud formed by my breath in the air, the cold night wasn’t bothering me anymore. “The craziest thing about this is that I’m actually appreciating the cold, right now.”

Landry turned and dropped his jaw, giving me a look of mock horror. “The California boy finally admits the cold can be nice, huh?”

I held up a hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never say anything bad about my warm, sandy, beachy home,” I said. “But today fucking rocked . I got to sleep in, which I haven’t done in years. I got to learn a new craft.”

“Shore-and-shitta?” Landry said, cracking a grin.

“ Scherenschnitte is a very beautiful thing,” I said, giving him a little shove. “I love paper crafts.”

“They were beautiful,” he said. “So beautiful I wanted one, actually.”

“I’ll give you one when we get back to the hotel,” I said. “I also got to have amazing food for lunch, for even cheaper than most diners back in California. And now I’m here with you, with delicious spiced wine, in the best fairgrounds I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s amazing,” Landry said.

Both of us lapsed into a comfortable silence for a moment, taking in our surroundings. I was definitely aware of my body being pressed up against his, but for once, I didn’t feel shy about it.

We were at the top of the Ferris wheel’s arc now, and the view below was spectacular. The entire resort was in sight now, as well as the ski lifts and slopes where I’d made a fool of myself attempting to ski.

“I realized something tonight,” Landry said a minute later. “We’re going to be totally screwed the moment Parker mentions our fake relationship to Chase or Adam.”

“Maybe,” I said. “And I think Chase would be very curious if he somehow thought we were dating each other after only meeting two days ago.”

Landry stared up at the sky. “God, I don’t always think things through. I mean, I do when it comes to work, or investments, or the setting on my rowing machine, but not this kind of stuff.”

“Well, we’re in a perfect little world, here,” I told him. “After the wedding, we’ll all be gone, and none of it will matter.”

A dip of disappointment hit me.

I… really didn’t like the idea of all of this being over.

In fact, freezing this moment and making it last as long as possible was a whole lot more appealing to me right now.

Right now, home made me think of my stack of bills, which was only going to feel worse after this expensive trip. Home made me think of my job, and all the extra hours I’d have to put in, on my feet, cooking breakfast for snooty tourists who looked at me like I was a roach.

Right now I could live in a dream with Landry, pretending this was the kind of leisurely life I got to live all the time.

“Jamie,” Landry said in a soft voice. “You still with me?”

“Oh,” I said, coming back to reality. “Distracted. I apologize.”

“Sorry if I derailed your evening,” Landry said as the Ferris wheel made another turn.

“Derailed?” I balked. “Since you came and found me, it’s gotten a whole lot better.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Really? It looked like you were having a great time talking with that guy, earlier.”

“Oh, Elias? Sure, Chase introduced us. He’s a nice guy.”

“He’s a very cute guy, too,” Landry said, his eyes searching my face.

I shrugged one shoulder. “He’s… fine.”

“Just fine? Something wrong with him?”

I struggled to come up with a good answer for that. “Just a feeling I get,” I said. “There was nothing wrong with him. Just like there’s nothing wrong with the last few guys I went on dates with, before work got crazy. But I could tell Chase was trying to set us up, kind of like a blind date, because he knows Elias travels to California a lot. But I don’t see that kind of a connection forming with him.”

Landry hummed. “I’m starting to think no one is your type.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait. What is that supposed to mean?”

He glanced over at me, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “When was the last time you went on an actual date? Before work got crazy, like you said?”

I stared off at the mountain peaks. “I don’t know. Six months ago? No, wait, six months ago was when we redid the patio at work, and that was total chaos. Shit. Maybe it was the year before that.”

“So you haven’t been on a date, or focused on your personal life at all, for at least eighteen months?”

Suddenly my body was feeling a little warmer, maybe from embarrassment or maybe because I’d been sitting too close to Landry for too long.

“I don’t want to think about that,” I finally told him.

“If you haven’t even cared about dating for that long, it sounds like some part of you isn’t ready for more.”

Suddenly I felt like every part of me was retracting internally. Almost recoiling from him after he’d said it.

Not ready for more? Who the hell was he to say something like that?

I let the brief burst of anger simmer inside me, pulling in a long breath through my nostrils. I looked away from him, out toward the fairgrounds as the Ferris wheel finally made its last descent toward the ground.

“Well, you’ve known me for somewhere a little over 48 hours, so I don’t think you’re necessarily the best judge,” I said, trying but failing to keep an acidic tone from my voice.

“Hey. Jamie. I didn’t mean it like that,” Landry protested. “I was trying to be empowering, actually. Shit, I think I put my foot in my mouth.”

I turned back to him and saw a genuine apology in his eyes.

Christ, he looked good. I still couldn’t believe I was sitting next to him—this absurdly handsome man who had somehow gotten me all emotional in the span of just a few minutes.

I felt bad for my strong reaction.

I took in a deep breath of air as the Ferris wheel came to a stop. Both of us stepped off and I turned to Landry.

“It’s fine,” I finally said.

He looked dubious as he stepped off onto the ground. “Are you sure?”

I swallowed. “Yes. I think I just freaked out a little bit when I realized how long it’s actually been, and… well, I feel like a loser, and I’m pretty convinced I’m going to be alone for the rest of my life—”

I cut my words short when I realized Landry was trying to hold back a laugh. I watched as he failed miserably, laughing openly now, his head tilted back.

He looked so damn good in his light, tan-colored coat, even as he was laughing at me.

“You are not going to be alone for the rest of your life,” he finally said. “I’m sorry, but that was the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. You? Alone? Come on, let me buy you another spiced wine.”

“Why is it so laughable that I would be alone?”

“Because you’re hot, funny, smart, and one of the most charming people I’ve ever met,” he said. “You won’t be alone.”

My heart did a little backflip in my chest.

We started sauntering back over toward the booth. “That’s very kind of you, but you have no idea how bad I usually am on first dates.”

“Jamie, I’ve noticed at least five people, both men and women, staring at you like you’re the cutest thing they’ve ever seen—and that’s just been tonight . I promise you, you are going to be fine. I’m the one who will be alone forever, and I’ll probably be better off for it.”

I struggled not to roll my eyes. He was the one who was crazy. I knew Landry was a bachelor by choice, but he’d have no problem having whoever he wanted in his bed, anytime he wanted.

We moved through the line for more drinks quickly, and once the cinnamon-spiced wine was in my hands, we sat down at a nearby picnic bench. I found myself guzzling the wine down. It was delicious, it warmed me up, and I was feeling continually worse about how I’d gotten angry with Landry.

“I forgive you, by the way,” I finally said to him from across the table. “For telling me I’m incapable of love.”

Landry’s mouth twisted into a wry smirk and he reached across the table to swat the arm of my puffy coat. “That is absolutely not what I said.”

I puffed out a laugh and took another sip of my wine. “Okay, for telling me I might not be ready for love. I feel ready, and feel like I crave it more than anything in the world, but some part of me doesn’t feel like I’m ready. I still have a high-stress job that’s very low-paying. I don’t live alone. I don’t own property. How could I start a life?”

Landry’s expression became serious so quickly that it took me by surprise. “That’s no reason not to find love, Jamie.”

A breeze blew through the air. I looked down at the ground, moving a little pile of snow with my shoe.

“Yeah,” I finally said, unable to find the words for more.

“And what do you mean, start a life?” Landry asked. “You already have one. And it sounds like a beautiful one, even if that’s hard for you to see.”

A strange mixture of emotions coursed through me as I sat there, watching Landry’s soulful honey-colored eyes.

He had really meant what he’d said, and it shifted everything on its axis.

He wasn’t like the Mercedes-driving, snobbish tourists who would turn their noses up at my beat-up old Toyota in the parking lot of my work.

He was genuine.

“You two!” I turned to see Chase, Shawn, and Nathan running up to us with wicked smiles on their faces. “Snowball fight! Come over here!”

“I’ve never been in a snowball fight,” I said.

“I was about to say no,” Landry told Shawn, “but now that I know Jamie’s never had a snowball fight, I know I could absolutely cream him. Let’s go.”

“Only thing better than a snowball fight is a drunken one,” Shawn said, pulling on my arm. “And I’ve had plenty of beers tonight.”

“I’m pretty buzzed, myself,” I said as he led us over past the edge of the fairgrounds to a snowy clearing surrounded by trees. He’d already gotten the rest of the guys in on the snowball fight, and more people were starting to join.

“Think fast!” Nathan said and a moment later, a snowball pelted me on the chest.

“Hey! That was a cheap shot.”

Nathan laughed. “Fair game.”

I wadded up a mound of snow and tossed it back at him, and before long I was in the thick of it, learning how to pack the snow best and tossing snowballs at Landry and Chase and everybody else. For the next twenty minutes, I was running around like a kid, diving into snow banks on my knees, and laughing like an idiot as the usual chatter in my brain melted away.

It was blissful. My adrenaline was pumping at first, and then by the end of the big snowball fight, everyone gave each other high-fives and we turned to build a snowman, instead. Our snowman turned out lopsided and one-eyed, but he was cute enough, and we named him Milton.

It was only when I started walking back over toward the fairgrounds exit that I noticed my hair, pants, and jacket were all half-wet, soaked in patches from the melting snowballs.

“I’m totally screwed,” I told Landry, looking down at the state of my clothing.

“Mine’s just as bad,” he said. “Come on. We can dry all of this off in my suite.”

“You know that feeling when you think you’re sober, but then once you get home, you realize you’re a lot drunker than you thought?” I asked him as the elevator door slid shut.

“Are you having that right now? Because I’m absolutely having that right now,” he told me, pressing the elevator button for the penthouse level.

We’d been back at the hotel for only a couple of minutes, and I felt like a kid coming inside after playing for hours in the cold.

“Big time,” I told him. “I’m drunk. And cold. And wet. But somehow also happy.”

“I have plenty of water in my suite, if you need it,” Landry offered.

When we got off the elevator, I realized that the top floor hallway was much shorter than the other hallways, probably because there were only a few gigantic suites up at this level. We got to the door quickly and Landry beeped through using his key. “Of course, I also have single-malt scotch up here, and that’s what I’ll be tucking into. Because it’s still early, and I see no reason to end the night just yet.”

I felt a little fizz in my chest. “I like the sound of that,” I told him.

He pushed open the door to his room and for a moment I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.

This wasn’t just any hotel room.

Landry’s suite was bigger than some entire houses I’d been in.

A long hallway led down to a main living room area with a circular fireplace right in the center of the floor, the main centerpiece of the room. Behind it were walls and walls of glass windows, all looking out onto the incredible mountain views below. The living room had a long, white L-shaped couch tossed with blankets, pillows, and throws, and across from the living area there was a full-sized modern kitchen.

Landry walked in casually, thinking nothing of it as he peeled off his coat, turning back toward me as he led me to another short hall.

“Okay, we can work on getting your marshmallow jacket dried off,” he said, reaching out with his hand.

I’d been so wrapped up in looking at the suite that I’d forgotten how soaked my clothes had gotten.

“Oh. Right,” I said, snapping out of it. I pulled off my jacket and handed it to him, looking down at my jeans. “These are really more of an issue.”

Landry didn’t miss a beat, just nodding at me. “I have plenty of comfy pants with me. Might be a little bit long on you, but they’re comfortable as hell, and most importantly, they’re dry.”

I nodded. “That sounds good.”

He pushed open a door to a bathroom that felt more like a spa. At the corner of the bathroom there was a full-sized washer and dryer.

“I’ll go grab the clothes,” Landry said, rushing off to some other part of the suite.

I felt like I’d been launched into some other world, nothing like my own. Where everything was easy. Everything was provided. Things were taken care of, and all I had to do was ask.

He’s just a person, just like you , I tried to tell myself. He isn’t pitying you. He isn’t trying to rub it in your face. He just wants to help you dry your damn clothes.

When Landry came back through the door, he had a mischievous grin on his face. “I found the perfect set for you,” he said, holding out a big, white, thick pair of sweatpants with a big white hoodie to match. “For you, Marshmallow.”

I fought to keep a smile from my face. “God, I hate that nickname. And thank you, Landry.”

“Do you really hate it?”

“Half of me does,” I said, taking the sweatpants and hoodie from him. “And half of me kind of loves it every time you say it.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he told me in that deep, velvety voice that was starting to sound so familiar to me. “I’ll be out on the couch, the fire will be crackling, and I’ll have a drink with your name on it.”

Changing into the dry, fleece-lined clothes was the best feeling I’d had all day. They were a bit big on me, but it only made it all the more comfortable.

For whatever reason, I was in this beautiful suite with this kind, gorgeous man. And maybe it was the alcohol in my system, but some part of me felt different tonight.

Okay, let’s do this , I thought, looking at myself in the mirror. Already, I was getting nervous, but trying to let it melt away.

Tonight, it’s time to make a move.

What’s the harm in a little flirting?