Page 52 of Crushes to WHAT

I breathe a sigh of relief.

Eris watches us, face screwed up unpleasantly. When Patrick joins the huddle to give us a congratulatory hug, she glares ferociously and snaps, “Let me know when and where the freaking wedding is.” Then she pulls herself out of her seat with a nasty snarl and stomps from the room. Seconds later, the front door slams.

Penelope winces. “Sorry, Almond,” she says, patting my cheek. “Eris will come around.”

Emerson grunts. “She better do it quickly, because I’m losing patience.”

I perk up at that. I like it when Emerson loses patience. It normally means something hot is about to happen.

He notices my change in demeanor and snorts, turning his face away from his mother’s hand to allow his pretty brown eyes to sparkle down at me. “Incorrigible,” he says fondly,

His mother steps back, into his father’s embrace.

I press my lips together and widen my eyes, doing my best to look like I’m not thinking impure thoughts.

Emerson shakes his head at me, then boops my nose.

Penelope sighs wistfully.

“She’ll come around,” Patrick declares, engulfing his wife in his arms. He looks softly upon his son and I, lips tipping up at the corner. “Maybe not by the wedding, though.”

Emerson huffs.

Penelope sighs, not wistfully, then asks, “Is there going to be a wedding wedding, or will it be a courthouse thing?”

Emerson and I blink at each other as we realize simultaneously that we have not, actually, discussed it.

“Courthouse,” he declares. “With a party at the bar after. Full ceremony and reception to come at a later date.”

I beam. “That’s what I was thinking, too.”

And now it’s been discussed! Communication really is everything in a relationship.

“This is so romantic,” Penelope says. “He’s just like you when we got together, Patty. Got his girl, and he’s making her forever his as fast as he can.”

Patrick hums and rests his head atop his wife’s. “Took longer to get your parents on board with a marriage,” he grumbles. “Our engagement lasted forever.”

“We were in high school,” she reminds him.

He grunts. “Forever.”

She laughs and borrows Emerson’s word. “Incorrigible!”

They return to their sofa across from ours, and I settle into Emerson’s side as Patrick flirts with his wife in a rough, measured sort of way that I’m coming to learn is just how he is.

Emerson’s mouth grazes my ear, setting off flutters in my stomach. “They like you,” he whispers. “And we already know your parents like me. We could get married tonight instead.”

Temptation plays with my nerves, raising goosebumps on my skin.

“Two days,” I assert with more conviction than I feel. “We can give our families that. Maybe Eris will calm down by then.”

He kisses the skin behind my ear. A shiver runs through me.

“You want me patient, baby?”

“Oh my freak,” I whisper. My skin warms and reddens.

He chuckles darkly before releasing me from this delightful torment, freeing me from having to choose if I want hot Emerson—I do—or if I want his parents to continue to like me, meaning I don’t jump their son in front of them.