Unadulterated Something, page 27
Emma dared to steal a glance at Campbell over her shoulder, and her stomach fluttered at the way Campbell’s lips curved in an adoring smile in response. “I think it could be, yeah,” she confessed as she forced herself to look forward.
“Could be,” Brody scoffed. “Right. You are ass over eyeballs for that girl.”
“Brody…”
He laughed. “Sorry, it was too easy. But I am happy for you, Em. Really.”
“Everything okay?” Barbara teased as they broke rank in front of her.
“Fine,” Emma said.
“Her girlfriend just showed up, and we were having a twin moment,” Brody explained.
“I noticed,” Barbara chuckled.
Emma sighed as she turned to look at Val and her dad, who were waiting the ten seconds they’d been instructed to wait after Emma and Brody took their spots before starting down the aisle.
Thankfully, Val’s entrance went off without a hitch—which meant that Val and her dad didn’t do the stomp-walk from Thriller down the aisle like they had on their first attempt—and it wasn’t long before the group was dismissed to head over to the restaurant for the next phase of the rehearsal day.
Emma didn’t miss the curious looks Grace Kim and Tina Sutherland—two of the other bridesmaids who’d played with her and Val on the national team—threw Campbell’s way as they made their way out the door with murmured goodbyes, but she was glad that a stern look was enough to keep them from renewing their old rivalry with her. Retired or not, she was still their Captain, and they had never been close enough for the two to feel comfortable pushing back against her.
Naomi, however, had no such qualms about needling Emma, and she greeted Campbell with a smirk. “Hey, Jordan. Glad you could make it. Heard a lot about you lately.”
“Really?” Campbell smiled at Emma. “Should I be worried?”
“I have no idea,” Emma admitted as she looped an arm around Campbell’s shoulders and pulled her close. She hadn’t really talked to Naomi much since they’d met at the bridal shop the month before, but she knew from the, “Good job getting the stupid-pretty girl, Cap,” she’d been greeted with when Naomi arrived at the rehearsal earlier that Val had most likely spread the word about the shift in her relationship status. She pressed a kiss to Campbell’s cheek and murmured, “You’d probably have to ask Val about that one.”
“Don’t worry, it’s all good things, I promise,” Naomi assured her with a laugh. “Seriously, though. It’s good to see you again. How’s everything going?”
Campbell curled into Emma’s side. “It’s going well, thanks. And you?”
“Can’t complain.” Naomi nodded.
Emma spotted Brody hovering a polite distance away and tilted her head at him as she said, “I want to introduce her to Brody. Catch up with you at dinner?”
“Sure. Don’t get lost on your way over there,” Naomi teased.
“Go away, Eisenberg,” Emma groaned.
Naomi laughed and waved as she turned to leave. “Yes, Cap.” She winked at them both and added, “See you in a bit!”
“You ready to get phase one of the family introductions out of the way?” Emma asked Campbell.
Campbell took an exaggerated breath and let it go in a rush. “Sure.” She rocked her head from side to side like a boxer preparing for the bell. “Let’s do it.”
Emma laughed and took her hand as she promised, “It’ll be fine.”
Despite her assurances, Emma still gave her brother a warning glare as they made their way toward him that dared him to start anything. The way he just grinned back wasn’t the most reassuring of responses, but it was too late to back out now, so she squeezed Campbell’s hand as she said, “Campbell, this is my brother, Brody.”
Brody winked at Emma as he extended a hand to Campbell. “I just gotta say, I’ve been a huge fan of yours ever since that game where you punched her in the head.”
Campbell laughed, clearly surprised, as she shook his hand. “Really?”
“Oh yeah.” He nodded. “She’d had that coming for years, believe me.” He let go of Campbell’s hand and folded his hands on his lap. “But in all seriousness, it is really nice to meet you. We heard a lot about you this past week.”
This time, Campbell looked at Emma as she asked, “Really?”
Emma blushed. “Your name may have come up a few times.”
“A few times. Right,” Brody chuckled and shook his head. “I swear to god, every-other sentence that came out of her mouth had something to do with you.”
Emma felt her ears begin to warm with her embarrassment, but it was kind of worth it just to see Campbell looking at her with an utterly charmed smile quirking her lips. “Brody…”
He laughed and leaned forward as if he were sharing a secret as he told Campbell, “I think I’m embarrassing her.”
“Me too,” Campbell agreed.
“It’s fun though, huh?” he asked.
Campbell pursed her lips in a failed attempt to stifle her smile and nodded. “I always did enjoy riling her up.”
“I bet you enjoy it even more now, huh?” Brody quipped, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Campbell laughed and nodded. “Very much so.”
“And that,” Brody declared, clapping his hands for emphasis, “is all I want to ever know about my sister’s sex life, so let’s change the subject, shall we?”
“What’s up with Emma’s sex life?” Val chimed in as she joined them. She winked at Emma as she pulled Campbell into a quick hug. “Good to see you again, Jordan. You’re looking marvelous, as usual.”
Emma shook her head at Val’s antics. “You’re getting married tomorrow. Hands off, Dunn.”
Val stared at Emma as she pressed a smackeroo-type kiss to Campbell’s cheek. “Jealous?”
“God, I love you,” Brody told her.
“Me too,” Jon said as he joined the group. He smiled at Campbell. “Good to see you again, Campbell. Glad you could make it.”
Campbell tipped her head as she murmured, “Thank you.”
He nodded and looked at Brody, “You wanna ride with us?”
“Yes, he absolutely does,” Emma answered for him.
Brody blinked at her innocently. “I do?”
Jon laughed. “Yeah, you do.”
Brody looked at Val and smirked. “I call shotgun!”
“Like hell you do,” Val retorted. “We’re giving you a ski rope, and we’re dragging your ass over there.”
Emma laughed. “We tried that before. There’s a definite ceiling to how fast you can go.”
Brody grimaced at the memory of a rather impressive case of road rash. The groundings that had been handed down when they got home had been epic, and Emma had never been so glad to go back to Stonebridge as she’d been after that particular holiday break. “She’s right,” he confirmed.
“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Campbell interjected. When Emma and Brody just smiled sheepishly and shrugged, she shook her head. “Wow.”
Val smirked. “If you think that’s bad, you should hear about the time—”
Jon covered her mouth with his hand and smiled apologetically at Campbell. “We’ll just leave those stories for another day.”
“You are so lucky I agreed to marry your ass,” Val told him when he let his hand drop.
“I know.” He grinned and kissed her forehead. “Come on, bride-o-mine, let’s get trashed!”
Val huffed a laugh and nodded. “Okay.” She hooked a thumb toward the door. “Come on, Best-Looking Beauchamp, first round’s on me.”
Emma rolled her eyes at the triumphant look Brody shot her and squeezed Campbell’s hand as they followed the trio to the parking lot. There was a biting wind whipping across the parking lot as they made their way outside, and Emma handed Campbell the keys to her car so she could get out of the cold as she went over to help break down Brody’s chair and get it into the trunk of Jon’s car.
“So, that was fun, huh?” she said as she climbed behind the wheel and slammed her door after herself.
Campbell smiled and nodded as she leaned across the center console to capture Emma’s lips in a lingering kiss.
A low hum tickled the back of Emma’s throat as she turned to cradle Campbell’s jaw in her hand to hold her close as the kiss reached its inevitable end, and she smiled as she murmured, “Hi.”
Campbell nuzzled Emma’s cheek and kissed her again softly. “Hi.”
Happiness fluttered in Emma’s chest as she slanted her mouth over Campbell’s, the world and all its responsibilities disappearing as she was swept away by delicious heat of Campbell’s tongue stroking lazily along her own. It was a heavenly reprieve that was destined to end too soon, the world and its responsibilities could only be ignored for so long, but none of that mattered as they lost themselves in the moment, desire and longing and joy at being reunited conveyed in a string of kisses Emma dearly wished would never end.
Emma lifted her champagne glass and smiled at Val, who was smile-glaring at her as she wiped at her eyes. She let the mic she was holding dip from her mouth so the “I love you” she murmured wasn’t broadcasted to the room, and winked at her before turning back toward the dining room that had been the perfect audience for her Maid of Honor speech. “To Val and Jon!”
There was a chinking of silverware against crystal as her toast echoed around the room, and she lifted her glass to them in thanks as she handed the microphone back to the DJ. She set her untouched champagne onto the table of honor next to Jon, knowing that either he or Val would drink it, and opened her arms to Val.
Val sniffed as she stood to hug her, and Emma sighed as she pulled her oldest and dearest friend close. She had discarded a good half-dozen speeches before finally managing one that she felt carried the weight of her thoughts and emotions about seeing Val find her happily ever after, and while her reaction seemed to suggest she had done well, she couldn’t help but whisper against her ear, just to be sure, “So, I didn’t totally screw that up—right?”
“Oh, you totally did,” Val teased, her voice thick with emotion as she squeezed Emma tight. “It was perfect,” she breathed. “Even though you made me cry.”
Emma smiled as she pulled back to look at her. “I’m glad you liked it.” She shook her head at the tears glistening in Val’s eyes and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry I made you cry.”
Val laughed and wiped at her eyes to catch any tears before they could call. “No you’re not.” She took a deep breath and let it go slowly as she smiled. “But I still love you.”
“Good,” Emma laughed. She looked past Val to Jon and offered him her hand. “No returns on this one. She’s all yours now.”
“Please,” Val scoffed. “You’re never getting rid of me, Beauchamp.”
Jon grinned and shook her hand. “I think I’ll manage. Thanks for everything, Em.”
Emma smiled at him as she let Val pull her into another hug, and pressed her cheek against the side of her head as she held her close. The day had been a whirlwind from the moment she’d met up with Val in the hotel lobby to go to the salon for hair and makeup, and, while it had been fun, she was so, so grateful for this quiet moment with her friend.
It couldn’t last forever, though, and as the DJ cued up a song and encouraged the wedding guests to push their dessert plates aside to dance, she murmured in Val’s ear, “You know that if you don’t let me go soon that people are going to start getting ideas, right?”
Val laughed and smacked her on the ass. “Go get your woman, Beauchamp. I’ve kept you away from her enough for one day, and I’ve seen the way she’s been looking at you in this suit of yours.”
Emma bit her lip. She’d managed to sneak off to steal a quick moment with Campbell between pictures and the ceremony, and there’d been no mistaking the look in Campbell’s eyes when she’d seen her in her tailored black suit and waistcoat, the top two buttons of her steel blue dress shirt left undone. And the way Campbell’s breath had hitched when she’d slipped off the jacket before sitting down for dinner to fully reveal her black and silver, corset-style waistcoat sent a delicious shiver tumbling down her spine. Of course, she’d had the same reaction when she first saw Campbell in the deep green V-neck dress she wore. She hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off of her through the entire ceremony.
“Yes, boss,” Emma drawled, dipping her head in a short bow as she slipped from Val’s embrace.
“God, you’re cute.” Val pulled her back to kiss her cheek. “Take notes, Newman,” she said as she turned to her husband. “That’s how it’s done.”
“Yes, boss,” Jon parroted obediently.
Emma shook her head at their antics as she turned toward the table where she’d left Campbell sitting with Brody and his wife Rachel, her parents, and Beca and Lars.
Campbell had been endearingly nervous when they’d finally tore themselves from bed earlier that day just in time to meet her parents for brunch before she had to join Val and the rest of the wedding party in preparations. And, for as much as Emma had enjoyed teasing Campbell about their feelings about that infamous punch, they had been exactly as friendly and welcoming as she had expected. After the last week of watching her smile whenever Campbell texted or caught her trying to leave the room in a somewhat normal manner whenever she called, it was no secret where her feelings lay, and the soft, “She’s lovely, Em,” that her mother had whispered in her ear not two minutes after meeting Campbell had her smiling like a fool through the entire brunch.
“So, how’d I do?” she asked, stealing a quick kiss from Campbell as she slipped into her seat.
Campbell smiled at her with a look that could only be described as smoldering as she murmured, “Amazing.”
A chorus of similar sentiments echoed around the table, but Emma barely heard them as she stared, utterly hypnotized by the desire shining in Campbell’s eyes. “Yeah?”
“Oh my god, get a room,” Beca chuckled.
“Rebecca,” Lynn Beauchamp chastised with a laugh.
“Pretty sure they have a room already, babe,” Lars chimed in with his best faux-innocent look.
“Please tell me this isn’t another beaver-type situation,” Emma’s dad, Pete, teased Lars with a playfully stern look. At six-and-a-half feet, with a head as shiny as Brody’s and a physique that was not far off from his days as a defenseman for the Bruins, he was an intimidating figure to those who didn’t know him well, but Lars had been calling Pete and Lynn Beauchamp “dad” and “mom” for over twenty years, and just rolled his eyes at the joke.
Emma sighed as Brody laughed. Lars had apparently called Brody to make sure she wasn’t pulling one over on him after Thanksgiving, and the entire Beauchamp clan that was old enough to understand the euphemism had laughed so hard that they’d had tears rolling down their cheeks when Brody had shared the story over Christmas. Before she could say anything, however, Campbell placed a hand on her thigh to hold her attention and asked, “Would you like to dance?”
Emma took Campbell’s hand and laced their fingers together as she nodded. “I’d love to.”
“Hands where we can see them, girls!” Beca teased. “Sorry, Mrs. B.,” she added quickly. “But I had to.”
“No, I think that’s fair,” Lynn agreed, smiling at Emma as she relaxed in her seat. Her eyes, which were an exact match in shade to Emma’s, sparkled with amusement as she brushed a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “You haven’t been exactly subtle, dear.”
Next to her mom, her dad winked at her and nodded in a she’s right kind of way that made Emma want to crawl under the table in embarrassment.
“Come on,” Emma muttered as she tugged Campbell to her feet before anyone else could add their two cents to try to embarrass her further.
A ripple of quiet murmurs followed in their wake as they made their way to the dance floor. As they had anticipated, the two of them being together had created quite a stir with the hockey-contingent in attendance—fueled in part, she was sure, by Charlie’s Sports Illustrated article about them that had been published the week before—but the low hum was easy enough to ignore as they stepped onto the hardwood, slipping through the gaps between the dozen or so couples that were already swaying to the music.
Emma pulled Campbell into her once it felt like they had something of a buffer between them and her family, and sighed as she wrapped an arm around her waist to draw her closer. “You okay?” she asked as she cradled their joined hands against her chest. “Did they behave themselves while I was gone?”
Campbell smiled and kissed Emma softly. “Everyone was fine, sweetie.”
The endearment that had started slipping into their conversations over the last week that lasted long into the night as they murmured sleepily into the phone, and Emma’s heart fluttered at the way Campbell’s lips curved around the word. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Campbell snuggled closer, pressing a smile of a kiss to Emma’s lips. “You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re being all protective.”
“Really? You want me to go back over there and flex a little?”
“No,” Campbell laughed. “I want you to stay right here in my arms for the rest of the night.”
“And what about tomorrow?” Emma couldn’t resist teasing. After all, they only had one more day together before Campbell had to fly back to Canada for her training camp.
“Tomorrow, too,” Campbell murmured, her hazel eyes taking on a bronzed hue as she held Emma’s gaze. The atmosphere thickened with desire, warm and intoxicating, and her voice dipped into the crushed velvet tones that Emma so loved as she cupped Emma’s jaw with her free hand and added, “And every day after that, as well.”
A light press of fingertips beneath Emma’s jaw coaxed her closer, and she licked her lips as she rasped, “Yeah?”
Campbell nodded and kissed Emma softly. “Yeah.”
Even though sunlight streamed through the gap of the curtains covering the window of their hotel room, it was the urgent pressure of a stressed bladder that woke Emma the next morning. She kissed Campbell’s shoulder before slipping carefully from the bed to not wake her, and scrubbed her hands through her hair as she twisted from side to side. She glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed once the ache in her lower back had eased and smiled wryly when she saw the time.
