"Ready?" I ask, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Yep!" she chirps, looking entirely too happy about what is about to happen.
"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"
On three, we jump into the ice-cold water. In January. In Oklahoma. I gasp for air when I break the surface, the water is so cold it's chilling me to the bone. Lilly squeals when her head breaks the surface. Her hair is everywhere, and she dips her head into the water to smooth it down.
Reaching out, I grip her wrist and drag her closer to me. She wraps her legs around my waist and her arms snake around the back of my neck. My hands wrap around her torso, holding her as close to me as humanly possible to try and get some of her warmth. It's fuckingcold.
Lilly's teeth start to chatter. "So, we could get married up on this bridge instead of by the falls, if you wanted."
"I don't know, you haven't seen the falls when they're in full force. They're at a trickle, right now, compared to what they normally are," I say, kissing her neck beneath her earlobe.
"Okay, fair enough," she concedes, nipping at my neck.
For as cold as the water is, I'm starting to get used to it. Which is going tosuckwhen we step out into that brisk wind.
I move us beneath the bridge, crab-walking across the rocks beneath us on my tiptoes. There's a natural stairway on the other side of the bridge that we climb up and out. Lilly is shivering half to death when she steps out of the water. The air hits me like a ton of bricks when I exit the water and I head to the car to find something to dry off with. There's still a duffel bag in the trunk. I rummage through it and find a small towel, that is barely big enough to dry your hands on.
It'll have to do. I make quick work of toweling as much water off of my head and face as I can before handing it to Lilly. "It ain't much, but it's going to have to be enough."
She takes it from me happily and begins wiping drops of water from her skin. Once she's mostly dry, she begins putting her clothes back on. I've got the car running and heater on high so that when we get in, we can try to defrost a bit.
"I love you. I love doing life with you," she whispers, kissing the side of my face.
"Ditto, baby," I tell her.
We ride around the falls and opt not to walk around anymore.
"What day do we want to get married?" she asks, pressing a finger to the center of her chin.
"Tomorrow," I say playfully.
She shoots me a glare. "No. I haven't even picked out a dress yet."
"We can get married on whatever day you want, my love. I don't care. This is your day."
"It'sourday," she corrects.
"The details don't mean to me what they do to you. All I need is you," I tell her.
"Okay. I'll pick a date, then. But I don't want to hear any shit about the day I pick," she demands.
"Done."
Lilly's eyes sparkle, alight with excitement and...something else. I rest my hand on the inside of her thigh as we head back toward the clubhouse. It's going to suck to be without her for a few days, but I need her back home. The bar is doing decent, but I know with her in control of the numbers, it could be doing much better.
Mindy, Linc, Scott, Digger, and Aaron are all sitting around on the couches when we get back to the clubhouse. I drag two of the barstools over for Lilly and I to sit on while she grabs us each a drink. She hands me a Dos Equis with a lime and she's sipping on her usual dirty water. Lilly plops into her barstool and leans in to whisper in my ear.
"Can we tell them?" she asks.
I nod. "Yes, baby. You can do whatever you want."
When the conversation amongst everyone lulls for a minute, Lilly takes that as an opportunity to jump in with her announcement.
"So, guess what?" she says enthusiastically.
"What?" Scott asks, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.
