And he’s mine. I don’t need perfect; I just need him.
My gaze flicks down to where he’s gripping the folder. His engagement ring fits snugly on his finger. He only takes it off when he’s showering and just before bed. He probably takes it off at times at work if he needs to. He wears it with pride, shows it off to anyone who’ll listen to him.
Hades shoves his nose into the back of my knees, buckling them. “Hades, no. Sit. You’re not getting more chips. You’re acting like we starve you, menace.”
“He hasn’t eaten for a whole hour,” Lake says solemnly. “I gave him something when I got home. But he might need more.”
“He doesn’t need more.”
“He might, though.”
“Show me the folder, Lake.” Lesser of two evils. We don’t need to make our dog fat because Lake is incapable of moderation.
Lake’s focus immediately shifts, and he climbs back onto the counter, dragging me back between his legs.
“It has these cool tabs.” He flicks them in case I don’t notice them sticking out of the side. “And a master list we can go through.” He flips open the folder and twists it so I can see it. As if it’s not blurring in front of me until I can’t see anything. “Someof them are kind of weird, though. I don’t think we need to tickeverythingoff, right? Like… a wedding planner? Or live music? It’s like they mashed together every single thing that couldpossiblybe in a wedding, and then we get to pick and choose, like a lucky dip.”
“That’s not what a lucky dip is.”
His lips curve in a flirty smile. “A make-your-own adventure?”
“That’s…” What are we talking about? “A little closer.”
“We should set a date first. That seems like the most important factor.”
He’s not wrong even if the uncomfortable churning in my gut says all of this is firmly in the danger zone. I want to marry Lake, I wouldn’t have asked him otherwise, but I can’t deny that the idea of a wedding gives me a cold chill that has nothing to do with the weather. The past always has a way of invading the present, and the idea of it repeating itself terrifies me.
“Grady?”
“What?”
He’s looking at me, concern in his brown gaze. He flips the folder closed and drops it on the counter, almost landing it right in the open sauce-filled wrapper from my burger. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I will be. It’s like getting on a roller coaster: lining up is the hardest part. I’ll love everything about being married to Lake. The lead-up togettingmarried is going to be a trial that I just need to breathe through.
Lake isn’t going to leave. He fought hard to be where we are, even when I tried to create distance. I gave him an out to go back to his old straight life, and he threw it out the window in very Lake fashion.
“Are you sure?”
Cupping his cheeks, I give him a lingering kiss that he leans into with a gentle sigh. “I promise. What did you say about a date?”
“We need to pick one. It says you should plan ayearin advance.” He wrinkles his nose like he’s eaten something nasty. I shudder to think what he would call nasty, considering some of the questionable things he puts in his mouth. “Do we have to wait that long?”
Even with the nerves, I’d prefer not to. It sounds like a great way to torture myself. If I want to do that, I can just strike up a conversation with Greer, a detective at work who gives us a bad name and gives me a fucking headache.
“We… don’t,” I say carefully. I’d prefer not to stretch it out, but weddings still take time to prepare. It’s not a birthday party. “We should probably—”
“How does tomorrow sound?” Lake asks with a lopsided grin that makes me want to bend him over the counter.
“That sounds like your mum would hunt me down and kill me.” So would his two best friends and his brother, to be honest. I’d be on “wanted” posters all around the state before I could blink.
“She can only do it once,” Lake says impishly. He picks up one of the chips and tilts his head as he bites into it. “But we’d be married?”
“I’d like toenjoybeing married.”
“There is that.”
I steal the last half of the chip and pop it in my own mouth before kissing him again, unable to stay away from his lips for too long. “Not tomorrow, Lake.”
