“Have you thought about our living arrangement at all?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I assumed you’d stay with me. Are you moving somewhere else?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t have a home back in Vegas anymore. I moved out of the house I shared with Archer, moved my stuff into storage, and crashed with a friend when I went back for the charity event and the wedding. But what are your thoughts on me moving here?”
“Likeherehere? Permanently?” he asks, indicating his condo with a fork.
“Ideally, yes.Herehere. In Tampa. With you. Since we’re getting married.” The words still feel strange coming out of my mouth. I can’t believe this is really happening as quickly as it is.
He looks a little dazed. “Right. Yes, of course. Move in. Bring whatever you want. I can arrange a moving truck to get your stuff here if that’s what you’d like so it feels like your home, too.”
“I don’t want to overstep.” I pop a french fry into my mouth.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I love having you here, and you’re right. If we’re getting married, we should live together. It makes the most sense.”
None of this makes any sense at all, but I keep that thought to myself.
“When should we do this?” I ask quietly.
“Move in?”
“Get married.”
“It has to be before…” He trails off, prompting me.
“January eighteenth is Lindsay and Devon’s wedding.”
His eyes widen. It’s December ninth now. That doesn’t give us a whole lot of time.
“New Year’s Eve.” He says it with finality rather than as a question.
“New Year’s Eve?” I ask.
He lifts a shoulder. “It’s always seemed like such a meaningful holiday to me, don’t you think? It’s a chance to celebrate the good stuff and leave behind the bad stuff. It feels like a new marriage is sort of celebrating the same thing.”
“Ford Bradley,” I taunt. “I didn’t peg you as a romantic.”
His eyes are hot when they meet mine. “You never gave me the chance.”
His vulnerable words pulse a pit deep in my stomach.
According to his brother, Ford has had feelings for me for a long time. And now I’m jumping straight to marriage with him without any of the other stuff first. I can only imagine what’s going through his mind right now.
I bite my lip, and then I say, “I know we said we’d wait, but what if I don’t want to wait? What if I want to experience life with younow? The ups, the downs, the joys, and the hard stuff. All of it.”
He looks surprised at my words, and then he surprises me with words of his own. “Go out on a date with me.”
“What?”
“Let’s go out on a date. A real date, not some charity event. Though I do have tickets to a black-tie event next week if you want to make our red-carpet debut. But I mean something just for the two of us. Date me. Let me take you to dinner and a movie. Let me hold your hand in public and kiss you goodnight. Let’s see how it goes for the next twenty-two days, and we can decide if we want our wedding night to bethenight.”
“Thenight?” I repeat.
“The night I finally get you naked in my bed,” he says darkly.
A tight ache throbs between my legs.
And suddenly, just like that…I don’t know if I can wait twenty-two days.
