Page 107 of The Trouble With You

I giggle. “You’re very stalkable, Lawson. And the thong was all for you.”

He laughs, low and deep, the sound rolling over me. “Glad to hear that.”

“You’re also just…so wonderful. I’m so glad everything has happened the way it has. Thank you. For everything.” He’s made me feel bolder. Made me feel worthy of the spotlight. Made me feel special.

“I’m glad you love it,” he tells me, clearly referring to the barn.

Is it too soon to tell him that part of why I love it is because he did this for me? Because I love him?

He takes my hand, lifts it to his lips, and kisses the back of it. “Tonight is going to go however you want it to go,” he says. “You know that, right?”

“I do,” I tell him honestly.

Without us discussing a single thing, I’m very aware that I’m in charge here and that Lawson is absolutely going to let me call the shots. Until I tell him that I want something else. But even then, he’s going to encourage me to make decisions about what I want and need tonight.

He lets go of my hand and takes the blanket he’s carrying to one of the hay bales a few feet away. He shakes it out and spreads it over the hay.

I drop the blanket I carried in. It’s a quilt, but it’s nowhere near as thick and soft as what he brought along.

He shrugs out of the thicker button-down shirt he’s wearing over a navy-blue tee that stretches enticingly over his chest and shoulders. He’s also in jeans and scuffed brown work boots. He looks perfect in the barn.

I pull my damp sweater off over my head, leaving me in a simple white tank with black leggings and black ankle boots.

He crosses the floor to me and reaches for my hand again. “So there’s something we haven’t done yet, that I’ve been dying to try.”

I lift a brow. “I have a whole list of those things.”

He grins, steps back, then pulls me in, his hand going to my lower back and swaying us back and forth. “I want to dance with you. Just you and me. I want us to be the first people to dance here now that it’s all done.” He two-steps us across the floor. “I love that everyone is coming here to dance, and I want you to shine in front of as many people as possible, but I also love having you to myself now and then.”

And my heart melts even further.

“Oh, that’s…”

I don’t know the right word.

He stops and reaches into his back pocket, withdrawing his phone. He swipes across the screen a few times and then Frank Sinatra starts singing “Witchcraft”.

Lawson grins down at me. “Seems appropriate for late October.”