Page 99 of Wedding or Not

“Then we should. We need to a find a bed very soon, or we’ll be risking an embarrassing explosion.”

That makes me giggle. Deciding no one remaining at the wedding is going to mind, I turn so I can wrap both arms around him in a soft hug.

He hugs me back and murmurs into my ear, “Maybe we can grab one dance first. Will that be allowed?”

“I’m sure it will be, but I didn’t think you were a dancer.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed…”

He chuckles as he takes my hand and pulls me onto the dance floor, swinging me into a soft, intimate slow dance. “Your assumption was mostly right, but I can manage something like this. If it means I get to be close to you for real, if it means the whole world gets to see you’re mine when you’re actually mine, I’m not going to miss my chance.”

After we dance, we do leave the mansion and hurry hand in hand to the cottages.

We decide on mine rather than his, and we’re spilling with hushed laughter as we stumble upstairs. Audrey gets up early, so she’ll already be asleep.

Our lovemaking is as sweet and funny and rushed and filled with affection as our walk home. I’m still giggling as we pull off each other’s clothes, and Wes is shuddering with breathless excitement as we kiss and touch.

It doesn’t last long, but it doesn’t have to.

We can do it again. Later tonight. In the morning.

And for the rest of our lives.

CHAPTER 35

We manage to get up afterward to clean up, brush our teeth, and get ready for bed. Then Wes pulls me into his arms and we hold each other under the covers for a long time in the dark.

Into the silence, Wes murmurs, “When did you know?”

I know exactly what he’s asking and why he’s asking. “For sure? Just yesterday. But I’ve had a pretty strong suspicion for a long time. Since the first time we kissed.”

“Ah. You should have told me earlier. It would have saved us both a lot of angst.”

“Don’t even start with that. I know I was scared to say anything. My anxiety and insecurities kept getting in the way of my growing feelings for you. But you could have said something too, and you didn’t, so you don’t get to talk on this issue.”

He chuckles at my mockingly stern tone. “Agreed. Although I do have to insist that I was genuinely trying to say something in the car this morning when you ran out on me.”

“Well, yes. That was a major mix-up for which I’m to blame. I thought you were about to end it, and I couldn’t hear that without falling apart.”

“You can fall apart with me.”

“That’s very nice to know, but I didn’t know that this morning.”

“I know. As much as it hurt, and it hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced, I do understand how it happened and what you thought was happening. We’re both to blame for our messed-up romantic history, and I still think a lot of it was because we had the false romance dropped right on top of the real thing.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s right. But at least it saved Blossom Park.”

“It did. And since we figured it out, I don’t regret a single thing.”

“Me either.” I shift so I can kiss him softly. “So now you. When did you know?”

He clears his throat.

“Wes?”

With a sigh, he admits, “I don’t even know. Loving you feels like it’s been a core factor in who I’ve been my entire life.”