Page 132 of Blue Jean Summer

“Things were always going to be complicated,” he said. “There was no outcome to this marriage other than me falling in love with you.”

“It will—” I paused as everything went numb, then slowly looked up at him. “What did you just say?”

Hayes turned to me, dark eyes holding on to the glimmers of early starlight in the cerulean sky. “I love you. I fell in love with you. I didn’t mean to. I just—”

I kissed him. Hayes laughed in surprise as my mouth crashed onto his. It was fleeting, but brilliant, like the shooting stars that often danced over the valley.

“You’re sure?”

Hayes rested his forehead on mine. “I told you I’ve never been in love before. Not like this. That’s why I know that you are something I’m not going to let go of.”

“Good. Because I did too.” A tear rolled down my cheek. “And that scares the ever-living shit out of me.”

“Me too,” he admitted as he cupped my cheeks and wiped my tears away.

“I don’t know where we go from here,” I said. “I don’t know what this means. It was supposed to be so simple. Get married. Get divorced.”

“Annulled,” he clarified.

I laughed. “Semantics.”

Hayes pressed a kiss to my head. “What if we didn’t?”

“Didn’t what?”

“Didn’t get an annulment.” He shrugged. “Things are going pretty good as they are. It’ll be one less thing to worry about. You’ve got enough on your plate as it is, and I’ve got plenty on mine. What if we just…”

“Stayed married?”

“Dated while we stayed married,” he clarified. “What if we went back and started from the beginning?” His grin was bashful. “I haven’t gotten the chance to take you on a proper date yet.”

For some reason, the idea of staying married scared me more than getting married in the first place.

Maybe that was how it was supposed to be. Marriage was work. That was the beautiful thing about our arrangement. I hadn’t gone into it expecting rainbows and butterflies. There were no rose-colored glasses to wear.

Just roses. Beauty and softness among the prickles and thorns.

“And how will we know if we’ve made it?” I asked. “You know me—I like the terms spelled out.”

Hayes chuckled. “We’ll give it a year. On our first anniversary, we can decide if we want to stay married for good. And if you want to change your name—officially—well, I’d like that.”

“And what if I want to keep my last name?”

Hayes cupped my chin and kissed me. “Then I’m changing mine.”

Chapter 34

Hayes

The house was quiet.

When I had first moved to the estate as a grieving kid, the house had felt far too big. It had echoed. The rooms were well constructed and insulated but had always felt too drafty because I was alone.

But it didn’t feel drafty today.

The doorknob to my bedroom clicked and turned as Catherine let herself in.

I liked that she didn’t knock.