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“Valen.” There was a gentle tug on my ponytail, and I spun around to find Reed watching me. “You good?”
I nodded, suppressing a shiver as a light breeze whipped by my body. “Yeah, I just love how pretty it is out here. Something you read about in some meet-cute romance where the guy brings the girl here for a date.”
They were the kind I loved.
The kind of stories Chad had continuously told me were unrealistic.
Reed pulled his phone from his pocket again, not saying anything as he dialed and pressed it to his ear, holding my gaze as it rang.
“Sir?” I heard Karl answer on the other end.
“Yeah, instead of coming upstairs with the pizza, can you call me when you arrive, and we’ll come down? We’re gonna eat at the park.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then he was gone, and Reed was again tucking his cell away. He looked up, catching me staring. “What?”
“So, is this a date then?” I asked casually, tugging at the oversized hoodie and jean shorts I was wearing. “I’m not really dressed for such an occasion.”
“Well, we’ve got time.” He tapped me on the ass, and I jumped forward. “Let’s go find you something picnic-worthy.”
Who was this man?
I’d heard stories about womanizing.
About arrogance.
I’d even seen headlines questioning bruises on girls he’d been seen with.
But so far, all I’d encountered was a protective and caring man who hadn’t been given the opportunity to share the most incredible parts of himself because as far as the people in his life were concerned, they created him for one thing…
… and he failed.
They couldn’t give a fuck what else he had done in his life to prove himself worthy of love.
And while that made me furious, it also warmed me.
It meant I was seeing parts of him he didn’t share with others, and that meant far more to me than I ever thought it would have. It also had me reconsidering everything I thought I knew about relationships and everything I thought I knew about love. Because if a man who was almost a stranger less than a week ago could bring me into his world, protect me, care for me, and sacrifice his reputation for me—what the fuck was I doing with a guy who couldn’t even bear to live with me until a week before our marriage.
Or who, eighteen months in, was still splitting the bill with me.
How damn low had my bar been set?
Reed’s hand pressed to my back and guided me up the staircase, the sensor light at the top flashing on as we got about halfway.
By the time we had finished at Dolores’, it was already late.
But then we’d made stops at the jewelry stores—three of them until Reed found exactly what he’d wanted.
The whole past few hours—they’d all been a blur.
All since the kiss Reed and I had shared outside the diner.
Was I crazy?
Was this really a good idea?
To stay here, to be living as someone’s wife.
