Page 106 of Objection to Love
When she didn’t say anything, he added, “You were just so cute asleep on my shoulder, I had to take a picture. I think I realized that night that I wanted more than a few dates with you. I wanted them all.”
A lump formed in her throat. It was hard to say anything.
“Do you like it? The pictures around the edges are of our dates. I know I should have asked you what you wanted in exchange for completing my challenge, as you called it… but I wanted to surprise you.”
“I love it.” Her voice cracked as she ran a finger down the front of the glass.
“Are you crying? You’re not supposed to be crying.”
She half-laughed, half-sobbed. “They’re happy tears. Stop, don’t take off the blindfold, I’m fine. I just… I can’t believe how lucky I got the day I needed a tire change in the rain.”
“And here you thought I wanted to murder you. Turns out, I wanted to marry you.”
“I think if you would have told me that right off the bat, I would have been more scared than if you were a murderer.”
Garrett chuckled.
Her finger froze on the glass, and she brought it a little closer to her face, blinking away tears. “Hey, wait… did you carve the night we went to the art exhibit?”
His voice turned sly, “Maybe.”
She squinted. “Bothrooms?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a thorough job if I hadn’t.”
Em bit her lips together to keep from laughing, but the hilarity bled into her voice anyway. “Too bad, guess we can’t display this in a common area.”
“The jury’s still out on that. It could be a good talking point.” He still hadn’t stopped with the bad puns, even months later.
She shook her head with half a laugh, then, with one last glance at the beautifully carved light wood frame and picture, Em set it on a nearby table.
Then she turned back, wrapping her arms around Garrett’s middle. He closed her in a hug. A tight one. When she finally pulled back, her fingers tiptoed their way up to his half-covered face. She pulled his head to hers, pressing her lips against his.
In less than an hour, this man would be herhusband. Way sooner than she’d planned in her ten-year plan… but real life was better than she could have planned for. Thank heavens for an unanticipated neighbor throwing a wrench into her life goals and showing her what therealpoint of living was.
Em started to pull back, but he looped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer. “It’s not too late to elope,” he murmured before kissing her.
She smiled against his lips. “At this point, that would probably take longer than just going through with the ceremony.”
He gave an overbearing sigh, dropping his forehead to hers. “Why do you have to be so logical all the time?”
“It’s what you love about me.”
“Oneof the things. There are quite a few, actually.”
Her smile was so wide, it might have been smudging her makeup.
Garrett’s hands constricted at her waist, slipping down to grasp her hips. “On that note… Another one of those things would be that you clearly went with a tight dress.”
She pushed away from him. “Cheater!”
His smile was lopsided. “Guilty.”
“Get out of here.” But even her tone of voice wouldn’t cooperate with how stern she wanted to be. It didn’t help that her throat was still thick with happy tears.
He managed to blindly capture her hand and pull it to his lips. “Fine. But I’ll see you soon.” He dropped her fingers and stepped back.
“I’ll be the one in white.”
