Page 91 of Just Say When

“I love them. Thanks, honey.” He gave me a quick peck on the lips, then slid his feet into them to check the fit. “They’re perfect.”

I grinned happily. “Good.”

“And now, yours.” He handed me the present.

I ripped open the wrapping paper with all the glee of a child on Christmas morning. I loved presents. The small white velvet box inside was a dead giveaway that I was right. It had to be jewelry.

I wasn’t disappointed. Nestled inside was a gold necklace with a diamond pendant. I held it up to admire it, threading my fingers through the delicate gold chain. The diamond glinted prettily from the center of a gold disk. I squinted closer, noting the numbers etched along the perimeter of the disk.

“Is that…” My brow furrowed. “What are the numbers? They look like latitude and longitude.”

“That’s exactly what they are.” He took the necklace from me and gently laid it over my collar bone, fastening the clasp in the back. “The latitude and longitude of this precise location. Right here, where we’re sitting now.”

I smirked a little, even though my throat felt suspiciously tight. “You wanted to memorialize the place where I gave you the best blow job of your life?” I teased.

He chuckled softly and bit the nape of my neck, just above the clasp. “No, hellion. I wanted to memorialize the place where we’ll build a home together.”

My breath stuttered. “What?” I whispered, turning to face him.

“Only if that’s what you want,” he said hastily. “This is something we decide together. If you want to stay in town, fine. We’ll stay. But you have been so exhausted from driving back and forth, and it occurred to me that I don’t need an office in town. I can work from a home office and do house calls. Hell, my clients would absolutely prefer I come to them and save them the drive into town themselves. So if you want, this can be ours. We can build our home here.”

“Brax.” My eyes were wet. A tear trembled on my lower lashes and I blinked frantically. “Are you sure?”

“I want as much time with you as I can possibly get. This is the way to do that. So, yeah. I’m fucking sure.”

I threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you. I…” My voice clogged. “I love you.”

He kissed my forehead. “I love you, too, hellion. Now, let’s crack open that champagne and celebrate.”

“Oh!” I brightened as I remembered what I had taken from the freezer. “And I have dessert!”

“Oh, yeah? Whaddya bring? Pie?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Cake.” I handed him the still-cold-but-not-frozen package. “Specifically, our wedding cake.”

He gave me a quizzical look as he unwrapped the tinfoil. “What?”

“It’s a tradition,” I explained. “You’re supposed to save the top tier of the wedding cake to eat on your first anniversary.”

Brax pulled off the last layer and there it was. White frosting over a chocolate cake. He stared at it.

“Mom wrapped it up for me. I was going to throw it away, because…” I shrugged. “You know. But I figured, why not, so I kept it. Anyway, I’m not going to promise you it’s still good after a solid year in the freezer. It’s a weird tradition, if you ask me, but?—”

He lunged at me, swallowing my words with his mouth. After a startled second, I sank into the kiss. His mouth gentled as the kiss deepened, and when he finally pulled away, I couldn’t remember what we had been talking about.

“You kept it.” He held my face in his palm, his thumbstroking my cheekbone. “Why didn’t you throw it away?”

“I—” I blinked, my mind going back to that day. Our first kiss. The vows. “I didn’t want to,” I confessed. “I wouldn’t let myself think any deeper about it than that. I just…couldn’t throw it in the trash. I told myself the marriage was all fake, but I think a part of me knew I would want it today.”

“Essie,” he whispered. He kissed my mouth like I was something precious. “This is the best gift anyone has ever given me.”

My eyes were damp all over again. “It might be disgusting,” I warned him. “But go ahead and serve it up. Let’s have our first meal at our new home.”

He smiled at that. “The first of many.”

The beginning of forever.