“What in the actual fuck is your problem?”
“I’m just thinking the next family gathering is going to be super awkward this year.”
“Why is that? Because I slept with your almost wife?”
He shakes his head and pats me on the shoulder. “No, because you clearly belong together.”
“What?” Surely I imagined him saying those words.
“You just portrayed more emotion for her than I’ve felt the entire time we’ve been together. You’re right. Summer is an amazing woman and she and I make a whole lot of sense on paper. But there’s no love between us. I’ve been in love with Tracy—that’s the maid of honor—for a while now. Yesterday was the first time we acted on it. If you want Summer, you should pursue her.” He looks over his shoulder at Summer and her mom and they’re both looking at us. Well, looking at me, precisely.
I shake my head. “You’ve got it all wrong. She’s not going to end up with a guy like me. With a pedigree like hers, she could have anyone she wants. Someone smarter, with more money and two legs.”
“Don’t be a dumbass. She’s clearly crazy about you.”
My heart thumps in my chest as if agreeing with Aaron’s words. Because I want it to be true. I’ve never wanted anything more. “You think?”
"Yeah, I do. And I can see how you’re looking at her. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t believe it. The two of you make a very compelling argument in favor of love at first sight.”
I can’t deny that. Maybe it was lust at first sight. But I can’t deny that my heart is heavily invested. I rub the back of my neck. “She said her mother is who sorta brought y’all together?”
“Yeah. I brought Candace in as a consultant for an exploratory committee to see if I wanted to run for state Senator.”
“And do you?” I ask.
“I think I might. But I’ll take care of Candace.” He rubs my arm again. “It’s good to see you, man. We should probably do this more often.”
I nod. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“You’ll take care of Summer?”
I know in that moment that I’ll do whatever it takes to convince Summer to be my forever. “I’m gonna marry that woman as soon as she’ll have me.”
“When you know, you know, I guess. Good luck.” He turns and walks off. Says something to Summer, then kisses her on the cheek. He grabs her mom’s arm and pulls her away and they leave the hotel.
Summer walks back over to me.
“Did you mean what you said to him?”
“Which part?”
“About me being a woman you couldn’t walk away from? About how he’d need to beg for forgiveness because I’m amazing and passionate?”
“Yeah, Sugar, I meant every word.” I pull her to me.
She pulls back just a little. “I know you rescue people professionally, but you don’t have to save me. I can save myself.”
I grin. “Yeah, Sugar, I know that. If you can rebuild a carburetor, you’re more than capable of saving yourself. Think you know what I told Aaron?”
“What’s that?”
“That I was going to take you home. And I was going to make you my wife as soon as I could convince you to marry me.”
Her wide green eyes look at me and they’re swimming in tears. “What?”
“I know it’s too fast, but I don’t care. I have no doubts, no hesitancies. I know that you’re meant to be mine and I’m meant to be yours. We belong together, Summer. I know you said this was just the crazy rain storm, but I’ve lived in Texas most of my life and you know what I’ve learned about Texas rain?”
“What?”
“Yeah, it can make you do crazy things. It can cause flash floods and cause all kinds of destruction. But it can also end a drought and make it possible for things to grow and bloom.”
For a long second, she just stares at me. And, fuck, if panic doesn’t clutch at my heart, because that kind of flowery shit is not like me, even if it’s exactly what I feel in this moment.
Because with Summer, I can’t hold back. I can’t pretend I’m not all in already. And if she thinks that’s too corny, there’s nothing I can do about it, because it’s already out there. All I can do now is wait and see if my Summer storm is a flash flood that wrecks me.
Pressing her lips together, she blinks back tears. Then she raises up on her toes and cups my face in her palms, bringing my forehead down to rest on hers. “Want to know a secret?”
“What’s that, Sugar?”
“I don’t think it will be too difficult for you to convince me to marry you.”
“I love you, Summer,” I say.
She swallows visibly. “I love you too, Cade.”
I kiss her and it doesn’t take long for my cock to harden. I pull back from her. “We’re going to need to take this back to our room. I need to be inside you.”
Epilogue
Summer
* * *
Cade’s got his hands covering my eyes as he walks me forward. “Where are we going?” I ask again.
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
Finally we stop walking and he’s pressed against my back. I rub my thumb against my wedding ring, as I’ve done since he put it on me nearly six months ago. It didn’t take us long to get married. He pretty much moved me down to Corpus with him after Aaron and my mom left the hotel.
I stomp my feet a little and wiggle my bottom against him.
He groans in my ear. “Don’t you start something, Sugar, unless you’re intending to finish it.”
“Can I look now?”
He removes his hand and I’m met with a nondescript warehouse looking building. I frown, then turn and look at my husband, the love of my life, and his handsome, handsome face.
“Babe, I want to be excited about this, I really do, but I don’t know what it is.”
“It’s a warehouse to store all your car parts so you can expand.” He grabs my hand and pulls me forward, then unlocks the door. He flips on the light and it’s a huge cavernous space. But there in the middle is a cherry red ’65 Mustang convertible. Well, it will be cherry red once the paint is restored.
“What is that?” I point to the car.
“You tell me.”
“That is my dream car.”
“You don’t say.”
I smack him playfully on the chest. “Babe, did you buy that for me?”
He gives me that smile that makes my knees weak and my panties wet. “I thought we could restore it together.”
I wrap my arms around him and kiss him, letting my tongue slide against him. He embraces me in return and squeezes my ass, pressing me to his hard body.
“I love that idea. And I love you. So, so much.” I bite down on my lip. “There is one problem though.”
“What’s that?” he asks, with a frown.
“I don’t think a carseat will fit in that car.”
He goes statue still. “What kind of carseat?”