“Just make sure you pack some tissues. I am planning the most romantic wedding ever.” She beams, which has Chad smiling.
“As long as there’s lots of booze and a great DJ, then I’m happy. Other than that, anything you want.” He lays a hand on her waist and pulls her in for a kiss.
I’m about to make one of my signature comments about how gross they are when they kiss, but it actually doesn’t bother me at all. Hasn’t for a while. I’ve just been so used to making the remarks that it’s become habit.
“I’m really happy for you guys.”
“You know, you could be next,” Nicole states suggestively with a waggle of her brows.
“They have time,” he groans.
“Babe, they’ve been dating nearly as long as we have,” she says.
“She’s younger.”
“By just a year. Wes is our age,” she defends, and I hold my hands up.
“You two can stop right there. This is your day and your year. Enjoy your engagement and don’t worry about anyone trying to steal your thunder. Today is your moment. Bask in it. You have a very, very, very long time until you have to worry about me and Wes.”
“Did I hear my name?” Wes strolls up beside me and puts his arm around my shoulders.
Nicole chimes in, “We were just talking about the possibility of you and Stacey getting engaged someday—”
“To which I replied that they have a crazy-long time to wait until something like that,” I add.
Wes shrugs in agreement. “Squid is right.”
I roll my eyes and let out a huff.
Wes laughs and pulls me away. “If you two will excuse us, I think she’s about to read me the riot act.”
We move away from Chad and Nicole to where he spins me around to face him.
“I hate that nickname.”
“But you love me.” He grips my waist and pulls me toward him. “Dance with me.”
There’s music in the restaurant from a piano player sitting in the corner. He’s playing a ballad I know well. An old Rod Stewart song.
“No one’s dancing,” I say.
He takes my hand and lifts it against his chest. “When have we been ones to go with what everyone else is doing?”
With a laugh-like growl, I give in and dance with my man. We’re the only ones dancing, which has my mom beaming at us from her place at her table. She taps my dad’s shoulder to get his attention. They’re pointing at us now and looking happy.
Over the last two years, they’ve been very supportive of my and Wes’s relationship. Mom already loved him, and Dad has the most profound trust in my judgment. Chad gives us grief when he can but only when we show affection. I can’t blame him; I’ve been doing the same to him and Nicole. I like to think of it as our way of showing how much we care.
They also haven’t given me too hard of a time about not moving back to Los Angeles. When Wes graduated, he was offered a full-time position at a rehabilitation facility in Berkeley. He’s the associate director and enjoying his new career. Even if I hadn’t gotten a job with the Department of Labor, I would have tried for something near Berkeley because that’s where Wes is.
I look up at him as we dance.
He’s so tall and handsome, those hazel green eyes still working their magic on me, as they have since that day I walked into their apartment and saw him standing there in a towel. His lips draw me in, as they have since that kiss in high school. And his sweet soul is as pure as the moment we met as kids.
When I came to Berkeley, I was on a bit of a relationship will never happen for me kick. Boy, was I wrong. It happened for me within weeks, and I’ve been floating on cloud nine ever since.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he croons in my ear.
“Just thinking about how mediocre you are,” I say in a mock serious tone.
“This is true. I’m a horrible cook.”
“You are.”
“And I don’t share the remote.”
“Ugh. That you definitely do not.”
He leans in and snuggles in close to my ear, his hot breath warm as he says, “But I don’t steal the covers.”
I lean my head into his and sigh. Wes is definitely a good bedmate.
“And I consider myself your personal shower concierge.” He bites the lobe of my ear.
I smile in agreement. Since our locker-room rendezvous, Wes has made it his personal mission to shower with me at least four times a week—to make sure my back is clean, of course.
“Then, there’s that awful habit of mine of massaging every inch of your body after you come back from a swim at the gym.”
“You’re positively dreadful,” I say with a shiver because a massage by Wes is my new favorite thing.
If he had given me one when we were sneaking around behind Chad’s back, I would have forsaken the entire world and announced my devotion to him in a heartbeat. His hands are magic digits that make me a puddle of goo and wind me up like a wild woman. It’s a talent.
“However, I was hoping you’d keep me around a bit longer. You see, I’ve grown quite fond of you.” He takes my hand and spins me. I follow through and raise a brow.
“How much longer are we thinking?” I ask as our bodies collide again, and we sway to the melody.
He grimaces as he lifts his eyes toward the ceiling in thought. “I don’t know. Say … forever?”
“That’s a long time, Mr. Knight. And quite the commitment.”
The grin on his face crinkles his eyes as he levels his gaze with mine and looks directly at me. “I’m willing to make it.”
My heart jumps straight to my throat at his words. “Really?”
“Don’t look so frightened.” He laughs and kisses my lips. “Not today and not tomorrow. But definitely in the future. I love you, Stacey, and I will for as long as I’m here on this earth. This”—he motions toward the party—“I want all this for us too. And we’ll do it all. Get married, have kids, and prove to everyone that old people can still have crazy-hot sex. We’re just gonna do it in our own time.”
I kiss him back and smile. “I’m in no rush, Wes. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just happy to be yours.”
“I love that you’re mine.”
“So, is this like an engagement to be engaged?” I joke.
He leans his head back and laughs. “It’s better. It’s a promise for eternity. The paper and the jewelry will come later.”
“And the kids.”
“At least three.”
I smile because three sounds like a really good number. “I’m good with that.”
So, there you have it. Who ever knew that the girl who left home to live with her brother would fall in love with his best friend and live happily ever after?
Though I’ve never been able to drop that damn nickname.
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