Page 111 of That Time I Kissed My Beachfront Boss

I also wanted to show Hudson I trust him. Totally and completely. Without trust, a relationship can never survive, even under the best of circumstances.

So the five of us are seated at a table now with the very best view of the lake, and the lights on the dock are doing battle with the stars. Meanwhile, the beautiful moon beats them all, hanging like a giant beach ball suspended over the water.

When we got here, I lit the tea candles and poured everyone champagne, while Hudson rolled the windows up, opening the space to the deck. The breeze is sweet, and the air is cooling. Crickets and frogs serenade us in the dark. The night sky is an inky black. We’re in the perfect spot for an engagement. Or it would’ve been perfect, if Teller hadn’t already proposed to Winnie at a rest stop on the New York State Thruway.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t wait until you got here,” Hudson quips, topping up Teller and Winnie’s champagne. There’s another cheese and fruit board on the table that the chef prepared for us ahead of time.

“What can I say?” Teller ducks his head. “I suck at romance.” He aims a shrug at his grinning fiancée. “Better get used to disappointment, Win.”

“Oh, stop it.” She waves away his comment. “Teller’s just protecting my honor. The glitch was one hundred percent my fault.”

“What happened?” I ask, plucking a chunk of gouda and a grape to pop in my mouth.

“Well.” Winnie’s face goes sheepish. “As usual, my phone battery was dying.”

“She’s always on about two percent,” Teller interjects.

“So I started digging in his duffel bag for a charger,” she adds.

“And I knew the ring was in there, so I … tried to distract her.”

Hudson lets out a chuckle. “I’m afraid to ask how you did that.”

Winnie nudges Teller’s shoulder. “This guy started belting out “Bohemian Rhapsody”—very badly, for the record—hoping I’d join in and forget all about the charger. And it worked for a while. The song’s pretty long, and we were both singing our little hearts out. But then my sister called, which reminded me about the dire state of my phone battery, so I went back to digging in Teller’s bag, and … that’s when I found the little velvet box.”

Teller shakes his head, pasting on a grim smile. “Foiled again.”

“I immediately started sobbing,” Winnie says.

“I’d cry too.” Jacqueline tips her chin at Winnie’s ring. “That diamond is absolutely gorgeous.”

“I wasn’t crying because of the ring,” Winnie explains. “I mean, of course I love the ring. It’s perfect. But I was also pretty heartbroken that I’d ruined Teller’s special moment.”

“Come on.” Teller grabs a wedge of asiago. “How do you know pulling off the interstate and begging you to be my wife in a deserted rest area wasn’t my grand plan all along?”

Winnie smirks. “If it was, I would’ve turned you down.”

“Heh, heh, heh.” Teller laughs over a mouthful of cheese. “Anyway,” he gulps, “I totally blame your sister. She knew I was going to propose to you tonight, and that little interloper just had to call to check in with you, didn’t she? And we all know that was code for, ‘hey, has your idiot boyfriend popped the question yet?’”

“Well, yes he did!” Winnie chirps. She lifts the champagne flute with her engagement-ring hand. “And NOW I’M GETTING MARRIED!”

Teller grins. “And I’ve hooked my star to a woman whose phone battery will permanently be on death’s door.”

“Till death do us part,” Winnie says.

“Lucky man,” Hudson says. Then he glances at me, and we lock eyes.

Oof.

My cheeks heat up. Not from embarrassment, but from the deep glow of connection radiating between Hudson and me. I’ve never let myself get close to love before, but this is starting to feel close. Closer than close. In fact, it’s more like Hudson and I are standing at the top of a slippery slope, and I’m on my way to falling head over heels. And rather than backing away from the edge this time, I’m greasing up my body and preparing to propel myself off the cliff.

Not to be dramatic.

I take a small sip of champagne, scoop a whole lot of cheese onto my plate, and surrender to the ongoing banter of our strange little group: Hudson’s best friend, his best friend’s fiancée, and his ex-girlfriend. (On second thought, make that our super-strange little group.)

And over the next hour, I confirm three things:

Teller is flat-out hilarious.

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