Page 50 of Courageous Yearnings

“Gimme everything you’ve got, and I promise I’ll catch up.”

“Well, I brought your team something sweet…” she admitted, stepping out of his arms and leaning into the car, grabbing the grocery bag from the passenger seat – and the other bag. “And brought you a little something else.”

“You did?”

Lance smiled, looking a little surprised as she started to hand him the grocery bag. She handed him the paper bag in her other hand instead - and winked at him. He chuckled easily, gave her a confused yet wary look, and then hesitated.

“Should I open it?”

“Only if you want to.”

“Should I be nervous?”

“It’s just a little something special. Do you like apple pie?”

“I love any kind of dessert,” he chuckled, pulling out the paper and froze. His eyes shot to hers and widened as his mouth worked for a moment. “That’s… uh, that’s not pie.”

“But this is,” she whispered, gesturing to the other bag in her hand. “And you are right – that’s not pie, nor is it for anyone else’s eyes.”

“Blythe,” he said hoarsely, looking in the bag again and meeting her eyes. “Oh man, where did you… is that…”

“That’s for my husband,” she murmured, meeting his eyes that were indescribable. If volcanoes had eyes, she was staring into them. His pupils were huge, his breath was catching, and desire blazed from his eyes as he kept peering into the bag before looking at her again.

“I get to see this… on you?”

“You promised me squishies, remember?” she said huskily, winking at him.

“Oh man, oh mercy… Blythe?!” he practically yelped, his hands shaking as he laughed in nervous delight – and then hugged her wildly with abandon.

She accidentally dropped the other bag that held the pie and exclaimed – only to have him attempt to kiss her in celebration. The first kiss nearly missed her mouth as his lips landed on her cheek. He was so moved, so taken aback, and it was beautiful to behold… especially as he kept staring into the bag that contained a little negligee. They were both laughing as he scooped up the bag that held a very mangled pie in a bent tin, setting it on the roof of the car.

“This is for our wedding night?”

“Well, it’s certainly not for them,” she chuckled, pointing at the group of men in the distance. “I’ll be taking that bag home, too, because no one else needs to know our business. You can see it when you get off of work and we change my last name, Hero.”

Lance looked at her, glanced over his shoulder at his coworkers, and then turned protectively, putting himself between them. He reached into the bag, and she saw his trembling hand touch the lace and satin as his eyes closed in sheer heaven, before he handed her the bag.

“Yup, nobody sees that but me.”

“Exactly.”

“The next few days are going to drag by.”

“I’m sorry about the broken pie.”

“They’ll live… and we need to be ready to go to the clerk’s office first thing. I think they open at nine. We’re gonna be married before lunch, Mrs. Cortes.”

“I’ll be ready to go. You just take care of yourself and don’t stand me up, Hero,” she whispered, not looking away from his eyes. He nodded slowly, completely aware that something devastating would have to happen for either of them to fail to meet up at the courthouse.

“Nothing will keep me from you,” he promised, reaching out to touch her cheek and looked like he was about to say something else, only to hear a commotion nearby.

“Hey! Lance! We’ve got a call…”

“Hi, Mrs. Cortes – congratulations!”

“Congrats, you two – now let's go!”

“I’ve gotta go,” Lance smiled ruefully and kissed her quickly. “Take that home,” he ordered, pointing at the bag. “I like that – a lot.”

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