Page 71 of The Proximity Factor

“Lanie.” I brushed her wet cheek.

“I’m fine,” her voice trembled. “This is just me being ridiculous.”

I didn’t think she was being ridiculous. I took her beautiful face in my hands, tilted her gaze toward mine, and jumped in with both feet. She didn’t deserve to have any questions about where we stood. “Lanie, I want monogrammed his-and-hers towels in my bathroom for the rest of my life, in whatever color you think is best.”

She blinked as if she hadn’t heard me right. “What?”

“What I’m trying to say is, I love you.”

“You do?”

“I do.” This tremendous weight lifted from me. I didn’t want to be guarded around Lanie any longer.

“Are you just saying that because you think that’s what I want to hear?”

“No, Lanie. I’m saying it because I love you.” I smiled.

Lanie reached up and delicately ran her fingers over my mouth. “There’s the smile I’ve been waiting for,” she cried, but she sounded happy. Inexplicably happy, like she believed me.

“What smile?”

“The one you used to give Maren in your old pictures. The one that says I’m all the universes to you. I’ve wanted that smile for so long.”

I drew her face toward mine, my lips hovering just above hers. “Lanie, you are more than all the universes to me. You’re my everything. I don’t care what some study says about us or how we came together. All that matters is I love you and I want to make this work.”

“I love you too.” She brushed her lips over mine. She tasted like salt water, cherry lip gloss, and my future.

I pressed my lips harder against hers, breathing her in, wanting every part of her.

“So, what does this mean?” she whispered against my mouth as if she had to know before I took the kiss any deeper.

“I think proximity works for us. We should keep that going. What do you think?”

“Come closer and I’ll tell you.” She parted her lips and pulled me to her.

That was all the answer I needed. It was official. My Pop-Tarts were never going back on the shelf.

PARKER POKED HIS HANDSOME FACE into my office. “Hello, Mrs. Remington.” He only called me that when he was trying to be sexy and we were alone in the office. Oh, he was sexy all right, and I loved his face for it.

Sometimes it was still hard to believe we’d tied the knot. It had been a lovely fall wedding with all our family and friends in Mama’s backyard. No one was more surprised than me when Parker wanted to get married so soon. He was serious about the monogrammed towels for life. And oh, we got plenty of them as wedding gifts. We were all set in that department.

“Hey, babe. I’m just finishing up the social media campaign for the new year and then I’ll be ready to go.”

We were picking Daphne up from the airport, and then tomorrow we were all flying to London, along with both our mamas, Tad, and Cheri to begin our European Christmas vacation. We used all the money we received from the experiment to make it a family affair. Not that we couldn’t already have afforded it—Ruptured Worlds was killing it, and I was still teaching until my contract was up, so I had two paychecks coming in. I worked for Ruptured Worlds only in the evenings and on weekends for now. As tired as I was, I loved it.

I couldn’t wait to give Mama the trip Daddy had always promised her. It was going to be even more special to have everyone with us.

Parker stepped in and shut the door behind him, even though we were the only ones at the office.

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to give you your Christmas present before we left.”

“Ooh, do we have time for this?” I assumed he meant our favorite pastime.

Parker grinned and sauntered toward me. “As much as I would love to ravish you, we don’t really have time.”

“That’s a bummer.”

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