Page 292 of The Bonus

34

Grace

My eyes fill with tears. He’s good all right.

“Well.” I go up onto my toes to kiss his big lips. “You win.”

“I win?”

“That is the most romantic thing that has ever been said to me.”

“Yet.” He smirks down at me.

“You did tell me you were bringing your A game.”

“Let’s see how I went.” He takes me by the hand and leads me down to the jetty, the picnic blanket has padding under it and there are scattered cushions all around and a giant cane wicker picnic basket. He helps me sit down and kicks off his shoes and sits down beside me, he gets his phone out and scrolls through something. “I made you a playlist.”

“Huh?”

He holds his phone out and shows me the Spotify screen.

A-Game Date Songs for Gracie

I burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”

His eyebrows flick up. “You asked for the cheese, and I am delivering.” He presses play.

“You Were Always on My Mind” from Willie Nelson comes on. “This is track one,” he tells me as he takes two crystal glasses from the picnic basket and fills them with champagne.

“You have a track list?”

“Yes, I’ve ramped them up to the finale.” He passes me my glass and clinks it with his.

“There’s a finale?” I ask.

His eyes twinkle with a certain something as he sips his champagne. “Grand finale.”

Oh my lord…the grand finale is sex. Earth-shattering, bed-breaking sex.

That’s it, I’m done. Let’s skip to the grand finale now, because I’m about to orgasm on the spot.

He digs back into the picnic basket and produces a silver tray of chocolate-covered strawberries, and I laugh out loud. “What else do you have in that basket?”

“All kinds of random shit.” He holds the tray out to me. “Chocolate strawberry, my love?”

“Did you make these?” I tease.

“Yes.” He tips his head back and gulps his wine.

“Are you lying?”

“No comment.”

Oh…I love this man.

“Can we skip straight to the grand finale right now?”

“No.” He digs around in his basket and pulls out a package wrapped in brown paper with a big red ribbon bow. “I made you a present.”