Page 117 of Holding The Reins

When I get home, CeCe is sitting at the dining room table, her golden hair is piled on top of her head in a big messy bun and she’s wearing a black wool turtleneck dress with her glasses. She’s on hold on the phone and reading from her beloved Kindle. She almost cried when the damn thing arrived from Seattle with the rest of her belongings.

She looks so mouthwatering that the urge to be scolded by the hot accountant in my kitchen makes my dick twitch. My hot accountant.

CeCe shakes her head at me, taking one glimpse at the look I’m wearing raking my eyes over her and taps her wrist.

Thoughts of propping her up on my kitchen table flee my mind when I remember we have a ten a.m meeting with Harry to distribute the rest of the funds we earned and have finally received after six weeks from the Sundown Festival. The first totals already covered the start of the Lightning’s season and watching those kids come in to play nightly provides me more pride than winning the Stanley Cup.

I mouth the word “later” to her as I hike my thumb toward the shower and disappear while she continues her call.

“At least two more years,” CeCe beams to Harry as she shows him all the particulars that can be paid for from our festival profits.

It was a massive success; Laurel Creek saw upwards of ten thousand visitors that weekend and the local shops and bed and breakfasts are singing our praises. We already have another planned for next August and even got some big sponsors asking to be a part of the whole day. CeCe is talking about making the event a two-day ordeal, and I just let her creative soul flow when she’s brainstorming.

“That’s beyond anything we could’ve ever expected,” Harry says, scrubbing his face with his hand.

“We even have provisions to help the kids that can’t afford equipment or the entrance fees. All raised by the community, no handouts,” CeCe says, showing him the final totals on her laptop.

“The day was just incredible. Exactly what I pictured—family, community, grassroots, teamwork, and you two are a great team. So when do we start planning next year? Maybe we can help out some other organized sports in the surrounding communities too?”

CeCe nods in excitement. Her full lips turning up in the grin I love so fucking much.

“We’re already on it, I’m just waiting on the municipality to give me answers on two consecutive dates we can secure. By our next meeting, I’ll know more.”

“Excellent. I can’t thank you two enough. You’re a great team,” Harry says, standing.

As I watch CeCe, I can’t help but picture her face tonight when I ask her to be mine forever.

I’m pacing, I need to calm down as I wait for CeCe to finish getting ready.

We’re already running late, because she was waiting for confirmation that her condo sale went through, and that her portion of the funds were deposited, finally putting an end to that chapter of her life… only a week after the proposed closing date. The moment she told me the money was deposited, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Good fucking riddance, Drew.

Now, I can focus on tonight because every detail has been planned, right down to the outfits we are wearing. She doesn’t know it, but when I bought the dress for her the other day, I planned it so we would coordinate together perfectly for the photographer who is coming in from Lexington.

When CeCe rounds the corner from our bedroom to where I’m standing in the living room, her beauty overwhelms me. The long black dress almost touches the floor and the slit that reaches her mid-thigh, offers a taunting glimpse of silky skin. The dress hugs every curve her small frame offers, long sleeves and a high neck seem modest and elegant, but I just know.

“Let’s see the back, little firefly,” I say as she obliges and turns, the expanse of her skin in the wide open back takes my breath away and dips all the way down to her tailbone.

“Beautiful,” I whisper as I go to her and kiss the strawberry scented skin of her upper back and neck.

“We’re not going to make it to our date if you keep kissing me like that.” She giggles.

I sober myself up, there will be plenty of time for that—a lifetime, if she says yes.

“What are we doing?” she asks in anticipation.

“You’ll see, I just have to stop by the bar and drop some files off before dinner,” I say.

No turning back now… the velvet box is burning a hole in my pocket as I usher her through the door.

Nash has been acting odd all day. He’s never concerned with time but he kept checking in on me as I was getting ready, asking me if I needed anything.

It’s been three months since the first night he stayed at my house the first time and he’s calling it an anniversary dinner. He bought me this beautiful dress, and he’s in a three piece suit, stealing my breath and looking so fucking incredible it’s making me want to skip dinner.

I look at him as we drive, reaching my hand across to hold his, then running my fingers across the ornate, detailed infinity symbol with a tiny firefly perched in the center that he had tattooed on his wrist a month ago at the base of his ink sleeve—for me, he said, to remind me that he’s mine forever. It’s an exact replica of the necklace my father gave me and it shows me how much he loves me more than any physical gift he could ever give me.

“You okay?” I ask. “Are you feeling alright?”

Nash nods, staring straight out the window. The town is quiet on a Monday night when we reach it, we pull into the parking lot of the Horse and Barrel. It’s empty as it always is on Mondays, and he puts the truck in park.

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