Page 19 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“Why not?” he said. “It could solve both of our problems? It’s a good idea, Cassie, and you know it.”

She did. Hadn’t she just been going over the entire issue and concluded that marriage to Del wouldn’t be the worst thing ever? Heck, it could even be a little fun. Still, there were a lot of reasons not to go through with his insane plan.

“Fine.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I’ll concede it might be an okay idea.”

“Okay?” He grinned, leaning back against the wall, crossing his arms over his broad chest. His gaze traveled over her body, heat sparking in his eyes. “It’s a great idea. All my ideas are great.”

Cocky bastard.

“Oh really? So that time you wanted to prove you were better at climbing trees than the twins, but you fell ten feet and broke your arm. That was a good idea?”

He winced. “Okay that one might have been bad, but this one isn’t.”

“Del,” she sighed, too many thoughts and emotions rolling through her to deal with him right now. “This is absurd. You can’t even propose properly!”

“There’s a proper way to propose?”

Stupid, clueless men!

“Of course there’s a right way to propose. Most little girls spend hours crafting the perfect proposal they hope to get one day.”

His brow furrowed. “Okay then, what’s yours?”

“I said most women.”

“Come on Cassie.” His lips turned up in a sly grin. “I know you’ve got an idea or two.”

“Perhaps.” Crossing her arms, she leaned against the wall, mimicking his pose. “It sure as heck wouldn’t be a demand of marriage at two in the morning.”

“Enlighten me then. Show me the error of my ways.”

Now there was an open invitation she was tempted to take him up on. Deciding to teach Del a lesson on wooing women—and not just for bed-fun purposes—she lifted a hand to count off. “Okay. First, it has to be somewhere special, beautiful, and surrounded by flowers or candles or something.”

“Make it pretty, got it.”

She ignored his annoying wink and went back to her list. “Don’t do it somewhere where’s there’s a big crowd. Public proposals just put too much pressure on people and it’s awkward for everyone if the woman says no. But a few people around are okay. It’s nice to have a couple of congratulations and well wishes.”

A mischievous twinkle entered his eyes—she didn’t like the look of it—but it was gone in an instant. Perhaps she’d imagined it? She hoped so. Anything that put a look of devilish glee on Del’s face couldn’t be good for her.

“No big crowds,” he said. “But well wishes. Cool.”

Her head began to pound. It couldn’t be from the booze; she hadn’t even finished her wine. Must be a tension headache from dealing with the frustrating man in front of her. He did make her tense. For various reasons, only one of which she would acknowledge at the moment.

“And lastly,” she finally said, “you need the most important thing.”

His brow crumpled. “Booze?”

Shaking her head in exasperation she held up her left hand. “A ring, moron.”

“Moron? Is that any way to talk to your future husband?”

“I didn’t say yes, Del. We”—she motioned between the two of them—“would make a terrible couple.”

He arched one dark eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Why?”

“Well…we fight. All the time.”

He scoffed. “We do not.”

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