Page 153 of Until I Have You

Abigail sticks her tongue into her cheek.“He did, did he?”

I go to the walk-in, opening the door.“Bonnie, you go get changed, I’m going to show Abigail her dress.”

Bonnie runs out of the room, the whole candy bar in her hand.Dammit.

“Going to spoil her dinner with all that sugar.”

“You’re only six once,” Abigail replies, coming over to meet me.She pats my chest.“Let her have some fun.”

We’re going to balance each other out well.I already feel it.

Abigail enters the big walk in and finds herself face to face with the white, summery dress Bonnie helped me pick out.“Oh, Theo, it’s beautiful.”

“You like it?”

Her hands stroke down the material.“Love it.”She smiles over her shoulder at me.“Help me put it on?”

So, I do, languishing in the process of removing her clothes and touching her soft skin.

We’ll have to wait to join our bodies together until later, but for now, I can worship her in this quiet way.

“Arms up,” I tell her, scrunching the dress up in my hands.

She does so.

I pull the dress over her head.“There we go…”

Once she’s all the way in, I let the fabric go.It floats down over her lithe body, all the way to her calves.A vision in ivory.

“What do you think?”She steps back, swishing her hips back and forth to twirl the skirt.

For a split second, a vision of her at the end of an aisle comes to me.Walking toward me, ready for our forever.

Then, I remember she has to accept my proposal first.

“Perfect.You lookperfect.”

30

THEO

I lie to Abigail,tell her the fastest way to get to the restaurant is by cutting through the park.

We walk hand in hand, Bonnie a few feet ahead of us at all times.

With every step, her anticipation grows while my nerves build on each other, compounding exponentially.

I have to focus to make sure my hands aren’t shaking.

Abigail interrupts my attempts to calm myself.“Theo?”

“Hm, love?”

“You’re hurting my hand.”

In an effort to steady my shakiness, I’ve been cutting off her circulation.I release her hand and rub my palm down the lapel of my suit jacket.“Sorry about that.”

Abigail quirks her brows.“You all right?You seem…I don’t know.Something on your mind?”

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