Page 54 of Gracefully Yours

I blinked. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Charlotte shrugged and then looked over our room. They’d decorated it in a woodsy theme, complete with a little table and chairs, but there was only one bed.

“How do you want to do this?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I can take the couch, or…”

“Char.” I walked the short distance across the room to her, wrapping my arms around her midriff. “We can share the bed. It’s not like we haven’t done it before. Plus, we’re getting married. Want to tell me what this is really about?” She slumped in on herself, giving a small sigh, and I spun her around in my arms to look at me.

“I just… I don’t know if I’m ready forthat.”She glanced towards the bed.

“Sharing a bed?” I asked. “Sleeping together?”

She shook her head. “At home we’re… it’s just us. We don’t have to play pretend.”

And she’d escape to her bedroom every night. Something I planned to remedy once we got home, after we saidI do. Because if it was up to me, we’d have an actual marriage. She’d never have to pretend around me.

But she needed time to get there, and I’d give that to her. I’d just have to hope she’d fall in love with me.

“We don’t have to play pretend here, either. It’s still just us. Okay?” At least, inside this room.

She bit her lip, exhaling deeply. “Okay.”

“Now, come here.”

Charlotte raised a perfect blonde eyebrow. “Why?”

“Char.” I extended a hand to her. “Please.”

“Alright,” she mumbled, taking my hand and letting me pull her into my arms.

I held her tightly, wrapping one arm around her back and smoothing the other over the back of her head. “We got this, alright?”

Pulling back from her embrace, I waited until she nodded, then kissed her forehead and pulled away.

“Now, let’s go see what the plan is with the gang, huh?”

She stood, frozen, her fingers brushing where I’d kissed her head, even after I’d moved away.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” She breathed out, her brilliant gray eyes locked onto mine.

“Like you want me to kiss you for real.”

“Oh.” She blushed. “And what if we need… more practice?”

I smirked. “Do you think we need practice, baby?”

She stepped back closer to my body, her fingers trailing up my chest, even though I was wearing my North Face jacket.

“Couldn’t hurt.”

I hummed in response, cupping Charlotte’s cheek with one hand as the other brushed through her hair. “Do you want me to kiss you, Charlotte? All you have to do is say the words.”

“Kiss me, Daniel,” she said, and I couldn’t help but comply, crushing my lips to hers.

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