Page 80 of Comforting the Grump

He was quiet for a long time, his eyes searching mine as if he needed to make sure. “I guess I have a hard time comprehending why you’d love me.”

“You’re so much easier to love than you think, but I’m happy to tell you every day.”

He leaned his forehead against mine. “I may need that. I guess I’m a lot needier and more insecure than I realized.”

Love would do that to you, but I kept that part to myself. “We’ll figure it out. All I need to know is that you’re serious and committed to this. To us.”

He pulled back, meeting my eyes again. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. This is it, sunshine. You’re it. You have my heart now, and I never want it back.”

For a man who had proclaimed he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body, he sure knew how to say all the right words. “I told you I’d take good care of it. I love you, baby. Nothing’s gonna change that.”

He let out a sigh. “It’s scary business, being in love. I’m not fully convinced I like it.”

That was so quintessential Marnin that I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll get used to it over time.”

We chatted with the people at our table during dinner. Well, I chatted, and Marnin made the occasional remark to prove he was listening, but he was clearly distracted, and I couldn’t blame him.

The bachelor auction was a hoot, with the emcee playing up the bachelors’ qualities, having everyone in stitches with his antics and furiously bidding. It was followed by a charity auction, where everyone could bid on items and services donated by various people. Reid, Jaren’s husband, had donatedhis tattooing skills, for example, and so one woman ended up paying five thousand dollars for a tattoo that would’ve probably cost her three hundred bucks if she’d gone to Reid directly. Rich people were funny.

Marnin ended up paying three thousand dollars for a gorgeous framed photograph of a pod of orcas donated by a wildlife photographer. He’d captured them mid-breach, and the level of detail was astonishing. After Marnin won the bid, he headed to the stage to collect his prize. When he came back, he handed it to me. “For you.”

“For me?”

He shrugged but didn’t quite pull off the nonchalant look. “Because you love orcas.”

My heart melted all over again. “Thank you. It will always remind me of our orca trip together.”

His face cracked into a smile. “That was a good day.”

I leaned in for a kiss. “It was. We’ll hang this in our bedroom, hmm?”

Our bedroom. It was the first time I’d said those words aloud. Marnin must’ve realized it too because his smile widened. “I love that.”

After the charity auction, a DJ started playing and the dancefloor opened. I loved dancing, but I doubted Marnin would be up for it. But he surprised me, reaching for my hand and pulling me to my feet. “Wanna hit the dancefloor?”

“You dance?”

“No, but that’s never stopped me before.”

I was still laughing when we hit the dancefloor. Marnin hadn’t been exaggerating: he really wasn’t much of a dancer, but it didn’t seem to bother him. Mostly, he was content letting me do my thing and observing me with a goofy smile.

When the DJ played “Havana”—one of my favorite songs—I started dancing a salsa. I’d taken dance classes way back when,but I’d done salsa for much longer, always loving the rhythm and the sexiness of the sultry moves.

“Teach me,” Marnin said.

I blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t look that hard.”

The basics definitely weren’t. I put his hands on my hips. “Mirror my moves.”

It took him a few tries, but he had a surprisingly good sense of rhythm and no trouble counting the beats. Maybe the DJ noticed me trying to teach Marnin because he played two more salsa songs, and I had an absolute blast dancing with him.

“That was tolerable,” Marnin said as we were in the limo back home. He hadn’t let go of my hand, playing with my fingers in an absentminded way that had a thousand butterflies fluttering in my belly. “I actually liked being there this year…thanks to you.”

Aww. “I loved dancing with you.”

“You’re beautiful when you dance.”

---