Page 112 of Just One Moment

“‘Isee now that you need both.Youbrought the beauty and warmth of the sun with you.AndIbring the rain that helps theyellow flowersIlove to give you grow.Justone moment,Quinn.That’sall it took for me to know thatIwant to spend the rest of my days showing you how beautiful we can be.Thankyou for helping me see the goodIbring into the world, thatI’mworthy of love.I’msorry it took me so long to realize how incredible we are together.Iwill love you through all our moments.Thankyou for loving me, for me.Nowplease let me kiss you.’”

Hedoesn’t falter once.Eachsentence and word was strung together so eloquently,Icould almost see them floating and dancing between us.

Ilaugh through the tears, feeling so incredibly honored that the man in front of me is mine.Soridiculously happy that he chose himself. “Youwrote that last part down?”

Awhoosh of air leaves him and he turns the paper around.

It’sblank.

“Myfeelings for you are memorized.Youwill never have to doubt a single thing on my mind.Ifyou need to know something orIstruggle to communicate, ask me.”Hetakes hold of my hand and rests it over his heart. “I’dnever forget how deeplyIlove you.Becauseit’s all in here.Thisis yours.”

Ifly off the chair and crash into his arms.Hecatches me, like he always has.Thefeel of him finally is so wonderfully overwhelming.

“I’llcherish your heart forever.Ilove you so much.Thankyou for being exactly whatIneeded.”Ipull back to look deep into his eyes. “Ican’t wait for all our moments together.You’rea beautiful man, with a beautiful heart and soul.AndI’mso happy you asked me to be your fake girlfriend.”

Hepresses his face into my neck, breathing me in as he stands and perches me on the edge of the table.There’sno hesitation, no warming up to do as his lips meet mine.Wedon’t need to savor the kiss.We’llhave years to do that.

Ourlips crash together like we’ve been starved.Onlycoming up for air long enough to take in the other before diving right back in.

It’sGrahamwho has the sense to stop me stripping us both bare for the whole town to see.

“Youlet me give you so many firsts, butIcan’t wait until you give me one of my own.”Hepresses our foreheads together, andIcan see the reflection of my wild, unfiltered happiness smiling back at me in his glasses.

“Whatwill it be?”

“Oneday soon.You’llbe the firstandonly personIever call wife.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

quinn

I’vebeen staring creepilyatMr.Willisfrom across the bakery for almost half an hour.

Justdo it,Quinn.RiptheBand-Aidoff.

“Areyou talking to yourself again?”

Myeyes snap toGraham.He’sleaning against the counter withCurlyat his feet, who is snuggly wrapped up in the vestIbought for him.Itcame with a friggin’ hood.Plus,Grahamcan’t be mad—Igot him a matching one.

“I’mgiving myself a pep talk.Didn’tyou say you were going for a walk?”Myvoice is antsy, andIhaven’t stopped rearranging the display fridge all morning.

“Honey, the worst that could happen is he says no.You’vegot the preapproval.”Heleans over the cash register, crowding me as he holds me with a look that says,You’vegot this. “Callme after andI’llwalk back to meet you.”

Ideflate with a big sigh. “Gah!Okay, okay.”Ismack a kiss to his lips and playfully shove him toward the door.Notbefore a quick slap to that perfect ass. “Nowget out of here.You’revery distracting.Ilove you.Tentaclesand all.”

Rollinghis eyes and laughing he stretches over the counter and gives me one final peck. “Loveyou.”

Thatwill never get old.

Acouple of minutes afterGrahamleaves,Isteel my nerves.Armedwith a free blueberry scone,Iwalk to whereMr.Willissits by the window.Asusual, he’s people watching with a melancholy look on his face.Thetown looks like the inside of a snow globe right after being shaken silly.Snowflakesthe size of my eyes have been coming down since this morning and large drifts are quickly forming along the sidewalk.

Theweather forecast says this is just the beginning of the storm headed our way.

Fivedays beforeChristmas.

“Hey,Mr.Willis.”Myvoice sounds confident, butIhope he doesn’t catch the shaking of my hands. “Imade way too many scones this morning.Thisone’s on the house.”

Hepats his belly, and his thin lips pull up into a smile. “I’dnever say no.”

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