Page 74 of Their Greatest Strength

His voice is strong despite staying muted as he cuts me off. “Don’t finish that sentence. This ring is yours, and it’s not too much. You’ve got it backward, Blakely. You deserve something bigger and brighter, but this one will have to do for now.”

Will have to do?

“I’m not your real wife,” I argue weakly.

“Tell me what’s wrong. What are you thinking in that head of yours that’s making you feel like I should have gotten you some flimsy, fake ring from the dollar store?”

It’s not the time to be dealing with this, yet that doesn’t make the insecurities that have been building and building go away. I have to deal with the wreckage they’ve caused, even if I risk doing it with an audience.

“Look at how I’m dressed and how my hair is styled and the lack of makeup. I don’t look like the fiancée of a sports star and certainly not like I fit into a neighbourhood and house like this one. I’m the girl who you’d expect to be escorted away from somewhere like this. From a guy like you,” I say, fighting against the urge to let my voice wobble with emotion.

One blink and he’s released my hand. A rough, callused palmsmooths over my jaw instead, tilting my head back in a way that forces our eyes to hold.

“If you don’t tell me to step away, I’m going to kiss you right now,” he rasps, such a confident determination in his gaze.

It cuts right through me. “Why?”

“Because I’m hoping it will help convince you that you’re the opposite of everything you just told me. If I wanted to find someone who wore designer dresses, dyed their hair blonde every few weeks in the salon, and wore makeup all the time, I would have.”

“And you think us kissing will help convince me of that?”

His small smile wavers. “Well, that, and it would start our performance today off with one hell of a bang.”

He’s still holding my face, and once I realize I’ve been leaning into him this entire time, I still don’t stop. It feels like it would be harder to break away than continue to sway forward.

Am I really going to let him kiss me right now? I guess it has to happen eventually. Nobody will believe that we’re in love if we don’t kiss. Do I really want our first one to be at the aisle during our wedding ceremony?

The soft, reassuring press of his thumb to the middle of my chin is comforting and warm, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t also make my toes curl ever so slightly in my shoes.

I part my lips and then wet them, hoping he can read my acceptance in the action. By the subtle flare of his pupils as he watches my tongue glide across the bottom one, I know he has.

Holding my breath, I start lowering my lashes and wait for him to make the move?—

“Uncle J!”

The high-pitched squeal is a shock to my system. I stumble back and hide my reaction to the sudden bite of cold against the cheek just cradled in his hand.

“Uncle J! Were you just about to kiss each other?”

Jamie clears his throat and opens his arms to the girl nowlaunching herself at him. He bundles her in a hug and mouths an apology to me.

I shake my head at him, not needing an apology, before turning in search of Nate. He’s leaning against the side of the house, his phone in his hand but attention on us now, if it were ever anywhere else at all.

“Hi! I’m Nova. Who are you?” the girl asks, standing in front of me with Jamie at her back.

Her blonde hair is braided in two halves down her scalp, and her yellow overalls are just the slightest bit too big for her. Freckles are splattered across the middle of her face, making her look a bit younger than I’d bet she is.

“I’m Blakely. It’s nice to meet you, Nova,” I say.

She grins wide. “Why were you about to kiss my uncle?”

Jamie chuckles, palming her shoulder. “Blakely is my fiancée. We’re getting married next weekend.”

“Oh! That’s fun. Will it be like Mom and Ollie’s wedding?”

“Kind of. Not quite as big, though. Only my favourite people are invited.”

Her eyes widen. “That means me, right?”

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