Page 144 of Fumbled Into Love

“They were supposed to help me move out,” I say sheepishly as Deon stands on the porch.

His eyes rack my body and I shiver, though it’s not from the January chill.

“Will you come inside?”

Deon outstretches a palm, patiently waiting for me to make a choice.

Taking his hand feels like a catalyst to a series of events I can’t change, good or bad, I’m unsure, only that if I go inside, nothing will be the same ever again.

“Please,” he prods, eyes pleading.

The pots and pans and plane tickets to Paris. The erratic behavior of my friends. The connections begin to fall into place and my heart trembles.

“Deon, w-what is this?” I ask, unbidden tears springing to my eyes.

With a smile that could brighten the darkest of nights, Deon responds. “This is my grand gesture.”

CHAPTER 32

“I want you tonight and for the rest of my life”

Rest (with Sasha Alex Sloan) – Dean Lewis, Sasha Alex Sloan

Nathalie

“Grand gesture?” My words are choppy and raw as I clasp Deon’s hand and he leads us into his home.

We stop right in the entryway and he spins to face me. His throat bobs and he takes a long, deep breath, eyes closed. When they open, they shine like the sea glass, the green so intense that my knees nearly buckle.

“I’m not great with words or grand declarations, but I’m going to try.” He gulps, leading me into the living room and onto the couch. His hands are visibly trembling as he picks up a pink cloth-bound book and flips it open.

On the first page, written in glitter, is the title.

Deon and Nathalie’s Guide to Falling in Love.

“I’ve been reading your love stories, learning about what makes each one special,” he says, voice unsteady. “And this is ours.”

The tears are flowing freely now, streaming down my cheeks as he flips to the first page. It’s a collage of Deon and me; him at a press conference in front of a microphone and me standing in one of the gyms at work. A word bubble sits above Deon’s face reading,Will you be my fake girlfriend?and another above mine with,No!.

A choked laugh tumbles out and he flips to the next page, full of the paparazzi photos taken on our first date, a sticker of tacos and chips, and the selfie we took together.Our first fake dateis scrawled at the top.

Next is a page dedicated to my apartment flooding and Deon tackling me.

One for the Halloween party with the photo we took in our costumes.

A page for the night we made our deal.Just sexis written in glitter pen at the top andyeah, rightis written at the bottom.

There’s a page for our dating show and dinner with my family. Another for our puzzle and tea time. One for the night at the bar and Christmas. Two pages for his birthday and another for the gala.

Deon flips to the next page and at the top, it says,Deon’s Grand Gesture.

There’s a photo of Henry and Jack posing with power tools and Declan holding a bottle of glitter glue, but the photo that catches my eye is the one of Deon, clearly so nervous that he may piss himself.

In it, he’s working on a friendshipbracelet.

He flips to the next page and the photos are of Maren and Sawyer holding a sign in front of me while I sleep in Maren’s guest bed that says,She has no idea that Deon Adams is in love with her.

They share twin smiles of glee and as the words on the sign register in my mind, my head jerks to Deon, who has tears in his eyes, mixed with vulnerability and hope and…love.

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