Page 75 of Choosing You

The weekend was amazing. They spent most of Friday in bed and it was incredibly sexy and decadent not to have to worry about anything except what they wanted to eat and where they wanted to make love next. By the time the sun went down that night, they were both exhausted, but in the best kind of way.

On Saturday, she surprised him by taking him to the Dauer Classic Car Museum, which boasted over fifty-five classic cars in pristine condition from 1906 to 2020. He saw Buicks, Cadillacs, Chryslers, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and even a few European and Italian cars. For a car enthusiast like him, it was freaking awesome. And by the end of the day, he realized that Sloane wasn’t just placating him; she was genuinely enjoying herself and asking all kinds of questions.

It was an incredible day.

And then there was today.

They finally sat down and talked.

“I can’t believe the weekend is over already,” Sloane had said as she put the plate of pancakes down on the table.

Will reached for her hand and gently tugged her down onto his lap. “It went way too fast.” Nuzzling her neck, he simply breathed her in.

“Since you took off this weekend, I’m guessing you’ll have to work next weekend, huh?”

“Probably.”

At that point, he had a feeling she was going to say that she wasn’t going to come and see him, and he’d had enough. This was how it started, and he was prepared to end it right then. Carefully, he shifted her to the chair beside him, but didn’t let go of her hand.

“Here’s the thing,” he began, “we’ve been sort of flying blind since the beginning and at first, that worked for us. Then it got to where we were scheduling each other in, and that was okay for a little while.” He paused and looked for any reaction, but her expression was fairly neutral. “Sloane, I’m in love with you. I want to be with you. Not just on the weekends or when one of us has time off, but all the time.”

She gasped, and this time when he looked at her, she was smiling. “Will…I…you never said…I mean…I thought…but it’s so soon!”

He chuckled because he knew exactly what she meant. They hadn’t talked about feelings like this before. It hadn’t seemed important, not when they could communicate without words. But now he realized just how important those words were.

“Maybe it’s crazy, and maybe it is too soon, but…”

“I love you too,” she blurted out, effectively interrupting him.

In the blink of an eye, she was back in his lap and wrapped around him and…well…breakfast had gotten cold.

Just the thought made him smile.

Over the second batch of pancakes, they talked about what this meant to their relationship and where they wanted to be.

“I would love for you to move to Sweetbriar Ridge, Sloane. Move in with me. Be with me and…when we’re ready…marry me.”

Her green eyes went wide as she nodded. “I like the sound of that, Will. All of it!”

“Really?” Could it have seriously been this easy all along? Had they just wasted even more time in their already nontraditional relationship by not talking about this? “I figured you’d want to think about it a little more.”

She gave him a serious look. “Are you trying to back out already?”

“Hell no! I’m just surprised that I didn’t have to do more to persuade you.”

“You’ve been persuading me since that first kiss three years ago. We just didn’t realize it.” She paused and took a sip of her coffee. “Okay, there’s something I need to say.”

Her tone was serious, but considering she already said she loved him, he couldn’t imagine it being something bad.

“Since that first weekend when we finally officially met, I’ve been forced to think about my life in ways that I never had before. You’ve met my family; I’m the youngest and I’ve never taken anything too seriously. I looked at the things everyone else was doing and thought they were lame, but that was because I had convinced myself that what I had was better.”

“And it wasn’t?”

“It was more like the life I had was changing and I was in complete denial about it. Friends moved away, most were getting married and starting families, and once I really started thinking about it, I realized I was the last single girl in our friend group. So the reasons I kept giving for why I needed to stay here and why I couldn’t move? They didn’t exist. I was lying to myself.”

All he did was nod because he wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“Hailey and I used to get together once a week, and once she moved away, I missed that. A lot. I still had weekly dinners with the rest of the family, but…I felt a little left out at times, and the one-on-one time with my mom wasn’t always the most exciting.”

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