Page 146 of You Kissed Me First

“You’re saying yes? You’ll be my girl for real?”

She bites her bottom lip and nods, acting shy.

She never has to be shy with me. Moving my hands until they are cupping her face, I press my forehead against hers.

“You have made me the happiest man in the world,” I whisper.

“I think that’s supposed to be Grant. I mean, he did just marry the love of his life.”

“And the mother of his kid, from what I hear.”

She gasps at my admission. “He told you?”

I smile. “While you were in the bathroom. He figured she was telling you, so he told me.”

She shakes her head. “I guess he was right. Can you believe they kept that a secret?”

“Baby doll, I love them, and we can talk about them all you want later, but right now, I want to talk about us.”

She swallows hard. “Okay?”

Leaning in, I press my lips to hers. “I love you, Katie Ross. I think I’ve been half in love with you since we met. The way you would bust my balls without hesitation. I know you thought I was an asshole, but the only way I could get you to talk to me was if I made you mad, so I took what I could get.”

There are those tears again.

“You dumb man. Had you shown me who you really were, I wouldn’t have thought you were such an ass.”

“Wouldn’t you have though? You weren’t ready to see me in such a positive light.”

She nods. “Maybe. I saw you with that chick the first night. You were such an ass to her, brushing her off. Then I watched her slip you her number, and you put it in your pocket. I don’t know why, but it bothered me. I think I thought you were being an asshole to pick up chicks, and I hated that.”

“I’m sorry, Katie. I never called that girl. I rarely ever called any of them. I was an asshole to them because I thought it would keep them away, but I guess it didn’t work. Well, it did, but only with the one girl I never wanted to scare away.”

“I know it’s soon and sounds crazy, but I think I had a crush on you even then. I would get so riled up about seeing you with those chicks, and I always said it was because of the way you treated them, but maybe it had a little to do with the fact that I wished you were the type of man I could be with.”

“Now you see I am.” I kiss her nose.

She smiles. “I do. Dominic, I fell in love with you over the past two weeks. I’m sorry I didn’t communicate better with you. Maybe had we been upfront about our feelings, we could’ve saved ourselves a little heartache.”

“Baby doll, I don’t mind a little heartache. It reminds me of how precious you are. I’ll never take a single moment with you for granted.”

“Me either.”

She presses her lips to mine. I press back against her, pulling her into my body so she’s as close as she can be.

When she opens her mouth, I take the invitation, swiping my tongue against hers. Before things can get out of hand, I hear Grant calling for me.

“Lover boy. It’s the bouquet toss. My wife is demanding her sister be present.”

I shake my head, pressing one last kiss to Katie’s lips.

“Let’s get this over with. If you didn’t already guess, you’ll be in my room tonight.”

“I don’t mind that.”

I escort her back inside, where she is ushered to the dance floor. I smile as Nessa pretends to throw the bouquet a couple times. Then she throws it for real, and Katie catches it.

My dad calls out from the crowd, “I hope you meant what you said, Dom. Looks like she’s next to get hitched.”

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