Page 33 of From Best Friend to Bride
“No shit, Sherlock,” Deli muttered. “What do we do about this stupid bloody proposal, then?”
“Two options.” I held up two fingers. “We give it a couple of days and say we had a proper discussion about it, but we aren’t ready, but we’ll get engaged, and—”
“And end up getting swept away by our grandmothers again and be married in a week. Next.”
She was too smart.
“Give it two weeks and I’ll propose to you.”
She blinked at me, her dark lashes fluttering over her copper eyes. “Why two weeks?”
“If I propose to you tomorrow, it’ll look like I’ve put no thought into it or that I’m only doing it because of our grandmas.”
“Youareonly proposing because of our grandmas.”
“That doesn’t mean it should look like that, Delilah.”
She groaned, flopping against the back of the sofa. “I’m stupid. This is stupid. Everything is stupid.”
I wanted to remind her yet again that we wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t told Nana she had a secret boyfriend, but as she’d pointed out, I was equally as responsible for this.
She was right.
I really could have just stopped talking after I’d given us a way out earlier. Nana would have accepted us dating if I promised her that I was only waiting for Deli to be ready for marriage, but I’d kept talking because the look on Deli’s face was pure amusement.
In my idiocy, I hadn’t considered just how seriously our grandmas would take us.
Or that Deli would meet me head-on.
That was probably my biggest mistake. I should have known better. I did know better. Deli had never backed down from a fight, and when I’d threatened her with a perfect proposal, I might as well have taken off a white glove and thrown it at her face.
She’d certainly taken it as a challenge with her resulting demands.
Unfortunately for her, I knew everything about her, and I knew that what she’d insisted I bring to the proposal was really her dream one.
Fairy lights. Flowers. Her family.
I also knew what her dream engagement ring was like.
It happened to be one I had the power to give her.
And if I was going to propose to my best friend, I was going to damn well do it properly. It didn’t matter if it was a ruse. I didn’t care if it was for show and that we would only be married in name.
If giving Deli her dream proposal meant she’d be happy, then I’d do it.
“Are you actually going to do this?” Deli asked, sitting up straight and fixing her gaze on me. “Propose to me?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” I replied, fighting back a smile. “How can I break Nana’s heart if I don’t?”
“Fine. All right. Let’s do this. Let’s get fucking married.” She took a deep breath before huffing it out and sitting cross-legged. “But I have some requests I’d like to make.”
I paused. “You mean demands.”
“I said requests.”
“So, rules.”
“I said requests, Frederick!”
