Page 118 of Romancing the Grump
Honestly, it’s probably stupid my brain went so quickly to a proposal. I blame it on Audrey, who casually mentioned that she and Flint would be home from May to June next summer if we happened to need their house for any big, important events.
I would love a May wedding in Silver Creek, and it would work perfectly with the hockey season ending in April. We could finish the season, get married, then have all summer together without any traveling.
But Nathan and I have only been togethereight months.I love him, I absolutely want to marry him, and I’m positive he feels the same way, but that doesn’t mean we should rush into things.
Nathan has done a complete one-eighty when it comes to relationships, and he’s been amazing.But it might take him a little longer to get used to the idea ofmarriage.
“Summer,” Nathan says, but I don’t turn around.
My cheeks are flaming hot, and he knows me well enough that if he sees me right now, he’ll know something is up.
“Hey,” he says, gently catching my arm. “Look at me.”
I turn, but I lift my hands to my face. “I can’t look at you,” I say into my palms.
He loosely wraps his hands around my wrists. “Why not?”
“Because I’m embarrassed.”
“Why are you embarrassed?”
I part my fingers and peek at Nathan with one eye. “Admitting why will only make it worse. Please just let me go eat my Thai food.”
“I can’t do that. Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”
I huff and drop my hands. “Nathan, I thought you were going to propose.”
His eyes widen, but then his expression shifts, his eyes closing as his head drops. “Of course you did. I’m such an idiot.”
“No, no, it was all me. I read into things, but only because Audrey called last week and maybe mentioned that she and Flint would be home in May and June next summer just in case we wanted to plan something, and then she talked about a backyard wedding at their house and my brain just…ran away with stuff. But I don’t want to put any pressure on you. This is still relatively new, even more for you because this is your first big relationship. So it’s fine. I’m fine, and I have zero expectations that we?—”
Nathan silences my rambling rant with a kiss, his hands cradling my face. “Don’t move,” he says as soon as he pulls away.
Without another word, he disappears into his bedroom, then comes back out seconds later, his hand gripping a tiny black box. He picks up my hand and flips it over, dropping the box into the center of my palm.
“I’ve had it since June,” he says. “Three months after we started dating for real.” He shakes his head and lets out alittle laugh. “The guys said I should wait until we’d been dating a year, but that felt way too long, so I was trying to make myself wait until Christmas.”
“You’ve had it since June?” I ask with a trembling voice.
Five months. He’s been sitting on an engagement ring for five months.
“I know it’s crazy.”
I shake my head. “It is. But I would have said yes if you’d asked me.”
He leans down and kisses me, then he picks up the box, slowly opening it before dropping to one knee. “What if I ask you right now?”
I shake my head in disbelief, lifting my palm and pressing it against my forehead as I steady my breathing. The ring isstunning.A pale blue stone on a gold band, encircled with tiny diamonds. “Is this a…?”
“Sapphire,” Nathan answers. “It is.”
“You had help,” I say as he lifts the ring out of the box. There’s only one person who knows how I feel about diamond engagement rings, only one who knows I would much prefer a sapphire—my birthstone. “I can’t believe Lucy didn’t tell me.”
Nathan slides the ring onto my finger.
It fits perfectly—but of course it does. If he asked for Lucy’s input, she would have told him exactly what size to buy.
“You remember when I told you I had jury duty?” he asks through a sheepish smile.
