Page 140 of Nine Months to Love
“Why wait?”
She starts to answer, then stops. The crestfallen look that appears on her face nearly cracks my heart in two.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“Olivia.”
“It’s stupid.”
“Tell me anyway.”
She picks at the sheet. “Shopping for a wedding dress alone just feels... I don’t know. Sad, I guess.”
It takes everything I have to hide my grin. I want so fucking badly to be everything to Olivia. Her protector, her safe place, her lover, her fighter. And I’m a lot of those things—most of them, even.
But I’m not the person she should have holding her hand while she tries on white dresses.
“I could come with you,” I offer.
She shakes her head. “It’s bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding.”
“That’s just superstition.”
“Maybe. But I don’t want to risk it.”
I pull her closer. “Then we’ll find someone else to go with you.”
“Who? Camille’s in Boston and my mother would just criticize every choice I make.”
Finally, I can’t help myself anymore. The first hint of a mischievous smile steals across my face. “What if Camille wasn’t in Boston?”
She pulls back to look at me. “What do you mean?”
“What if I told you I had Taras bring her down this morning?”
Her mouth falls open. “You didn’t.”
“What if I told you that, right now, as we speak, she’s at a hotel in Florence, waiting for you to call?”
Tears spring to her eyes. “You flew Camille to Italy?!”
“You need someone with you for this. Someone who’ll be honest about which dress makes you look good and which ones make you look like a cupcake.”
She laughs through her tears. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, actually, I did.”
She throws her arms around my neck and kisses me, hard and grateful and so full of love I can barely breathe. “Thank you,” she whispers against my mouth.
“You’re welcome.”
We stay like that for what feels like a perfect eternity. Then she pulls back, wiping her eyes.
“I should call her. Although she’s probably still asleep.”
“It’s nine in the morning.”
