Page 104 of Beautiful Crazy

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“Did you get it?” Mom’s eyes bulge in excitement as I put the box down in front of her. She lifts the lid and gasps just as a ray of sun from the evening sunset shines through the open window onto the table. “Oh, Emmett…this is…absolutely stunning and she’s going to love it.”

“You think so?”

“How could she not?” Lacey asks, looking over Mom’s shoulder. “It’s gorgeous! And the mixed metals? That’s the chef’s kiss right there.” She kisses her fingers and blossoms her hand for effect.

Hadley pushes open the dining room window, letting in the warm evening breeze. “Do you have a plan?”

“Nope.” I chuckle, shaking my head and shoving the small black box back into my pocket. “Can’t have a plan when I don’t even know when she’ll be back. Or if she’ll be coming back to me when she does. But I want to be prepared…just in case. The minute I hear she’s back, I’ll be running to her door.”

Mom comes around the table and wraps her arms around me. “It’s good to have you home, Emmett. We’re all pulling for you two, you know that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

Beckham carries several boxes of pizza to the table as Graham sets down a couple six packs, paper plates, and napkins. “Were you able to reach your clients?”

I nod. “Yep. And all but three are willing to make the move because they like working with me specifically.”

“That’s fuckin’ impressive Emm. You should feel pretty good about that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“So, it’s official then?” Asher asks, grabbing a beer and a bottle cap opener. “You’re not going back to the firm?”

“Nope. Once I made sure my clients would commit to working with me, I turned in my resignation.”

Graham hands me a beer. “Proud of you, Bro. You deserve to be happy.”

“Thanks. I’ll be much happier when—”

“EMMETT FOX!”

My brows snap together as everyone stops and looks around. “Did someone just say my name?”

Everyone gives me blank questioning glances and then it happens again. “EMMETT FOX, YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!”

“What the fuck?” Asher murmurs.

Graham is the first one to the front window. He smiles, turning to me and nodding toward the door as he opens it. “Emmett, I think you have a visitor.”

I scoot my chair from the table and head toward the front door, hearing the rest of my family pushing their chairs across the wooden floor as well. I don’t even make it all the way to the door before warmth starts to fill my chest as my heart leaps and hope flutters around inside me.

“Emily?”

Chapter 23

Emily

The moment I see him standing on the front porch, staring at me from where I’m standing next to my car, my breathing picks up and my heart thumps hard in my chest. Every inch of me craves him. I came here with a grand plan, but my nerves and anxiety are getting the better of me now that I’m finally seeing him in the flesh.

You can do this Emily.

“MARRY ME!” Oh fuck, I didn’t mean to say that right away, but there it is. My grand plan in two little but very, very huge words. Emmett stares back at me from the porch, his hands in his pockets as his family whispers behind him not so quietly.

“Did she just…?”

“What did she say?”

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