Page 83 of Aloha, Seattle

“You have me seriously considering abandoning my brother’s wedding to be alone with you.” He moans the words out as I suck on his neck.

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking the same thing.” I pull my face from his throat and my brown eyes meet his green ones. “But we can wait a few hours, right?”

Theo sighs, the corners of his eyes crinkle. His hands trail up my waist to my curls and he gently twists them in his fingers. “I suppose we’ve waited this long.”

I slide my hands behind his head and pull him down to me, kissing him, not caring at all who might see us tucked away in the folds of the curtain walls. He cups my face in his strong grasp and furthers our kiss and by the taste of his lips, he is not planning on letting me go.

I reluctantly pull away from him and gasp in a tiny breath of air. “You better be careful. Someone might see us.”

“I don’t care.” Theo shakes his head. “All I care about is you.”

I contemplate jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his torso, but I hear the tent filling up and don’t want Sarah and Caleb’s guests talking about how the best man and his girlfriend groped each other in the reception tent instead of how beautiful Sarah looked on her wedding day.

“Believe me,” I rasp out. “I want you. But…”

Theo nods. He understands its not the time nor the place. Yet. He kisses my lips once more, gently, and squeezes my hand. “Dance with me.” He gestures toward the dance floor with his head.

“I can’t say no when you smile at me like that,” I roll my eyes, attempting, and failing, to hide a smirk.

“Oh, it’s the smile that does it?” Theo laughs. “I thought it was my tattoos.”

“Now that you mention them,” I bob my head and run my fingers up and down his left arm. “I am a fan.”

You’re the most beautiful man I have ever laid my eyes on!I scream internally.

Theo grazes my arm down to my hand and intertwines our fingers. He leads me to the dance floor and pulls me to his chest, one hand stays in mine and the other slips down to my lower back. Our faces inch closer until his chin is resting against the side of my head, his lips brush lightly against my temple.

“We seem to make a convincing couple,” I say so only he can hear. I can feel him smile against my skin.

“Oh, really?”

“Mhm.” I nod my head slightly, so I don’t pull his lips from me. “While getting ready with the other women this morning, and talking with Drew before the ceremony, everyone is interested if we’ve thought about getting married and how many kids we want to have.”

I expect him to tense up or pull away from me to meet my gaze, but he doesn’t. If he is uncomfortable or bothered, he doesn’t show it.

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them the truth. It’s not something we’ve discussed.”

Theo’s hand tightens against my back, drawing me closer to him. If someone tried to squeeze a piece of paper between us, they would fail, that is how close we are. I can feel his heartbeat against my own chest.

I feel him part his lips to say something, but he snaps his mouth shut.

“What?” I ask, pulling my face back to look up at him.

“Do you see yourself getting married one day?” His question is genuine, and he seems nervous even asking me.

I didn’t expect us to have this serious of a conversation on the middle of the dance floor, but if we’re doing it, we’re doing it.

“There was a time when I thought I would get married.” I admit but crinkle my nose in seeing the dream life I had allowed myself to picture with Derek flash before me.

“But?” Theo obviously notices my body tighten.

I shrug. “I guess I’m just kind of scared by it now.”

I feel his fingers circle along my lower back, his effort to silently comfort me. “Why are you scared?”

“You’re placing an awful lot of trust in one person. Hoping, praying, they don’t shatter your heart and ruin you for the next person.”

---