Page 110 of Pause

“Sure. I didn’t eat much today.”

Slade leads me to the small dining table. “You know, Marin, I look forward to doing this with you for the rest of my life.”

My smile is watery. “This is incredible. Thank you, Slade.”

“I love being with you. Every day.”

Oh my. He’s turning on the charm tonight. And I thought he was avoiding me. Boy, was I wrong. “I feel the same.”

“Do you realize we’ve known each other for seven and a half months now? It’s been a minute.”

“I do.” We’ve had plenty of time to be sure about each other.

“My mom and dad, Dex and Joss, they make marriage look good, don’t you think?”

I gasp as I look up at him, finally catching on. He’s repeating the same things I said to him last night. Then I see the sexy half-smile on his handsome face, the scoundrel.

“You knew?”

He shrugs. “You were kinda obvious.”

“You knew I was dropping hints last night? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“To be honest, I was dead tired, and I didn’t realize how obvious you were being until it hit me at about two a.m. That’s when I knew.”

“Middle of the night revelation?”

“Something like that.” He takes a deep breath. “Marin, I’ve been waiting for you to be ready. To be honest, I thought you’d need more time. I didn’t want to pressure you. I woke up this morning, and knew I needed to make some kind of huge romantic gesture.”

“I love this. Everything. It means the world to me. You mean the world to me. I love you. Please put me out of my misery and marry me.” I’m not above begging. Slade needs to feel pursued too. I won’t let our marriage be all about me.

He stills. “Did you just propose?”

“Yep.”

“I could get used to this. Are you gonna open doors for me too?”

“Not going to happen. Quit while you’re ahead.”

Slade chuckles. “I’m totally on board with planning our wedding. Shall we pick a date? All these marriages happening all around us to other people—and not to us—have been driving me insane.”

We’re on the same page. I swear my heart does a Grinch and grows three sizes. “Me too. How about tomorrow?”

Slade throws his head back and laughs. “That can be arranged.”

I hop to my feet, my appetite gone. “Dance again? I want to hold you in my arms. I can’t believe this is finally happening.”

Slade wraps his arms around me and we start to sway to the music once again. I bury my fingers in his hair as our lips meet and hold.

“I want us to have the perfect wedding night,” he whispers against my lips.

“Okay,” I whisper back. I love the way he honors me.

“You know what that means? I’m in a guest room with a beautiful woman I’m going to marry, and we’re not going to be using the bed. I think I just lost my man card again.”

I start to laugh, but never break our kiss.

“Seriously, this is concerning,” he says against my lips. “I can’t wear flannel shirts or work boots. I can’t show my face in a gym, a sporting goods store, a barber shop, or…”

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