Page 94 of What Comes After

“What made you pick now?”

His lips twitched. “Mostly, I couldn’t wait any longer. But the truth is that no matter how much I thought I needed to do something extravagant to make it perfect, I was wrong. Because this is you. And the only thing that would really make this whole proposal perfect was the two of us. Nothing else needed to be factored in.”

I smiled, leaned in, and kissed him again. His tongue swept into my mouth, and things got a hot rather quickly.

I broke the connection between our mouths, rested my forehead against his, and revealed, “You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world, Theo. I hope you know just how much I love you.”

“I do, baby. Because it’s the same for me.”

I touched my lips to his once more.

Theo broke the connection the second time. “I have to go get your tea. It’s sitting on the counter inside.”

“We can get a new cup later,” I told him.

“You don’t want it?” he asked.

“I want something else instead. I want my fiancé to make love to me right here on this chair, on this balcony.”

His eyes darkened. “You’re my fiancée.”

“I am. What are you going to do about it?”

Theo’s hand drifted down my side to my hip, where he gave me a gentle squeeze. “I’m going to give you everything, baby.”

Barely a second later, Theo’s mouth captured mine.

Then he went about fulfilling his promise to give me everything.

Much later, he got me a new cup of tea and the two of us cuddled while we shared gummy bears. It was the best day of my life.

* * *

Theo

One year, one month later

“Husband?”

I’d never get tired of hearing that.

Even if I thought there was some chore that was going to follow the summons, hearing Devyn call me husband was something I’d never grow tired of.

I made my way to the kitchen, and the moment she looked up, I replied, “Yes, wife?”

Her face lit up.

As much as I loved her referring to me as her husband, it was clear Devyn felt the same when I called her my wife.

It had been just over a year since we’d gotten married, and neither of us seemed to have gotten used to our new titles.

Yes, we’d been married for just over a year.

As it turned out, we’d opted for a short engagement. A very short engagement.

Without her parents being here to celebrate, Devyn didn’t want anything big. She actually suggested simply going to the courthouse a day after I proposed to get it done. I wanted something special for her, so I decided against it. I told her to take my mom with her and go buy the dress of her dreams.

Two weeks later, we had a private, small, and intimate ceremony. It was perfect, and she looked stunning.

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