Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 161434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 807(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 807(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
I lean down, pick her up, and bury her alive in kisses.
She giggles.
“How the heck did you get here, little lady?”
“Mommy!” She points over my shoulder with a lopsided smile.
Sure enough, Abby comes strolling up beside me like it’s just an ordinary lunch date.
“I hear you’re a business owner now, sis. Congratulations,” she says.
“Abby? Oh my God.” I throw out one arm to hug my sister, still supporting Millie’s weight. “How are you here? Is it safe?”
“They brought down the whole cartel.” She smiles.
“In two months? That’s insane.”
“It turns out Will the Idiot was in deeper than I thought. He flipped, and so did the guy he was meeting up with. Plea deal or not, he’ll be away for a good, long while. The whole organization was busted up, and here I am.”
I turn to Nick with a slow realization dawning.
“Wait. These are my surprises. How long did you know?”
“Sutton called me the second he found out,” he says proudly. “I set this up the first day they’d be back in town. Today.”
I look back at Abby.
“Nick tracked me down after I checked in with the lawyer. And when he told me his idea for a reunion...Reese, you’re so freaking lucky to have this man,” she gushes.
I take a breather, just long enough to set down Millie and throw my arms around Nick. I swallow a squeal.
He really is incredible.
My hero, my boss, and now my personal magician.
“I hope you haven’t felt too rushed just to meet me,” I say to Abby.
“Nope. We just got back in town last night. We stayed in a motel, because...I have to find an apartment again. Fun.”
“Sublease Reese’s. She’s never there anymore,” Nick says.
I give him a dirty look and then nod reluctantly at Abby.
“He isn’t wrong. But if I ever need to come home, you’re crashing on the couch.”
Millie notices my cotton candy and starts reaching for it. I jerk it away from her.
“Nuh-uh. We’ll get extra for you. Your future little cousin loves cotton candy too.”
Millie claps her hands in delight—and I’m not sure if it’s for the cousin remark or Nick, who’s not-so-secretly opening the bag to pass her a handful of fluff.
She grins up at us.
“Reese, let’s keep walking,” he says.
“Huh?” I stare at him. “Umm—my sister was gone for months.”
“It’s a game,” he whispers, leaning toward my ear. “I promised Abby we’d play hide and seek. Right, Millie?”
Millie claps her hands. “Yeah! Gotta beat Quick Nick!”
She jumps up and down a few times. My breath catches in my throat. Before I can react, she takes off running.
“You hide. I’ll count,” Abby says, weirdly okay with this.
What is going on?
Nick takes my arm and steers me around. He leads me across a wooden bridge that dead ends at a pond. “Nice place for a summer day, don’t you think?”
“It’s beautiful. But couldn’t it have waited until I caught up with Abby? I don’t get why—”
“There’ll be plenty of time later. I needed to talk to you first,” he says, his face tightening.
Oh, what?
Why is he so serious?
Something’s off.
“Is everything okay? If you’re breaking up with me in the weirdest way possible, I swear to God I’ll—”
“Hell no.” He cups my face. “No, sweetheart. I’d die before I’d leave you again. I’ve told you that a million times.”
“Then—” Something hits my ankle and I jump.
It doesn’t really hurt, but it’s so unexpected my heel twists sideways. Balance gone, I’m toppling toward the ground.
Crap!
Nick’s arm finds my waist at the last nanosecond.
He catches me, holds me up, straightening the Leaning Tower of Me again. I must fall into him, though, because his hand moves from my waist to my hand, and when I can see straight again, he’s...on his knees?
Yikes. Did I knock him over when he caught me?
“Nick—”
Pop.
I hear a clicking noise, a tiny whirr. My eyes fall to my feet, and next to them, the source of the sound and my near crash landing.
Nick reaches inside the top of a small remote-controlled toy limo.
“This is what I wanted to talk to you about,” he tells me, looking up with the evening light like green-flame in his eyes.
“Is this one of your new marketing things?” I put my hands on my hips. “Did Abby and Millie run off to film us?”
“They’re recording, yeah, but this isn’t company business.” His smile looks so gorgeous it hurts.
“Get up,” I say with a laugh.
I don’t understand.
“Not yet,” he whispers, holding up his hands, showing me—
Oh, no.
Oh, yes.
Oh. My. God.
That thing he pulled from the toy limo? It’s a blue-grey velvet box. My breath catches in my chest and I start hyperventilating the instant it hits my brain.
“Jesus, Nick, I—”
“Let me finish,” he says gently, holding the box up to a splinter of evening light.
He flicks it open.
Oh my God. Forever.
The humongous diamond catches the sunlight perfectly, spinning rainbows around it, so brilliant it’s almost blinding.