“Tomorrow,” Mia said confidently.
“We have gymnastics tomorrow. We can’t miss that,” Ashley argued.
“What, we’re less important than your gymnastics?” Whatever panic had gripped Starla, it had passed quickly. She looked back at the girls and put a hand to her chest in mock indignation, and the twins giggled.
“Okay, I guess we could skip just this once.”
Giving Jared a smile, she turned back around. “It’s probably a little too short notice, sweetie.”
The two groaned in unison, but once they’d become distracted by something else—which took all of about five seconds—Jared leaned closer to Starla, loving the way her breath sometimes caught when he did that. “Seventy-two hours,” he said in her ear.
“What?” she asked, searching his eyes.
“In Texas, you have to wait seventy-two hours after you get the marriage license. And, you know, it’s the weekend, so the earliest we could get one is Monday morning. Anything after Thursday morning is fair game.”
“Are we really talking about…?”
Maybe he was crazy. Maybe it was too soon to be talking about it—she had her life just the way she wanted it. But, dammit, when she wasn’t with him, it kept him awake at night. “I only want you to know that’s where I see us going. I don’t care if it’s next week, next month, or next year…though I hope it isn’t that long. I don’t care if it’s big, though I’ve been there and done that, and I don’t care if it’s only the four of us there with a judge. But I want to marry you. I want to take you away and have you all to myself for a week or more. And then I want to spend my life with you.”
“Dammit, I said I couldn’t take any more emotion today.” But her voice was trembling with it. Her arms slid around his neck. “I want to spend my life with you too,” she whispered, and pure joy rushed through his heart. “With you, and with them—”
“Can we go?” Mia asked. “I’m hungry.”
“I want pizza,” Ashley chimed in.
“Are you sure about that?” Jared asked Starla with a disgruntled glance at his daughters, and she burst out laughing. It was music to his soul.
Then her lips curled in that naughty grin of hers that made him look forward even more to the night ahead, if that were possible. “Yeah, I am. Can you handle it?”
Jared caught her lips in a kiss—a common occurrence that by now escaped the twins’ notice, unlike that night in his living room all those months ago. When insecurities and heartbreak and uncertainty tainted the air between them, but they still decided to take a chance.
All of it was gone now. Security, love, and certainty were all that remained, all that mattered. He would nurture those from now on and forget all the rest.
But at that moment, he returned his future wife’s naughty grin and straightened up to put the truck in gear. And he had only two words for her.
“Watch me.”
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cherrie Lynn has been a CPS caseworker and a juvenile probation officer, but now that she has come to her senses, she writes contemporary and paranormal romance on the steamy side. It’s much more fun. She’s also an unabashed rock and heavy metal enthusiast, and loves letting her passion for romance and music collide on the page.
When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, listening to music or playing with her favorite gadget of the moment. She’s also fond of hitting the road with her husband to catch their favorite bands live.
Cherrie lives in East Texas with said husband and their two kids, all of whom are the source of much merriment, mischief, and mayhem. You can visit her at http://www.cherrielynn.com or at the various social networking sites. She loves hearing from readers!