Page 68 of Murder and Mistletoe
I pulled back and looked at his beautiful face, refusing to let go of him just yet.
“I’m going to do the same.I’m going to love you so hard you’ll get tired of me,” I teased, knowing the second he caught my secret innuendo with the way his eyes darkened.
“No fucking chance that will ever happen,” he growled as he leaned in and nipped my ear.“Give me two minutes, and I’ll come up with an excuse for us to leave so I can take you home and show you just how hard you can love me.”
I giggled and smacked his shoulder, stepping away as our family approached.
Gage pulled me in for a hug first, holding me tightly as he congratulated me.
“I’m so happy for you,” he said, his eyes showing he meant it.“I love that you’re going to stick around and keep this one on his toes.He’s needed someone to get him in line for a while now.”
“Happy to do it,’ I teased, stepping back as he let go of me.Julie swooped in next, wrapping me in a warm embrace while Gage and Patrick had their moment.
“Does that mean I get to be a flower girl twice?”Daisy asked, joining us as she looked at her mom, then at me.
I quickly turned and looked at Julie, catching a guilty smile on her face.She lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers, the engagement ring catching in the light.
“Oh my God!”I squealed, gently pulling her hand over so I could see the beautiful ring.“Julie!I’m so happy for you guys!Why didn’t you say anything?”
“We were planning to tell everyone during dinner,” Julie replied with a shrug.She looked past me to my cousin, and I noticed a look that passed between them, almost as if there was more they weren’t telling us.“Gage proposed last night.”
“Fucker,” Patrick muttered playfully.“Always have to be first.”
“Hey, when I see something I want, I go for it.”Gage shrugged.
“Well, congratulations to you guys, too!”I exclaimed, putting an end to the chess match that was about to start between them.“Looks like we’ll have lots of fun wedding planning to do together.Who knows, maybe we can all get married here at the inn.”
“Great minds think alike,” Julie said, giving me another genuine smile.
After everyone finished hugging and congratulating each other, Patrick and I lingered behind while the others returned to the kitchen to get started on dinner.
Patrick opened his arms, pulling me into his chest as I accepted his embrace.
“They might have beat us by getting engaged first, but I say we show them a thing or two and I go home and knock you up,” he said playfully, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I don’t know, I think they might have more secrets they haven’t shared yet,” I responded, catching Julie’s eye from across the room.She blushed and looked away, pretending to be focused on cutting an onion as Gage hugged her from behind.
“Maybe I can force him to spill the beans at dinner,” Patrick said, glancing over his shoulder to look at them.
“Na, let it go.Some secrets deserve to be kept.”I leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips, loving that he knew what I meant.
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