Page 176 of The Reason I Married Him
I can practically hear the eye roll she’s holding back. “I think we should have more options for those who might not like cherry pie.”
“Uh, didn’t you hear?” I say. “We’re trendsetters. Everyone in town likes the cherry pie.”
“Just in case,” Aubree says in an annoyed tone. “Also, there will be no trains at the wedding.”
“Aubree,” I say in a challenge. “How could you do that to Rodney? He’s probably polishing up the locomotive right now, getting it ready for another debut.”
“No trains,” she says, practically putting her foot down.
“No trains it is.” Maggie speaks behind her hand to Brody. “You’re going to have to tell Ethel that.”
“Why me?” he asks, visibly shaken.
“Because I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, honestly, Brody.” She lets out a deep breath and then smiles at us again. “Okay. If we’re all set here, I believe we have some cheese and crackers to tend to.”
“Hold on a second,” Hattie says. “I thought you wanted the ceremony under the tree.”
Oh, that’s right. I peer at Aubree as her lips twist to the side. I know what the tree means to her. Would she want to get married there, in her sister’s dress? Or would she save that for someone who means more to her than I do?
“The barn works,” Aubree says, and because I’m crushing on this girl, a stab of disappointment hits me in the gut. The dress is fine, but the tree . . . she’s saving that. “I don’t want to move too many things around on the farm.”
“Are you sure?” Maggie asks. “Because we can make it happen.”
“No, the barn is great.”
“Wonderful. So . . . cheese and crackers?”
“Great, I’m starving,” Brody says as he puts down the poster board.
Maggie loops her arms around his waist and stands on her toes to kiss him sweetly on the lips. “Thank you for being my easel.”
“Anything for you,” he says as he kisses her, slowly moving his hand right to her ass.
God, that’s irritating.
I miss that. The ability to freely and wholly love someone. To touch them and grab them and kiss them however you want, whenever you want. I know now that Cadance wasn’t the right person for me. I’m still questioning why because there was no closure there, but even with that, I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with me. But that doesn’t stop me from missing the way I held her hand and didn’t think twice about it. Kiss her with everything in me and not worry about what she might say after.
I want the ability to hold and to cuddle and to run my hand up Aubree’s shirt without her stiffening or wondering what I’m doing.
Christ, I want her.
I want her bad.
And I have no idea how this happened. How all of a sudden, I can wake up in the morning and feel perfectly content because I have my arm around her. Or how I can smile when I see her, all dirty from working on the farm, looking like a hot mess, but still think she’s beautiful.
I don’t get how I could just know of a woman one day and then want more the next.
And I want her to want more.
I want her to want to get to know me, to want to be with me.
To give this a fighting chance and not treat it as a contract.
“Can I speak to you for a moment?” Aubree asks as she stands.
“Yeah, sure,” I say, standing as well.
Without taking my hand, she walks out toward the back deck, where a beautiful, still pool expands across the yard with a picturesque view of the ocean, offering peace and serenity. Ineed to get myself a house like this because Jesus, Hayes knows what he’s doing.
