Page 116 of Without a Hitch
“You’re smiling, aren’t you, Mum?” My words get muffled as my father wrestles me out of my shirt. I swat him away like a mosquito when he tries to untie my baby trackies. “I’ll do it myself.”
He chuckles and moves toward the door. Just before I step into the shower, I hear him say, “He’s going to be just fine, Kitty. I knew my boy wasn’t immune to love.”
Immune to love? That would make a good song for my buddy Thomas Rhett. I should call him! Can you just call a musician? I can. I’m bloody Lochlan Bryer-Blaine!
I whistle as I step into the shower, lighter and full of hope because that’s what she does to me. Tilly is my sunshine maker. And my sun is finally ready to shine.
CHAPTER36
LOCHLAN
“We’ll be landing in five minutes, sir,” the flight attendant informs me. I can’t remember her name, and it makes me smile to know that Tilly would.
“Thank you. What was your name again?” I ask without lifting my head. My gaze hasn’t strayed from the ring box I’ve been spinning between my fingers the entire flight. I should have slept. Christ, I probably should have passed the fuck out, considering I haven’t slept in three days. But knowing I’m on my way to Tilly has me keyed up on a high only she can bring me down from.
I feel the woman pause next to me, and her voice is hesitant when she speaks. “Uh, Allie, sir?”
“Thank you, Allie.” I tuck that piece of information away to surprise Tilly with later. It shocks me how much I want to please her. “Allie?” I call before she can walk away. “Could you do me a favor on the return flight?”
“Of course. What can I do for you?” Allie is an older woman, but our short conversation has apparently given her confidence and I don’t miss her suggestive tone. I level her with a glare that could melt icebergs. “My girlfriend will be returning to California with us.” I pause to allow that information to truly sink in. “I’d like to surprise her. Could you play the song ‘Unforgettable’ by Thomas Rhett when we board the plane?”
“You…you’d like me to play a song? But in the onboard instructions, it says no music. Actually, I believe it says a silent—”
“Allie.” I try very hard to keep my tone neutral. “I know what the rider says. Please play the song.”
“I’ll make sure it’s done, sir. Is that all?”
“Yes. Uh, thank you,” I add as an afterthought because that’s what Tilly would do. Have I really become such an asshole that simple manners are foreign to me? She nods in response and continues down the aisle. I spin the ring box again and recall words spoken only a few hours ago.
“Take it,” my mother says, pushing a small box into my hands. “It was your grandmother’s.”
“Why do you have this?”
“I was going to wear it for the gala, but I think you should keep it with you.”
“I’m not going to ask her to marry me today, Mother.” Stumbling as I speak, I giggle like a schoolgirl. The beer is still wreaking havoc on my system, and my side aches from my fall. Pointing to the sky, I declare, “We have much to discuss. We’ll need to live together first to make sure we’re even compatible. Get to know each other, you know? Date, for fuck’s sake. I’m only going to tell her that I can commit. To her. For her, I will. I’ll choose her every day and every way. That rhymes.” A hiccup hits and hurts my chest.
“Take it anyway. At least until you can have something made on your own. Just in case.” She grins like she knows something I don’t. It makes me frown, and with a massive hangover looming, my head aches at the slightest movement.
“Fine.”
She shoves it into my hand, and I slip it into the pocket of my baby trackies.
Because yes, I’m still wearing them. Turns out, Tilly was right to buy them in multiple colors. I’m also wearing another T-shirt. This one saysCalm AF, and it makes me chuckle. Only Tilly would put me in such things and teach me to enjoy it.
The ring box spins one more time and lands at an angle, begging me to open the royal blue velvet box. When I do, I can’t take my eyes off the way the ring sparkles and shines. In the center is a large, princess-cut diamond surrounded by a thin ring of pavé diamonds, almost like they’re holding up the center stone out of sheer will.Just like Tilly.The pavé diamonds continue around the slim band. As the light hits it, rainbows shoot off in every direction like beautiful sparkling fairies. It’s magical.
Tilly is fucking magical.
* * *
“Jesus.What the hell are you wearing?” Colton claps me on the back as he pulls me in for a hug. Before I know what’s happening, I get passed around to a bunch of his clones. The only one that gives me any breathing room is his younger brother, Ashton.
“Baby trackies.” Glancing around the room, I notice the house is surprisingly homey for my charismatic friend. There are a ton of people I don’t recognize, but no sign of my Tilly. Turning back to Colton, I stretch out a pain in my side. I’m probably bruised in more than one place from my fall in the bathroom.
“Please tell me you brought a suit, or I might have to kill you.” I hold up a garment bag, and Colton takes it from me. “Today has to be perfect, Loch. Everything.” I’m craning my neck to see around him when he finally faces me fully. “Are you hungover?”
“Soon on my way to being, yes. Technically, I’m probably still buzzed.”
