The Difference Between Someday and Forever_Aly Martinez, page 17
My whole body went rock solid. Holy fucking left field. I had not been expecting that.
I had but one answer.
“No.”
Her face fell and her back shot straight. “What? Why the hell not?”
I suddenly sat up, plucking her off my lap and setting her beside me. “Because you’re not proposing to me.” I stood and planted my hands on my hips. “That’s my job.”
“Yeah,” she scoffed. “And you already did it once.”
“Yeah,” I mimicked. “But you don’t remember it.”
“So?” She curled her lip.
“So, if we’re doing this, I’m going to fucking do it right. I’ll get you a new ring and plan some—”
“I don’t want a new ring. Do you still have my old one?” She rose on her knees and peered up at me.
“No. I mean…yes, I do. But I want you to have something that’s special. Something…Remi Grey.”
Pressing her palm against my stomach, she forced me back a step and then climbed off the mattress to stand in front of me. Hooking her pinky with mine, she swung our hands. “But you already bought a ring for Remi Grey, and I’ve never worn it. Bowen, the past exists. I think we both failed at trying to erase it or change it. The more we try to avoid it, the more it will become the wall that divides us. The only way we are ever going to work is by facing our history head on and learning from the mistakes. Together. Always together.” She pushed up onto her toes and didn’t so much as kiss me as she spoke against my lips. “I want to marry you. I don’t care if you propose or I do. Old ring, new ring, no ring. It’s not the how, what, when, or where that matter. I know the who. The who will always be you.”
Fuck. Me.
Fucking fuck me.
I was a man who’d just gotten proposed to and I couldn’t find it in myself to give the first damn. She wanted to marry me. Make a life with me. Spend forever with me. That was enough. It would always be enough.
“In that case, I will absolutely, one hundred percent, without question, marry you, Remi Grey.” I kissed her hard and fast and then folded her hand in mine. “Come with me.”
She giggled as I dragged her through the house at the speed of two wide-eyed kids who were up to no good. When we reached my bedroom—fuck, our bedroom—I sat her on the edge of the bed, snatched open the drawer on my nightstand, and started digging.
“You kept this,” she breathed, leaning over me, pulling out the framed photo of us from when we’d first started dating. I’d packed it away when we’d started dating again so she wouldn’t see it, but I’d moved it to my nightstand as of recently. I couldn’t bear to leave it out, but it was always there if I needed it.
She traced her fingers over my face. “I’m so stupid.” She lifted her eyes to mine and laughed. “You never had a beard in my dreams. I always felt so safe and comfortable with you that I never thought about it.”
I found the little black box and closed the drawer. “I can shave it off if you want.”
She squinted one eye and tilted her head from side to side, examining my face. “Nah. This version of you is my favorite.”
“Good call. I think it solidifies my whole edgy, bad-boy vibe that really sets me apart from the other nerds.”
“Oh, absolutely.” She turned the picture in my direction. “This guy? Geek central.”
Chuckling, I shook my head.
“Hey, do you think we can leave it out? I mean, just look at these kids. They are too damn happy to be hidden away in a drawer.”
I closed my eyes, and I nodded at least a hundred times.
They were happy. So fucking happy. But little did they know the worst and best were yet to come.
Her eyes flashed wide as I dropped to my knee in front of her.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked. “I have no problem buying you something else.”
“Bowen, hurry up and give me back my ring already.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I teased. I was damn near giddy, but my hands still shook as I removed the princess-cut diamond ring from its silk pillow. “They had to cut it off you after the crash, but I had it fixed so you can’t even tell now.”
She lifted her left hand and wiggled her fingers.
With nerves rolling in my stomach, I slid the ring onto her finger, stopping at her knuckle. “Remi Grey, you are the key to my past, the key to my future, and will forever be the key to my heart. I cannot wait to spend a lifetime being the key to yours. I love you.” I paused to smirk. “So fucking much.”
“Oh, Bowen, I love you too.”
As I seated the ring on her finger, an aching chill I hadn’t realized I’d been long since carrying around melted from my bones.
I’d fought an entire war against the universe for this woman.
But with my ring on her finger again and the road to forever laid out in front of us, I could honestly say I’d won.
“I’m engaged,” she announced. “And I’m not freaking out about it.” Kissing me between laughter, she dragged me onto the bed with her. She rolled me to my back, claiming her spot on top as she admired the diamond.
I just lay there, tracing my hands up her thighs, admiring her.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. “You had it bad for me. We’d only been together for what? A few months when you bought this? This thing is a rock.”
“You’re just now figuring that out?”
She smiled down at me, her cheeks pink, love blazing in her eyes. She was all fucking mine.
After slipping my hand under the stolen dress shirt, I palmed her breast. “You’re still not wearing panties, you know.”
“Yeah, I think we should probably leave that detail out when we tell the grandkids this story.”
“Oh, baby, we’re going to have to leave a lot more than that out of this story.” Rocking her forward, I shoved down the one layer of fabric that was dividing us, and prepared to lose myself in the wonderous beauty that was…my future wife.
“Yes,” she moaned, sinking onto my length.
I did love her in my shirt, but I loved the sight of her bare breasts as she rode me a fuck of a lot more. I popped every button off the front.
Remi
“You’ve reached Aaron Lanier. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.” His voicemail beeped.
Juggling a drink carrier holding three bubble teas—mango with cherry pearls—I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear and walked across the parking lot. “Hey, it’s me. I know you were planning to come visit me in Savannah soon, but I’ll have to take a raincheck. How about dinner tonight instead? I think I finally found myself, and I was not where I was supposed to be. As of yesterday, I am once again a permanent resident of Atlanta. More geographically specific, Bowen’s house. I’m sure you are absolutely stunned but please hold your I told you so until I’ve had an absurd amount of sushi and fill you in on the rest of my good news. Call me back. Love you.”
Tempting gravity, I shifted the carrier to one hand and slipped my phone into the pocket of my cross-body purse. As I reached the sidewalk in front of his office, a whistle caught my attention.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” Bowen said, followed by two beeps from his truck. A sexy smile tipped one side of his mouth as he prowled toward me. “Did you bring that for me or my lobby floor?”
“I had a hunch you’d make a joke. That’s why I didn’t bring you one at all. Me, Oscar, and Emily. You’re on your own for afternoon refreshments.” I smiled like the brat I was being.
It wasn’t true. I’d forgotten about Oscar until I saw that his name had been added to the front door. But Bowen didn’t need to know that.
Taking the carrier from my hand, he dipped low and pressed a kiss to my lips. Before he righted himself, he murmured, “I stand corrected. You make this dress look amazing.”
I grinned with pride. For a man who I’d had to drag out of bed to the mall, he sure did have more than a few opinions when I’d picked out the gray off-the-shoulder sweater dress. I hadn’t tried it on, see the aforementioned part about dragging him to the mall, but I knew it would fit like a glove. The heat in his eyes only served as further proof of how right I’d been.
“I’m glad you approve. I was actually stopping by to discuss the remainder of my bill.”
Forget about the heat in his eyes; fire ignited over his entire face. A clever grin he tried to hide by tucking his tongue in his cheek gave him completely away. “Is that so?”
“But if you’re on your way out for the day, I can come back another—”
He hooked me around the hips, pulling me tight against his front. “Luckily, I’m just getting back from a meeting with nothing but time to discuss your payment plan. You are long overdue. There will be some late fees assessed.”
I nodded. “Even though I just made a payment this morning?”
He playfully nodded with faux sympathy.
“Oh, I see. I completely understand. It’s only fair.” I tipped my hips into his groin. “You’re fair but very, very firm as well.”
A growl vibrated his chest. “Oscar went home after the meeting. Allow me to nominate myself for boss of the year and let Emily go early so we can have the whole office to ourselves.”
I cut him with a side-eye. “It’s four forty-five. I’m not sure fifteen minutes will win you boss of the year.” I plucked one of the bubble teas from the carrier in his hands. “But when I add a little mango cherry to that deal, I might become boss’s fiancée of the year.”
“Whatever needs to be done to get you and that dress in my office. I’m gonna stretch you both out.”
I chuckled under my breath and strutted to the door, batting my lashes at the handsome guy over my shoulder. It was worthless flirting; his gaze was trained on my ass. What could I say? It was an amazing dress.
He reached over my head and held the door for me after I’d opened it, and then he promptly ran into my back because I froze not one step into his office. Well, not completely true. My body froze, but my hand let go of the bubble tea, sending it to its oddly reminiscent untimely demise.
Still, I didn’t look down as I crossed the threshold into the Twilight Zone, finding Aaron sitting on the edge of Emily’s desk, his arms wrapped around her waist as she smiled down at him, the biggest bouquet of pink roses I’d ever seen resting beside them.
“Uhhh,” Bowen and I drawled in unison.
“Shit!” Emily palmed Aaron’s face to shove herself out of his arms. “Wow, I was not expecting you back today.” Her hands shook as she smoothed down her pencil skirt. “Oscar called and told me the meeting ran long and to lock up when I left. I assumed it meant you were out for the afternoon too.”
Turning on the desk without bothering to stand, Aaron was slightly more casual about having been caught. Until he saw me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Don’t you turn this around on me,” I snapped. “What the hell are you doing here besides making me drop a six-dollar tea that I will never live down?”
“I’ll get the mop!” Emily announced, easily falling into our unfortunate routine.
“Nope,” Bowen countered. Hooking me around the hips, he lifted me off my feet, carried me around the spilled drink, and set me back down. All the while, he balanced the cup carrier in his other hand.
Seriously, it was not fair how he got to be hot, incredible, and have coordination like that. Though he did use his superpowers for good to keep me from slipping and sliding in the fruity tea and ruin the dress we both seemed to love. I guess that counted for something.
“No one is going anywhere until someone explains to me what in the Twilight Zone we just walked into,” he declared.
I put my chin to my shoulder and looked back at him. “Sir, get out of my head. I literally just thought the exact same thing.”
He hit me with a panty-melting wink before pinning Aaron with a glare. “You. Start explaining.”
He barked a laugh and waved a finger between me and Bowen. “No, thanks. I’d rather you go first. Is that an engagement ring?”
Oh boy.
“Ohh-kay. Everyone chill for a second.” I plastered on a smile. “Hey, Emily. Good to see you again. Sorry about the bubble tea. I’ll clean it up this time, I swear.”
She nodded and looked at Bowen. “You’re going to fire me now, aren’t you?”
Aaron rolled his eyes and stood up, tossing his arms around her shoulders. “He’s not going to fire you. He practically set us up.”
Bowen blinked. “I’m sorry. I did what now?”
Aaron rolled his eyes again. “All the dinners you had her drop off at my house. Your mom’s Rice Krispies treats. It was a pan the size of my head, Bowen. Who the hell did you think I was going to share them with?”
I rested my hand over my heart. “Awww. I’ve missed those.”
“Holy fuck, that is definitely an engagement ring,” Aaron noted before putting a pin in the sudden turn in conversation and continued having words with Bowen. “Once, I caught her hiding vegetables on my porch with a note from you about some bullshit Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day.”
And I’d thought Bowen’s ridiculousness had been limited to Harley Steele. I slapped a hand over my mouth to cover my laugh. My right hand. No use showing off the bling again.
Emily’s face was neon red as Aaron finished with, “So either you were trying to set us up or she has the broadest job description ever written.”
“I pay her overtime, thank you very much. She lives closer to you. It’s not my fault you moved a half hour on the other side of town. My truck doesn’t get the best gas milage.”
Seriously. This was the conversation we were having. Our friends kissing. Engagement rings. Matchmaking Rice Krispies treats. Sneaky zucchini. Gas milage. I didn’t think I’d ever been so happy with cherry pearls rolling around at my feet before. After the hell the three out of the four of us had endured in recent years, this was the kind of drama we all deserved in our blissfully average lives.
I swung my smile around the room. “Well, I, for one, think this is amazing.”
“Amazing?” Bowen scoffed. “Emily, is he the guy you were crying about the other day?”
Emily’s eyes flashed wide, and Aaron’s back shot straight.
“You were crying?” he breathed, his eyebrows painfully pinching together.
Oh my God. He loved her. With that one look, there was no way to deny it.
Shit. I’d been gone four months and completely missed my best friend falling in love for quite possibly the very first time. That and Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day, but I was banking on that being a yearly thing.
Aaron was a good-looking guy. A lesser woman would have buckled under those puppy-dog eyes. Not Emily. I knew I liked her for a reason.
Stepping away from him, she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side. “You ghosted me for a week!”
He flinched. “I didn’t ghost you. I just…needed some time to think. Things moved really fast with us and…” He shook his head. “You’re right. I don’t have an excuse. But I love you. And I’m fucked up, but I don’t feel fucked up when I’m with you. I’ve been struggling for a really long time, and then you came along and it feels like someone sent you to me—and not just dinner delivery from your boss.”
Emily’s pretty face got soft and warm. “You love me?”
Oh my Gahhhhhh. It was the first time he’d ever told her too?
Yep, yep. That was it. I was going to cry.
Bowen used his Remi Grey sixth sense and sidled up next to me, curling me into his side. I buried my face in my man’s chest, so I only heard it when Aaron replied.
“Are you kidding me? I fell in love with you the minute you complimented my sweater vest.”
Emily let out a loud laugh that thankfully masked my own, and Bowen’s chest shook with a chuckle.
“I love you too,” she replied. “But I’m burning that sweater vest.”
Oh, I loved her so much. His sweater vests were awful.
Bowen smoothed a hand up and down my back, and his lips touched the top of my hair as he whispered, “Looks to me like fate struck again.”
I pinched his side, but he didn’t even squirm.
“And just think,” Aaron said. “It could have been worse. That one over there ghosted Bowen for over four months. And apparently they’re engaged now.”
“Hey!” I defended, spinning to face him.
With Emily firmly and lovingly tucked against his side, Aaron mirrored Bowen’s hold on me. The corner of his mouth twitched arrogantly. “And you! Is your phone broken? Didn’t think to call and at least tell me you were back in town?”
“Maybe check your voicemail,” I snapped back, mocking his tone. “Don’t come at me with that crap. You have a whole woman you’re in love with who I knew nothing about.”
His brows shot up his forehead. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are we talking more than once a week now? And if we are, will it involve you taking a breath between drawn-out stories about this guy and a cactus named Quincy?”
Bowen’s face, smirk and all, snapped my way. “You still have Quincy?”
“You hush. Don’t think I missed that perfectly-cared-for garden table. Those succulents have been living a life of luxury in my absence.”
His mouth stretched wide and toothy as he looked back at Aaron.
“I told you so,” my friend taunted.
“You did indeed.” Bowen cleared his throat. “All right, everyone. Wrap it up for the day and let’s get out of here. We can all catch up over dinner. First round’s on me.”
Aaron sighed. “I’ll get the first round. Apparently, congratulations are in order.” He shared a quiet exchange and a chaste kiss with Emily before he broke off from her side and moseyed over to pull me into a hard hug. “That ring mean you’re back for good?” he asked.
“I’ll be here as long as he’ll keep me.”
He chuckled. “Then you’re back forever.”
I knew it.
Bowen knew it.
