“Well, if you’d waited until you were married and in a locked bedroom with the lights off as God intended, you wouldn’t have to be mortified.” Nana presses her thin lips together and finally reaches for the door. “Think on that the next time you feel the urge to get sexy with each other in public. I’ll be at the restaurant. If you two aren’t there in ten minutes, I’m sending Melody’s daddy looking for her.”
With that parting shot, she slams the door, leaving Nick and I alone in the buzzing silence.
After a long, miserable second, Nick mutters in a shell-shocked voice, “We didn’t just get caught by your grandmother, right? That was just a horrible hallucination from drinking too much wine.”
I exhale a shaky breath as I scramble to my feet. “We should get dressed. I’m pretty sure that hallucination wasn’t kidding about sending Daddy down here.”
Nick bolts to his feet and begins stuffing his legs into his boxer briefs with a speed that leaves no doubt how terrible he finds that possibility.
“I’ll run and grab the blanket as fast as I can,” he says.
“Don’t bother.” I tug up my dress and turn to clear the table. “I’ll use the tablecloth. Zip me up, would you?”
Nick finishes buttoning his pants and zips me up, his fingers lingering at the sensitive skin at the center of my back. “Someday, we’re going to laugh about this, right?”
I glance over my shoulder, grimacing. “Maybe. Someday. Someday far, far from this day.” I wrap the tablecloth around my shoulders and take his hand with a laugh. “Come on. Let’s go show everyone the engagement ring. Maybe it will keep my daddy from killing you in the event Nana decides to tell everyone how ‘sexy’ we were getting with each other down here.”
He chuckles. “Well, at least if I die, I’ll go a happy man.” He drops a swift kiss to my cheek. “Thank you for a beautiful last night on earth.”
“And thank you for a beautiful first time,” I say, smiling as we start for the door. Not even being caught naked by my grandmother is enough to ruin my first time.
It was still beautiful.
Perfect.
As romantic and special and unforgettable as I’d always hoped it would be. I will always cherish the memories we made tonight but not nearly as much as this man.
“I’m going to love and cherish the heck out of you, Nick Geary,” I promise as we start up the hill in the dusky light, the stars beginning to poke through the sky above us.
“Ditto, sunshine,” he says, squeezing my hand. “Ditto.”