When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

I let go of Xander’s hand and he pulls the chair out for me. “Why thank you, kind sir.”

He chuckles. “You’re welcome, madam,” he says, playing along.

He sits down, smoothing his hands down his white shirt. He picks up the menu and looks at it. I do the same. I have a hard time paying attention to the menu, because the view calls to me. It’s absolutely stunning. I thought Colorado was beautiful with its soaring mountain ranges, but it has nothing on this place.

The ocean breeze stirs my hair around my shoulders and I smile as I inhale the salty air. I wasn’t thrilled about Xander’s spontaneous honeymoon trip, especially with the move and graduation, but now that I’m here I’m so thankful. And honestly? We needed this. The past couple of years we’ve only gone somewhere if I happened to go to an away game with him, which was rare, and he was busy so it’s not like we spent much time together then.

This … this is nice.

Our waiter comes by and we both order a glass of water and Xander also requests a bottle of wine.

“Planning to get me drunk, Mr. Kincaid?” I ask, waggling my brows.

He laughs, crossing his fingers together and leaning across the table to me. “What do you think is going to happen if I do get you drunk, Mrs. Kincaid?”

“Well—” I blink innocently “—I seem to have an affinity for removing my clothes when I’m inebriated.”

He cracks a grin. “You also ask me to marry you.”

“Only the once,” I defend.

His smile widens further. “Oh, you would’ve done it again if I hadn’t said yes the first time.”

“You seem pretty sure of yourself there,” I comment.

He shakes his head. “No, sure of you.”

“Is that your way of saying you know I love you?”

He chuckles. “I guess so.”

Our waiter sets the glasses of water down along with two wine glasses and the bottle. He pours us each half a glass and then gets our order before leaving. We both order a seafood dish. I guess we decided it was better to play it safe and get something familiar.

I sip at the wine, enjoying the flavor. The sun sets over the water and the image is one I’ll remember a long time to come. The riot of colors is beautiful. I feel Xander’s eyes on me so my gaze slowly drifts back to him.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmurs.

I stifle a laugh. “I think you’ve already said that.”

He grins at me. “And I’ll keep telling you every day, for the rest of our lives, because you deserve to hear that. You’re beautiful, inside and out, and I’m lucky that I get to see every side of you.”

“You’re not so bad yourself … even if you do eat M&M McFlurrys and everyone knows Oreo is the best.”

He laughs. “We’ll have to continue to agree to disagree on that matter.”

“I shouldn’t have mentioned McFlurrys.” I frown. “I really want one now.”

“You’ll have to wait until we get home.” He takes a sip of wine. “Although, knowing McDonald’s there’s probably one around the corner.”

I force the thoughts of ice cream goodness from my mind. I don’t want to get my hopes up no matter how good one might taste right now.

And a Big Mac. That’d be good too.

Damn, I must be starving.

I honestly can’t even remember the last time I ate. My time is all mixed up from traveling and the time change. I’m lucky I can differentiate between up and down at this point.

The sun completely disappears, and I look around, noticing a bunch of string lights hanging above us with a warm glow.