Caroline stood unsteadily. Josh and Mitch stood too, making the vast room seem a whole lot smaller.
“Then”—she cleared her throat—“the answer to your question is yes.” She looked up into the mischievous eyes of a stranger. “I will marry you, Josh McInnes.”
She held out her hand to him, to seal the deal. With a wicked smile, he engulfed her hand in his. A bolt of pure electricity shot up her arm and through her body. She tingled from head to toe. Josh’s eyes darkened.
“Good decision,” he told her. “You won’t regret it.”
CHAPTER TWO
“You know.” Mitch chugged on his bottle of beer while he sat at the kitchen counter. “I thought that your most embarrassing moment was in Italy, when you were serenading that chick you were drooling over and fell off the stage.” He shook his head slowly. “But this tops anything you’ve done in the twenty-nine years I’ve known you.”
“What?” Josh shrugged. “This is great. The hunt is over. I’m getting married. Why is this embarrassing?”
“The fact you don’t know the answer to that question is what worries me the most.”
Josh ignored him and padded over to the freezer. There had to be something he could zap and eat. Adrenalin always made him hungry.
“You should be happy.” Josh pulled two trays of lasagne out of the deep freeze. “This is what we’ve been working towards for months.” He grinned as he stabbed the plastic lid with a fork. “I have to be honest with you. There was a minute where I thought you weren’t going to pull it off. I thought I’d have to bring in the professionals.”
“And I have to be honest with you. I thought you’d get bored of this and move on to something more productive and slightly less insane—like the new album.”
Josh plonked the food in the microwave and pressed the button that said dinner. Nothing happened. He randomly pressed a whole lot of other buttons until the machine started to work.
“Look.” Josh grabbed two root beers from the fridge. “You know me. When I make up my mind about something, it’s a done deal.”
“Yeah, but that’s business. Not finding a wife.”
“Apparently it works for everything.”
Mitch rubbed his hand over his face. “There’s no talking to you. You’re determined to ride this inanity train wherever it leads, aren’t you?”
Josh pulled the trays out of the microwave to see if anything was happening. They were still ice. He put them back in and pressed random buttons again.
“This isn’t insane. It’s logical. Practical. You’re just jealous because you didn’t think of it first. I’m not possessive. You can have my idea. I’ll even find you a wife if you want.”
“I’ll take you up on that”—Mitch paused as if in thought—“the minute hell freezes over.”
Josh grinned at him.
“You do realise,” Mitch said, “that you’ve just told a woman you don’t know that you’re going to have sex with her, and only her, for the rest of your life.”
Huh? Josh leaned against the counter.
Mitch pointed at him. “You didn’t think about that, did you?”
Josh bristled. “I can do commitment. I’m looking for commitment.”
“Well, you better hope she’s good in bed.”
Josh felt a momentary pang of doubt. He narrowed his eyes at his friend. “You’re not going to make me second-guess this. I know I’m doing the right thing. And I’m not going to discuss my marital sex life with you.”
“What sex life? You proposed. You shook hands. She practically jumped out of her skin and then she left. I’m still burning from the heat of the exchange.”
“I’m not listening to you.” Josh reached for the phone. “You can’t talk me out of this. I know it’s a great idea.”
Mitch shook his head as he looked at the ceiling. Josh dialled his parents’ number in Florida.
“It’s Josh,” his dad shouted through the house.