Mine To Have (Southern Wedding 1)

"Of course," Harlow says, walking over to the other chair and taking off the shoes and socks.

"Looks like I won," I say once I take off my shoes and look up at the scoreboard.

"Um, I don’t think so," she says, standing up and taking the shoes in her hand. "It’s incomplete."

"But I have more points than you." I point at the board.

"But I could have had five strikes and won." She cocks her hip to the side. "Or you could have had four gutter balls," she scoffs. "Anything could have happened."

"Fine," I give in. "But rematch." I hold out my hand, and she laughs.

"Fine, rematch." She puts her hand in mine to shake it, and it’s as if a lightning zap has been put in my veins. An electric shock, and my whole body lights up in ways it hasn’t before.

She drops my hand, and we turn to walk out. My hand comes out to hold hers, but then I catch myself and place it on her lower back. "I haven’t had this much fun in a while," she says to me when we walk out and toward the waiting car. She looks up at the stars. "I almost don’t want this night to end." She looks at me, and her eyes widen. "I mean, you must be dying for this day to end so you can forget about it."

I smile and look down. "It doesn’t have to end," I say the words that I might regret if she turns me down, "at least not yet anyway."

Chapter 12

Harlow

He smiles at me and looks down at his feet. The need to reach out and run my hands through his hair is overwhelming. Even more overwhelming than me being a hussy and trying to sway my hips while I bowled. "It doesn’t have to end." He says the words almost in a whisper, his eyes full of mischief. "At least not yet anyway."

I smirk at him. "What else do you have in mind?" I ask, and he throws his head back and laughs.

"I have no idea," he admits. "But we can improvise." He opens the car door to the limo, and I get in. I hear him talking to the driver, but I can’t make out the words. I put my head back on the seat; it’s whirling from everything that has happened today. Or maybe it’s the booze. Either way, I don’t want tonight to end. Talking to him about what he has been doing and indirectly asking about his life with Jennifer, I found out that he wasn’t as happy as I thought he would be. Not once did he mention her or their life, and from the sound of it, he worked just as much as I did. Every time he sat next to me and his leg touched mine, I would feel goose bumps start to form and would hope that he wouldn’t comment on it. I already had the excuse that I was cold, hoping he wouldn’t see me lying. When I feel the car bounce, I open my eyes, looking out the window into the darkness.

"Where are we going?" I ask when the door shuts, and I hear the driver get into the car.

"You’ll see," he says. I look out the window and remember the time he brought me here or around here and I made him that promise.

I got on my knees, lifted my dress, and moved my leg over to straddle him. I held his face in my hands and said the words that I’d bitten my tongue on for the past five months. "I love you." I looked into his eyes when I said the words and then saw his mouth open, and I put my finger on it. "You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to know that these past six months with you have been more than I could ever imagine." I leaned forward and kissed him softly.

His hands rubbed up my back. "Promise me something.” He said the words so softly.

"I will promise you anything," I said, knowing that he could have asked me anything and the answer would always be yes.

"Promise me that you’ll be there by my side on the happiest day of my life."

My fingers pushed back the hair on his forehead as the image of me walking down the aisle to him filled my mind. "I promise," I assured him.

"Good,” he said and kissed me softly. My heart sped up so fast in my chest I thought I was going to throw up from all this happiness. I didn’t think it could have gotten better than this, and then it did when he said the words I’d been dying to hear. "I love you, Harlow."

The car comes to a stop, and I look out the window at this little cabin. "What in the world?" I say when my door opens, and the driver is there to help me out.