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The further they got into the garden, the more blooming and colorful flowers Britain got to gush over. She took a whiff of every flower she could. It seemed as if the beautiful rows of colorful flowers went on for miles. Whenever they got to a beautiful scene that was cluttered with greenery, flowers or ancient statues, Britain would force Priest to snap as many pictures as she wanted.

Although the rows of beautiful flowers were to die for, Britain couldn't resist the beauty of the blooming ruby red roses. Priest allowed her to make an order with the florist, encouraging her to get whatever she wanted. He insisted on her having ten dozen long stemmed roses, despite her saying that would be too much to tend to. He completely disregarded her opinion and ordered the ten dozen anyway. He knew she would be content with the amount once she had the bouquet in her hands.

While Britain's bouquet was being made, they were ushered to the reserved picnic area that was set up near the center of the garden where the fountain was. She was relieved that they would finally be able to sit since she had trekked through the garden in the most uncomfortable pair of heels she had in her closet. Once she was seated comfortably on the picnic blanket, Priest took a seat across from her. Since arriving, Britain had yet to stop smiling. She was in pure bliss, and that alone was an accomplishment for him since he was in desperate need of a win with all the fucked-up shit he had going on.

"Thank you, P," Britain let out with a light sigh. "The fact that you can execute all of this while having so much on your mind is crazy. I appreciate it so much," she expressed her gratitude as she leaned over the basket of wine and pastries to place a kiss on his lips.

"It's nothing," he assured her. "And it's a win for me too ‘cause you off wine is fucking amazing," he laughed as he grabbed the neck of the wine bottle to pop the seal and cork.

Once he popped the cork of the wine, Britain reached over and grabbed the bottle. "Word?" she asked him as she poured herself a healthy glass of wine, more than what he would have poured for her. The tempting look in her eye indicated that she was down with whatever he had in mind.

Priest shook his head. "Britain, don't play. You'll get fucked right here," he warned her as he scoped the area to determine if they were secluded.

Laughter took over Britain as she motioned for him to shut his mouth, afraid that someone passing by would hear him. "Sometimes I forget who I'm engaged to," she let out, referring to the fact that he didn't have a filter. Britain went ahead and poured Priest a glass of red wine as well, making sure not to pour over half a glass since he wasn't much of a wine drinker. As they sipped their wine and enjoyed the pastries, they allowed conversation to flow between them organically.

For a second, Priest found himself almost forgetting everything he had going on as he focused on the moment he was having with Britain. Coming down from the laughter Britain evoked, he eyed her. A heavy feeling of guilt set in on him as his mind wandered to their earlier disagreement. He felt the need to apologize again, but he withheld it. He wanted to have a proper conversation before doing so again.

"Can we talk about what happened between us this morning?" Priest asked as he dusted his Amiri jeans of the crumbs that fell from the pastry he and Britain were sharing. She nodded her head, agreeing to have the conversation. They were in a better space and had time to get their minds off everything for a while, so the conversation would be far less heated.

"Yeah, I definitely want clarification on what you said about my decision to go back to New York being me giving you an ultimatum. Was that you just speaking out of anger or is that how you always felt?" Britain raised a brow.

"I went through my stage of anger when you were gone, Britain. I have to be honest: I did feel like that,” he admitted with a light shrug. "That may not have been your intention, and I get that, but I felt like you were demanding a final decision that I can't offer you right now." As uncomfortable the conversationmade him, Priest knew it had to be discussed, and he planned on being as honest as possible.

"I can't stand for that, Priest," Britain shook her head as she disagreed. "If it were an ultimatum, the stakes would’ve been a lot higher. I would have threatened to end our entire relationship. There was never a doubt in your mind I would come back. It was always a matter ofwhenI would be coming back. I never said you had to choose me or how you made your money. I wanted you to see how frustrated I was because you were falling back into the same thing. I needed time away from you so I could assess how I wanted to proceed with this relationship."

"Brit, we supposed to figure shit out together, yo," he reminded her as he ran his hand down his face. "You dipped after our first incident. Is that how it's going to be when we get married? I'm bound to have more fuck ups, and you will too. I don't want your family expecting you to fly back every time we go at it about something serious." Priest felt like his concerns and feelings were justified. He just wanted to set a precedent in their relationship. There shouldn't have been any running involved. "Then you pushed the point that you only would return if I figured some shit out on my own. That ain’t cool."

Britain sighed. She understood where Priest was coming from, but she still felt like flying back to New York was needed in this instance. "When we go at it, I don't want to be near you," Britain admitted shamelessly. "Personally, I need time to process everything so I can figure it out. I have the tendency to speak from emotion, and I see how badly that impacts you. Although I agree that flying back to New York isn't the right thing to do foreverydisagreement, I do believe that I should be able to set the boundary of being granted space when I need it. In that instance, though, I did feel like New York was the best fit for me to be in the headspace to digest everything, only becauseit was a familiar space. As for me not wanting to come back until you figured it out, I apologize for that. I can now see that was wrong because you have never done that to me. However, I feel like we're still tap dancing around the real issue."

Priest let out a heavy sigh. He knew exactly where the conversation was heading. "Yeah, we envisioned two completely different things for our life out here," he said as his dark orbs peered into her.

"I guess that's my fault because I misinterpreted the purpose of us leaving the city," she added as she pulled her eyes from his and set them on her glass of wine.

He reached over, using his finger to lift her chin so she could set her soft brown orbs back on him. "We gotta talk about this so we can be on the same page," he said to her encouragingly. "I do wanna take fault in that, Brit. I moved hastily and left you to catch up, and I'm sorry about that. Before the shit about me dying came about, my plans were to always be back and forth because I still have obligations out there in the city. The goal is to eventually wash my hands clean with this life, but right now, I don't think I'm at that point yet."

Britain shook her head, still unconvinced. "I don't know, P. Will we ever get to actually live a normal life? We can't even get legally married because of all this. And I can't even imagine how much of a burden it is to be reminded that you're dead. New York means so much to you, no matter how bad you needed a break from it. I feel like you dug yourself into a deep hole when you decided not to clear up the fact that you didn't die."

"Look," Priest let out a breath as he cupped her hand in his. "Nothing else matters to me except your happiness when it comes to what we got. If those are your concerns, I will figure it out. You got my word," he assured her with a deep level of conviction as he rested his other hand over his heart.

He eyed Britain with a deep level of confidence within his orbs. "We're gonna be alright, you hear?"

Britain followed up with a nod of her head and a light smile that etched her face. They had yet to lead each other wrong, so there was nothing but trust between them. Britain freed her hand from his so she could initiate her infamous pinky swear that she lived by. This brought a chuckle out of Priest as he locked his pinky with hers.

"I love you," Britain professed as she leaned over, sitting a kiss on his lips.

"I love you too," Priest asserted with his charming smile.

After a few more drinks and receiving the bouquet Priest had spent a hefty amount of money on, they decided to call an end to the date. She could hear Priest's laughter as she held the huge bouquet of red roses out in front of her, being cautious of her steps so she wouldn't fall over. He offered to hold the roses for her since the bouquet came out bigger than they expected, but she was stubborn and declined. As she teeter-tottered her way toward the exit, he held onto her waistto ensure she didn't go tumbling down.

Once the valet returned the car, Priest grabbed the bouquet and sat it in the back seat before assisting her into the car. Once he was in the car himself, he headed in the direction of the estate.

Mid conversation, they were interrupted by Priest's phone ringing. Priest glanced at the screen on the dashboard of the vehicle, which was signaling him that he was receiving a call from Remy. He accepted the call, allowing it to connect with the speakers of the car.

"What's good, Rem?" Priest chuckled. It had been a while since he'd spoken with Remy, but he knew exactly why he was getting a call.

"Shit, same old same old," Remy let out with a light sigh.

"Hey, Dad," Britain smiled as she greeted her dad. They had spoken earlier in the week, and she caught him up on all the details of her magazine with an hour-long phone conversation. She was sure she talked Remy's ear off, but he didn't mind one bit.