Page 125 of Between Never and Forever

Yet, he murmured, “Remember, tomorrow all you have to do is say I do.”

* * *

When we landed,we were escorted straight to another HEAT hotel, and Dex told me to get some shut-eye as he set my purple suitcase down in one of the bedrooms of the suite. Glancing around, I took in the opulence of yet another one of his resorts. The chandeliers sparkled against the leather furniture, and the down duvet was fluffed perfectly for a good night’s sleep.

When Dex started to back out of our room though, I asked, “Are you not coming to bed?”

“It’s a two-bedroom suite for a reason, Kee. If I lie next to you, I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk down the aisle tomorrow.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Come sleep with me.”

Instead, he stared at me for much too long as silence filled the room. His eyes filled with something close to pain as he frowned.

“What?” I whispered.

“Sometimes I don’t know if you realize how strong you are and how vulnerable you are at the same time. It’s stunning and terrifying.”

“Sometimes I don’t think you realize how sweet you are and then how matter-of-fact you are. You can’t put everyone in a box, Dex.”

“I want to, though. Specifically, I want you in one right next to me.”

I smirked at him. “So you can watch me all the time? You already do that.”

I got his dimples then. “I won’t stop either.”

“One day, you’ll get bored of it.”

“Nope, never.” With that, he left me sitting in that big room on the huge plush bed by myself, thinking of marrying him for real even if I knew I couldn’t.

Every decision I would have to make tomorrow felt humongous even if I knew the venue was small. It felt real even if it shouldn’t have been.

ChapterThirty-Nine

KEELANI

The next morning,he was gone, but as I stretched in bed, I got a text immediately.

Dex: Morning, heartbreaker. Breakfast is in the kitchen for you. I took that engagement ring off your finger too. You’ll get a real one soon. A car will be by to pick you up at 3. People will be at your door soon enough.

Me: People? Only Olive and Pink, right?

Dex: Say I do today. Don’t worry about anything else.

I didn’t know how to respond because the man knew I was going to say yes. I just wasn’t saying yes to a freaking whole happily ever after when I knew that soon I’d be saying no to the record label, that I’d be turning my life upside down, that I wouldn’t know how to take care of everything in my family. But I’d find a way.

I grabbed the food in the fridge and started to heat it up. That was when I saw a small piece of paper next to a box with one single lilac placed over it.

The paper saidPut it on.

And when I opened the box, a large jewel the exact same colors as lilacs glinted at me.

I stared at it. Then I snapped it shut and set it down to take a deep breath, because I knew what this meant. I looked up to find where the camera was and shook my head.

Immediately, my phone rang.

When I answered, his voice growled into it. “Do I have to come there and see you before the fucking walk down the aisle, Kee?”

“No,” I croaked, and then I pointed at the box. “You can’t get me things like that when we’re not even really doing this—”