Page 46 of Consummation (The Josh & Kat Trilogy #3)

“I was completely shocked—and then I was even more shocked when we drove up to that big ol’ house and Mariela came out. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“Dude, me, too—I thought I was gonna keel over in shock.”

“For so long, I always thought, ‘If Mariela passed me on the street, would I recognize her?’” Jonas says.

“All through the years, whenever I’d see a Latina woman of the right age walking by, I’d think, ‘Could that be Mariela?’ But then, the minute I actually saw the real thing, there was no doubt it was her—a thousand memories instantly came rushing back to me. ”

“I didn’t recognize her physically so much as I recognized her...” I trail off, searching for the right word. “Her soul ? Is that a totally Jonas Faraday thing to say?”

Jonas chuckles. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re actually referencing Plato’s theory of forms without realizing it.

Plato said when we see something in the physical realm with our eyes, we’re seeing the imperfect form of it—because nothing’s perfect in the physical world—but your soul is nonetheless able to recognize it, despite its imperfections, because it innately knows the thing’s divine original form from the ideal realm.

” He pauses briefly. “I think for both of us, Mariela was our divine original form of nurturing—an ideal form of safety and affection and love—and our souls recognized her instantly, even if our eyes didn’t. ”

I smile at Jonas. There’s just no one like my brother. “Makes perfect sense to me,” I say.

Jonas smiles.

“Hey, did you catch her scent ?” I say, taking in a deep breath through my nose.

“I didn’t even know I remembered that scent, but the minute Mariela hugged me, I instantly remembered how she used to rock us to sleep in that big rocking chair—remember that?

—and I’d nuzzle my nose into her neck and breathe in that flowery scent. ”

Jonas shakes his head in apparent awe. “It’s amazing what the brain retains that we don’t even realize on a conscious level.” He drinks his beer. “When Mariela hugged me and called me Jonasito today, I felt like I’d traveled back in a time machine to when I was seven years old.”

I sip my beer and consider that concept for a minute. “Dude,” I say. “I’m thinking deep thoughts about the illusion of time and the infinite nature of love. Make it stop, Jonas. Please. My head hurts.”

“Jesus, Josh. You can’t be thinking deep thoughts like that—you’ll fuck up the entire world order.”

I smirk. “Okay. Phew. I’m thinking about motorboating pretty titties now. I’m good.”

Jonas laughs. “That was a close call. God help us if you created some sort of butterfly effect and fucked us all.”

“Seriously. That was truly scary.”

“Don’t do anything like that again,” Jonas warns. “You’ve still got five days in Argentina with your pregnant girlfriend after this—for fuck’s sake, don’t injure yourself, man, especially if your unicorn’s on a hot streak.”

“Hey, that reminds me,” I say. I peek toward the bedroom.

This is the first time I’ve been alone with Jonas since the wedding—and his use of the word “girlfriend” just reminded me I haven’t told him about my plan to ask Kat to marry me.

I glance toward the bedroom again to make sure Kat’s not coming out.

“Hey, at your wedding, I had this epiphany that slammed me like a ton of bricks, man,” I begin.

The girls let out a collective sigh followed by a cheer in the other room and I glance at the door again.

“When we get home,” I say, “I’m gonna ask Kat to—”

Sarah and Kat burst out of the bedroom, both of them sobbing, and I abruptly shut my mouth.

“Oh my gawd,” Sarah bawls, wiping her eyes. “Best movie ever. ”

“Ever, ever, ever!” Kat agrees, tears streaming down her beautiful face. She hands my iPad to me. “Thank you, babe. Oh my gawd. I loved it.”

“One of my all-time faves,” Sarah says.

“Me, too. Top ten for sure. Maybe even top five. ”

“Fo shizzle pops.” Sarah plops herself onto Jonas’ lap. “Hello, hunky monkey husband.”

“Hello, wife.”

Kat follows suit and plops herself down onto my lap, too. “Hey, PB,” she says

“Hey, PG,” I reply, my heart panging. Shit.

If ever there was a time when our Playboy-Party-Girl nicknames felt woefully insufficient, it’s right now.

Ever since Jonas and Sarah’s wedding, I’ve been chomping at the bit to call Kat my wife, and with each passing day, my desire becomes more and more urgent.

“What movie were you two watching in there?” I ask.

“It sounded like you were watching Schindler’s List . ”

“ Oh, no, it was a romantic comedy.”

Jonas and I share a chuckle.

“ About Time, ” Sarah says reverently. “Oh my gawd . Have you seen it?”

“Never heard of it,” I say.

“You gotta see it,” Kat says. “The girl from The Notebook is in it. Have you seen The Notebook ?”

I shake my head.

“Oh. Well, did you see Love Actually ? You know the rock-star-British guy in that one?”

“Dude, unless Seth Rogan or Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler is in a movie, it’s a good bet I haven’t seen it.”

Kat rolls her eyes. “Do you know the red-haired guy from the Harry Potter movies?” Kat asks.

“Well, of course,” I say. “Now you’re speaking my language.”

“But not the one who played Ron Weasley,” Sarah interjects. “The redheaded guy who played his older brother.”

Kat swats my arm. “The guy in Ex Machina. ”

“Oh,” I say. “Yeah?”

“He’s the main guy in this one and he’s so cute—”

“ So cute,” Sarah agrees.

“And he figures out he can time-travel by going into a closet and then he meets The Notebook girl and—what’s her name, Sarah?”

“Rachel McAdams. She’s so cute.”

“ So cute. So, anyway, I won’t spoil it for you, in case you ever wanna watch it but it’s so good.” Kat lets out a long, swooning sigh.

Sarah mimics Kat’s swooning sigh. “So good,” she agrees .

Jonas and I exchange a look. Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck either of these two women have said for the past three minutes—I pretty much tuned out after Kat said the words The Notebook— but, damn, both of these girls are fucking adorable.

Clearly, Jonas agrees with my assessment because he’s begun nuzzling Sarah’s neck and whispering to her.

Sarah makes a sound of sheer happiness. “Oh, how I love you, hubster,” she breathes.

“Oh, how I love you, Mrs. Faraday, ” Jonas replies.

Sarah runs her hand through Jonas’ hair. “I’ll never forget the look on your face when you saw Mariela today. You were beautiful, love.”

“Thank you for arranging that for me. I’ll never forget it.”

“Yeah, thank you, Sarah Cruz,” I say. “I’ll never forget today as long as I live. It was amazing.”

“It was my pleasure. It warmed my heart to see the Faraday boys looking so happy.”

“Mariela had quite a house, didn’t she?” Kat says. “I’d say Mariela’s livin’ large in the ol’ Vee-Zee, baby.”

“Half a million bucks goes a really long way here,” Jonas says, referring to the finder’s fee money we secured for Mariela (along with equal shares for Sarah’s mom, Jonas’ friend Georgia, and Miss Westbrook).

Sarah whispers something into Jonas’ ear and he kisses her tenderly.

I look away from them and I’m met with Kat’s intense gaze. Oh . I know that look—it means my unicorn’s feeling frisky.

Kat runs her fingertip over my bottom lip. “Are you all done with your work, honey pot pie?” she whispers.

I chuckle. “Someone’s been hanging out with Sarah Weirdo Cruz today.”

Kat giggles. “Yeah, that was extremely Sarah-Cruz-ish, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. And, yes, I’m all done with my work.” I stick out my tongue and lick the tip of Kat’s finger. “I’m all yours for the rest of the night, hot momma.”

Kat presses her forehead against mine. “Mike Wazowski,” she whispers.

I grin.

Kat presses her lips against my ear and whispers softly, “I’m so frickin’ horny, I’m gonna blow. ”

“God, I love pregnancy hormones,” I whisper back.

Kat smiles.

Out of nowhere, Jonas makes a kind of growling noise and abruptly stands with Sarah in his arms, lifting her like a rag doll.

“Good night, guys,” he says. “It seems Mrs. Faraday and I have a date with a Venezuelan mattress. Come on, wife.” Without waiting for our reply, Jonas barrels away like the gorilla he is, happily carrying his love-monkey-bride in his protective arms.

“Good night, guys!” Sarah calls to us, just before their bedroom door closes with an emphatic thud.

“Those two are so freaking cute,” Kat says.

My stomach clenches with envy. Fuck me. I want to say, “Come on, wife!” to Kat, exactly the way Jonas just said that to Sarah.

And, fuck me, I want to say “Mrs. Faraday and I have a date with a Venezuelan mattress!” too, even if, yes, that’s a supremely cheesy thing to say.

Shit. At least fifty times this past week in Brazil, I almost blurted, “Will you marry me, Kat?” But I refrained every time—of course, I did—because the sane part of my brain knows I’ve already asked Kat to marry me without a ring or ironclad plan in place and that she replied, “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth.

” So, obviously, another spontaneous (flop-dick) proposal ain’t gonna cut it a second time around.

Kat skims her lips against mine, yanking me out of my thoughts, and I slip my tongue eagerly into her mouth. In reply, she presses herself into my hard-on.

“How are you feeling, beautiful?” I ask, kissing her softly.

“Good,” she says. “I didn’t barf once today.”

“Wow,” I whisper. “Sexy. You know I can’t resist a woman who doesn’t barf.”

“One might even say it’s your Achilles’ heel, although I seem to recall you’re also quite willing to fuck a woman who barfs on your shoes.”

“Not ‘a woman’ who barfs on my shoes,” I say. “Only you .”

“Sweet-talker.”

“Okay. Enough chitty-chat,” I declare suddenly. I stand and swoop Kat into my arms, and Kat practically growls with excitement. “It’s time to put those pregnancy hormones of yours to maximum use, Party Girl.”