Page 61 of Consummation (The Josh & Kat Trilogy #3)

I lunge at Garrett and he immediately throws up his hands defensively, cowering. “Wait! Wait! If I said that, which I don’t remember—but it’s definitely possible —then all I meant was that you weren’t ‘marriage material’ for me personally. That’s all I meant, Kat.”

Kat squints. Her nostrils flare. She’s turning into the dragon-lady before my eyes.

“That sure didn’t sound like an apology, Garrett,” Kat says evenly. “I didn’t even hear the word ‘sorry’ pass your lips.” Kat grits her teeth. “Did you not hear my future husband? Apologize to me—and make me believe it—so this sexy man can ask me to marry him and I can say ‘hell yes.’”

Garrett exhales a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Kat. You were great and I was an asshole and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“And not only that, you shouldn’t have used me to cheat on your virgin-girlfriend in the first place, asshole,” Kat says.

Garrett clenches his jaw. “Yeah, I’m genuinely sorry about that.”

Kat’s face magically transforms into pure sweetness. “I forgive you, Garrett. But only because I don’t give the slightest fuck about you.” Kat flashes me a truly angelic smile. “Go ahead, my darling beloved. You were saying?”

I smile broadly. “You’re pleased with his apology?”

“Quite pleased.”

“All right, then. Let’s proceed.” I clear my throat. “‘My dearest Katherine, if your feelings are the same as you described to me that horrible night in the hospital, then tell me now—one word from you will silence me forever.’”

Kat’s face lights up with instant recognition of the scene I’m portraying. She puts her hand on her heart, her face aglow. “Mr. Darcy,” she whispers, her eyes watering. “Oh, Josh.”

I kneel down slowly, my eyes fixed on hers, and open the ring box.

Kat gasps at the sight of the spectacular rock. “ Josh ! Oh my God! Josh !”

I hold the ring up and beam a huge smile at her. “Katherine Ulla Morgan, the love of my life, the mother of my future baby girl, the Party Girl with a Hyphen and Heart of Gold: ‘You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.’”

“Oh my God,” Kat breathes.

I take a deep breath. My heart is racing. I’m shaking like a leaf as adrenaline suddenly floods me. “Kat, my love, will you please make me the luckiest man in the world and say yes to marrying me?”

“Yes!” Kat shrieks, tears springing into her eyes.

I stand and slip the ring on Kat’s finger—and she shrieks at the sight of the massive rock on her hand. She throws herself into my arms, crying and cooing and purring and basically losing her shit completely.

“Can I go now?” Garrett says dryly.

I break free from Kat and wipe my eyes. “Almost, Garrett. We’re really close. There’s just one more thing.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Garrett says, rolling his eyes. “My wife’s gonna be home any minute.” He looks at his watch. “Whatever it is, say it already and get the fuck off my property and the fuck out of my computer.”

I take Kat’s hand and squeeze it. “Kat wanted you and you rejected her,” I say.

“Big mistake. Big .” I motion to Kat like I’m giving her the floor but, much to my surprise, she looks at me with wide, blank eyes, not catching my meaning.

“ Big mistake . Big, ” I repeat. I motion to Kat again.

But she’s still clueless. I throw up my hands, totally annoyed.

“Aw, come on, babe,” I say. “You’re totally fucking this up, babe. ”

“I am? What am I supposed to do?”

“You really don’t know?”

She shakes her head.

“Babe. Duh. I’m doing the thing when Julia goes back to the ritzy clothing store in Beverly Hills after the store clerk wouldn’t help her the day before?”

“Oh my God!” Kat slaps her palm on her forehead.

“I can’t believe I didn’t get that. My brain’s not even functioning right now.

” She holds up her hand, displaying her massive rock.

“Who could blame me—holy shitballs, honey—this thing is causing me brain damage.” She giggles.

“Okay, cue me again, honey. I’ll nail it this time. ”

“You two are fucking crazy,” Garrett says.

“Ssh,” I say to Garrett. “Listen up, fucker.” I clear my throat, clearly cuing up the script. “Garrett, she wanted you and you rejected her,” I say. I motion to Kat, yet again.

A huge smile spreads across Kat’s face. “ Big mistake,” she says enthusiastically. “Big. Huge . Now I gotta go do some shopping.”

“Are you people insane ?” Garrett asks. “You show up at my house in fucking formal wear, blast Whitney Houston at me, and hack into my computer—and then you fucking barf on me and tell me to— oh shit .” Garrett’s eyes suddenly bug out of his head.

“My wife. Oh, fuck. You gotta get the fuck out of here. Oh, God, no.”

We all turn toward the end of the long driveway, just as a sleek black Mercedes pulls in.

“Oh, shit,” Garrett blurts, suddenly looking panicked. “Please. I’m begging you. Don’t you dare—”

“We won’t say a word,” I say. “Chill the fuck out, fucktard. I told you. I have no desire to hurt your wife.”

A demure brunette walks up to us, a quizzical look on her face, looking every bit the nice girl Kat described, right down to her sweater set and the large cross around her neck.

“What’s going on, sweetheart?” the woman asks. She nods at Kat and me. “Who are your friends? ”

I put out my hand. “Hi, I’m Kevin. And this is my wife, Whitney. Garrett and I went to school together—we played on the golf team together. Whitney and I were visiting a friend in your neighborhood on our way to a benefit gala so we thought we’d pop by and say a quick hello.”

“Oh,” the woman says. “Hello.”

“I was excited to tell Garrett about our little bun in the oven.” I pat Kat’s stomach.

An unmistakable shadow passes across the woman’s face. “Oh, congratulations. How wonderful. When are you due?”

“Early December,” Kat says quietly, clearly picking up on the shift in the woman’s demeanor.

There’s an awkward beat.

“Oh, gosh. Where are my manners?” the woman says. She extends her hand and shoots daggers at Garrett, clearly chastising him for failing to introduce her. “I’m Maggie Bennett, Garrett’s wife. I don’t think we’ve met before?”

“We haven’t,” I say, shaking her hand. “I was a senior when Garrett was a sophomore, so our paths didn’t cross for long. Lovely to meet you, Maggie.”

“Would you like to come inside?” she asks. “I baked brownies today.”

“No, thank you. Whitney and I have that gala to attend. We just wanted to stop by and say a quick hello and, you know, reminisce about old times for a minute.” I shake Garrett’s hand.

“Great to see you again, buddy. Like I was saying, man, I owe you big. Huge . I’ll never forget the favor you did for me. Thanks again.”

“Oh my goodness,” Maggie says, putting her hand on her heart. “What on earth did Garrett do for you?”

“Oh. He gave me some life-changing advice,” I say.

“Life-changing advice? Really? What was it if you don’t mind me asking?” She looks at her husband like he’s got three eyes.

“I don’t mind at all,” I say. “Garrett told me, ‘When you find The One, hold onto her and never let her go. Because all great happiness in a man’s life comes from finding his one true love. I should know.’”

“Wow,” Maggie says, obviously completely shocked. “ Garrett told you that? My Garrett? ”

“He sure did.”

Kat pats Maggie’s shoulder like she’s petting a German Shepherd. “It was so nice to meet you, Maggie. Garrett was just telling us how wonderful you are—and now I see what he was talking about.”

“He was?” Maggie says, seemingly dazed.

“Bye, Garrett,” Kat says. “Thank you so much for what you did for Kevin. It sure worked out well for me.”

Garrett shifts his weight.

“Well,” I say, “I guess I’d better tell my buddy we’re on our way—he’s waiting for us at the gala. Excuse me.” I pull out my phone and text Henn: “I bagged the babe. She said YES. Fuck yeah! Exit The Asshole’s system now.”

“Congratulations!” Henn writes back. “I’ll leave without a trace.”

I look up at Garrett. “Okay, my buddy says he’s gonna quit working now.” I look at Maggie. “A mutual friend of ours from school. Great guy. A computer specialist. He says he’s leaving work right now to meet us at the gala.”

There’s a very awkward silence. Clearly, Maggie doesn’t know why the fuck I’m telling her this bit of information.

“Okay,” she says awkwardly.

“Well, we’ve definitely taken up enough of your time,” I say, grabbing Kat’s hand and pulling her toward the limo. “Come on, Whitney—time to party, honey.” I kiss Kat’s cheek. “Have I ever told you you’re really fun ?”

Kat giggles. “Yes, you have.”

“Well, you are. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s one of the greatest qualities any man could ever ask for in a wife.”