Page 96 of One Killer Night

What if he is asking me ...

“Hey, Eves. Come with to the bar?”

She nods as I excuse myself from Lee and let her follow me. My cheeks are heating up as I bite my lip and glance at her, trying to hide my smile.

“What is going on with you? Why do you look like you have a secret?”

I open my mouth, then shut it, still grinning as I stop at the bar top. “Has Noah asked you for any favors? Or for any advice lately?”

Her brows draw together like she’s confused. “Huh?” she chuckles, looking at me like I’ve lost it. “What are you talking about?”

I look around, making sure we have privacy, then lower my voice. “Okay, so this is probably far-fetched, but tonight ... the party with everyone I love.”

“Yeah?” She motions to the bartender, pointing at her glass.

I lean in closer. “It’s more than that. This whole night is like a re-creation of our first date. The costumes, the park ... Even the lanterns hanging from the trees are just like the ones last year. And not to mention he stopped me in the street as we were walking here to kiss me in the same spot we first did that.”

Her eyes grow wide. “Hold on. Do you think ... Do you think he’s going to propose?”

I shrug, but the grin on my face gives me away. “Maybe? I dunno ... Am I off base?”

She shakes her head, unable to hide her excitement. “Holy shit.”

I shush her before looking around to make sure no one is watching.

“Goldie,” she says quieter, with a laugh. “He’s going to propose.”

“Wait, you know that?” I almost shriek, but she puts her hand over my mouth as the bartender sets the drink in front of her.

She laughs again. “No, I’m agreeing with you.”

I move her hand and reach for her drink, taking an overindulgent sip before we both just stand there and smile at each other. My hand presses to my chest as butterflies gather in my stomach.

“I’m so nervous.”

She raises her brows. “You want him too, right?”

I nod, making her face go back to normal. “Yes. I do want that ... maybe more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my whole life. I’m so freaking in love that it’s disgusting.”

“Agreed.” She shimmies, then clasps her hands together. “Oh my god, now that you’ve committed to moving across the country to be with him, you’ll be doing that as his fiancée.”

Fiancée.Holy smokes.

I grab her hands, trying to anchor us back down to reality before we float away like the one escapee balloon at a party.

“Okay, we need to reel it back ... We don’t even know if that’s what’s happening. And if it doesn’t, I don’t want either of us crying on the way home. So, we’ll just play it by ear.”

She chuckles and looks down at me holding her hands, and I realize I’m holding the dummy fromThe Shining.

I drop it and laugh before she un-Velcros the creepy thing from her side and props it up against the bar.

“Remind me to take that with me, or I have a feeling Chef-Boy-R-Pervert will steal it.” But then she gasps, pulling me right back into the clouds. “Wait a minute ... That could be why he told me to take you to get manicures yesterday. So that your ring finger would look iconic.”

Normally that’s not something I would attribute to man-think, but Noah is the cream of the crop. Of course he’d think of that.

My lips part as I stare back at her. “Oh, the way in which I would bribe the universe for this to be tonight’s destiny. I mean, I would do unethical and wrong things for this to be true.”

My sister laughs that maniacal, partner in crime kind of laugh that we did as kids before getting grounded. Because of that, I glance back over my shoulder again to make sure nobody’s onto us.