Page 158 of The Renegade Billionaire

Madison grins up at me, and the bitterness I had about freezing my balls off at the park floats away.

“Yes. At 8:00 p.m., everyone can start taping off their booths. Tomorrow, construction starts.” She’s downright giddy.

When I glance around the park, I realize the giddiness appears to be contagious. She’s wearing gloves, so I can’t see her ring, but the bulge on her ring finger tells me it’s there.

Not only did I mess up the proposal, but I didn’t even give her the ring properly. The jeweler on Main Street saw her walking by the shop tonight and pulled her into the store because it was ready. The man did everything I asked in record time. Surrounding her grandmother’s diamond is a circle of yellow diamonds, and when the light hits it, it shines like the sun. It’s everything I wanted it to be, but I was probably the last one to see the damn thing.

Nothing has been conventional about our engagement, but then again, neither was our courtship.

“Now will you tell me what your idea is for the booth? I’ve never not been involved in the planning, you know, and it’s killing me.”

“Yes, but how many audiobooks and podcasts did you get caught up on while I was doing this?” I hold up a three-ring binder containing a rudimentary sketch and all the steps we need to take to win this thing.

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” she cries when we reach our designated spot.

And then I see what’s upset her. To our left is a sign that saysBlinky’s.

“What the hell? Who would’ve done this?” Anger mingles with a protective side that comes out whenever Madison is involved.

She drops her head to her hands. “It’s a lottery, and it’s done in front of the town council so no one can cheat. Once your spot is chosen, it can’t be changed.”

“Real sorry ’bout this, Madi,” Moose says, walking up beside us. “I tried to change it, but Old Man Cracken is a stickler for the rules.”

“Is that his name? Cracken?” I ask.

“Yup. He’s a real ornery son of a bitch too.”

“It’s okay, Moose.” The excitement she carried only a moment ago is burned out, and her shining expression has dimmed. “Thanks for trying.”

“Always, Madi,” he says before moving on to the next spot.

“I met Harry’s dad,” I whisper. “He seemed like a good guy. Hopefully he’ll be here to keep him in line.”

Madison moves her head as if she agrees, but her thoughts are somewhere else.

“Hey, he isn’t going to ruin this for us. Put him out of your head. I’ll be right by your side, and so will Pops and Grey. We’ve got this, remember?”

She flexes her hands and forces a tight smile. “You’re right. Come sit and show me.”

There are two folding chairs and a small folding table on each booth’s platform, so I sit down at ours and open the binder.

A bevy of emotions flit across her features as she turns the pages.

I’m starting to sweat.

“You did…all of this?” She points to the binder. “You had beans and leaves flown in from all over the world to…to try and unite the town…with a drink?”

“Yeah. Why are you looking at me that way? Did I miss something with the planning?”

She closes her eyes and rubs small circles into her temples with her pointer fingers. It’s a slow movement that causes a newfound anxiety to spike.

“No,” she says. “I’m in shock. No one has ever done anything like this for me, Braxton. First the inn, the donations that pop up everywhere, and now this. You know that even if you didn’t do all those things, I would have still fallen for you, right? It’s not about money or what you can give me. It’s that you thought to do them in the first place. No one has ever cared this much.”

“Oh my God. You scared the shit out of me, Madison. I thought you were breaking up with me or something.”

She laughs. “I didn’t know you were so insecure.”

“I never have been, not until you. I care so much that losing you would physically destroy me.”