Page 80 of Late Nights

“You ready for this?” Demi asked.

As she looked up at me, those beautiful brown eyes conveying such devotion and maybe even a little bit of pride, I felt like I was ready for anything. She had a way of easing any fears or nerves I might be feeling, and it was one of the things I loved about her.

Yep. Love. I was ninety-nine percent sure I was in love with her, but I wanted to wait until I was at one hundred percent before telling her. I’d never been in love before, so I didn’t know for sure if all these feelings I felt for her added up to love. Either way, I was committed, I was all in, I had jumped in head-first, and any other phrase that could convey how devoted I was to this woman.

I leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “Yes.”

Walking up to Demi’s parents while holding her hand was a surreal moment. I’d worked for years to hide my feelings from them, but now I was openly showing them that I liked her, that I wanted to date her.

A big grin filled Victor’s face, and any apprehension I had faded away.

“I’m glad you brought the woman you said you were interested in,” he said, giving me a wink.

Shock rippled through me. He had known who I’d been talking about. I guessed I hadn’t been as subtle as I had thought when I’d brought her up at the family dinner.

“Oh, Cannon, Demi,” Rose exclaimed, holding her arms out to both of us. “We’re so happy for you two.” She wrapped us up in a motherly hug, and I blinked furiously as I hugged her back, hoping to hold back the emotions threatening to surface at having been so warmly accepted.

I took Demi’s hand again. “Thank you.”

Demi looked up at me with a bright smile. “We’re happy too.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at her. I really was happy, and for the first time in my life I was beginning to feel whole.

“Oh, finally!” Halle’s voice came from my right. She motioned to our joined hands as she and West came to join us. “I was going crazy watching you two dance around each other like there were no feelings going on. I’ve known since September when you couldn’t keep your eyes off each other at the charity gala.”

Rose’s hand dismissed her comment. “Honey, I’ve known for years and have been praying these two would figure it out before I had to take matters into my own hands.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Victor cut in. “I’m pretty sure I knew about it before you,” he said to his wife.

“How come nobody told me what was going on?” asked West, looking from Halle to his mom and dad.

I stared at the four of them, not knowing how to take all of this. They’d all known—well except for West, apparently—about Demi and me having feelings for one another for that long? And here I thought I’d hidden my feelings so well.

“Hold on,” Demi spoke up. “You all knew we liked each other?”

“Yes,” said Halle, Rose, and Victor at the same time, while West said, “Kind of.”

“You two weren’t very good at hiding it,” Halle said.

“It was all over your faces,” Rose added.

“And the way you got excited having Cannon around,” Victor said to Demi, and then turned to me to say, “and then the way you looked like you wanted to break Aiden’s hand every time he touched Demi, it was pretty easy to piece it together.”

Okay, so I guess we hadn’t been as secretive and nonchalant about each other as I’d thought.

“I started to suspect something at Lake Tahoe,” West said to me. “But then when you told me nothing was going on, I believed you.”

“There wasn’t anything going on when you asked me, I swear,” I said. “Everything kind of happened after that talk.” I gave him a sheepish look.

“You could have at least told me you liked her.” He looked a little hurt that I hadn’t confided in him. “We usually tell each other everything.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you,” I apologized. “But I didn’t know how to tell you that I liked your little sister. Especially with how you know I’ve never seriously dated someone before. I was worried you’d be upset and tell me to stay away from her, which I would have respected. I stayed away on my own because I didn’t want to hurt her. I wasn’t sure I could be the boyfriend type.”

“But now you feel you can?” he asked, his voice holding both genuineness and protective brother tones.

“Yes.” I looked over at Demi. “I’ve never felt like this before.” I turned back to West. “I care about her a lot and will do everything in my power to never hurt her.”

A smile spread across his lips, and then he was hugging me. “Congratulations, brother.”

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