Page 45 of The Broposal

“He’ll come around.” At least Kenny didn’t say anything about my acting skills. He always seemed to know what to say to make me feel better, even without me having to tell him what was actually wrong.

I don’t see why you can’t just marry a nice girl.

I never planned on marrying a girl, or anyone. But I also never planned on meeting someone like Kenny. Someone willing to put everything on the line for me without blinking. Someone who didn’t hesitate to marry me the moment he realized it would get me to stay for good. I wasn’t one for commitment, but I had already committed most of my life to being his best friend. I really didn’t know why I was so afraid of commitment in the first place. Maybe I didn’t want to end up with the wrong person. And Kenny was nothing if not so fucking right in every way.

And truthfully? If I were to marry someone, for real, it would be him.

That thought scared the shit out of me.

And maybe it changed everything.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

KENNY

The two weeks after the engagement passed with an overwhelming amount of congratulations from anyone who’d ever met me or Han. With everything so chaotic, before I knew it, it was the day of our engagement party.

Han and I usually skipped out on my mom’s parties, but since she insisted on hosting, we had to at least show up. If it were up to me, we would have skipped it anyway, but Han refused to disappoint my mom.

When I got home from work, I found Han hunched over the table, poring over his laptop and several notebooks. The bags under his eyes were visible from the door.

“You okay?” I asked as I made my way over.

“Just figuring out wedding stuff. How are we supposed to afford any of this?”

I stood behind him so I could see what he was reading. Absentmindedly, I rubbed his shoulders as I scanned the screen, and I could feel him relax into the touch.

“You know you don’t have to do this by yourself, right?”

Han sighed. “I know. I just wanted to figure out some things. I don’t know shit about wedding planning, and neither do you.”

I sat in the chair next to Han. “I was planning on tapping my mom for help. Party planning is, like, her thing.”

“Shit! The party!” Han slammed his laptop shut and rushed to his room.

“It’s okay if we’re a little late!” I shouted before going to my own room to change.

Before long, Han was dressed and ready to go, while I was still picking out an outfit. Han was definitely the punctual one between us. Even if I sometimes didn’t feel Mexican enough, at least I had the whole “operating off Mexican time” thing going for me.

“Ten bucks says your family will be later than we are,” I called out as I rolled up my long sleeves.

“Ándale pues,” Han urged. “If you want my money, let’sgo.”

I walked out of my room only to realize we were wearing the exact same outfit. Black jeans. Purple button-up. Sleeves rolled. We both burst out laughing, and I turned around to change again, but Han grabbed my hand.

“Don’t even think about it! We’re leaving.”

By the time we got to the party, half the block was lined with cars belonging to my extended family, along with one car for Han’s.

We walked from the car hand in hand, but when we reached the door, Han unexpectedly pulled me in for a kiss. I couldn’t say I was complaining. I was starting to rather enjoy Han’s kisses, expected or not. It turned out Han’s family—plus Tatiana, whoseemed to be there with Leti—were walking toward us, which had to be why Han was putting on a show. I kissed him back while they approached, and the warmth filling my insides protected me against the cold night air. But I was afraid if we kept kissing I wouldn’t be able to stop, so I pulled away breathlessly.

I’d been worried about feeling lonely after the breakup, but so far I didn’t. Was that thanks to Han? I loved Han, but I didn’t want to love him inthatway. I couldn’t let myself use him as a rebound. He deserved so much better. This was too important for me to go complicating things. I just had to channel Han and ignore my feelings. Maybe we needed to cool it with the kissing. I’d have to bring it up to him after the party.

“You guys are adorable. Gross.” Mariana fake gagged.

“Leave them alone!” Leti said.

“Love the matching outfits!” Tatiana said before she hugged Han while Leti hugged me; then they switched.

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