Page 136 of The Love Destroyers

I laugh as he presses me into the wall and leans down toward me, as handsome in his groomsman’s suit as he is in his leather jacket and work clothes. “Hello, handsome.”

He leans over me, his mouth inches from mine. “Did you come out here to be kissed?”

Grinning up at him, I say, “Absolutely. Do you intend to be withholding?”

“Never.” He bends down and kisses me, and I kiss him back, feeling emotion welling inside of me, along with a new certainty. If he asks, I know what my answer will be.

Then he leans in, skimming his hand over my leg, and I smack it before he can get to the flask.

He nips my lip before pulling back with a grin.

“There’s something you might want to steal from me in my back pocket right now,” he says, his look all innocence. “if you want to cop a feel.”

“Oh?” I ask, my eyes widening. He couldn’t meanthat, could he?

“Oh,” he echoes.

Watching him, I reach around and dip my hand into one pocket, then the other.

“They’re empty,” I point out.

“Oh, huh, maybe my front pocket then,” he asks, grinning like the devil he is.

“You’re not bothering me,” I say. “I’ll feel you up anytime, anywhere. Just ask Anthony.”

Who’d walked in on us one day in the library of Smith House and now looks embarrassed every time he passes the room.

He shakes his head slightly. “The things you do to me, Em.”

I reach into one pocket and find nothing, then the other…

I run my fingers over the box and around before taking it out, looking up at him.

“Seamus.”

“Emma.”

My hand trembles as I draw it out, but there’s still a chance it’s a pair of earrings or a brooch.

I meet his gaze. “My mother told me—”

“Of course she did,” he says, shaking his head ruefully this time. “How’d you feel about that hypothetical information I totally didn’t expect her to tell you at the first opportunity to help you get used to the idea?”

“Are you really proposing at her wedding?” I ask, glancing around. No one is near us, but there’s distant talking floating down from inside, the same way there was that first night.

“Hypothetically, I don’t see what the problem is,” he says, raising his eyebrows. “There’s no one out here to see us, and I already got the blessing of the people whose opinion on the subject would matter.”

“Including Chuck’s?”

“No,” he says with a fond smile. “If I’d told him, everyone would be out here watching, though I’m guessing there’s a chance your mother may have let him in on the secret. If thereisa secret,” he adds pointedly. “You still haven’t opened the box.”

I pull it out, my hand trembling, and glance up at him.

He looks…nervous.

I’m not used to Seamus looking nervous.

I lift up on my toes and kiss his lips.

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