Page 61 of Marry Me

“I have faith in you.” A pause. “When will I see you again? I hate sending you away to work. We should just stay right here.”

Megan smiled and enjoyed being wanted because she wanted right back. “As soon as humanly possible. You can stay here if you’d like. In this very bed. Or the living room. Kitchen. My place is yours. Or you can leave and come back tonight. You can also summon me to your place like royalty. Send an owl with a telegram and a smile. Smoke signals work. I’m at attention.”

“How about I check in with you later and see how you feel?”

“I can already tell you. After a wedding, I’m always exhausted and starving. I inhale junk food, and it’s not pretty in the slightest. A messy plate of nachos is my favorite. There will be cheese all over my face, which I think is what you were requesting to see last night. The dark side. Have I mentioned that I love to share nachos?”

Ally laughed. “You did not.”

“Well, that’s how I’ll feel. Starving. Messy. Generous.”

“A great combo because I’m someone who accepts nacho handouts freely and without guilt.”

“A kindred nacho spirit? How does this keep getting better? Speaking of food, want some breakfast? I feed people here, too. In fact, I have a waffle maker that will knock your socks off.”

“I have no socks.” She glanced beneath the sheets. “No clothing at all, it seems. You share nachos, cook food, and steal clothes.”

“And I’m not ashamed.”

Megan sat up and slipped out of bed. She watched as Allison’s gaze roamed her body, her arm tucked behind her head to aid her viewing. It sent a lovely flutter as she found her robe.

“Your body,” Allison said with a shake of her head. She covered her eyes briefly. “God. Just look at you.”

“That sounds like a positive endorsement. Meet me in the kitchen in fifteen?”

Ally appeared in five wearing pink and white striped shorts and a top. Satin. “Aww. You brought pajamas to this sleepover. Cute ones.”

“Feels silly now given what I know, but yes.”

“Well, you’re always welcome to my clothes, you know.”

“You said always.”

“Mm-hmm.” She poured the batter into the waffle maker.

Allison eased herself onto a barstool across from her and rested her chin in her hand with a grin. “That means the future. You’re projecting more sleepovers.”

“Yes.” Megan paused, set the empty bowl on the counter. “I heard it, too. The future. There. I said it, again. It’s what I want.”

“Good.”

They shared a smile and enjoyed the happy silence as she made them both breakfast. Midway through, she caught Allison staring intently at her robe, which, as she worked, had fallen partially open. She didn’t bother adjusting it, enjoying the attention. They ate together at the kitchen table as Megan peppered her with all the details of what her job at a standard wedding entailed, all the while aware of the pleasant feeling that she’d had sex the night before. Still tingly and little bit sore, in the best sense.

“And then there’s whatever band or DJ we’re working with the day of. While they’re announcing the first dance and hopefully playing the agreed upon song, the event staff should be slicing the formally cut cake, so we can distribute it immediately following the toast. At least that’s my preferred order. Other planners surely work differently.”

“I have no idea how you keep everything straight,” Allison said, cutting into her second waffle. “All those dangling tasks would drive me mad. Like a game of Whac-A-Mole.”

Megan laughed. “I think you just summed up my job. I play eventWhac-A-Mole for a living.” She distantly wondered if talking about weddings tugged at Allison, given that she’d just been in the midst of planning one for herself. She tried not to think about it, but that was hard. Surely, it was just as hard for Ally.

“Hey, you. Where did you just go?” Allison asked, placing her hand on top of Megan’s and giving it an affectionate shake. “A million miles away all of a sudden.”

“Oh. Sorry. I’m right here,” Megan said, brightening again. “Just lost in memories of last night.” Not a total lie. She was that, too.

Allison set down her fork, her cheeks coloring pink. There was a noticeable pause before she dived in. “I’m not wrong, am I? In thinking that it was…good? Between us.”

Megan popped a bite of waffle into her mouth and smiled at Ally around it. “Mm-hmm. It was.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being real with me right now, which you totally can be because I’m so ridiculously new at all this that I’m confident there’s room for improvement in terms of, ahem, skill level, but I’m highly motivated.”

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