Page 65 of Finding Us

“I like it. It’s just not my favorite.”

“It’s happy week, remember? You get your favorite.”

I cover his phone with my hand. “But makingyouhappy makesmehappy. It’s one of those annoying things that happen when you’re in love.”

He takes my hand off his phone and kisses it. “Which is why I always get you sausage pizza.”

“Well, it’s my turn to makeyouhappy.” I take his phone and call the pizza place.

“Jade, what you are doing?”

I ignore him and when the pizza place answers, I order a large pepperoni.

When I’m done, he pulls me into him and gives me a kiss. “I would’ve been fine with sausage. But thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I bite my bottom lip and look up at him as I wrap my arms around his middle. “Now will you do something that makesmehappy?”

He gives me his sexy smile. “Right now? The pizza guy will be here in 10 minutes. Maybe even sooner than that. You know how fast that place is.”

I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t talking about sex.”

“Then what were you talking about?”

“Can we watch the crime-fighting dog movie while we eat dinner?”

He tilts his head toward the ceiling, then back down again as he sighs. “Seriously? Haven’t we watched that thing enough?”

“It’s what we watched when we first met and now that we’re getting married, I want to relive all that stuff we did when we were just friends.”

“So you’re getting all sentimental on me now? That’s so unlike you, Jade.”

“It’s unlike theoldJade. Not thenewJade. I want to remember all the stuff we did when we were just getting to know each other. Remember when I found that dog movie in your box and you chased me around the room trying to get it?” I smile. “And then trapped me up against the wall?”

Garret holds me closer, gazing into my eyes. “Yeah. I remember.”

“I wanted to kiss you so damn bad that night. I thought for sure you’d kiss me when you had me trapped like that. I swear I couldn’t breathe I was so nervous.”

He raises his brows. “You were nervous about me kissing you? Why? You just said you wanted me to.”

“Yeah, but you’re really hot. I’d never kissed a guy as hot as you. I was sure you had a ton of experience and I didn’t have much at all, so I thought you’d think I was a bad kisser. That’s why I acted like I didn’t want to. But then later you sat next to me on your bean bag chair and all I could think about was kissing you. I just wanted you to kiss me. And then you didn’t.”

He laughs. “I swear, Jade, if you’d just asked for what you wanted, this relationship would’ve moved a hell of a lot faster.”

“I didn’t want it to move faster.” I pause, thinking back to last year. “Well, I guess that night I did, but now I’m glad it didn’t. I’m glad we were friends first. Did you want things to move faster?”

“I did at first. You were hot as hell. I couldn’t take my eyes off you so yeah, I wanted to move things along. But when I finally kissed you—”

“I know. I freaked out. But that day in the pool? Before I broke down? It was great. I’d never felt like that before. I felt safe with you. I didn’t even know you that well but I still felt safe with you. And that kiss was amazing. Everything about that moment was amazing until I screwed everything up.”

“You didn’t screw anything up. It all worked out in the end.”

I reach up and kiss him. “Your kisses are still amazing. I’ll never get tired of kissing you.”

“Are you just saying that to get me to watch that talking dog movie?”

“No!” I playfully punch him. “See? I try to give you a compliment and you don’t even accept it. This is why I never give you compliments.”

He smiles. “I’ve got an idea.” He picks me up and sets me on the kitchen counter, standing between my legs, his hands planted on each side of me. “We’ll watch the talking dog movie but we’re going to relive that night when we first watched it.” He leans closer, his eyes on mine. “I’m going to chase you around the room trying to get that damn movie and I’m going to back you up against the wall, just like I did that night. But this time. . .” He pauses and we’re so close we’re breathing each other’s air. “This time, I’m going to kiss you. And I’m going to keep kissing you until you tell me to stop. And if you don’t tell me to stop, we’ll keep going and see where that leads.”

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