Page 98 of Actually Yours

“Maybe we should move away from the middle of the footpath?” I suggest not moving away from him. Now that he’s mine, I’m not letting him go.

“Come inside for celebratory brownies,” Lilly calls from the doorway, where she and Bella are standing with tears in their eyes.

Jake lets go of me to pick up the cardboard declaration of his love for me and, in a daze, I grab the Bluetooth speaker. Onlynow is the full force of this grand gesture hitting me, and I can’t believe that he did it this way.

“How did you know to useLove, Actuallyto woo me?” I ask as we enter the café to an embarrassing round of applause. We both stop in our tracks and give a little bow before snagging a table in the back, away from the prying eyes of the amused customers.

“Bella and Lilly told me about yourLove, Actuallymoment and may have suggested I could draw inspiration from the movie,” he tells me.

We sit down, Jake pulling my chair closer to him and snuggling his face into my neck.

“Oh, really? So, this wasn’t your idea?”

“The idea, no,” he admits honestly. “But the sentiment and the words on the cards? That was all me.”

I let out a contented sigh and cuddle in closer to him. “Well, I loved it!” I look up into his beautiful green eyes that captivated me from the very first minute I met him. “And I love you.”

He presses a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you too.”

These words reverberate through my mind.He loves me. He loves me. He loves me!

“Why did it take so long for us to do this?” I grumble after he’s pressed yet another kiss on my lips, nibbling them slightly, causing a spray of shivers down my spine.

“We had a few obstacles to work through. Our path to each other has not been easy.”

“Speaking of easy, how did things go with Robby?” I’m dying to know. “Is he OK?”

Jake makes a face. “He will be.”

He sounds so confident and yet I’m not convinced. “He’s the reason it’s taken you a couple of days to do this? To respond to my Christmas card.”

At this, Jake pulls me even closer until I’m almost sitting on his lap. “Reading that Christmas card was the best thing ever tohappen to me. And I wanted to respond, but only when I was free to love you like I’ve always wanted to love you. So, I waited. And I spoke with Robby, and my parents, and then those two”—he points to Lilly and Bella, who are watching us with beaming smiles on their faces—“and once I had all the loose ends tied up, namely making sure that my parents were OK with what this—us—may do to my relationship with Robby, then it was all systems go. I just needed to get you here and in the right place for the grand gesture.”

“And what a grand gesture it was,” I compliment him.

He bows his head, that charming dimple popping in his cheek. “Why, thank you.”

“But,” I start, unable to shake my unsettled feeling, “I don’t want to come between you and Robby.”

Jake sighs and kisses my temple. “That’s not for you to worry about, Millie. Robby is my brother and we’ll sort it out, but there’s no way I’m letting you go just to soothe his ego.”

I argue and he stops me, putting his mouth on mine.Yummy. I hope this is how all our arguments end.

“Robby will be fine,” he repeats after we’ve come up for air. “He just needs to grow up a bit to realise the world doesn’t revolve around him.”

I agree with this and so I let it go. Their relationship is for them to fix. I’m not letting Robby stand in the way of my happily ever after.Not again.

“So, what now?”

“Now?” he smiles at me, a pure smile that fills me with joy. “Now I’m going to ask you if you’ll go out on a date with me?”

My heart thump, thump, thumps in my chest, and I pretend to think about his question. “Hmmm, a date, hey?”

“Yes,” he growls, squeezing my waist with his arm that’s glued to my body.

“I’m not sure…” I trail off, tapping my finger to my mouth.

“Amelia,” he warns.

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