Page 214 of Love Arranged
About two years later
“As much as I’d love to keep watching you work, we do have a plane to catch tonight.” Lorenzo’s voice startles me.
I drop the tweezer tool I use to arrange flower petals and whirl around to find Lorenzo leaning against the wall, looking comfortable in my workshop despite the chaos surrounding him.
He quit offering to help me organize the space a few months back once he realized I thrive in calm chaos—a term he didn’t utilize until we finally moved in together.
I stand and stretch my aching back muscles. “How long have you been standing there?”
The telling grin on his face speaks volumes.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on installing that fancy security system,” I taunt. “Seems like I have a stalker problem.”
“More like you have ahusbandproblem,amore mio.” His sparkling gaze flickers to the diamond wedding band he added to my finger seven months ago.
I toss my work apron across the stool I ditched an hour ago in favor of working on my feet. “What time is it?”
“Four.”
I gasp. “We gotta go!”
I’m a frazzled mess as I dart around the workshop, searching for my phone. Lorenzo lunges forward and catches me when I trip over a box of supplies that I accidently left in the middle of a walkway.
“You’re a walking, talking safety hazard,” he says before searching for my phone. I’m strongly encouraged—okay,forced—to sit on a stool and watch him find the device in less than a minute.
“Show off.” I rise from the seat. “Now, time to find my keys.”
His eyes close with his long exhale.
“Kidding! They’re in my purse.” I pat the leather shoulder bag pressing into my side.
“You go ahead. I’m going to help clean up a bit before locking up.”
“Are you sure?”
He checks his watch. “We have an hour before we need to leave for the airport and you’re still not finished packing, so yes. Nowgetgoing.”
“You’re the best!” I hit him with a quick kiss on the cheek, and he returns my affectionate peck by sliding his hands into the back pockets of my jeans and tugging me into his body.
He crushes his lips to mine and kisses me until I forget all about what I originally set out to do.
“See you soon, wife,” he says with a rasp while pulling his hands away.
An excited tingle spreads down my spine.
“Now, Lily.” He gives my ass a light swat, and I take off for the exit because as much as I want to stick around, I need to get packing.
We have a plane to catch and a honeymoon to start, and commercial flights wait for no one.
“Welcome to Amsterdam,” the flight attendant says both in English and Dutch.
“We finally made it!” I let out an excited squeal as Lorenzo and I exit the aircraft and head toward baggage claim.
He wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me in for a kiss. “Excited?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been dreaming of this day since I did an entire presentation on Holland.”
Despite Lorenzo’s offer to book a year ago, I wanted to hold off on visiting Europe until our honeymoon. Between him becoming mayor, me focusing on the Pressed Petal, and us planning a three-hundred-person wedding, we couldn’t take a two-week vacation. Plus I wanted to finish building ourdream cottage, which Dahlia and Julian helped us build from the ground up.
