Page 98 of Make You Love Me
“Where will you hang it?”
“Good question. Maybe you can help me decide when we get home.”
His hand slaps to his chest in dramatic excitement. “I’d love to.”
“And I’d love to thank you properly.”
He lowers his voice, pointing me away from witnesses. “I saw an empty meeting room at the back of the showroom on my way to buy the painting.”
“Perfect. I’ll race ya.”
???
“You have a little lipstick right there.” I wipe the side of his lips with a thumb as we hastily get dressed.
“I’ll gladly wear lipstick the rest of the night if it means doing that again.”
“We can recreate the moment in my apartment when we get back if you’d like.”
“Andmyapartment. And my parents’ house after I renovate it.”
“Sold.” For once, the long-term nature of that promise didn’t frighten me. If anything, it gave me an indescribable energy. One I can only interpret to be a rare commodity in my twenty-seven years on this planet—hope.
I help him button his shirt while he tucks in the bottom since my dress took all of three seconds to slip back into place.
He kisses my forehead on the last button and says, “Where’s my tie?”
“Good question.” I drop to the floor to search for the dark, silky fabric on the dark floor in the near dark room when the door opens.
A museum employee shrieks at the sight of us, shocked and appalled, while I’m grateful she let in some light to help me locate the tie. I snatch it up and jump to my feet.
“Hi,” I greet, heat rising up my neck and into my cheeks. “We were looking for…yeah…we’re done here.” Jordan lowers into the chair, and I roll him out the door and into the showroom.
“That was amazing,” he says, waving me down for a kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He slides the tie into his coat pocket with a smile that could melt my panties…if I were wearing any.
“There you two are,” Josie says, bounding up to us as best she can in her restrictive dress. “I’ve been looking everywhere for—what happened to you?”
“What?” Jordan and I follow her gaze to his shirt. His buttons are one off, making the collar crooked. His hair looks like someone ran their fingers through it—that was definitely me—and a thin layer of sweat shimmers on his upper lip. He looks absolutely adorable and guilty as hell.
Josie turns to me, and I can only grin. “You guys are unbelievable.”
“Thanks,” Jordan says, making a chuckle spurt out between my pursed lips. “Did you need something?” he asks, slipping the tie around his neck to hide the error we made with his buttons.
“I’m sold out!”
“Josie, that’s amazing. I mean, I knew you would, but…” He pushes awkwardly to his feet to give his sister an adequate hug. “I’m so happy for you.”
“The white country house was the last one to go and someone paid double for it.”
“What?” I jump into the conversation, and Jordan looks over his shoulder with don’t-tell-her eyes.
“Yeah. There was a bidding war for it,” Josie continues, oblivious to our silent conversation.
“That’s crazy.”
