Page 81 of A Royal Promise
Drew gritted his teeth to keep his jaw from dropping again. “Let me get this straight… Youtrickedme into proposing to my best friend?”
Her cheeks tinged with pink, and she didn’t meet his gaze. “I wouldn’t choose the wordtricked.”
“What word would you pick, then?”
“How aboutnudged? Orencouraged.”
“By telling me you thought I should marry the most conceited woman I’ve ever met?”
She shrugged and smiled innocently at him. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Maybe it would have if Bri had felt the same way I did when I asked her to marry me.” He ate a sausage link before adding, “Maybe then she wouldn’t have suggested we fake the whole thing.”
“Fake the whole thing?” His mother blanched. “You mean you’re not actually engaged?”
Drew shook his head. “Not according to her, we aren’t.”
“But according to you?”
He set his fork down beside his plate. “Nothing has ever been more real for me.”
“Then you must fight for her,” his mother declared.
“How?” Drew dropped his gaze to the half-eaten food on his plate.
“All most women want is to be seen for who they are and loved despite their faults. You have to show her you see her. Tell her everything you love about her. Lay all your cards on the tableand see if she feels the same way. And Drew, I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I can’t imagine she would turn you away.”
He sighed. “What if I’ve already done that? What if I’ve already told her how much I love her, and all she did was ask for time?”
She reached across the table and took his hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze. “Then all we can do is hope she realizes her heart is in the same place as yours.”
Drew didn’t know if he wanted to hear an answer to the question plaguing his mind, but he asked it anyway. “And if it’s not?”
His mother spoke with a gentle determination. “Then you either find a way to move on or do everything in your power to fight for the woman you love.”
He couldn’t lose Bri. If it wasn’t her, there wasn’t anyone for him. She was his person, his shining star, hiseverything. And he was going to fight for her, no matter how long it took.
Drew paced his bedroom, glancing at the clock on the wall every few seconds, as if time would magically start moving faster. Thankfully, only a few minutes remained until he would meet Bri in the observatory. He wasn’t sure he had the patience to wait much longer. Even just one day without seeing her—without talking to her—was pure agony.
It had taken every bit of willpower not to text her a space fact today. Come to think of it, he couldn’t recall another time in all these years when he hadn’t sent her a message in the morning. If today ended the way he hoped, he wouldn’t have to text her at the start of every day. He could merely tell her at breakfast or roll over in bed to deliver his daily fact.
When another look at the clock revealed it was finally time to meet with Bri, Drew flung open his bedroom door and walked with hurried steps to the observatory. He stepped into the room and released a long sigh the moment he saw Bri.
Without a second thought, he crossed the room, pulling her into his arms. “I missed you.”
She responded by tugging him even closer, her arms crushing them together in a tight embrace.
“Did you know that space is completely silent?” he whispered into her ear.
“I didn’t.” Bri pulled back, taking his hands in hers and looking up at him. “Today felt the same way without you.”
Drew smirked. “Are you saying I’m loud?”
“I’m saying the silence feels lonely without you.”
His smirk fell as he took in her words, the gravity of them filling his heart with a swell of hope. “What are you saying, Bri? I need you to spell it out for me.”
She placed her hand on his cheek, a soft smile covering her lips. “I looked back through pictures of us. Ones from when we were kids until now, and I saw everything. I saw how unaware I was of your attention. I saw the way you always noticed me and cared for me. I saw the way love was written all over your face when you looked at me.” Bri dropped her hand and ran it through her ponytail. “I realized I’ve been so focused on what I thought I wanted in life for so long that I was blind to what has been right in front of me all along.”
