Page 111 of Pipe Dreams
“White dress. Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Tiered cake. They’re all the same, and yet you can just feel how hard everyone labored to try to make it special.”
“I love cynical girls.”
“You must.”
“What’s the solution, then? You don’t want to get married?”
“I’d love to be married to you,” she whispered. “I don’t care about the wedding. There’s always Vegas.”
“God, you’re fun,” he chuckled. “We could do that.”
“We could let Elsa pick the venue. The fake Eiffel Tower, or in a helicopter, or by Elvis.”
He snorted. “The power would go right to her head.”
“I don’t mind. The venue isn’t important to me.”
“Elsa told me in no uncertain terms that we have to get married.”
Lauren lifted her head. “Really? Why?”
His handsome face broke into a smile. “I don’t know her angle, exactly. But I wasn’t going to argue until I spoke to you about it. If you want to elope to Vegas, I’m down with that. Or we could invite our parents.”
“No.” She snuggled against him again. “Let’s just go the three of us. Right before training camp, maybe?”
“The four of us,” he corrected, placing a hand on her belly.
“Aw.” She relaxed against him.
“Seriously, Lo. I can’t wait to make this promise to you and slip a ring on your finger. It means a lot to me.”
Her throat got tight. “It will mean a lot to me, too.”
“I wonder if I’ll be as good at picking out rings as I am at picking out blue dresses? Maybe you should help me. Nobody is more stylish than you.”
“The design isn’t important,” she said quietly.
“Aw, I know you love me, Lo. But if you’re wearing it every day until you die, maybe you should approve of the design?”
“When you put it that way.” She grinned against his warm skin, and he gave her a pat on the rump. “Hey—you won’t believe what my father gave me for a graduation gift.”
“What?”
“A hundred thousand dollar check.”
Mike made a choking noise. “Your father issuchan asshole.”
“Thank you!”She knew she sounded like the worst stubborn brat on the planet right now, but the man was the worst sort of control freak. “If he’d given me the money when I was eighteen, I would have graduated a decade sooner.” Thinking about it almost made her feel twitchy with anger again. Almost. She couldn’t quite muster up the outrage while Mike stroked her skin with patient hands.
“You know...” He cleared his throat. “That vile man did me a favor, though. If it wasn’t for your long tenure in the front office, I might not have found you.”
Now there was a freaky idea. “Yes, you would,” she said quickly. “I would have been the manager’s daughter who hung around at home games, instead of the manager’s daughter who ran the front office.”
“You’re right,” he said sleepily. “That would have been enough.”
The next sound he made was a snore.
THIRTY-ONE
