Page 19 of Make Me Fool You

“Hang on, baby. Let me come get you. I’ll be right back.”

She nods and I jump out, running up to the crowd of laughing friends.

“Hey, you guys are supposed to be inside! She gets a look at you guys and she’s going to know something’s up.”

Muttering and chattering happily, they all move inside and I wince when I see the sign, ‘Congratulations, Brianna and James!’

“Talk about putting the cart before the horse.”

But I head back to the truck and pick Bri up like the most precious thing in the world.

“Took you long enough,” she complains.

“There was a crowd outside and I wanted to make sure that we still have a table.”

“A crowd? On a Tuesday night?”

“You know it’s the most popular place in town.”

“Right. Okay. Well, let’s eat. I’m so hungry,” she moans, which makes my dick jump.

But when I walk in and find the decorations in place and all of our friends waiting, my nerves get the best of me and I can feel a cold chill. What if she says no?

I remove the blindfold and wait for her eyes to clear up. When she sees everyone, they immediately start cheering.

“What on earth?” Her pretty mouth drops open and she stares at me.

I drop to my knee and hold up a black velvet box with a diamond solitaire heart on a platinum band. “Princess, I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. Waiting for that right moment. I don’t know if this is it, but I can’t wait anymore.”

Tears fill her whiskey eyes and drip down her golden cheeks.

“Baby, I have loved you for so long, it’s almost as natural to me as breathing now. I can’t picture my life without you in it. You’re the first thing I think of in the morning when I open my eyes and you’re the last thing that I think of when I close my eyes and drift off to sleep at night. I’m sure that on my deathbed, many years from now, the last thing I’ll think of before I leave this earthly plain will be my beautiful bride.”

Her hands cover her mouth and I can see the smile in her glittering eyes. “Baby girl, there’s only one thing that will make my life more complete than it is now…and that’s marrying you. I want the whole wide world to know that you’re mine.”

“And you’re mine,” she laughs.

“Right. That goes without saying, baby girl. So now I have to ask you, will you marry me, princess? Will you be mine for all time?”

“Only if you say the same.”

“I do.”

“Then I do too,” she whimpers.

The room erupts in applause and cat calls as I slip the ring on her finger. People rush up to congratulate us and waiters start distributing champagne to toast.

The next to last person to come up is her mother. Bri stiffness and I see her lush mouth twist slightly.

“Mother,” she says, her voice giving away nothing.

“Brianna.” Her mother nods to me and I smile, holding onto Bri’s waist.

“It’s nice to see you, Monica. Glad you could make it.”

“It’s an important occasion. I needed to see my baby get the man of her dreams.”

Bri nods and air kisses her mother’s cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

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