16. Hadley
Six weeks later…
Iglance around at the elaborate picnic overlooking the ocean. The breeze is light, much better than the winds we had back in June when Hurricane Aiden hit Love Beach. The sky is blue, not a cloud in sight and while the sun has been out all day, it’s not too hot to be eating brunch outdoors.
I can’t help but grin when I see the little vase with a single flower placed between two plates as though the blanket under them is a tablecloth in a fancy restaurant.
“Are you wooing me, Quade?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Laughter bubbles up. “You so do.” I bump my hip against him. “You’ve been doing it for weeks.”
“Doing what?”
He’s trying to look innocent, like he’s clueless, but we both know I’m right. “Whatever you’re not doing, you should keep not doing it.”
“Oh? You like what I’m not doing?”
“Yes. I love it.” I don’t mean to use the L word but I can’t lie, I won’t lie, and I really do love the way he’s treated me since the night we gave in to our chemistry. Was that only six weeks ago?
From our first night together, Quade has done his best to make me fall for him, little things like making sure my coffee is the way I like it, big things like letting me pick his brain about going against the ‘family plan’ and having the career he wanted.
Shame it’s all been a wasted effort. I think I fell the first day we spent together. Possibly at first sight and I’ve never been a believer of love at first sight.
But there Quade was, right in front of me.
And he’s still right in front of me.
How is it possible he’s everything I ever wanted when I had no clue what life would look like after college?
Speaking of after college, I still don’t have a job or even an idea of what kind of job I want. I’m halfway through my three-month ‘escape’ and still don’t know what I should do. And if Quade is serious about his efforts to make me fall for him, I need to make some decisions. Big ones.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Ah,” he glances around us. Checking no one can overhear which makes me smile because we’re the only ones on the lookout he brought me to on our first night in Love Beach. “I don’t have a plan. Not anymore.”
“Oh.” He seems unsure of himself. In my experience it’s something he rarely is. “Did you have one?”
“In the beginning. Back in May.”
“May? Before I came here?”
Nodding he looks down at me with a gaze so open it stops my heart. “Yes. To get my family off my back, I advertised for a woman to be my fake date for the summer.”
“That was your plan?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to it?”
“I got more than I bargained for. Instead of getting a woman capable of selling us as a couple for the summer I got a woman who couldn’t do it.”
“She couldn’t?”
“No. She was overqualified.”
“Overqualified?”
“Yes. No one can sell something that sells itself.”
“Sells itself…” My eyebrows lower as a frown pulls at my mouth. “I don’t under?—”
Quade cuts off my words with his mouth. I’m instantly up on my toes, my arms around his neck to pull him down, to fit our mouths together better.
Like every other kiss we’ve had, desire and need blaze to life under my skin, deep in my bones. This man is incapable of giving a simple kiss. Incapable of doing anything but sending me up in flames with every touch.
“Get a room, you two!”
The shout surprises us both and our lips part but we don’t untangle ourselves. Gaze locked on mine, Quade takes a moment to study me before saying, “We are a couple. No selling necessary. It’s fact, not fake.”
My brain is slow to clear the lust fog our kiss delivered, and in the corner of my eye I see movement but I can’t take my gaze off Quade. “Not fake.”
“No, and it’s not just for the summer either.”
“I…” He wants to continue our arrangement after August? “Okay.”
“It’s forever, Hadley.” Before I can pull in a breath, Quade lets me go and drops to one knee.
“What the hell, Quade?” I can’t take my eyes off his. The emotions swirling there mirror everything spiraling inside me.
“Hadley Calla Knowles, I know this might seem fast, like I’m rushing, but I can’t remember my life without you in it, can’t imagine my life without you. I don’t want to imagine it. Certainly don’t want to live it. Don’t make me. Please, take me and this ring and spend the rest of our lives building on what these last few weeks have started.”
“Quade. We barely…” My thoughts won’t pull together. “You can’t… You don’t?—”
“I do. I want to be with you. More than I want anything else. More than I’ve ever wanted anything else.”
“I want to say yes.” I cup his face with one hand. “With all of me I want to but we?—”
“Then say it. Take the ring, put it on. We don’t have to get married right away, we can wait as long as you want, but I need you to wear my ring while we wait. While you make sure this is what you want, because I’m not going to change my mind. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
God. I want to say yes. I want what he’s offering, what we’ve had since the day he picked me up at the airport. The connection we share is more than sex. Sure, we’ve got chemistry there, explosive chemistry, but we have a friendship that seems both old and new.
I’ve never clicked with another person the way I do Quade. Not even Laney and she’s the best friend I’ve ever had. The only thing stopping me is how long we’ve known each other and the disappointment I’m going to be to my dad when I tell him I don’t want to run the agency.
The thought of going back home, of being in those offices, dealing with all those shallow…I can’t. It’s not what I want. Has never been what I want.
And what I do want is right in front of me. Quade, on his knees with a ring in his hand asking me to trust him with my future—our future.
“Yes. Okay, yes. Let’s do this.” The ring is on my finger before I finish speaking and I barely get a second to admire it before he pushes to his feet and scoops me up. Lifts me off the ground and spins around.
“I promise you won’t regret saying yes.” He crushes my mouth with his and it isn’t until a loud whistle pierces my eardrums that I pull back and look around.
Easton and Laney are clapping and cheering, big grins on their faces. “When…?”
“Quade asked us to help set this up.” Laney motions to the picnic. “Although he wasn’t supposed to ask you until after dessert.”
“I couldn’t wait.” Quade lowers me to my feet. “Didn’t want to wait.”
“I…” I shake my head. “I’m speechless. You had this planned out? For how long?”
“A day.” He grins sheepishly. “I knew I wanted to ask you and once I started planning…” He shrugs.
“He couldn’t wait.” Laney and Easton say together.
“When you know, you know; why waste time?”
“We’ll leave you to enjoy your brunch.” Laney steps forward and holds out a phone. “I recorded it all but I think we should edit out the middle part.”
“No.” Quade takes the phone and puts it in his pocket. “I want the whole thing. I don’t want to cut pieces of our story out.”
“You better not show anyone then.” Laney laughs. “Mum will have a fit if she knows you paid a woman to fake date you.”
Quade smiles down at me. “I think she’ll forgive me when I tell her she’s getting a daughter-in-law.”
“Dammit. You’re right.” Laney sighs. “How is it you always manage to get in her good books even when you fuck up?”
“It’s a skill.”
“It’s something.” Laney turns to head down the path toward the house. “C’mon, East. Let’s leave them to it.”
Easton claps Quade on the back. “Congrats.” The twinkle in his eye tells me he’s about to say something Quade will object to. “Oh, and you’ve got an hour to eat and get to the house to announce your engagement before we spill the beans.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Then don’t keep us waiting.” Laney waves a hand in the air. “I need a distraction so no one notices when I leave this afternoon.”
“Wait. What do you mean you’re leaving?” Quade takes a step but Laney is already disappearing between the trees.
“She’s going to New York. Remember? She told us about it in Charleston.” I slip my hand in his and tug him back. “The quicker we eat this lovely brunch you set up, the quicker we can get to the house and find out what’s going on.”
Quade looks at me, a smirk curling one side of his mouth. “See. We’re already making this partnership work.”
“Was there any doubt?”
“No. Not on my side.”
“Not on mine either. Not when I pushed all the stuff that isn’t as important as this aside.”
Turning to face me, he cradles my jaw and tips my head back so he can lower his forehead to mine. “Nothing in this world is more important than you.”