Chapter 2
Will Sinclair wondered if he’d done something wrong. He couldn’t tell if Paige was happy or upset about his surprise.
What if she hated it? Too late, he remembered she’d previously mentioned how much she didn’t like surprises.
Damn it.
Another attempt at spontaneity had blown up in his face. The whipped topping debacle from a few months ago was a little too fresh in his memory. Who knew he and Paige would’ve ended up in the emergency room with prickly hives all over their…well, their parts. Now every time he saw Doc Parker, the man gave him a creepy brow waggle. That was the last time he bought off-brand whipped cream.
Paige had been sad last week when they’d met with the wedding planner. She’d shared that she wouldn’t have family attending, so it seemed well-timed when her father called him. Maybe he should’ve talked to her about it before he agreed to have her folks come, but who didn’t want their people at their wedding?
Someone embarrassed by her fiancé? Was that why she was acting so strange?
The anxiety that dogged him day and night reared its ugly head again. He loved Paige to distraction, and she loved him, he knew that. But the fear he was too boring for this brilliant, vivacious, exciting woman constantly worried him. How long would it take her to realize he wasn’t enough?
As the oldest and most responsible child of a state senator and his socialite wife, Will had never been allowed to cut loose. It served him well as the District Attorney of Blister County, but he’d been accused of being unimaginative more than once in his life. And that shit stayed with a guy.
They side-stepped a waiter, and Will pulled Paige into an alcove just before they made it to her parents. He swallowed her gasp with a deep, drugging kiss. Her midnight waves slipped through his fingers as he framed her face with his hands. He kissed her closed lids and the corners of her mouth. “I love you.”
Her dark obsidian eyes filled with tears, and her arms tightened around his neck. When her full bottom lip trembled, a rock dropped in his stomach. Was she having second thoughts? “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I just – I respect you so much.” The sincerity in her gaze eased the tension in his shoulders some.
Warm cinnamon from her skin engulfed them when she rested her cheek on his chest. She slid her hand under his jacket and gripped his back. “Can we get out of here, Will? Let’s run away and elope.”
“As tempting as that sounds, my mom and sisters would kill both of us. Besides, your family’s here and doubtless anxious to see you. Is the party too much for you? I told Mother to keep it simple, but you know her.”
“No. It’s lovely. I’ve loved every bit of help they’ve offered.” She untangled herself from his embrace and squeezed his fingers. “You’re right. My family is probably wondering where I am.” She raised their clasped hands and kissed the back of his. “Never forget how much I love you.”
He set his forehead on hers. “Never.”
She nodded and they stepped back into the festivities, where a hundred people celebrated their love.
He couldn’t wait to join them, and he would just as soon as he shook the feeling that something bad was about to happen.