Page 73 of Yours, Forever

I took a slow, deliberate breath. "And what you saw in me that told you, yes, I'll marry him."

"Aside from the cheques you promised? Making sure my community gets the help they need, and having my dream granted to me?" she teased.

I shook my head at her, and allowed myself a small roll of my eyes. "I'd like to think there was something besides the money, but I guess you wouldn't have known after only a couple of hours."

Which is why what I had written on that napkin didn't make sense. Except I looked at her now, and palpitations fluttered in my chest.

She gazed back at me with open, friendly eyes. Unaware of the knowledge seizing my heart.

A relaxed smile took over her lips. "There had to be more than the promise of money. I had a plan; I was going to make this town amazing again. I could have walked away and followed those plans, but I didn't."

The video continued playing, but neither of us watched it.

I let my eyes roam over her face. "When I came to find you, you said yes because of the money."

"Yeah, but that night? That can't have been the only thing."

We both looked at the screen again, carefully watching for signs.

"Could have been the alcohol," I said.

Drinks could have helped me overcome my scruples; they could have also shown me signs between us that weren't there.

On the screen, we shared the same space, chatting close, comfortable. No signs of being drunk—at all. In the video, I said something and she smiled, the way I always wanted her to smile at me.

"We don't look out of our minds," Eva added next to me. "Like fancy men in a club, discussing business over Scotch."

"With a cigar and complete disregard for climate change or fair distribution of wealth."

She laughed. "Unfortunately, I can see the image a little too clearly. Industrial Revolution in the making. Look—you're reaching for a napkin."

We watched ourselves start on what would result in our prenup. Butterflies overtook my belly.

Past Eva leaned toward Past Me and said something, before she left the frame. Past Max grabbed another napkin, wrote something quick on it, and put it in his pocket.

"What was that?" Eva asked. "Not me leaving— could be me going to the washroom or whatever."

"It was the time you could have left to never come back, too. But you're here… and we're married. You came back."

"No, the second napkin."

I gulped. "My lawyers are asking, too."

She searched my eyes. I let her, scared she'd ask more.

"They don't know either?"

I shook my head, unable to use my voice at the moment. If I spoke, my mouth could run away from me again, and I had learned my lesson. I wasn't ready to tell her about the second napkin.

Even then, I knew I could love you. Imagine her response tothat.

Saying something might have been a bad idea, but it didn't mean I couldn't touch her. I lifted a finger and ran it down her cheek. In my mind, I could pretend those were my lips.

I made a pass over her mouth with the back of a nail, then my thumb. My eyes were locked on her lips, and the way they opened under my touch. A soft gust of air tickled the skin of my thumb.

If I could, I would push my finger into the wet of her mouth, and ask her to suck it the way she'd suck my cock.

I took my hand away and fisted my hand in my lap. Blood had rushed to the needy organ there and, in my robe, it would show within a few seconds.