helluva lot more woman than you are anything else.”
Kelsey narrows her eyes, even as her skin pinkens a little. “You want to do it, don’t you? The Storm Hunters romance and wedding. This whole fame thing has gone completely to your head.”
“The only thing that’s ever gone to my head,” Archer says, pushing his chair back with a scrape, “is you, storm girl.”
He winks at her and tosses a few bills onto the table before heading downstairs.
Silence falls over the Castle Room. Allie and I exchange worried looks.
“Did you two get all that?” Kelsey asks dryly.
She turns toward us. Allie quickly starts wiping down the pristine tables, and I quickly start straightening the perfectly aligned chairs.
“What?” I ask Kelsey innocently. “I only heard something about you needing to get your chick on.”
Allie approaches the table and picks up Kelsey’s uneaten piece of cake.
“Were you serious when you said you and Archer would never get married?” she asks, digging a fork into the cake. “If so, why the heck not?”
“Because it’s so good the way it is,” Kelsey replies. “Why change anything? Archer and I choose to stay together. If we got married, we’d have to, right? And I don’t like anyone or anything telling me what I have to do. Certainly not the Storm Hunters producers.”
“So what if Archer gets tired of waiting for you?” Allie asks around a mouthful of cake. “Wow, Liv, this is really good.”
“He’s not waiting for me,” Kelsey says. “We’re already together, and we both know this is how it’s going to stay forever.”
“That’s not what it sounded like to me,” Allie remarks. “I mean, with all this business about science and magic, it sounds like he’s ready to bring on the marriage challenge again. And you know I love you, Kelsey, but lord in heaven, if you keep turning him down, those fangirls are going to be all over him like ants on a sugar bowl.”
She heads for the stairs, still polishing off the last of the cake. I go to Kelsey’s table and start loading the plates onto a tray.
I have a sudden image of Dean from years ago as he and I stood at the counter in an antique store—his sudden nervous expression, the way his hand shook as he extended his credit card to pay for the cameo ring I’d been admiring, his stammered, “An engagement ring. I mean, if we…I…want to…you know. Get married.”
Marriage to Dean West. I didn’t think my heart could contain the riotous flood of love and happiness that followed his endearingly shaky proposal. There was no doubt in my mind, no question, no hesitation.
Okay, so there was a bit of confusion before I was sure he was actually asking me to marry him, but then he was hauling me into his arms and kissing me with such hot possession that everything else faded under the bright, glowing yes, yes, yes.
A cup clatters against the saucer as I put it on the tray. My hands are trembling. Kelsey stands, her eyebrows drawing together.
“Hey, you okay?” she asks.
“I’m fine.” I turn away to carry the tray to the wait station. “Are we still on for Friday night?”
“Sure.” Kelsey seems to hesitate for a second before she picks up her purse. “Thanks for everything, Liv.”
“No problem.” I put the dishes into the bin. “Let me know how it turns out.”
Her heels click on the stairs as she leaves. I watch through the window as she crosses the street to where Archer is sitting on his bike, holding his helmet and clearly waiting for her.
Kelsey stops in front of him, putting her hands on her hips as she says something to him. He grins, reaching out to cup his palm around the back of her neck. He pulls her toward him for a quick, hot kiss that has Kelsey curling her fingers into the sleeves of his leather jacket.
When they part, I can almost see the heat shimmering between them. Archer runs his hand over her hair before she steps onto the sidewalk. He starts his bike and pushes away from the curb, heading off down the street.
I turn away from the window, hoping with everything in me they’ll get married one day. Whether science, magic, or some combination of both, what Kelsey and Archer have is too rare and precious not to secure with vows.
An ache of longing winds through my heart.
“Dean, I love you… And I would love to be your wife.”
As I flew, spinning, into his kiss,