Rumor Going 'Round (Lyrics and Love #3) - Lind, Samantha Page 0,68
ring is still where I placed it while she was getting ready and not paying attention to me.
“I know I told you we were only meeting Lee and Allison here, but that might not have been the full truth,” Lindsay says, wringing her hands in her lap as I park my truck in the parking lot for Joe’s Bar.
“Is that so?” I ask, quirking an eyebrow at her and doing my best to hold back my laughter.
“There might be a few others here, as well.” She shrugs, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Well, then let's get inside and see who’s here to cut loose tonight.”
We walk into the bar, hand in hand, and immediately find our group of friends. It isn’t hard to spot them, since stretched above the tables they’re at is a big “Happy Birthday” banner, along with some streamers and balloons.
“Surprise!” everyone calls out as we reach the tables. I don’t hold in my laughter, but not because they actually surprised me, but because of how many of them are actually in on my surprise for tonight, and not Lindsay’s.
She turns to face me, her eyes bouncing between the group of guys from my truck at work, and me. “They told you about tonight, didn’t they?” she finally asks, the humor evident in her question. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that she’s mad that the surprise wasn’t, in fact, a surprise.
“Sorry, Linds,” Lee calls out. “He kind of figured it out when he overheard one of the guys talking about it in the locker room after shift, earlier this week.”
“And you just played along with my secrecy?” I asked.
“Pretty much. I knew that you wanted to surprise me, and I didn’t want to take that away from you.”
Lindsay blows out a big breath, the force of it causing her hair to move slightly. “I can’t get anything passed you,” she harrumphs only to start laughing. “Happy Birthday, Tuck. I love you,” she says as I pull her into my arms.
“I love you, too, and thank you. It’s the thought that counts. Now, let's get you out on that dance floor. I want to hold you close,” I tell her, nipping at her lips before I take them in a kiss that gets our friends hooting behind us. I flip them the bird over her shoulder, not caring one bit that they’re just egging us on.
I lead Lindsay out onto the dance floor just as “Rumor” by Lee Brice comes on. I pull her in close, listening to the words, and it's almost scary how much this song could be our story. How we kind of made things official right here on this exact dance floor. It’s the reason I picked here to propose tonight. I thought circling back to where we made it all official was a romantic gesture, and my birthday makes her saying yes, the ultimate present she could give me.
“Come back to the table, birthday boy! It’s time for some shots!” Lee calls out once the current song ends. We’ve danced to a handful of them already, and I’m ready for a drink or two.
“To this fucker, happy birthday, man,” Lee calls out, holding up a shot glass. We all follow suit, clinking glasses before everyone slams their shot back and then onto the table. I lick the salt off my hand and quickly bite into the lime wedge to help with the burn from the tequila.
“Do you want something from the bar?” I lean down so I can speak right into Lindsay’s ear, so she hears me over the noise filling the bar. It’s a usual busy Saturday night, so the place is packed with more than just our rowdy group.
“I’ll take a beer and a glass of water,” she says.
“Be right back,” I tell her, dropping a kiss to her lips before I step away and go grab our drinks. I need a little liquid courage in me to drop to one knee and ask her my ultimate question. I went a month or so ago and had lunch with her parents when she was at work. She doesn’t know anything about that lunch, but it was important for me to get permission. They gave me their blessing without a second thought. Next was my daughter. I had to wait a little longer to talk to her about it, as I didn’t want her spilling the beans before I could ask. When I spoke to her last weekend, she was over the moon