anyone. I thought I was always saying the wrong things when it came to important matters, like my future. But really I was saying the right things, things that would end the relationship—because in my heart I knew I couldn’t have a future with any of those women. I wanted what all my friends have: the marriage, kids, minivans, but none of those women were right for me.” My chest tightens, an invisible fist squeezing my heart as he continues with, “All this time the right woman was right under my nose.” I blink through the tears, as he continues with, “Cole once told me love was going to happen when I least expected it.”
“Love?” Oh God, is he saying what I think he’s saying? My knees wobble, and my breath comes faster as he sinks to his knees in front of me.
“Yes, love. I love you, Kinsley. I love you so goddamn much and I’m fucking terrified that I ruined things between us. You were never a bet. Not to me. You were never just tacos and sex, either. You were and are everything to me. I’d move mountains for you.”
“You love me,” I say almost to myself.
A tortured groan catches in his throat. “Yes, Kinsley. I love you with everything in me.”
I lift my head, and look at the gorgeous space. “You did this to—”
“To show you how much I love you. I mean, I didn’t move a mountain—”
This time I press my finger to his lips. “But you did this in two weeks and that was probably harder than moving a mountain.”
He kisses my finger and takes my hand in his. “I’ve been miserable without you. I can’t eat or sleep, or even think, and the bet, Kins, it was wrong. Cole was pushing it on me, and I never knew why, but that’s not on him. I took the bet, but helping you was never about winning his car. I promise you that.”
“I don’t understand. Why was he pushing it?”
“It was some fucked up way to keep us together. Nina was in on it, too. They both knew how good we were together, and Cole was willing to lose his car to stop me from running after two weeks. He thought it was good incentive to keep us together, until I woke the fuck up, and realized you were the only girl for me.”
I nod, my heart racing from shock and excitement.
I’m the only girl for him.
“I didn’t need the incentive, Kins,” he says and puts one palm on my cheek. “Marrying you was never a mistake. Nothing we did was a mistake.”
“You…you thought you were sleeping with Emily.”
He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. I admit, I did go to her room, but the second you spoke to me in bed, I instantly knew it was you.”
My pulse does a cartwheel in my neck. “You did?”
“Damn right, I did. I was going to bail at first, because I was in the right bed with the wrong girl, and I didn’t want sex to come between us. But the second you pulled me to you, I instantly realized I was in the wrong bed, but with the right girl.”
My mind races back to that glorious night. “I thought I was dreaming,” I say softly and because he’s being so open and honest, I decide it’s time for me to do the same. “I thought that because I dream about you, Cason. Fantasized, too.”
He brushes my hair from my face, as his shoulders relax slightly. “I want to be with you Kinsley. I want to make all your dreams a reality.”
“Cason,” I say, and look around again. “This is too much. I just…can’t accept all this.”
“How is it too much?” he asks with a frown. “You’re my wife, and a man is allowed to do whatever he wants for his wife, isn’t he?”
I go quiet, and he doesn’t even seem to be breathing as his eyes search my face, looking for answers.
“I made a mistake, Cason.”
His body tenses, the hurt registering in his eyes bringing tears to my own. I touch his face, the bristles on his cheek rough on my palm. “I made a mistake when I said you were like Evan. You’re nothing like him.”
He lets out a fast breath that he must have been holding. “You were upset. I get it. But you are my wife. I don’t care that it was a cheesy, Vegas Elvis wedding. You are my wife.”
“Cason.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re saying all the