Changing Everything (Forgiving Lies #2.5)(48)

She shook her head quickly, and admitted, “I’m still afraid that I’m going to wake up tomorrow, and I’ll be in my bedroom worrying that you’ll have a girl in your bed when I come over for our Sunday morning, and all of this will have been a dream.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I promised her. “I’m going to make sure you wake up every morning for the rest of your life knowing exactly how much I love you.” With a reluctant nod, I said, “If you really want to, we can wait another month to get married.”

Paisley laughed softly and tugged at my hair. “A year.”

“Fuck no.”

“Language,” she chastised. “A year,” she repeated.

“And if I got down on one knee right now and asked you to marry me?”

“I would set the date for a year from now.”

I groaned and dropped my head on her stomach. “When I thought about this conversation, it went a lot differently in my head.”

“Oh yeah?” she asked teasingly.

“I thought you were going to have me drive us to Vegas today,” I admitted against her skin, but still didn’t look up at her.

Paisley was quiet for a couple minutes. She just continued to run her fingers through my hair, and just when I looked up to see her expression, she said, “People just wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t know our story even if they know us, and they just wouldn’t get it. I’m pretty sure Kristen and Jason wouldn’t even agree with us doing everything so soon.”

“Who cares about anyone else? I don’t give a f*ck what other people would think. I care about what you think, and what I want with you.”

“But they would all give us their opinions. They would constantly be telling us how stupid we were, and they probably wouldn’t show up to our wedding.”

My face fell. “You don’t even want a big wedding, Pay. And again, who cares about anyone else?”

Her eyes widened and her hands stopped moving. “How do you know I don’t want a big wedding?”

“Because you’ve said that at every one of our friends’ weddings.”

“You remember that?”

My brow pinched together. “Of course I do. Just because I wasn’t catching on to what you were waiting for from me, doesn’t mean I wasn’t listening to you.”

She watched me in awe for a few seconds, then said, “I’m still not marrying you until a year is up.”

I exhaled heavily and nodded. “I can wait a year to marry you as long as you’ll still move in with me.”

“As soon as my lease is up in four months.”

“No. That is definitely too long.”

Paisley laughed softly. “We can do a week at my apartment, then a week at yours, and continue doing that until my lease is up.”

“Better,” I agreed, then mumbled, “Does this mean I need to go back out and buy condoms?”

“Maybe you should have just gotten them your first time out,” she suggested, and I sighed in defeat.

“Okay. I’ll be—” I cut off when Paisley grabbed my arm and pulled me back down onto her when I’d started getting up.

“I’m kidding. I brought some with me; they’re in my bag. I just wasn’t really thinking about them last night or this morning until you brought them up.”

I placed a kiss on her nose and got up from the bed to grab her bag. “You can’t blame me if you get pregnant from last night.”

“I doubt I got pregnant last night.” She laughed softly. “But, oh my God, I can see your mom’s reaction now if we got pregnant before we got married.”

“Then I guess it would be Vegas or the courthouse for us,” I grumbled like it would be a hardship to marry her.

Paisley just rolled her eyes. “I may not have ever talked to your mom as your girlfriend, but she’s always known how I felt about you, and I know for a fact that she would kill us if we didn’t have a huge wedding.”

I was no longer surprised by anyone else knowing; I knew I’d been the only one blind to Paisley’s feelings. “Did you ever tell her that wasn’t what you wanted?”

“No . . .”

“Then who cares what she wants.”

Paisley choked out a laugh. “Eli! She’s your mom. You’re supposed to care, just like I do.”

I crawled back onto the bed with her and held her stare. “Tell me exactly what you want when I finally force you into marrying me.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Force me, huh? Thanks for the fair warning,” she teased, but then the humor in her eyes and smile changed into something softer. “I just want you. I don’t want anything big, I just want simple. I want to wear a white dress, and I don’t want to have to be around a bunch of people after. I just want it to be you and me, like we are right now. I don’t want a ring—”

“Fuck that,” I balked. “I’m getting you a ring.”

“Language, and I don’t want one! You told me to tell you exactly what I wanted, and I’m telling you.”

“If you don’t let me get you a ring, how are people supposed to know you’re mine, Pay?”

When she spoke again, her voice was nearly inaudible. “I’ve always been yours, Eli. My love for you has never been a show for everyone else. It’s always been just for you; that’s not changing now.”