Hate the Player: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy(109)

“Uh-huh.” I stand up on my tippy-toes and press a kiss to his lips. Just a soft, simple little kiss against his perfect mouth. “Oh, and by the way,” I whisper against his lips, “I’m in love with you too.”

He leans away from my lips to meet my eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I nod, and it feels like my smile is consuming my whole face. Tears join the party, too. “I’m so deep in love with you, Andrew. And I want that life, too. I want everything. With you.”

“Goddamn, sweetheart,” he mutters and pulls me into his arms and wraps my legs around his waist. “It’s yours. I’m yours.”

In the middle of the hospital parking lot, with cameras flashing and paparazzi shouting questions in our direction, we both tune it all out and stay focused on our little bubble of bliss.

Andrew kisses the hell out of me, and I don’t care who sees it.

I don’t care about anything but kissing him right back.

My teasing guy.

My charming player.

My Andrew.

My Andy.

My whole world.

My family.





6 weeks later…

Andrew



I’m going to marry this woman.

The morning sun flits into the living room of our private overwater bungalow, and I stare out through the open doors that lead to the deck, taking in the view of blue skies and turquoise Fiji waters.

Birdie and I have been here for three weeks, and I’ve yet to grow bored of this view. I have a feeling it has everything to do with the beautiful woman I often find in the frame.

I head over to the front door, open it up, and find today’s big surprise is all set to go.

I grin. Yeah, this is going to be the best fucking day of my life.

Once I quickly make two cups of coffee to really keep up the charade of this being a normal Fiji morning, I carry them out onto the deck, where Birdie sits in a teak lounge chair with her legs curled beneath her. My woman is a fucking vision of long, messy, wavy hair—courtesy of my sex-hungry appetite last night—and already wearing one of her ridiculously small bikinis that drive me fucking mad.

I swear, she might be secretly trying to kill me.

Miles upon miles of visible skin and my mouth is already watering for a taste.

“Fancy some coffee?” I ask her, and she looks away from the water to meet my eyes. Hers instantly brighten when she spots two fresh mugs in my hands.

“Yes, please.” She makes quick work of getting one of the cups out of my hands and takes a sip. “Thank you.”

I sit down in the chair beside hers, and once she’s had enough coffee to suit her caffeine needs, she moves over to sit on my lap.

“That’s much better,” I say and slide my hands around her waist.

She giggles. “So, what are we going to do today?”

“Get married.”

Birdie’s stunned eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry, but did you just say get married?”

I nod. “That’s exactly what I said.”

She stares at me like I’ve sprouted two heads, but I don’t let that reaction deter me from my actual plans. Gently, I lift her off my lap and to her feet.

And then I pull a small box from the pocket of my linen pants and get down on one knee in front of her.

A shocked hand goes to her mouth.

“Birdie Bernadette Harris, I love you,” I say, smiling up at my whole fucking world. “And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you and supporting you and being your number one fucking fan. I want to laugh with you and play with you and fight with you and have wild make-up sex with you. I want it all, firecracker.” I open the box, and a pretty diamond ring sits inside.

“Oh my God, Andrew,” she gasps, and tears start to sparkle in her eyes.

“Birdie, will you make me the luckiest man in the whole world and marry me?”

She nods. Laughs. Nods again. And then, to add icing to our perfect cake, she shouts, “Yes!”

Thank fuck.

My heart soars, and I take the ring out of the box to slide it onto her finger.

And then I don’t hesitate to stand up and pull her into my arms and kiss my future wife.

“Fuck, I’m glad you said yes, because otherwise, the next surprise I have planned would’ve been really awkward,” I whisper against her mouth, and she leans back to stare deep into my eyes.

“What surprise?”

I glance over my shoulder and shout, “Come on out onto the deck, guys!”

Birdie looks at me, confused, but when she spots her sister holding Daisy, and Luca and my family start to appear through the doors, she slaps me hard on the chest.

“Oh my God!” she exclaims. “What is going on right now?”

“Well, sweetheart,” I say through a chuckle. “When I said we should get married today, I wasn’t joking. And since I knew you’d want our family here, I made it happen.”

“How?” she questions, and happy tears fill her eyes. “How in the hell did you manage this?”

“This plan was already in action before you guys left,” Billie says and gently hands Daisy off to Luca, so she can wrap Birdie up into a big hug. “Congratulations, sis. I’m so happy for you.”