Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(63)
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
“No. What about you?”
Rooster couldn’t remember his last meal. Although meal service was offered on the flight home, he’d turned it down. “I’m famished, but I’m more in the mood for breakfast than dinner.”
“I wasn’t hungry before, but I am now.” Taking his hand in hers, she led the way to the coffee shop, where the hostess escorted them to a table.
Rooster had a difficult time studying the menu when all he really wanted was to look at Lauren. The depth of his feelings for her had caught him in hurricane-force winds, sweeping him up in a whirlwind. Fearing his staring would make her uncomfortable, he decided it would be best to start a conversation. “So, your boss’s daughter eloped?”
“Yes. What’s ironic is that Elisa and Garry did the same thing when they were in college. Elisa was the same age as Katie is now.”
“And the marriage worked.”
“Yes. They’re a wonderful couple. Katie’s a great kid, but I understand Elisa and Garry’s concern. If she was my daughter I’d probably feel the same way, though Katie’s sensible and mature for her age.”
“And the young man?”
“He’s the oldest in a family of eight children, and from everything I’ve heard he’s responsible and conscientious. Katie could have made a far worse choice.”
“Have they known each other long?”
“Apparently, they met soon after Katie arrived on campus. From what little I know, the attraction was instantaneous. From the moment they met, they were inseparable.”
To Rooster’s way of thinking, that was how he’d felt about Lauren. Their waitress arrived, and even then it was difficult for Rooster to tear his gaze away from Lauren long enough to give the woman his order.
As soon as the waitress left, Lauren said, “Katie knew the minute she met Dietrich, the same way I knew after—” she stopped abruptly, and her cheeks filled with hot color.
Rooster stared at her long and hard. “Go on,” he urged.
Embarrassed, she looked away.
“Are you saying you felt the same way about me as young Katie did about her Dietrich?” he asked, enjoying her discomfort. It made his head spin to know she had experienced the same feelings he had. Rooster had known, too, and the truth of it had been pounded into him these last few weeks while he’d been traveling. Lauren was all he could think about. It was intended as a business trip, but wine had been the last thing on his mind. All that seemed to matter was how long it would be before he could be with Lauren again.
Without meeting his gaze, she nodded. “I’ve waited for years to meet a man like you,” she whispered, and seemed unable to find her normal voice. “You make me feel things I’ve never experienced before.”
He knew exactly what she meant, because it had been the same with him. “I’ve been waiting for you for years, Lauren, hardly knowing what I was waiting for, never suspecting it would ever happen.”
She stretched her hand across the table, and he gripped it tightly with his own.
“We haven’t known each other long,” she said, as though it was necessary to discount this magnetic attraction.
“Does that matter?” he asked. “Are you going to feel differently a few weeks from now? Is what you feel going to change?”
“No.” Her voice was sure, confident. “You?”
He didn’t entertain a single doubt. “No.”
Their gazes seemed locked together, and Rooster doubted that a fire alarm would have been enough to cause him to break eye contact. His heart pounded hard and strong, and he sensed that this could quite possibly be one of the most important conversations of his life.
Lauren raised her hand to her chest. “I know in my heart what I feel, what I want.”
Rooster was almost afraid to ask what she wanted, for fear it wouldn’t align with his own desire. It seemed obvious to him that they were meant to be together. “What is it you want?” he asked. As soon as the words left his mouth his heart started to race, his pulse pounding in his ear like a military drum, fearing her feelings didn’t match the intensity of his own.
She hesitated and lowered her gaze as though afraid to admit what she was thinking.
“Lauren.” He said her name softly. “I didn’t realize what I wanted in a wife until I met you.”
Her gaze instantly flew back to him. She blinked, and for a moment he thought he saw tears well in her eyes. “Are you … asking to marry me?” she asked slowly.
Now wasn’t the time to backpedal; it was exactly what he was asking. He’d never considered that it would happen like this, in the middle of a coffee shop without a declaration of love or flowery words, but then he wasn’t a man who was likely to say the things a woman most wanted to hear. “Yes,” he said, being as straightforward as he knew how to be. “Yes, I’m asking you to be my wife, to share the rest of our lives with each other. I’d like us to have children and raise them to be responsible, God-fearing adults, and for the two of us to grow old together.”
No doubt about it now, those were tears in her eyes. Her hands flew to cover her mouth. Rooster was instantly concerned, fearing he might have said all the wrong things. He frowned, wondering what he should do now, if anything.