“Oh yeah, I guess I could eat,” I replied and smiled at him sleepily.
He pulled me towards his side and wrapped his big arm around me. I sighed and snuggled into his chest. I didn’t understand how it took me so long to realize that I was in love with this man.
“Never thought you’d ever be my wife,” he said under his breath.
“Me neither, but I’m glad Eric never showed up. It was a blessing in disguise.”
He stroked my hair gently. “Yeah, me too.”
“I should have never told you to ask out Stacey Graves. I should have kept you all to myself.”
He chuckled into my hair. “I wished you did too because that girl was a drama queen. Nothing like my calm and collected best friend.”
I pulled away from him reluctantly and swung my legs over the bed. I surveyed the room; it was kind of a mess with clothes everywhere and all the drawers in the dresser opened wide. I was still kind of mad that I had lost my ring.
“Sweetheart,” Riley stated flatly with annoyance in his voice. “What’s this?”
I turned to look over at him and saw he was holding my ring in-between his fingers. “Oh my God! Where did you find it?”
“In the sheets!”
“What the hell!” I exclaimed. I had searched everywhere for that damn ring.
He grabbed my hand and slid the ring on my finger with the most intense look on his face. It almost made me want to jump his bones for a third time today. Almost.
I smiled sweetly at him, surveying the loving look he gave me in return. I never thought I would marry my best friend or fall in love with him, but here I was. Head over heels for Aaron Riley and mad it hadn’t happened sooner. Fate must have been a prankster, that was for sure.
Riley held onto my hand and rubbed my ring finger. “Will you let me buy you a nicer ring?”
I recoiled and pulled my hand away, clutching the ring to my chest protectively. “No! It’s bad enough I let you buy me those bookshelves.”
“You were so happy about that. I want to make you happy. And we bought them from IKEA, so they weren’t that expensive.”
“You do make me happy, but waving around your money is not something you need to do. I love my plain ring, and I love that we have an interesting story about our marriage.”
Riley sat up in bed and leaned over to kiss me tenderly. “Me too. I know we kind of did things backward, but I wouldn’t change anything.”
“Me neither. So are we getting dinner or what? I’m hungry too.”
He eyed me, still very much naked next to him, and he was certainly enjoying the view. “I think we better put some clothes on. Do you want to go out?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I’m still very hungover. Let’s order takeout. Indian?”
“I’m game,” he agreed with a smile. “I have tomorrow off, so I want to spend all of it with you.”
A smile crept across my face. “Well, in that case, there is this cool used book store in West Chester…”
Chapter Twenty-Four
RILEY
“I think I’m too big for this place,” I commented to my wife as I ducked into the doorway and followed her up the steps of the Book Barn.
“Deal with it, baby!” Fi joked.
I smirked at her and watched her sweet ass from behind as I followed her further up the steps. I was not complaining if I got to check her out all day while she guided me along in the very old building. The place was legit a barn full of books, and it didn’t appear to have any sort of organization to it, but if I knew Fi, she knew what she was looking for. She had that determined look on her face, a woman on a mission. I didn’t care if she wanted us to drive all the way out to the Main Line to look at old dusty books on my day off; I would do anything she wanted, as long as I got to spend it doing it with her.
I was aware that I was whipped, and I didn’t give a fuck.
I watched her fan herself and peer up to the next stairway. She gave me an apologetic look. “It’s kind of hot in here.”
I smirked. “I think it’s just you.”
She poked me in the stomach, and I jerked away. She knew I was ticklish there. “Har har har,” she bit back sarcastically. She glanced at the sign in front of the next staircase and started up the wooden stairs. I ducked again and followed her up the steps, enjoying the nice view once again.
When we reached the top of the steps, she glared at me. “Stop staring at my ass so much. I feel like you’re gonna burn a hole into it.”
I held up my hands, but I couldn’t help a laugh. She slapped my shoulder, but a smile spread across her face. She rolled her eyes and turned around to look at the shelf in front of us. I glanced at the titles on it, noticing some very old looking sci-fi books. “What are you looking for anyway?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Nothing in particular. Maybe I can find a special edition of Asimov or Le Guin. Or somebody I’ve never heard of.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything. I had absolutely zero idea what she was talking about, but that didn’t matter.
She cocked her head at me. “You really don’t mind doing this today? I know it’s your day off.”
I placed my hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “I want to spend time with you, and if this is what you want to do, let’s do this.”
She gave me a funny look. “How the hell did I ever get you to marry me?”
I laughed. “I think it was my idea, remember?”
She leaned up and kissed me quickly on the lips.
