Baby, It's Cold Outside (Romance From a Male POV) (Fire & Ice) Read online

  “Changed your mind about the food?”

  “Changed your mind about the proposal?”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  What? My smile froze on my face and I noticed Justine looked as surprised as I felt. She thought I changed my mind?

  “No, of course I haven’t changed my mind.” I would never change my mind about that.

  “Well, I changed my mind about the sandwich. I’m hungry.” She changed the subject and broke the tension. I was relieved but still on edge. I had to physically stop my lips from forming the words of the big question.

  I occupied my hands with assembling another sandwich. “Your wish is my command.” She smiled but I don’t think she realized I was being completely serious.

  She moved beside me and leaned against me. I wanted to throw down the turkey and grab her up to me. When she reached over and hugged me around my waist I had to force myself to finish the sandwiches, which I did with haste, sliding her plate towards her. I felt a zing like static electricity when our hands touched and I wondered if she felt it too. She didn’t say anything so I walked around to my stool and plopped down.

  Justine sat down and picked up her sandwich. I did the same, but the entire time, all I could think about was that her memory was back and she was fully mine again. She took a big bite and smiled at me and suddenly, I lost all control of myself.

  “Justine, will you make me the happiest person in the world and marry me?” Holy shit! That wasn’t the plan. I couldn’t believe I just let it fly like that. Obviously neither could Justine, because she started choking and coughing. After a chunk of sandwich flew out of her mouth I started pounding her on the back. After about four smacks I remembered that that didn’t work and I was supposed to do the Heimlich. Before I could stand up, though, she turned to me and threw her arms around me.

  “Yes, yes, yes, yes.” I pulled her into a tight hug, hardly able to believe she said yes to that shit proposal, but happier than I could ever remember being. I couldn’t help the tears that sprang to my eyes. Yes, I was being a girl. I was actually crying tears of joy.

  She pulled away and asked me warily, “Are you all right?”

  “I have never been better. I was so scared for the past three days that I had lost you and now everything in my world is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.” Well, maybe I’d change bawling like a pussy, but still, everything else was awesome.

  “Carter, may I have my ring now?” I wanted to kick myself in the ass for blurting out the question without the ring in my hand or at least on my person. Justine who was looking at me sheepishly. I grabbed her hand and pulled her along to the bedroom closet where I had hidden the ring a just a few hours ago. I reached up and pulled the box from shelf, dropping to one knee as I turned around. This time I was going to do it right. I pulled the ring out and held it between my fingers.

  “Justine Taylor, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” I slipped the ring on her finger as I spoke. She didn’t say anything, but she threw herself at me and toppled us over before covering my face with kisses. Before I could even get into it or put my arms around her she sat up and held her hand up to admire her new ring. She was glowing. There was no other word to describe it. I smiled as I sprawled on the closet floor watching her.

  “I’ve got to call Cheryl,” she said a moment later. She hopped up and yanked me after her a second later. “I know she knows you’re going to ask me, but I have to tell her now.” Luckily, I knew my sister, so I understood Justine’s need to share the news almost the minute it happened.

  “That’s fine, she would probably be mad if you kept it from her, anyway.” I pulled on a tee shirt since I was standing in the closet. I saw Justine eyeballing me and I felt pure masculine pride at the hungry look on her face. Yeah, she thinks I’m hot.

  “Where’s my phone?” I had just spoken to Elisa on it less than an hour ago. I wasn’t ready to share that little tidbit with Justine yet.

  “It’s in the kitchen.” She didn’t question me; she just took off down the hall. I followed her at a more leisurely speed. She had already dialed when I made it to the kitchen doorway.

  “Carter asked me to marry him. I’m getting married!” Justine spoke without so much as a hello.

  I could hear Cheryl’s squeal from six feet away. Justine wisely held the phone away from her ear.

  “Yes Cheryl. I remember everything.” I could make out another screech and her fast rambling before Justine spoke again.

  “Wait. I can’t think of any of that right now. It just happened. I just wanted to tell you right away. Yeah, he’s right here, do you want to talk to him?”

  I braced myself for Cheryl’s inquisition before taking the phone from Justine’s outstretched hand.

  “Hey Cheryl.”

  “Omigod, Carter. How did you do it? Did you take her to a romantic dinner?” I didn’t answer her because I didn’t want to tell her how I had proposed over a turkey sandwich almost causing my fiancée to choke to death before we could make it official.

  She went on, not even caring that I wasn’t responding to her. “What did she think about the ring? Was she surprised or what? Oh my god, I’ve got to call mom. Have you told mom yet?”

  “No, not yet.” I saw Justine walking to me mouthing “Hang up” and I was more than happy to comply.

  “Cheryl, I’ve got to go. We’ll talk tomorrow.” I ended the call while she was still talking, but I didn’t think she would mind all that much. She was probably already dialing our parents to tell them the news. I didn’t even care. Everything that mattered to me was right in front of me at this moment.

  “I love you so much. I have never felt even close to this wonderful in my whole life.” She leaned forward and kissed my lips and I could honestly say I hadn’t felt this good before either.

  Justine leaned down and picked up Lucy. “Mommy and Daddy are getting married. Aren’t you excited?” I didn’t know how excited Lucy was, but I knew that I was pretty excited. I couldn’t wait to start on the next chapter of my life with Justine.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  I’m going to kill Cheryl. That was my first coherent thought as I listened to the constant and irritating sound of the door chimes. Lucy was barking her head off in greeting, so I knew it was her before my eyelids were even ready to open. She was the only person I could think of that would be so pushy and unconcerned about our lack of sleep on the morning after our engagement. My mother was sane enough to wait for a more civilized hour.

  “Who the heck would be mashing the doorbell so dang early?” I could hear the dregs of sleep in Justine’s voice as she asked me a question with so obvious an answer.

  “One guess. I’m surprised she waited till dawn. She was probably dressed and counting the minutes until she felt it was a reasonable time to come over.” Reasonable for a hyperactive party planner anyway. I caught Justine’s eye. I love her so much. “Good morning, my lovely fiancée.” Her bruised face was even more discolored today, but it didn’t dull her beauty in my eyes. Maybe it was just the reminder I needed to see to remember how close I had come to losing my Justine.

  She lifted up her hand to admire her ring with a big smile before looking at me again. “Good morning, future husband.” It sounded really good when she said it. Future husband. I hope she didn’t want some kind of long engagement or something. After this close call I wanted to legally claim her.

  “Let yourself in, Cheryl,” Justine yelled when the chimes went off again. She did and came bounding into the room a few seconds later.

  “Let me see it! Let me see it!” She proceeded to bounce on the foot of our bed while waiting for Justine to show her the goods.

  “You already saw it. It hasn’t changed since the last time you looked at it.” I had picked the ring out by myself, I knew exactly what I was looking for, but I still brought Cheryl to the jeweler with me before I shelled out the money. I wanted to be sure Justine would love it and Cheryl’s taste is fabulous.

  “
I know, but I want to see it on.” She gave me a look that told me she thought I was an idiot. Justine held her hand out and Cheryl snatched it and brought it closer to her face. “It’s beautiful. Oh my god, Justine, you’re really going to be my sister.” A moment later they were hugging and squealing like fifth graders.

  “I need coffee.” My poor, absolutely not a morning person true love needed her caffeine infusion. I hopped on the opportunity to get out of here and away from Cheryl’s wedding party talk.

  “I’ll make it.” I got up and walked to the door, thankful that we didn’t go to sleep naked last night. I turned and gave Justine a look that promised her we would go to sleep naked tonight and she winked at me. I smiled all the way into the kitchen. I was still smiling as I finished putting the coffee on.

  Being engaged felt pretty damn good. I knew Cheryl was already bombarding Justine with wedding details; she had probably already planned our entire wedding. I bet she would somehow end up making Justine think she had chosen everything herself. I didn’t really care one way or another, my focus was more on the marriage than the wedding itself, but I knew how girls worked. Well, not Justine so much, but other girls. Justine was an entity unto herself.

  I wished we could get married today. There was really nothing stopping us except the stupid three day waiting period. I know Justine and I had spoken about weddings before, but it was more of a general conversation. She was adamant that she would prefer something small and intimate, but I knew that if we let Cheryl have her way she would plan some over the top display of flowers and fabric. I was a little bit afraid that Justine’s wishes would be pushed aside, but I was determined to stand up to Cheryl’s steamroller tendencies. The farther away the wedding date the larger the spectacle.

  I had only been standing there for a minute when I heard the growl. I had actually forgotten about Monique in all of the excitement of Justine’s recovery and our subsequent celebration. I didn’t feel that guilty. I knew she had everything she needed in the laundry room, and I felt she needed some kind of punishment for her shitty behavior. I wanted to walk over and kick the laundry room door or something equally childish but I tamped down those uncivilized feelings and pulled the phonebook off of the shelf near the house phone. I quickly found the yellow pages ad for the kennel I had researched the last time Monique had come for a “visit” and dialed the number.

  After speaking to the night attendant and learning that the kennel didn’t open until eight, I requested a booking for at least four days and he told me there wasn’t any problem and to bring her whenever was convenient. I hung up feeling better than ever. One more problem solved. I wondered who would have to catch and crate the cat and realized after Monique’ assault on Justine’s foot last night it would most probably fall to me. But wait, Cheryl was here, and I bet she would do it if I asked nicely enough. I was looking a little kindlier at Cheryl’s crack of dawn arrival. She would come in handy after all.

  The only thing marring my otherwise stellar mood was the Elisa situation. As a colleague she was usually bearable. She did her thing and I did mine and we didn’t cross paths all that much. We had been hired around the same time and I thought we were friendly, at least on the surface. Hell, I’d even invited her over a few times when we threw an occasional party. She’d latched on to Juss, probably because she was semi-famous, and was henceforth a weird hanger-on. I couldn’t understand why she had gone out of her way to sabotage my plans. When I thought of the near disaster she had caused I filled with totally justifiable rage, but that was a fight for another day.

  I set down Justine’s phone and decided I wasn’t going to do anything about Elisa. I wasn’t even going to waste another minute stressing about it. She was dead to me from now on and if anyone at work asked about it I would tell the truth and be done with it. My life was more than Webster and James anyway. My life was Justine and Lucy and my family. Justine was my family, it just wasn’t legal yet. I took a cleansing breath and felt better.

  I wished I could somehow fast forward time so that Justine and I were already married. Truthfully, I wished we could skip right to the honeymoon, but first things first.

  If I could get her to fly to Las Vegas with me today we could get married in a few hours. I smiled to myself at that thought. Justine loved Vegas. She spent hours at the slot machines when we went to meet with her agent about the cookbook a couple of months ago. I could probably entice her into going if only to spend some time in the casinos.

  The more I thought about it the better the idea seemed to me. Juss didn’t want a big wedding and I certainly didn’t need that. Standing in front of a judge and saying our vows with only each other to witness it sounded just about as intimate as you could get. We could even get it recorded so that my parents wouldn’t feel cheated. Cheryl could still plan an awesome but informal party. It seemed like the perfect plan. I wasn’t sure how to bring up the idea of Vegas to Justine, though. She might think I was rushing things, especially after everything that had happened.

  The coffee was brewing so I went to wash my face and brush my teeth instead of standing there waiting for it. I could see Justine and Cheryl talking on the bed so grabbed my toothbrush and started my morning ritual. After I was done I washed my face with Justine’s age-defying facial cleanser; it never hurt to take care of the goods. I was just drying off when Justine came in.

  I reached out and pulled her into a hug. “Hey. Sorry Cheryl came so early, I had a different morning planned.” What an understatement that was.

  “That’s okay. I expect she already had everything planned out; she was just waiting for me to say yes so that she could haul everything over here. I’m surprised she didn’t bring your mom along.”

  I was a little surprised myself. Mom loved planning a party; it’s where Cheryl got it from. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll be over here before the day is out. Maybe I’ll go into work after all.” I was only joking; I didn’t want to let Justine out of my sight today.

  “Don’t you leave me alone with those two. They’ll have me choosing between six shades of lilac for centerpieces or something. Besides, you have much better taste than I do.” I knew this was the opening I needed to broach the elopement idea.

  “Are you set on a big wedding?” I was obviously expecting her to tell me no since I already knew the answer.

  “Of course not. We’ve talked about this. I want a fun party, but I’m not into the poofy dress and becoming a Bridezilla over the font of the invitations.” It was now or never. I had already screwed up on the proposal which was neither romantic nor smooth. I hadn’t even had the ring to give her. I didn’t want to mess this up too.

  “I’ve been thinking since I got up. I’m off, you’re free, let’s fly to Vegas and get married today.” I tried to sound nonchalant. I was going to leave it completely up to her.

  “Get serious. Cheryl would kill us if we didn’t let her plan our wedding.” That Cheryl would pitch a fit was a given, but she had already had the wedding of her dreams. It was our turn.

  “It’s our wedding. Our day. We can still let her plan a party. Hell, I’d love a party, but I just want to marry you. I don’t care about any of the other stuff.”

  She seemed to mull it over for only a split second. “Can we have Elvis marry us?” Holy shit. She was going to go for it. I could hardly contain myself.

  “Absolutely. So are we doing it?” I needed her to say the word and I would call the airline right now.

  “Yes! Oh my god. Yes, let’s get married today.” She pulled my lips down to hers and whispered, “You’ve got to tell Cheryl, though.” She kissed me and at that moment I knew telling Cheryl was the least I could do for my love.

  “Deal. I’ve already called a kennel for the cat. We can drop her by any time after they open at eight. Cheryl can take Lucy home with her. Go pack.” I swatted her perfect ass as she sashayed away from me. I was finally going to marry the goddess I had set my sights on in high school. My sister’s best friend was about to be my wife.
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  Chapter Twenty Six

  Elvis was saying something but I was hardly hearing him. I had pretty much zoned out since the moment that Justine said “I do” and I knew it was official. Well, for the most part. I snapped back into the present when I heard “You may kiss the bride.”

  I didn’t waste a second, I pulled Justine close and kissed my wife. That sounded good. Even this kiss seemed different. Better. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was possibly the best kiss of my life. I didn’t want to break it, but I didn’t want Elvis to have to clear his throat or something.

  “Well Mrs. Ross, what do you want to do now?” I loved the sound of that. Justine was my Mrs. Ross. Finally. This moment was practically a decade in the making. I’d actually lusted after her for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until I was starting college that I began to really imagine a future with her. That’s all it had been, my imagination, for years until she finally gave me the chance to be with her. I had admired her from my position of Cheryl’s brother and nothing more for longer than I wanted to think about. Always on the peripheral of her life, but not where I wanted to be.

  My life had changed the second she had called me for help on getting a website started. I owed my sister more than I could ever repay her. It was at her prodding that Juss had called me in the first place. I wouldn’t be standing here watching my wife doing the twist with a frighteningly realistic Elvis impersonator if not for my maddeningly meddlesome sister. I decided I would order a bouquet of flowers to be sent to her today. She deserved at least that for all of the help she had given me concerning Justine.

  Justine spun around to face me a moment later. “I want to hit the slots.” Of course she did. Truthfully, I did too. It was entertaining to watch her squeal whenever she won, even if it was only a few dollars. But, first things first. We didn’t even have a hotel room yet, and my mind was already focused on our wedding night and all that it entailed.