I have no idea what I’m going to say to him. I’m not ready to get married- but I love Dexter and I don’t want to ruin everything. These last couple of months have been absolutely perfect and now I’m afraid it’s going to come to an end.
As much as I’m dying to see all of you again, I’m not ready to say goodbye to this life yet. I’m not ready to leave Dexter. I just wish-
I hear him at the door. We’ll catch up later, Cam.
* * *
I hurried to meet Dexter at the door. As much as I was dreading our conversation, I was even more excited to see him again. He took one step inside before I threw myself at him.
Dexter laughed and spun me in a circle before putting me back on the ground. He gave me a long kiss and then stepped back. “Even more beautiful than I remembered.”
“Dex, it’s been four days.”
“Four of the longest days of my life.” He pulled me in for another kiss. “How did the studying go?”
“Okay.” I couldn’t exactly tell him that I had been distracted the entire time by the giant rock in his dresser. “I may actually pass finals. How was the trip?”
Dexter moved away again to pull his luggage inside so he could shut the door. I followed him into the living room where a bottle of wine and two glasses waited for us.
“It was long.” He pointed to the blazing fire and opened wine. “I could get used to coming home to this.”
“You probably shouldn’t. I’m leaving in a week,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that.” He nodded down the hall. “Why don’t you pour the wine while I change out of this suit?”
“Okay, but don’t bother putting much on,” I said with a wink.
He laughed as he walked away.
After a good, long look at his rear, I poured the wine. Dexter’s glass got an average pour, mine got a double. I knew that he had gone to his room the retrieve the ring. He was going to ask him to marry him tonight and I had to find a way to tell him no without crushing him.
I was so nervous that I finished the entire glass of wine before he returned.
“It’s going to be one of those nights, huh?” Dexter said when he came back and found me with an empty glass.
“Thirsty,” I said lamely.
He smiled as he refilled my glass. “Let’s take this outside.”
I quietly followed him out onto the balcony. It was unusually cold for December in London. For a Chicago girl like me, it felt downright balmy, but the forecast said we had a chance of a snow flurry.
Dexter was being unusually quiet, which was good because I wouldn’t have been able to hear him anyway over the pounding of my heart. I looked out over the city, spotting a Christmas tree in the distance.
Nothing about this night was what I had planned just a few months earlier. I was not supposed to come to London and fall in love. I was supposed to find myself and then go home and start my life. But in the past few weeks I had learned that you can’t plan on when you will start your life. You have to live it every day and eventually, you’ll find that you are right where you were always meant to me.
Just then, the first of a few sparkling snowflakes drifted over us.
“Taylor.” Dexter’s voice called me home.
Even before he said his next words, the words that would forever change my life, I knew that there was only one possible answer. This might not have been the life I planned, but it was exactly the life I wanted.
I turned to him, unable to hide my smile. “Yes.”
Be sure to check out the next Restless Hearts story
French Kissing
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Love in London (Restless Hearts) Page 9
