She kissed me on the cheek, and I grinned, feeling so damn content it was like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.
The rest of the drive was relaxing. Billie napped a little at one point, and I couldn’t blame her after all the fun we’d had earlier in the day. I just enjoyed the road and the music coming softly out of the car speakers. Fuck, I loved driving. I always had. Texas was one of the states that was perfect if you wanted to get out and just drive for long stretches.
It was the closest I ever got to meditating. It was like… a sense of peace came over me while I was driving, watching the road and the nature around me. But it was even better with someone that I loved with me. Even while Billie was napping, just having here there in the car with me made it all feel… complete. Like everything I needed in life was right here with me, right now.
For four years, I had been trying not to think about Billie. Trying to respect her desire for space, trying to put her out of my mind and move on. But our one night together had stuck inside of me like a brand, one that burned all over again the moment I saw her.
Now that I had her, I never wanted to let her go.
I was going to talk to Morgan first thing, dammit. Let him know my intentions: that I was going to buy a ring, and I was going to propose to Billie. He could take it or leave it, but it wasn’t his life or his choice, and could we please find a way to talk about this and find a way to tolerate each other, even if we didn’t ever become close friends again.
Once I spoke to Morgan, I would speak to Billie’s parents. Georgia would be understanding, I was sure of it. Having her on my side would help. Once I explained the situation, I didn’t think they would object. Perhaps to it being such a short time between when we started dating and when I proposed, but we didn’t have to get married right away. We could have a longer engagement if that was what they were comfortable with. I just wanted the world, and Billie, to know that I was in this for the long haul. I wanted to make that promise to her.
After that it would only be a matter of picking out a ring and figuring out how to propose. Something personal, something not out in public, like Billie had mentioned at dinner. I’d picked that nice restaurant for a reason—I’d wanted to feel out how Billie responded to something like that, if that was the kind of place she wanted for a proposal.
Now, there was the matter of the garage, of course, but that was why we could have a longer engagement if we wanted, while I found a backer and sorted—
I pulled onto Billie’s street to drop her off and paused.
Morgan’s car was parked outside.
Well. I wasn’t fucking thrilled to see Morgan was there. I hadn’t wanted to hash it out with him just yet. I wanted to rehearse what I was going to say, find a time and place to do this where we wouldn’t be around other people. I didn’t want others, especially Billie, to have to be there and witness it if things got ugly.
But hey, I would make it work. I wasn’t going to hide anymore. Amber had already ‘broken up’ with me last week and had gotten back together with her boyfriend, her parents were over the moon, and so there was no reason to keep our relationship a secret anymore. No reason besides Morgan, anyway. And I wasn’t going to stand for that.
I pulled up in front and parked the car as Billie stirred, waking up. She blinked slowly, figuring out her surroundings, and she looked so goddamn adorable I could hardly stand it. I reached over, pushing her hair back out of her face. “Hey, baby, we’re here.”
Billie sat up properly, stretching. “Sorry I fell asleep on you.”
“Hey, no, you’re all good.” I smiled at her helplessly. “I’ll get your bag.”
We got out of the car, but before Billie could grab her bag from me and head into the house, I grabbed her, pulling her in and kissing her nice and slow. Billie made a small noise of surprise but then melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around me.
The front door slammed.
We pulled apart, and there was Morgan, striding towards us with a pissed off expression on his face. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“That should be obvious,” I said.
Billie glared at Morgan like she was picturing tearing his head off his body. I definitely did not want to get in the way of her wrath, holy shit.