The Proposal (The Wedding Date, #2)

by Jasmine Guillory

He was never nice to me—I don’t think fat Korean women were in his target demographic.

“You did get up at four a.m. to watch Harry and Meghan’s wedding though,” Dana said.

Ew

Feeling silly is definitely better.”

She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked up at him. He liked the way she concentrated on him when he was talking, like she was really listening to what he had to say.

“Do you like my boobs in this shirt, Carlos? I grew them just for you,”

“Beaches,” Courtney said. “So much sand,” Nik said. “It gets everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I don’t know why people love them.”

“Stronger” by Britney Spears blared out through the speakers.

Real music

Maybe she’d said yes this morning just to pacify him but he’d never hear from her again, and his text would be just out there in the universe, unanswered, forever.

her one sexy pair of jeans that gave her an ass like one of those rap guys’ girlfriends,

He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and she couldn’t hold back a sigh at the sight of his forearms.

He added a lot of sugar to his coffee, but she tried not to judge him for that.

She’s the only one who knows how it feels to have lost your dad.”

So he turned on the game, and they spent the next hour curled up on the couch watching the second half of a pretty exciting game between two teams he couldn’t care less about.

His ideal post-work wind down kind of game—he got all the fun of the lead changes and the great shots, but none of the up and down emotions of a true fan of either of those teams.

Seconds later, he was back with a tray in his hands. Okay, no, it wasn’t a tray, it was a cookie sheet, but did she care about that? Not in the slightest.

They were almost nose to nose, tucked underneath his warm heavy blankets. It felt like they were in a cocoon together. She could happily stay like this with him all day.

We are going to get to meet her tonight, aren’t we?” Carlos rolled his eyes. Drew was doing that “we” thing that couples always did. Had he turned into one of those people already?

And do not wear those booties I know you’re already thinking about wearing. They look like clown shoes.” She put the booties back into her closet.

Carlos’s laugh boomed across the restaurant.

“Maybe talk about Dad.” She sat down next to him and put both arms around him. He abandoned the bookshelf and hugged his little sister close. “I would love that,” she said. “I would love that a lot.” He wiped his eyes and hoped she didn’t notice. “So would I.”

“Milk is good for capsaicin burns, but it’s not like you can sit there with your nose in a bowl of milk, hmmmm.” He was being altogether too calm about this. What the fuck was he talking about, “capsaicin.”

“When my dad died . . . my mom was at the hospital with him by herself.

“Holy shit.” He sat bolt upright, and she groaned and rolled onto his pillow. “What? Do you have to be at the hospital?” He shook his head and stared at her. “I’m in love with you! I love you!”

What?

“What if I want to be perfect though?” Dana laughed. “As my mother would say, it’s nice to want things.”

She said she’d be happier if she were a Mexican girl,

Good God, sometimes it felt like all of society was complicit in trying to make life harder for women.

“Women who know how to fight hold themselves differently.

Once I learned to trust myself, my instincts, and my emotions, trusting other people was a lot easier.”