Page 38 of All In

“This is insane,” I say. “This is genuinely, certifiably insane. People don’t do this. People date for years before any of this gets said out loud.”

“I know.” Then he tilts his head. “Though, aside from my dad and my uncle, the latter of which is happily married now, for the record. The rest of my family is kind of fast with this sort of thing. My cousin Kelsie married her husband after they’d been pen pals, while he was still an active SEAL. Though she thought she’d been writing to a completely different man.” He waves his hand in the air. “Not important right now. My other cousin, Addison, met and married her husband, Thorne, super fast. Henry technically waited a long time, but that’s what happens when you meet your soul mate as a kid. And Oliver, he and Cora, had a no-names, no-strings one-night stand. Then she ended up working for his grandparents, pregnant with his child.”

I know my eyes are probably enormous and I’m surprised I haven’t caught a fly in my mouth yet. “That’s a lot to process. Also you have a sizable family. With a lot of drama.”

He shrugs. “Comes with the small town. I just wanted to point out that yes, this is fast, but I’ve seen fast work for other people.”

I look at him for a long moment. This handsome, nerdy, funny man, who told me the truth about his money the second it threatened to become a wedge between us. Who waited years to touch a woman until he knew she was worth the wait.

“I’m not scared of how fast this is,” I say slowly, testing each word as it comes out, because I want to mean every single one of them before I say it. “I thought I would be. I think I’m supposed to be. But I’m not. I feel the same thing you’re describing, Leo. All of the things I’m normally careful, I mean you’ve seen my color-coded spreadsheet of all the panels and events I wanted to attend this weekend. All of that stopped mattering somewhere around that pizza place, if I’m being completely honest, and I’ve just been too chicken to say it out loud first.”

“Juniper—”

“I’m not saying yes to a ring today,” I say, before he can get any further ahead of me. “I think that actually would be insane, and I’d like us to have known each other longer than seventy-two hours before metal hardware is invovled.” I squeeze his hand. “But I’m saying I feel it too. Whatever this is. I’m not running from it just because it’s fast. I think some things just are what they are, and the timeline doesn’t change the truth of it, it just makes it inconvenient to explain to other people.”

Something in his whole body seems to ease at that, his shoulders dropping, the nervous tightness around his eyes finally letting go.

“So,” he says. “Hypothetically. Down the line. When the timeline’s a little less inconvenient to explain.”

“Hypothetically.”

“This window.” He nods toward the glass, toward the quiet, glittering rows of rings sitting in their velvet trays. “I’m coming back to it. Whenever you’re ready. I just wanted you to know that going in. I’m not going anywhere. I already know you are it for me, Juniper Hill.”

I lean up and kiss him, slow, right there on the sidewalk, the coffee shop woman two doors down pretending very hard not to watch us and failing completely.

“Okay,” I say, when I finally pull back. “Right back at you, Leo West.”

“Also, you are probably the only one I can admit this to, but your color-coded spreadsheet made me a little hard.”

I bark out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Also, I’m the only one you should admit that to.”

He laces our fingers back together, starts walking again, the jewelry store falling behind us. “Breakfast. Then back to the floor. We still have a prop auction to attend.”

“Were you planning on suiting up today? I’d kind of like to just be Leo and Juniper, if that’s alright with you.

“It’s more than alright. It’s perfect.”

We walk on toward breakfast, hands joined, the early sun coming up warm over the city.

“Hypothetically speaking, we’ve established it’s too soon for a ring,” he says. “But is it too soon for three little words?”

“Maybe not,” I say.

He leans close to my ear. “I’m gonna win!”

“What?”

“The auction item.”

“You suck! And you have more money than me.” I playfully smack his arm.

We start walking again, and I know I’m smiling like a fool, but I do not care.

“Hey Juniper.”

“What?”

“I love you.”