Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Cece blinked.
A second passed.
Then, two.
Finally, she simply asked, “And?”
“That doesn’t make you nervous at all?”
“I mean, no?”
Then, Cece cocked her head to the side a bit. Her gaze narrowed slightly, drifting from Juan to the home ahead and then back again. It took her another second before she decided to speak, but as she did, an almost knowing grin curved her lips.
God.
He loved when she did that.
Teased him.
She was the only female he’d ever let do it, too.
“You’re nervous?” she asked.
“Don’t make a thing out of it. I just had a moment and all. I mean, your family is great ... they’ve always welcomed me in and—”
“Hey,” she interjected quickly, leaning across the seats to come far closer than Juan had been expecting. In a blink, she closed the last bit of space between them to press a fast, hard kiss to his lips. Her mouth moved against his—their familiar war coaxing an approving groan from the back of his throat until she pulled away with another one of those smiles of hers that he loved so damn much. “They welcomed you in a long time ago and you know it. Don’t be nervous. Besides, now that we have a date for them to save ... the next few months are going to be just one big party.”
Juan chuckled. “You think?”
“You’d think being around Italians, you might know more about us. Shame ... you’ll learn.”
That time, he grinned.
“I don’t mind.”
Cece winked. “Are you good?”
He dragged in a heavy lungful of air, nodding with a smile. “Yeah, babe, I’m good.”
“Let’s go.”
Before he could even unbuckle his belt, she was out of the car and heading for the house. Juan had to take a moment to appreciate the sway of her hips in those straight-leg jeans, her loose crop-top of pink silk falling to just below her mid back, giving him a peek at tanned skin. The click-click of her sky-high, strappy heels had him moving out of the car to follow behind as fast as he possibly could.
By the time she reached the front veranda, his hand found her lower back when she moved into step with her. He’d just pressed a kiss to the side of her temple when the front door to the house blew open.
Confetti made of gold and black and silver came out to shower them in color while the gathered people in the house started hollering loud enough that before the night was over, the whole block would know Cece and Juan were engaged.
Congrats were shouted.
Laughter colored up a dark street.
Someone already had bubbly waiting, too.
It sprayed all over the deck.
Juan hadn’t been expecting any of that—but the knowing glint in Cece’s eye when she looked his way with a happy smile told him that she very well had.
His nerves finally disappeared.
For good.
“How did he propose?” someone called out.
Cece and Juan laughed.
It wasn’t an easy answer.
She smiled with a shrug. That smile was enough to tilt his whole world sideways.
“Well, I kind of did? And then he did? Anyway. He broke my necklace—the ring was hidden inside. I guess ... it was always there. Waiting for the right moment.”
Any moment would have been right.
They were them, after all.
Still, Juan nodded and said, “Yeah, I was just waiting for that moment.”
Chapter 18 – Wedding Bells
Cece POV
Cece toyed with the delicate lace of her wedding dress. Splayed out over the high curved back of a couch, the gown covered most of the surface and a good portion of the floor. She hadn’t known what she wanted for a wedding dress until this one was staring her right in the face. It screamed everything that she was.
Class.
Queenly.
The first time she put it on, she had only fallen more in love with the gown, if that were somehow possible. That was months ago. Now here it was, her wedding day, and Juan would finally be able to see the dress, too.
“Busy?”
The familiar voice had Cece smiling and turning away from her dress. Her mother and grandmother slipped into the private room where she would prepare for the day and her wedding. The makeup artist and hairstylist had yet to arrive, most of the wedding party was already there, and the event planner she’d hired to work with the women of her family that wanted to help were getting everything ready for later.
All she had to do was dress, get pretty, and relax.
It was her day.
Or so everyone kept telling her.
“I wanted a moment with you before everybody gets here,” Catrina said, crossing the room first to wrap Cece in a tight hug. “Because I don’t think I’ll see you again until much later—someone is already blowing up my phone because I’m not helping to decorate like I promised.”
That somebody was likely one of her cousins.
Or aunts.
Maybe her other grandmother.
Hell.
Their family was huge.