Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [67]
“We have to do something about this distance thing,” he said when they’d both come up for air and he had her plastered up against the building. “I’m not letting go of you again.”
“You don’t have to take care of me,” Dennie said. “I mean, just because I’m moving here doesn’t mean that I expect to move in with you or anything. I don’t even know if you like dogs, and Walter’s a deal breaker.”
Alec looked down and saw a surly-looking Yorkie staring back at him. “I love dogs.” He held her tighter, still not quite believing she was there. “I’m crazy about Walter already—” Then the rest of it hit him and he stepped back a little to get a good look at her face. “What do you mean, you’re moving here? I mean, I know you’re moving here because I’m not letting you go anywhere else, but you’re planning on moving here? Even if you don’t get the Trib job?”
“I’ve moved.” Dennie smiled at him, the smile that always said, I can do this, I think. “I told you. I jumped. Everything I own is either at the airport or being shipped as soon as I give them an address. That’s why Walter’s here.”
“You’ve moved,” Alec said, dumbfounded.
“It’s all right,” Dennie said hastily. “I’m not taking anything for granted. If you don’t want—”
Alec cut her off. “It takes three days to get a marriage license in Illinois. Can you stand living in sin for three days?”
“Yes,” Dennie said.
Alec took a deep breath. “Will you marry me in three days?”
“Yes,” Dennie said, and he pulled her back close and thought, Thank God.
“I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say it,” he said into her hair as he rocked her back and forth.
“I always knew you would,” Dennie said against his chest, all her confidence back. “I just wasn’t sure what you’d say when I said it.”
“Then you haven’t been paying attention.” He pulled back again so he could look at her. “Listen, as long as I’m on a roll, can I smear you with hot fudge and whipped cream on our honeymoon? I never did get to do that.”
“Yes,” Dennie said, beaming at him in relief. “You can smear me with hot fudge and whipped cream until you’re a hundred. I love you. I couldn’t stand being without you.”
Walter barked and Dennie looked down. “You have to love him too, Walter. He’s a deal breaker.”
Walter sighed and laid down with his head on Alec’s shoe.
Dennie looked back at Alec. “We’re all going to live happily ever after,” she told him. “Trust me on this.”
And Alec said, “I do.”
Two weeks later and twelve hundred miles away, Victoria picked up the mail at the end of the dusty dirt drive that led back into the sliver of undevelopable beachfront property she and Harry had bought from Bond after all. They’d gone down to look at it on their honeymoon, just to see what all the fuss had been over, and the sheer raw beauty of the place had left them standing in the middle of nowhere, staring at each other.
“He should have had pictures,” Harry had said, looking around before he grinned at her. “The dumb cluck didn’t know what he had.”
“Can he sell land from prison?” Victoria asked, and Harry said, “Are you out of your mind?” Shortly after that, Bond found himself a lot richer, although not as rich as he’d hoped since Harry insisted on giving him a fair market price. Also he was still in prison and would be for a while, Sherée having proved very helpful at the end.
Victoria stopped halfway down the road and savored the birds and the smell of the ocean before she picked up speed. By the time she was up the gangplank on the Victoria, she was calling Harry’s name.
“I’m up here,” he called from the top deck. “It’s a houseboat, Vic. I can’t go far enough that you need to yell.”
“I like yelling your name,” she said, climbing the last stair to the roof. “Also we have mail.” She tossed it in his lap, and he tipped his hat back and grinned at her. God, I’m lucky, she thought, and then, just to make him crazy, she said, “Donald wrote.”
Harry scowled. “That idiot. Didn’t you tell him you were married?”
“Yes.” Victoria settled