The Blind Date by Landish, Lauren (suggested reading .txt) 📕

slide the ring onto her finger, and she gasps. “It’s gorgeous. I love it.”

Standing up, I wrap my arms around her waist. “I love you.”

She tries to say it back, but I swallow her words as I take her mouth with a sweet kiss. The room fills with hoots and hollers, everybody celebrating our big moment with us.

I taste Riley’s happy tears as they overflow down her cheeks, and when I pull back, I swipe at them gently with my thumbs.

“How did you . . . did everyone . . .?” Riley is looking around us as people raise their glasses of punch to toast us.

“Everything went perfectly to plan,” I tell her, and her eyes jump to me.

“You planned all this?” she asks in surprise.

I give her a cocky smirk. “Well, I had help. When I heard about the prom, it seemed perfect. So we all had to work together to organize the event, get it all on video, and get your dad here. I picked him up from the airport this afternoon so we could meet and get to know each other.”

“Oh!” Fresh tears fall from Riley’s eyes.

“Baby, he might not’ve seen some of your firsts, but he saw this,” I say gently. A bit harder, I tell her, “To be clear, you’re only getting engaged once. To me. The end.”

She smiles, giggling a bit at my asshole-itis. It still comes out sometimes, but luckily, she thinks it’s endearing for the most part.

We dance the night away . . . well, the early evening. Joseph and Rachel Watson impress us all with some moves on the dance floor, showing me exactly what I’d like to have with Riley in thirty or so years. Mom dances with Viktor, which seems to be him leaning on his cane while he guides Mom in gentle spins in front of him, but she’s laughing like she’s having the time of her life. Simon feeds Becky as much cheesecake as her belly can hold. Loretta sweet talks River into dancing a bit, and as they move by us, I hear her asking about BlindDate. Apparently, she’s signed up and has met someone there too, so she’s giving River hell about not using his own app.

And Arielle is moving around like a hummingbird, checking on this patient here and that resident there, always working. But this time, she’s not alone. I watch as Eli follows her, not like a lost puppy but rather as her support system. While Arielle takes care of other people, he’s taking care of her, making sure she’s drinking water and getting some food. He even gets her out on the dance floor a time or two. “What do you think of those two?” I ask Riley, gesturing toward Arielle and Eli.

Riley raises her brows. “That depends. Are you going to go all caveman brother on Eli and punch him the way River did you?”

I shake my head. “That was different. I deserved it.” Riley hums in disagreement. “I’m not going to hurt Eli. I just want to know that Arielle’s okay . . . that she’s going to be okay.”

“You’ve taken care of her for a long time,” Riley says quietly. “But she can take care of herself, Noah. I think Eli is good for her, stands up to her sass and ball-busting, but he also gives her a safe place to fall, trusting that he’ll take care of her. And I think she’s good for Eli too, showing him that it’s worth the effort to go beyond the superficial and really get to know someone and have faith that they’ll understand you even when you don’t understand yourself.”

I nod, liking that for my sister.

“Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they’re both switch-hitters. I wonder how they decide who’s going to be the top and who’s going to be the bottom?” Riley muses thoughtfully.

“What?” I nearly shriek.

Riley shrugs, her eyes full of secret knowledge. “Arielle’s my best friend, Noah. I know things about her that you will probably never want to know. We’re like this.” She crosses her fingers, showing me how tight Arielle and she are, and I groan.

“Don’t remind me.”

She laughs and shoots Arielle a wink. Arielle looks at me questioningly, but I shake my head. Arielle meets Riley’s eyes and smirks, probably knowing Riley will tell her everything later.

“Think it’s too soon to get out of here?” I ask. “I want to take my fiancée home and fuck her wearing nothing but that ring.”

Riley whimpers quietly. “My dad just got here. I feel like we should hang out.”

I chuckle. “Baby, I already planned that out. We’re meeting your parents and my mom for lunch tomorrow.”

She smiles like that’s the greatest gift ever, despite the ring I placed on her finger tonight. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

We take advantage and slip out, although I’m sure everyone notices us. I’m tempted to drive home quickly, but as I look over at Riley, I know I don’t need to.

We’ve got forever.

Instead, I cruise home, taking the full fifteen minutes to hold Riley’s hand and feel my ring on her finger. “That’s a big rock, Miss Watson. Do you like it?”

I’m nervous that she might’ve preferred a more traditional diamond solitaire, but my gut told me that Riley would appreciate something unique. For the first time ever, I went with my gut over my brain. And then I promptly went about sorting through all the possible options, along with each stone’s pros and cons. And that was before shopping for the perfect setting. That ring has a lot of Riley in it, but it has a lot of me in it too.

Riley smiles at our hands, admiring the ring. “I love it.” She looks up at me and adds, “I love you.”

We get home, and as we come through the door, Raffy looks up from his new dog bed, wags twice, and lies back down. He might be turning into the worst guard dog ever or simply adjusting to his new home. I decide to choose the latter.

“We’ll get dinner