Chapter 223: Cheesy
** Eli **
The words felt surreal, the sound of them something that Eli had never expected to hear out of his own voice. But when he saw the smile it brought to Harper’s face, the misty look in her eyes that spoke more than any love songs, he could only wonder why he had never confessed any of this to her sooner.
It was truly the greatest favor from fate that he hadn’t completely and forever missed the chance to do it.
"Oh my God. You’re gonna make me cry." Harper suddenly looked away from him, sniffling, and the abrupt rush of pink blooming over her cheeks was ... insanely adorable. "I’m ridiculous, I know. It’s not like you are proposing or anything! And I’m already about to tear up! This is not how it’s supposed to go."
Hmm, good reminder. Make sure Harper actually cries when he proposes — item added to the top of his checklist.
Eli didn’t boast out loud about his new plan in the making though. Gently turning her face back to him, he pressed her into his shoulder and nuzzled her hair. "Don’t worry, you’ll get so used to me saying cheesy things like this from now on that I’m sure you’ll start rolling your eyes soon, rather than crying."
He was trying to sound playful, because in fact, he was just as flustered himself and could barely keep his heart from leaping out of his throat. Both of them needed a little change of mood to calm down from this emotional moment.
It worked. Harper’s sniffles turned into a laughter, and she touched her palm to his heart again, feeling their pulses racing alongside each other’s. "Then keep saying it," she requested. A soft kiss landed on the side of his cheek. "Keep saying whatever cheesy things you’re holding back from me ... I want to hear them all."
Eli didn’t need any extra incentives to do precisely that. Maybe he was already starting to get addicted to the taste of those syllables on his tongue.