prologue

It’s crazy we should be so in love with each other.” Nina snuggled even closer to her husband in the bed. “We’re so different, you know?”

“Why is that crazy? Opposites attract, right? Our differences are what make us right for each other.” He took her hand in his, gently caressing the wedding ring he’d placed on her finger just twenty-four hours earlier. “Did you know I had my eye on you ever since the eighth grade?”

Nina laughed. “How could I not—I could practically feel those eyes staring at me, since you always sat behind me.”

“Your last name was Harris. Mine was Howard. The teachers always sat everyone in alphabetical order for homeroom—I thanked God every single day for that blessing.”

“I bet. Still, we never really talked until Spring Break of our senior year. If you were interested in me all that time, why didn’t you ever tell me?”

He shrugged as he now rubbed the wedding ring on his own finger. “Because I’m not like you, remember? I wasn’t able to speak my mind as freely as you did . . . as freely as you still do. Getting rejected by you would have been too hard for me to deal with.”

“But that’s just it—I wouldn’t have rejected you. In fact . . . I was waiting for you.”

“God, it feels so good to hear you say that. And now that you have me, was it worth the wait?”

Nina smiled and traced her finger down his chest. “Lord knows it was.”