“Yes,” she breathes. “I’m ready. More than ready. I can’t wait to walk down the aisle and see you waiting for me at the end.”
I kiss her, long and hard and hungry, the way I’m always hungry for her. When I pull back, she’s flushed and breathless.
“I love you, Violet. In a way I didn’t know was possible to love someone. I think about what you said months ago. When you know, you know. I used to question the feelings I had. How could it happen so quickly, so surely? And I kept coming back to that. Deep down, I knew from the moment I saw you at Onyx that the whole trajectory of my life was going to change.”
Tears glisten in her eyes. “I love you too, Tate. So much. My parents would be proud that we’ve made True Brew successful again, but they’d be even happier knowing I have you to spend the rest of my life with. I’m so grateful you asked me to be your fake girlfriend.” She grins then. “I’m even grateful you were my brother’s roommate.”
A laugh escapes me. I’ll forever hate the impression I first made on her, but she doesn’t hold it against me anymore. She understands more than anyone the headspace I was in that night—and for so much of my life. I brush my lips across hers. Our journey to get here might be anything but conventional, but it was what we both needed to get past the barriers we had in place. And soon, soon, I’ll get to call her mine forever.
I kiss her then, holding her to me, the softness of her body molding to mine. When I come up for air, I lift her up in a hug. “I can’t wait to call you my wife.”
“Tired of calling me your future-wife already?”
“Just looking forward to dropping the future part.” I press my nose to the crook of her neck and breathe in her peaches and cream scent.
When I pull back and look at her, a smile breaks across my face. I wasn’t joking about looking forward to calling her my wife. We’ve already had the kids discussion, and she wants them too. As much as my desire to be a father took me by surprise, it hasn’t ebbed over the intervening months. I’m determined to be the parent to my children that I never had. I want to teach any sons or daughters we might have that there’s so much more to them than their last name or the blood that runs in their veins. That who they are inside, and the love they share with those around them, will mean more than anything else in this life.
I’d like to think that my biological dad would have loved me if he’d known about me, but I’ve realized it doesn’t matter either way. Because there are others that do. My brothers, although they may never say the words out loud, and my sister-in-law, because Delilah has a lot of love to give. Maybe even my mom, deep down. And best of all, my now very-soon-to-be wife. Violet’s love is strong and bright enough to fill the rest of my days.
She presses her body against mine, definitely feeling how ready I am to take her home and make her feel good. “I’m looking forward to calling you my husband.”
I groan. The feel of her and the way she purrs the word husband are driving me crazy.
“When we get home, I’m going to make sure you practice saying it. Just so you’re ready for the big day.”
Her pupils flare. “I could use the practice.”
“How much longer do you think we need to stay?” I ask.
She laughs. “We’re going to stay right to the very end. But if you want, I can tell you exactly what I want you to do to me when we get home.”
I growl, then kiss her again, hard and then gentle and then hard again. I can’t help myself when it comes to her. I’ve never been able to. From pushing her buttons when she visited in college to touching her at Onyx to making her my fake girlfriend and then my fiancée. I never had any control, and I doubt I ever will.
I tip her face up so I can look into her beautiful blue eyes. “You’re always going to be mine, aren’t you?”
Her eyes darken, and her lips part, but she’s not quick enough to give me what I want. I slide my fingers under her hair and cup the back of her neck. “Yes or no, butterfly?”
She presses her palm against my heart. “Yes, Tate. When it comes to you, my answer will always be yes.”
As I hold her close to me, I know no matter what happens in my life, there will always be one place I belong.
With this woman in my arms.
THE END
