“You bet your ass I am.”
I pull her back in for another kiss, but she pushes me away. “I love you too, Garrick.”
In all my imaginings of this moment, none of them were this good. I swear my feet aren’t on solid ground any longer. “I love you so much, sweetheart.”
Again, when I go to kiss her, she pushes me away. “I told you, I’m no one’s sweetheart, Garrick. I’m your demon.”
I don’t think I’ve ever been happier as I wrap her tight in my arms, lift her off her feet, and kiss the hell out of her.
EPILOGUE
Blue
I wake up on Christmas morning in Garrick’s arms. There’s a hectic day ahead. The festival will be at its busiest on its last day. The snow is falling gently outside, Lilith is sleeping heavily on my feet, Barry is snoring on the floor next to the bed, and all I want to do is lay here with Garrick and our pets all day.
Okay, I’d love to do more than just lay here, but I definitely want to stay with him.
We probably should have scheduled our Christmas celebration for another day, but I want to celebrate today.
Garrick’s eyes flutter open and he smiles when he sees me awake and looking down at him. “Mornin’, Demon.”
“Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”
He grins. “Oh, so you get to call me sweetheart?”
“Yup. I get to call you whatever I want.”
“Not going to argue with that.” He squeezes me tighter. “How much time do we have before we have to get back to work?”
“Enough.” I press a quick kiss to his lips. In the two days since we got together, for real this time, we’ve both been crazy busy and, in the moments we’ve had alone, talking hasn’t been high on the agenda. “I do have a question, though.”
He pushes loose hair behind my ear. “Shoot.”
“How did you have time to convince the business owners to support me? You’ve been so busy planning for the corporate trip on top of everything else…”
“I canceled it.”
I sit up and stare down at him. “What? Why would you do that?”
He shrugs. “You were right. I was so intent on impressing my parents, I wasn’t making the best choices with my business. To be able to host Horizon Solutions, I would have had to go into debt. And the business is doing well right now. I’ll be better off if I grow it slowly.”
“I’m sorry you had to cancel the trip, but I’m glad you’ve got a new outlook on the business. That’s great news.”
He nods. “Mav wants to stay. He wants to be a partner in the business, which will mean I’ll be able to take more time off when I need it and I won’t have to be so stressed all the time. He’s got a good head for business and some great ideas about how we can expand without bankrupting the company.”
He looks so happy and at ease, but as far as I know, he hasn’t really spent time with his brother in years. “And you think you two will be able to work together?”
“He’s actually more mature than I remembered. We don’t always agree on everything, but we’re already good at compromising. Mav’s too grateful to be out of an office job to give me too much trouble yet.” He cups my bare breast. “How much time?”
I glance at the clock. “Forty minutes.”
“Let’s not waste it talking.” He pulls me down into a kiss and we use every last second of those forty minutes.
***
The festival is a success. We’ve had more visitors every day and I’m on my feet and running so much I don’t think I sit down once all day.
I park in front of Xavier’s small log cabin that evening, wishing I had time for a nap.
