Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“I might need it.” He drags in a deep breath and lets it out. “Was Grace’s mom…”
“Relieved,” I cut him off. “The same as Anna’s parents.”
“Good,” he whispers, and I nod, taking a step back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” I turn to head for my SUV parked across the lot.
When I get home twenty minutes later, I walk through the door and find the apartment empty. Not even Dolly, who has grown on me, is around to greet me. Taking my gun to the bedroom, I lock it up, then leave the apartment and walk down the hall to Tucker’s place. I knock and get no response, so I take the elevator up a floor.
When I get to Clay’s, the door is unlocked, so I walk in and hear voices coming from the playroom. Following them, I’m greeted by Emma, Willow, and Miranda sitting at the bar but hear Clay, Tucker, and Dayton’s voices coming from deeper within the room. When Em sees me, she slides off the stool she’s sitting on, leaving behind the glass of wine she was drinking.
Her eyes scan over my face and soften as she walks toward me.
“Bad day?” she asks, wrapping her arms around me, and I bury my face in the space between her neck and shoulder.
“Better now.” I kiss her neck.
“You’re home!”
I drop my eyes to Win when she wraps her arms around us and smile. Yeah, definitely better now, and I know whatever happens in my life, as long as I have this, nothing else will matter.
epilogue
EMMA
One year later
With Miles buried deep inside me, his hands gripping my ass, my back pressed to the cold tile and, the sound of the shower drowning out my quiet whimpers. I clench around him and dig the heels of my feet into his ass as I come so hard that I stop breathing and see stars.
It’s always like this with him, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Still, every single time, I’m caught off guard. As my heartbeat begins to return to normal, I whisper the request I make every single day, even knowing his answers are mostly ridiculous.
“Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”
“I want to marry you.” Like the first time he told me he loves me, I freeze while my heart pounds inside my chest. “Nothing big. Maybe on the beach with just family. You?”
Dragging my face out of his neck, I look into his eyes. Try as I might, I can’t remember my life before him and Winter. I can’t remember my life before I fell in love without even knowing I was doing it. It happened so quickly that it’s like it was always that way.
“Yes.” I thread my fingers through his hair. “But you should know I’m going to buy the most obnoxious dress I can find.”
Laughing, he presses me back against the tile and closes his mouth over mine. When he pulls back, his eyes wander over my face for a long moment before he carefully slides me down his body. Without a word, he opens the door to the shower and gets out, grabbing a towel and holding it open. Once I’m wrapped in it, he grabs one for himself and ties it around his hips.
Wandering into the bedroom, I look out the glass door overlooking the beach. One year ago, our trip to Florida was postponed due to the cases he was working on at the time. Three months later, when things settled—or mostly settled—the FBI was suddenly all over the news for arresting a whole group of police officials and shutting down a trafficking ring being run through one of the big churches in Nashville.
Miles never mentioned he was a part of what happened, but I still knew he and Tucker were involved since they both left their jobs at the police department not long after. So, while the case was all over the news, Clay flew us down here on his private plane, and we all spent a week visiting with my sister when she had time and enjoying the beach when she had to work. It was the absolute best vacation… until this one.
I smile when he wraps his arms around me, then feel my lips part when he takes my left hand in his and slides the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen in my life onto my finger. The princess-cut diamond sparkles in the early-morning sun shining off the ocean and my eyes water.
I spin to face him and try not to cry but the tears are difficult to hold back. Cupping the back of my head, he tucks my face into his neck. I don’t know how long we stay like that, but when I hear people moving around outside our bedroom and know Winter will be in here soon, I attempt to pull myself together.