"I want," I said, rocking against her. "I want, but I have some requests." I brought her fingers to my mouth, dragging the middle one between my lips. I caught the wedding band between my teeth and moved it to the proper finger. "This needs to be fixed immediately."
"Can I do it tomorrow?" she asked, a defiant smirk already in place. "Between lunch, pedicures, and baby shower planning? Or are we troubling the local goldsmith this evening?"
I wrapped my hands around her ass and lifted her up, growling the entire way. "Tomorrow will be fine," I said.
"While we're there," she started, reaching for my left hand and kissing my fourth finger, "we'll get one for you, too."
"And come Monday, we get to work on dropping that maiden name, darlin'. I know it's old-fashioned but that doesn't make me want it any less. You can keep your maiden name professionally, but when you come home to me, you're mine. All mine." I kissed her, slow and soft this time. "After we do all that, we're finding a few days for a trip to Dallas. Understood?"
"All of it, Nick. But first," she said, her words rushing out in a heavy breath, "we have to find Bartlett. And this time, we're bringing a marriage license with us."
Epilogue
Erin
Six monthslater
I heldmy hands out in the optimal spell-casting stance, and said, "Pack!"
"That's not going to work, darlin'," Nick said from behind me. "How the hell did you accumulate so many books?"
I gave the waist-high piles covering the floor of my Reykjavík apartment an unimpressed grimace. I loved my collection of books but hated packing it up for another move.
"I mean, isn't everyone reading ebooks these days?" Nick asked. The squeal of the tape roll sounded as he assembled another shipping carton. "Just think about it. Instead of boxing up everything ever printed, you could have a tablet. All of your books, in one spot."
"That's fine for fiction," I said, just a bit petulant. "But it doesn't work for scholarly texts. I see something in one publication, and that makes me think of something else, so I need to pull out another. I like to have them open in front of me, and flip between multiple books at a time."
Nick groaned into a carton. "Good thing we went with the bigger house," he murmured.
I glanced at him over my shoulder. "You can blame it on me all you want, but you're the one who went hogwild over having a backyard," I said.
"And you, darlin', went hogwild over being able to walk to Harvard Square," he said.
Hands on his waist and his head cocked to the side, he watched as I shuffled each text into place. His platinum wedding band shone in the afternoon sunlight. It was bright reminder that he was mine in every possible way.
"It's convenient. I love that my commute is a five-minute walk," I said.
My new office, the one at the environmental protection and climate think tank where I'd be serving as their senior scientist, was small. What it lacked in square footage, it made up for in analysts who would churn those data sets for me. In my mind, that wasn't even a trade-off. I'd sit on the floor and store my things in a milk crate if it meant having a team of analysts at my disposal.
"And I love that you love it," Nick said. "Even if we'll need two rooms for your books."
I knelt, setting an armload of books into the box at Nick's feet. "That we were able to find a house that we both liked is a win," I said.
We were moving into a renovated Victorian home in Cambridge, one that Shannon had tracked down before it went on the market. It was old but modern, traditional but quirky, and completely perfect for me and Nick. It'd all happened quickly, but not without each of my brothers weighing in on the property's merits and flaws. Matt had something to say about the foundation, Sam had lobbied for a rainwater catchment system, Patrick had argued in favor of replacing the windows with newer, more efficient models, and Riley had major issues with the kitchen layout. Nick had agreed to all of it.
I was still adjusting to the well-intentioned meddling. It was good—strange and somewhat uncomfortable, but good—and I was ready to get back home. I was excited about my new job, our house, and our family. It was hard to believe that I'd avoided all of those things for years, but now I was running toward them with arms outstretched. I missed my siblings and sisters-in-law when I wasn't in town, and I'd even started texting to keep in touch with them.
Sam and Tiel's baby was almost one month old now, and I couldn't wait to meet him. Not surprisingly, Shannon and Will were pregnant again. Baby number two was scheduled to arrive in late December, although I didn't think it was possible for any child to be cuter than Abby. Patrick and Andy had yet to set a wedding date, but no one seemed concerned about the lack of progress. Matt and Lauren were thinking about moving out of their loft and buying a house to renovate for themselves, and Riley interpreted that as a sign they were going to start a family soon. He wasn't handling that turn of events well.
Once we were finished packing my apartment, Nick and I were heading to Texas. His family was hosting a party in our honor, and though he'd assured me it would be a small gathering, I was certain that the Texas version ofsmallwas still pretty damn big.
"I'm not going to miss this shower," Nick said from the bathroom doorway.
I abandoned the books I was sorting and pivoted to face him. "Should we give it another shot? You know, for the memories?" I peeled my t-shirt up, over my head, and tossed it in his direction. He caught it in one hand, his eyes trained on me as I reached back to unhook my bra.
"Get over here, woman." He beckoned me closer, growling as my lingerie fell to the floor. "I dare you."
* * *
