I’m off my feet a split second later, the bright lights whirring by as Spence spins me around.
“I love you, honey,” he says kissing me hotly. “I’ll ask again when I buy your diamond.”
“You don’t have to?—”
He drops me to my feet, taking my face in his hands. “I want to, Liberty. I’ll ask you a thousand times if I can see that smile again.”
CHAPTER 30
EPILOGUE
The Next Christmas
It’s snowing like mad. Fat flakes coast down, layering a thick blanket on everything outside the Vermont Rose Inn, as I adjust my tie for the third time in as many minutes.
“You're going to strangle yourself,” Justice says from his seat by the fireplace, looking annoyingly calm in his charcoal gray suit.
It looks like he’s posing for a magazine. The room a perfect setting for some New England travel mag. Exposed timberbeams, stone fireplace, the whole place decorated in classic Vermont Christmas style.
“Helpful, thanks.” I yank the red silk loose and start again.
Calm, Spence.
Breathing deeply doesn’t help. It only fills my nose with pine, spruce and cinnamon scents from the decorations.
Beast appears in the doorway, his massive frame filling it completely. “She's almost ready. Rosalie says five minutes.”
Five minutes until my entire life changes and Liberty Cruze becomes Liberty McCallister.
“Breathe, brother,” Scout says, materializing with a tumbler of amber liquid. “Whiskey helps.”
“I'm good.” I wave it off, then reconsider and down it in one swallow.
The burn steadies me slightly, but I have a feeling nothing is going to prepare me for the moment my fiancée walks down the aisle.
“Come here, fool.” Justice crosses the room to fix my tie with practiced efficiency. “You remember what I told you when you asked for my blessing?”
“That you'd kill me if I hurt her?”
“After that.”
I search his face, seeing not my teammate but my soon-to-be brother-in-law. The man who raised Liberty when their parents didn’t. Who protected her fiercely and still struggles with letting anyone else take on that role.
“You said she deserves to be happy, and somehow, impossibly, I do that.”
“Damn right you do.” He straightens my lapels, his expression softening. “I've never seen her like this, man. She’s free. Joyful like she was before the terrible things happened to her…”
“You don’t need to say anything else.”
He stops, nods once, his expression heavy with sadness about what his sister endured from her violent ex-boyfriend.
“I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure she stays that way,” I assure him.
We’re both silent for a beat. She’s ours now. I’ll keep her safe, protect her heart. But Justice will be there guarding our six as well.
“I know you will.” He grips my shoulder briefly, then steps back. “Now let's get you married so we can go raise some hell on those snowmobiles.”
“You might be raising hell tonight on a snow machine. I’ve got a marriage to consummate.”
