“That was an excellent speech, Luna,” she said with a grin. “Very moving. Really powerful.”
“Thank you.” I swallowed down my tears and offered a small smile, fake as it was. “I was flying by the seat of my pants.”
“You were doing what you do best.” She winked. “I caught it on video. You mind if I post that a couple places? There’s a new app I wanna try. Tock ticks or Ticking Clocks or…some such nonsense?”
I breathed out a laugh. “TikTok, and go for it. I’m not too worried about twenty people seeing it.”
She exhaled a relieved sigh, her shoulders relaxing. “Well, honey, I’m glad you said that, ’cause I already posted it. I was just playing the part about not knowing what the app was called—I’ve been on there for a year. I got sucked into SpicyTok. Some of those books—whew.” She fanned her face and waggled her brows. “Really spiced up things in the bedroom, if you know what I mean. Anyway, there’s a lot more than twelve people who’ve seen your video.”
“What?”
“Oh, you know, just different role-playing games, some light bondage, and—”
“Mabel, no.” I held up my hand to stop her. My God, she was as bad as my mother. “What do you mean about thevideo?”
“Oh, right.” She turned her phone toward me, showing me the app pulled up on her screen. It was an account titledStarlightCoveMischiefwith only one video posted—of me—and it currently had… Wait. That couldn’t be right.
My mouth dropped as I stared at her in shock. “Does this say a hundred and thirteenthousandviews?”
“You’re damn right it does.” She shot me a smirk. “Sure beats the handful of people who usually watch my Lives, doesn’t it?”
“Holy shit,” I breathed, shaking my head. “What does this mean?”
“It means the resort’s already getting calls for reservations. Addison’s back there, scrambling to take all the forwarded calls. Bookings have gone through the roof.” Mabel pursed her lips and tapped a finger against them. “Maybe for the next video, I’ll post that one I took of Brady. Where he told his family they could all jump off a cliff for all he cared, as long as he got you.”
“Hewhat?”
“Jesus Christ, Mabel,” a gruff voice I loved said from behind me. And then suddenly, Brady was there. Standing right next to me, his harsh gaze on the older woman. “You don’t work for a tabloid. Quit making shit up.”
“You didn’t say that, Sheriff?” Mabel asked. “Because I heard, and I quote, ‘I know you don’t agree with Luna, but she’s right. Even if she weren’t, I’d choose her.’ Now, are you trying to tell me I need a hearing aid?”
He didn’t even hesitate before he said, “Thatquote you got right.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at him in shock. “You…wait. You told your family that you choose me? What does that mean?”
He turned to me, his eyes boring into mine. “It means I choose you.”
“I— But you—” I shook my head, my thoughts as much of a jumble as my words. “What?”
“Can we…” He glanced pointedly at Mabel, then me, before tipping his head to the side.
“Oh, pfft,” Mabel said, waving a hand through the air. “You’re no fun. I’m gonna see if I can talk Ford into that shirtless interview.”
With that, Mabel trotted off while Brady tugged me to the side, tucking us into a cluster of trees away from prying eyes and ears. He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze sweeping over me as if he was reminding himself of my features. As if he hadn’t just been inside me an hour before.
“Was that true?” I asked. “What Mabel said.”
“The cliff? No. Choosing you? Yes. Always.”
I breathed out a humorless laugh and shook my head, unable to believe he’d done that. The man who loved his family above everything else. Who’d chosen them day after day, week after week, year after year, since his mom had died, even above himself. And now, he’d told them he was choosing me…
“That was very sweet, but I’m afraid this is going to be a real kick in the nuts for you.” I handed him the papers and watched as he read, his brows inching higher the farther along he got.
When he was finished, he met my gaze. “Okay. What do these mean?”
“It means, all of this?” I swung an arm out to encompass all the commotion around us. “Is a moot point. All my protesting? Completely unnecessary. Redundant, superfluous… Useless. It means you did all that—told your family off and took my side—for nothing.”
He stared at me with hard eyes, his jaw clenching as he tossed the papers down on the ground. Then he reached up and cupped my face, brushing his thumbs across my cheeks. “I did it foreverything. Don’t tell me otherwise. I don’t care about those papers—I mean, yes, it’s great that we have them so we can put an end to this without you chaining yourself to a tree every day and me having to arrest you on trespassing charges courtesy of Holton Group—but I’mnotsorry I told my family what I did. I meant every single word.”
