Ren gave her wink, then he was gone, leaving her alone with the man she loved and the bribe he brought her.“So…what’s in the box?”
He tipped his chin at the box.“That’s proof that I listen to everything you say, and I’ll always give you whatever you want.It’s also proof that I’m not afraid of commitment.”
Her eyes misted over again.No one had ever said such beautiful things to her.She glanced down at the box.
His eyes sparkled as he smiled at her.“Open it.”
Hadley peeled back the loose box flaps and squealed as a little dog popped up like it had been spring loaded and started aggressively sniffing her hair and licking her chin.“You got me a dog!”
“I gotusa dog.His name is Warrant.He made it halfway through training as part of the Beagle Brigade that works with customs and border protection at the airport, but he failed because he was too friendly.”
A trained agent who had trouble following orders.Hmmm.Wonder what made Cole choosethisdog?“He’s perfect!”she said, pulling Warrant out of the box to cuddle him against her chest.“I love him.”
“Because I promised not to keep anything from you again, I’ll also admit that Ireallywant to ask you to marry me,” he admitted.
Her breath lodged in her throat.
“But,” he went on, “I realize it’s way too soon for that and I don’t want to scare you off, so I’m fine with taking things slow and?—”
“Yes.”
He blinked at her.Then, for a long moment, they just stood there, equally shocked.She couldn’t believe she’d said it, either.But…it felt right.And she didn’t regret a damn second of it.
“You mean…”
She nodded.“Yep.I’ll marry you.”
He sputtered.“I don’t have a ring yet.I didn’t even get down on one knee!Son of a bitch, I’m already screwing this whole thing up.”
She laughed.“I don’t need a ring.I have you, and I have Warrant.That’s all I could ever want.And don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’d never get back up if you got down on one knee right now.”
“That’s truer than I care to admit,” he said gruffly.“So…we’re getting married?”
“Abso-fuckin’-lutely!”
Unable to keep her distance for a second more, she went up on her toes and kissed the crap out of him, giving it everything she had.When Warrant started squirming between them, she pulled back and rested her forehead against Cole’s.
“So, what do you think?”he eventually asked in a playful tone.“Will our happily ever after story be as good as Stella and Eric’s?”
“No.”
His brow furrowed until she added, “Our happily ever after story is going to kicktheirhappily ever after story’sass.”
And you know what?
It totally did.
Epilogue
What happened next?Glad you asked…
The Creighton Heights neighborhood was positively abuzz with gossip when “Clark and Emma” vanished in the dead of night.Some speculated that the dour husband had murdered his sunshiny wife and fled the country.Others assumed they were in WITSEC and got moved to a new location after a security breach.
But the story Stella and Eric decided to share with everyone waswayless fun than that.They said Clark lost his new job before it even started due to some unforeseen circumstances with the company’s finances, so Clark and Emma had decided to move back to the city (in abighurry) where all the good job opportunities were.
Speaking of Stella and Eric, their happily ever after continued without further interruption.It did, however, expand quite a bit when they decided to become foster parents to a set of newborn triplets.They promptly graduated fromfosterstofoster failsand adopted the babies with unprecedented ease.(Someone—and no one knows who, of course—hacked the court system and cut every piece of red tape that could’ve stood in the way of the adoption before it ever became a problem.Weird, huh?)
Mitzy became president of the Creighton Heights HOA in a landslide victory.The party that followed would go down in the neighborhood’s books as the greatest of all time.Mike was there, too.
