Page 224 of The Fire We Make

“What does this look like for you?” he asked eventually.

Joy lifted her head, studying him. “What do you mean?”

“I want to spend my life with you Rose,” he said, his thumb brushing along her thigh absentmindedly. “Every part of it.”

“Running the firm. Running the organization.”

His gaze held hers.

“Coming home to you.”

Something in her chest tightened.

“I want you to be my queen, Rose,” he said softly.

Joy’s breath hitched.

Her father had dangled the title of queen over her head for years. A carrot hanging on a string in front of her face to keep her running on the wheel that fueled his fortune and power.

When Ace said it though, it felt real.

“I want that too,” she admitted.

“Good,” he murmured. The kiss that followed was slow and deep, sealing it. Sealing them.

Joy was still every dangerous, broken thing she had spent years trying to outrun.

But with Ace’s arms around her and his love enveloping her, she became a new, beautiful thing of her choosing.

Epilogue

9 Months Later…

The sun had yet to come up, casting Ace and Joy’s home in a pale blue glow as Joy tipped through it. She snuck out from April’s watchful eye not long after their festivities the night before, leaving her hostess and Mel asleep.

She stopped in the doorway of the bedroom she and Ace shared, watching his broad chest rise and fall softly with each breath he took. She noticed immediately the moment he woke and felt her presence. It was only a second, but his steady breaths paused before resuming.

Joy grinned and stepped forward on the balls of her toes then climbed the bed until she straddled his waist and his already semi-hard dick.

Joy grinned.

He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet and her presence alone already had him aroused.

She leaned down and placed a kiss to his tattooed chest.

“Get up,” she demanded in a whisper.

One eye popped open to greet her then the other. His hands rose to her hips and his smile graced her eyes.

“You know it’s bad luck for us to see each other before the wedding,” he said with a teasing grin.

Joy rolled her eyes. “I don’t believe in that shit and neither do you.”

“Nah but April will get us both if she finds out you snuck your way into bed with me.”

Joy rolled her eyes playfully. “She’ll be okay.” April had caught her trying to sneak out, but she was undeterred.

Isaac had evaded them for months, slipping out of town and becoming untraceable, even to Remy.