Page 118 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

She laughs softly. “I don’t know. Do you?”

“I do,” I tell her. “And to me, the spirit of Buttercup reunited with and lives on in Buttercup 2.0. That or I’m just too devastated that she passed and I’m desperate for anything to help me avoid my grief.”

“You are such a sweetly sensitive soul.”

“With tree trunks for biceps,” I remind her, making a feigned serious expression.

She laughs.

I slip her hand from my arm and turn to face her fully. I step close, until I can see the blue-green flecks of her irises, their stormy gray edges. “What’s so funny?”

She tips her head. Her hand settles over my heart. A soft smile lifts her mouth. “I just love you, my strong and silent, gentle giant.”

“Gentle giant, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs, pressing up on tiptoe.

I take her mouth with a fierce, loving kiss. Then I bend, throw her over my shoulder, and swat her ass.

Juliet squawks, scaring a flock of birds from the trees.

“Will Orsino! What are you doing?”

“Just living up to my description!”

She laughs against my back and swats my butt, too. “Then carry on, gentle giant!”

“Where to?” I ask.

She presses up, and I shift her, lowering Juliet so that her legs can wrap around my waist, her dress rucked high at her hips. She kisses me soft and sweet and tells me, “Home.”

I stare at her, my heart pounding as I reach within myself for the courage she deserves. “Do you think…one day, you could call this home? Do you think you might want to live a life here, with me?”

She stares down at me, love shining in her eyes, her hand settled over my heart. “I think that sounds like a dream come true.”

•Epilogue•

Will

One year later

I can count on one hand how many times in my life I’ve cried, and even then, it only got as far as my throat getting thick, my eyes growing wet. That was all I ever allowed myself, even though there was this tug inside me, an ache to give in. But each time, I blinked and stopped myself, swallowed roughly, cleared my throat, pushed past it. Each time, I denied myself.

Today makes up for all of them.

I stand on my family’s land, where this wedding is taking place on a picture-perfect summer evening, and watch Juliet walk down the aisle, her gaze holding mine, her smile wide. She’s got it together—poised and gorgeous, her dark waves artfully braided with butter-yellow tea roses and sky-blue delphinium, her hips swaying as the breeze whips her blue dress, making it dance around her lush body like water.

I stare at her as I stand at the end of the aisle, and twin tears streak down my cheeks, following the path of the ones that came before them. I’m a fucking mess.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Petruchio says quietly out of the side of his mouth, his head barely turned so he can speak over his shoulder, “but if you’re this wrecked when she’s abridesmaid, you’re going to be fu—”

“Yes, Iknow,” I grumble, still staring at Juliet. “Now kindly shut up.”

He snorts softly, turning his head back toward the aisle, and then the air whooshes out of him as Kate starts walking our way next. A suspiciously wet throat clear follows.

A grin tugs at the corner of my mouth. “Enjoying a taste of your own medicine?” I ask.

“Shut up,” he mutters, wiping at the corner of his eyes.

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