Page 116 of Strictly Pretend

“No bachelor parties, no bridal parties, no fucking yurts.”

I start to laugh. “I liked the yurt.”

“Just you and me and our love. By the ocean as the sun goes down.”

My breath catches in my throat. “I’d like Granddad to be there.” I say, brushing the hair out of his face. “And I know you’ll want your family there. And Mia and Cassie and Rita…”

“We can ask Mark to be the officiant,” he growls and I laugh.

“I don’t care how we do it,” I tell him. “I just want to do it.”

He grins. “We’re still talking about the wedding, right?”

“Kinda.”

He sets me onto the floor, his mouth claiming mine once more. “I was hoping you’d say that. Now is the perfect time to show you my cabin.”

He grins at me, then pulls me out of the library, my legs moving at double time to keep up with him.

“And by the way, I’m coming back with you on the plane when you head home. I thought we could give your granddad the book together.”

“Can you stop being so perfect please?” I ask him, but I don’t mean it. I’m so stupidly happy I could burst and this man knows it.

The way he knows everything about me.

“What was my favorite book in eight grade?” I ask him as we walk out into the sunlight and he pulls me toward a path that winds down the hill into the wooded area around the lake.

“Jane Eyre, because you have a scary obsession with Rochester,” he tells me.

“How do you remember that?” I ask. I remember telling him during one of our late night conversations. When I thought all of this was fake and I felt so alone in the world.

“Because I remember every single thing you’ve ever told me,” he says, turning to look at me with a sincere expression. “I remember your first word and your favorite ice cream and the way you have to spread butter to every corner of your piece of toast, like you’re trying to play fairsies.”

“It tastes better that way,” I protest. But he hasn’t finished.

“I remember the way your smile lights my fucking world up, every time I look at you. And I remember the way you growl my name when I come inside you in the light of the moon in a far away lake.”

I swallow hard.

“You’re unforgettable, Emma Robbins. Not that I’m ever going to try to forget you.” He pulls me close, kissing my brow. “Now can we stop talking and start walking?” he says, taking my hand and marching me down the path. “Because I want to show you what else I remember.”

I laugh but let him lead me all the way to his cabin. And when we get inside, the laughter is joined by the sound of lips against each other, followed by the sound of soft sighs and low moans. Of us saying we love each other over and over again.

And there’s nothing fake about any of it. Because what we have is real.

And I’m so happy that I want to howl at the moon.

EPILOGUE

BROOKS

“You ready for this?” Linc asks me, straightening my tie. He’s deliriously happy because this is the first time he’s gotten to be the best man to one of our brothers. Over the last few months I’ve had to endure him making mood boards for every occasion. His board for the bachelor party had a James Bond theme, tuxedos and cocktails in the South of France, but after I intervened it ended up being the six of us brothers shooting the breeze for one solitary night at our cabins.

His mood board for the wedding had a navy blue theme, which Emma liked but I had to veto, because there was no way I was letting any of my brothers choose the colors for my wedding.

“I’m ready,” I tell him, because I’m so damn ready it’s not funny. It’s been two months since Emma accepted my second proposal. She says it’s the first and only proposal but I maintain it was the second because I was already mostly in love with her by the time we got to Montana. I just didn’t realize it yet.

We’re on a little beach on an island right off the Atlantic coast. This has been Linc’s crowning glory. His friend owns this private island complete with a secluded beach and was all toohappy to lend the location to us for the weekend. There’s just us, our family, and a few friends.

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