Page 102 of Sweet Temptation
“Really? How long have I been out?”
“You guys know I can walk, right?” I ask Lucky and my dad as Lucky carries me inside my house nearly three weeks to the day later, when I’m finally released from the hospital.
Dad opens the door and moves Linc aside, and I groan, half expecting a beeping sound to appear coming out of a flashing neon sign that saysWide Load.
“Please put me down,” I beg, but Lucky refuses to listen until he’s able to put me on the couch, where Mom already has a cupof tea waiting for me. “Dr. Bunton said I’m fine. He cleared me to go back to work. He even cleared me to fly. No one needs to wait on me. I promise.”
Mom sits down next to me, relief shining in her eyes as she hands me the tea. “Just let us fuss for a little bit, Lex. And maybe don’t go jumping back into work or onto a plane any time soon.”
“Don’t go jumping out of one either,” Linc jokes, and I close my mouth and bite down on my lip.
“So... I’m not going back to work right away,” I tell them, leaving the rest of the sentence hanging unspoken.
Dad moves in front of me, rubbing his temples. “Do I even want to ask?”
Lucky rests a hand on the back of my neck and smiles. “You know how the Kings are playing the new Las Vegas expansion team in two weeks?”
I look between my parents and Linc. “Surprise. We’re getting married.”
EPILOGUE
LUCKY
Every single inch of your body could be pressed tight against mine, and I’d still pull you closer.
—Lucky’s Secret Thoughts.
Two weeks after Vegas, I stand in the middle of one of my brother’s restaurants and raise my glass. “Lexie and I can’t thank you all enough for coming out tonight to celebrate with us on such short notice. We wish you could have all been there with us when we got married, but as you can imagine, we didn’t want to wait.”
“I wonder why,” Linc stage-whispers from the table next to ours as my beautiful wife shakes her head.
“We wanted the marriage. We wanted the life. And we didn’t want to wait another day to start it all. But what I’d like to take a moment to do tonight, in front of all our family and friends, is tell this beautiful woman next to me that I will love hermoreevery single day for the rest of my life. Not more than she lovesme, although I like to tease her that I do. I will love you more than anything else in the world, Lexie. I will love youwild. Through every up and every down and every blessedly boring day in between.”
I tip my champagne toward my beaming, angelic wife and smile so damn hard, my face threatens to split in two. “To loving wildly.”
Everyone in the restaurant raises their glasses and repeats the words as Lexie stands and takes my face in her hands. “Wildly, Lucky.”
The whistles and cheers as we kiss fade into white noise as I pull her against me.
“Promise to show me wild later tonight?” she whispers against my ear, and I nip at her lip.
“As many times as it takes, baby,” I groan, and she giggles as we sit back down.
“Now which one of us is going to tell Linc we’re moving out?” she stage-whispers, and the room erupts around us as Linc pouts in his chair. We already told him we were going to look for a house, but he’s in denial.
Lexie refused to treat this like a wedding since, according to her, we had a wedding, and it was perfect. But she did give in and create one hell of a playlist that I managed to sneak a song or two into. And when John Hiatt’s version of “Have a Little Faith in Me” starts, I stand and offer her my hand. “Dance with me, wife.”
She slides her hand in mine and smiles the sweetest smile. “Any time, my love.”
I guide her out onto the makeshift dance floor that’s been cleared of tables for tonight and take her in my arms, where she’ll always belong. “You still happy we eloped?”
“Yup. The happiest. All the people I needed there were there, and now, I’m your wife. I never thought I’d be this happy, and then you came back into my life and turned it upside down.”
I spin her out and back into me as she giggles, and my entire fucking world settles with that one sound.
She presses up on her toes and kisses my cheek. “And I never want it to flip back again. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Forever, baby.” I spin her around the room, loving the light in her eyes. “Always.”
