Page 123 of One More Night

A wicked grin lowers close enough for me to press my mouth to it. “What a beautiful lie that is.”

I sigh against his lips when they finally brush mine, and my fingers curl into his shirt, locking him in place as fresh rainwater mixes with every swipe of our tongues.

“Forgive me,” I half-moan, half-mutter. “Please, Marcus. If you want me to say it, I’ll say it again. I’ll say it with everything I have left to give.” I steal another burning kiss. “I love you.”

“I forgive you, slayer.”

I peer up at him, finding an endless amount of love gazing back at me. The kind of love I always dreamed of, but never dared hope for.

“In fact… I’ve got a proposition for you.”

EPILOGUE

Heather

Three Years Later

Sparrow’s whiskered snout sniffs at the baby kicking inside my belly.

“What is it?” I ask when she snorts, eyeing me suspiciously.

Cupping my hand under her jaw, I gently guide her to the moving lump my daughter, Rose, creates whenever she stretches.

Sparrow sniffs and nudges the spot, but I laugh when she feels a gentle tap and rears her head back in shock.

“Won’t be long before you get to meet her.” I kiss her speckled face when she nudges me, and my heart pinches, wishing Jango were here to meet her too. “I know you two will be nothing but trouble together.”

“Heather!” Penelope calls from what was once her mother’s hideaway. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

After giving Sparrow a quick kiss, I pick up the bottom of my dress and make my way across the field.

“This was a lot easier before I was enormous,” I grumble once I reach her.

Our newly installed fence wraps around the perimeter of the house, and Pen has one arm propped on top of the entrance post. Her eyes glitter with humor at the sight of me, huffing and puffing. “What was?”

Flattening my hands on my lower back, I arch my spine to catch a breath. “Walking. Breathing.Peeing.”

She lovingly places a hand over my belly, giving me and Rose some reassurance. “You’re almost there. Just a couple of more weeks.”

We walk up the front porch steps, and just like every evening, once we’ve finished up work for the day, I marvel at all the renovations and expansions Marcus made to the house.

Three years ago, when he made the initial proposal for me to start a life with him here in Augustine, I didn’t even hesitate. The answer wasyes, without a doubt, when can we leave?Because what reason did I have to say no? Aside from Alice, there was nothing left for me in Chicago, and up until I met Marcus, I was accepting the bare minimum from life when I no longer had to.

There wasn’t time for thinking about it or taking it slow. I’d flown to Seattle to give Marcus my heart, and I wasn’t looking back for a single second. Our future was as bright as every star in the sky. We knew what we wanted more than anything in this big, spinning world, and we were going to make it happen.

Patrick insisted that we move to the ranch, and Lucy was the one who offered her house to us—no matter how much I fussed that we could find somewhere else to live—and so began our fresh start.

I enter our home to find Catalonia and her two girls flitting around the expanded kitchen, hurriedly grabbing utensils and plates for our guests gathered around the yard on the backside of the house.

We’ve set up picnic tables, lights, and music for everyone in celebration of our new addition. I didn’t want any sort of shower for her because I knew it’d be hard on people to travel or take off work. But when it comes to my new family, I wasn’t given much choice—and I secretly love them for it.

“Hey, woman.” Cat smiles so brightly, it lights the entire room. “Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?”

“Does she ever?” Pen answers for me, stepping in to help while I’m attacked with big hugs from the girls.

“Heather!” Theresa and Sariah gasp in unison, and as usual, their excitement to see me softens my insides like butter.

“I missed you guys,” I say, smiling at Sariah’s ear pressed to my stomach.

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