Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“I am,” we said in unison.
We spoke our vows to one another, letting all the world know our desire to be wed. And then Court removed the rings from his pocket, handing them to Gavin with a smile. He slid mine on my hand, and then I gave him his. There was only one thing left.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Gavin tugged me toward him, dipping me dramatically and kissing me for all the world to see as everyone cheered—friends, family, and gawking tourists alike.
This was everything I’d ever wanted with Gavin.
Everything I’d never thought I’d be worthy of.
Maybe I wasn’t actually a bad girlfriend. Maybe all of that had been in my head. Because for the right person at the right time, Gavin King had proven that we could be perfect for each other in every way.
And now, he was my husband.
For now and always.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
“So, I was thinking,” I said as I watched Gavin’s naked ass through the window of our villa in Puerto Rico.
He was currently in the shower, and this time, I didn’t have to pretend not to be watching.
“I was thinking,” he said, turning around to give me a full-frontal view, “you need to get your ass in here.”
I laughed. “I already showered.”
“And?” He grinned at me. “Do I need to jack off to get you invested?”
“I mean, it wouldn’t hurt anything.”
He stroked himself a few times as I stripped out of my bikini and jumped into the shower with him. He grabbed me around the middle and pinned me to the shower wall. Our lips crashed together, just as demanding and ravenous as we had been our first time in Puerto Rico when I fell for him.
Now, we were a year married. A year of living together in his Upper East Side apartment. A year of sharing our lives together. And things had only gotten better and better.
He lifted my legs around his waist, slamming me backward against the wall even harder this time. I raked my nails down his back as he thrust home inside of me. I cried out, tilting my head back and letting the spray of water run down between us.
“Fuck, Gavin.”
“I love you,” he said as he pumped faster and faster into me.
“I love you too,” I gasped.
Then, stars burst across my vision, and I came with such force that I could barely contain myself from shouting. Luckily, our closest neighbors were yards away. And if they heard … oh well.
Gavin grunted and finished with me, letting me back down onto my feet and pressing heady kisses to my swollen lips.
“Going to have to come back here on every anniversary.”
“I think you’ve convinced me,” I murmured.
“Now … what were you thinking?”
I laughed and shoved him playfully. “Before your rude interruption …”
He arched an eyebrow and grabbed me by the ass. “Oh?”
“I was thinking we should meet all of our friends sometime while the sun is still up. They’re throwing us a party tonight, you know?”
“Hey, I know, but you weren’t supposed to.”
“Like anyone can keep a secret.”
He laughed. “Well, be surprised. English has been working on it.”
“Done.”
English and Court had had the magical wedding of his mom’s dreams. The mayor had won in a historic landslide. Good for all of them. Even better that they’d then spent the next month in Bora Bora without internet. I didn’t blame them one bit.
Gavin and I cleaned up and then headed down to the clubhouse for our “surprise” party. I looked properly shocked as everyone jumped out at us. We’d invited all of them to our anniversary celebration. And they’d all come.
Not that I’d been expecting a party, but my friends couldn’t help but celebrate at every opportunity. I hugged Lark, Katherine, and English. Before turning to the other friends that I didn’t know as well, but was getting to know.
Katherine and Lark’s old friends—the Crew. They were a knot of Upper East Siders that they’d known since they had been children. Natalie and Penn had their own private villa. Lewis and Addie, and Rowe and his husband had come in later and were on the other side of the island. I didn’t know them as well as the rest of the New Yorkers who had grown up there, but I was glad that the animosity had dissolved. That Court could be around his brother, Penn. That Katherine and Natalie were no longer at each other’s throat. That Camden didn’t want to kill Penn at every opportunity. It sure helped that Katherine was pregnant with their third child in so many years.
“Congratulations again,” Natalie said, pushing her signature silver hair off of her shoulders and grinning brightly.
“Thank you for coming.”
Natalie looked around at the world we’d both somehow ended up in. Outsiders to our core, but somehow belonging all the same.