“What do you think of the fireplace, Lily?” Aspen takes several steps closer to me, until he’s standing right in front of me. I don’t fight him when he grabs onto my shoulders, turning my body to fully face the fireplace. “Is this okay?” he asks under his breath, looking down to his hands resting on my shoulders.
I nod, not wanting his hands anywhere else but on me.
He keeps his hands on my shoulders, their warmth soaking through my exposed skin. One of his thumbs carelessly moves in circles.
“The fireplace is great, Aspen.” I look over my shoulder at him, finding his face closer to mine than I expected.
He catches me off guard when he slowly runs his hands down my arms. Since I have on a tank top, I can feel the callouses on his fingers scratching a path down my skin. I wonder if he can feel the goosebumps rising on my skin from his touch.
His breath tickles my ear. “You see, one night, not too long ago…” Aspen’s hands shift from my arms to my hips, “you told me that we were fire. Wild and passionate, but only for a short amount of time. You said we couldn’t burn forever, that fires eventually have to burn out.”
I suck in a breath as his hands travel underneath my top.
“Your words stuck with me, Lily. I sat in bed that night turning them over in my head. Because I thought of us as fire, too—wild, passionate, all-consuming. But we saw things differently. I didn’t see us as something bound to burn out.”
His thumb scrapes across the waistline of my shorts. “I saw us as an uncontrollable wildfire. One started from the smallest spark, but in no time, wild and raging. You know how much effort it takes to put out a wildfire? A lot. And even then, a spark could just light again, maybe burning even brighter the next time.”
He pauses. “That’s like my love for you. Maybe our love never grew, but it could. It has the potential to. Just like that spark becoming a wildfire.”
“What’s that have to do with the fireplace?” I whisper.
“Because even when you thought I was playing games with you, I wasn’t. I was making plans—for us. For our future together. In hopes that you’d want the same thing. I wanted to prove to you how much I loved you. How real this relationship had become to me. How I wanted to have a grown-up relationship with you. So grown-up that I wanted you to one day—however long it might take—move in here with me. I wanted you to look at that fireplace right there and remember my love for you. I want to keep that fire lit for you at all fucking times if you’ll let me. I don’t care that it’s hot in the south and that we’ll have to pay double for air conditioning, I want to always remind you that my love burns as bright for you as that damn fire. And that it won’t ever be put out. It’ll come back stronger and stronger. That the love is fucking real, and I want it forever.”
He pulls me flush against his body, spinning me around to face him. “I want this. I want us. I want you to know I’m in this for forever, no games, just love. So now that I’ve shown you how serious I am about this, I need to ask you one last time, Lil. Do you love me? Can you see our future as fucking clear as I can? If you don’t, I’ll respect it, but I need—”
Crushing my lips against his, I give him my answer. I throw everything I have into the kiss—apologizing with my lips, promising him the future with a slip of my tongue.
He pulls back. “Wait, so does that mean my not-too-sappy, just-sweet-enough speech worked? It took me a while to get it right, you know.”
I can’t help but smile up at him. “Yes, it worked. I love you, Aspen. I was wrong about you. About us.”
Aspen brushes his nose against mine. “I love you, too, Lil. I love you so damn much. Now kiss me again.”
We crash against each other wildly, passionately, raging.
And the kiss? It’s all-consuming.
Epilogue
Aspen
One Year Later
“What do you think of this piece?” Lily asks from the doorway of our closet.
I’m sprawled out on our bed in nothing but my boxer briefs, facing the gorgeous woman I now get to call mine. “Like I’ve said about the fifty other articles of clothing you’ve tried on tonight, they all look great. You make them look stunning, Lily Bear.”
Smoothing out the fabric of the dress she wears, she says, “Are you sure? I just don’t know if it fits the vibe.”
Groaning, I pull one of the ten throw pillows she has on our bed to cover my face. She’s been parading around in her bra and underwear for almost an hour now, trying on potential clothing options for the upcoming opening of her boutique. When she asked me to help her decide, I jumped at the opportunity. Watching Lily try on sexy little dresses and also getting to watch her strip out of them? Sold.
Little did I know it would be the most epic tease for my dick.
My voice muffled by the pillow, I respond, “Lily, anything you put in that boutique will be amazing because you chose it.”
I feel the bed dip two seconds before the pillow is ripped from my face. As if she wants to give me the worst case of blue balls ever, my fiancée puts a knee on either side of my hips, completely straddling me.
“I just want it to be perfect,” she says with a smile, her hands resting on my chest.
I feel myself growing underneath her, something I know she feels when I rub against her. “You’re perfect,” I tell her, pulling her face to mine for a quick kiss.
“And you’re hard,” she points out, running her core against me.
“Well, I did just watch you dress and undress for almost an hour. You should probably be concerned if I wasn’t turned on.”
“I just wanted your opinion on the clothes.”
Skimming my hands down the outsides of her thighs, I pull at the soft fabric of the dress. “I think it’d look a lot better on the floor.”
“Let’s test out your theory, then.” She straightens, reaching her arms up to let me remove it.
Her lips find mine and our tongues eagerly meet. My hands are busy unhooking her bra when her phone starts vibrating on the nightstand next to my head.
Neither one of us pay any attention to it. I palm her breast, the gesture awarding me a moan from Lily. My mouth is inches from taking her nipple into my mouth when the vibrating begins again, but this time from my phone somewhere on the bed.
“Just ignore it,” Lily says, panting as my teeth tease her sensitive flesh.
“Oh, I plan on it,” I tell her.
It turns out whoever is calling must really need us, because once the vibrations in the bed stop, her phone starts ringing again on the nightstand.
“Someone is being a major cock block right now,” Lily pouts, climbing off me.
“I thought we were ignoring it?” My question goes unnoticed, as Lily’s too busy answering her phone.
“Hello?” she asks, eyeing my hard-on with a wink.
“Holy fuck,” leaves her mouth two seconds later. The phone drops from her hands. The alarmed look on her face has me sitting up in bed.
“What is it?”
“It’s time,” she finally says.
Setting a throw pillow on my dick to try and get it to calm down, I give her a questioning look. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“My nephew is about to be born and I swear to god, if I’m late for his arrival, I will never forgive myself,” she shrieks, running into the closet.
I freeze, staring at the empty space she just filled. “Like right now?” I ask.
“No, next month. Yes—right freaking now.” She appears in the doorway once again, pulling an old T-shirt over her head. “We need to get to the hospital! Put on a shirt and let’s go.” Her hands wave around maniacally as she speaks, the light catching against the ring she let me put on her finger a few months ago.
I shift into action, pulling on the first pair of pants I find. I almost lose my balance as I shove my legs in the pants as quickly as possible, finding a shirt quickly after.
Lily claps from the doorway, trying to get me to hurry. “I’m
going to be an aunt! You’re going to be an uncle. Oh my god, I almost missed my nephew’s birth because I was horny!”
“It’s not like we knew that was the call we were ignoring,” I point out, trying to adjust myself in my pants to get rid of the evidence.
In my defense, Veronica wasn’t due for another two weeks. Even though, once the doctor gave her the news that she could pop at any moment, she began to do anything possible to evict the baby growing inside her. She loved being pregnant up until the last few weeks. Then she told me way too many graphic things I never needed to know about pregnancy. Veronica glowed her entire pregnancy, soaking up every single second of it, shocking us all with how much she loved it.
Even more of a shock to us was when Maverick and V told us the news. It was two months after they had a small wedding ceremony at her parents that they announced to us she was pregnant. And that they had been trying for a couple of months.
I stumble around as Lily yells at me like a damn (but super cute) drill sergeant to be quicker. My shoes get slid on, even though I’m not fully confident they’re on the right feet. I finally get myself together enough to go to the hospital. I put the pedal to the metal all the way there, terrified that my fiancée might actually become hysterical if she misses the birth of her nephew.
We make it to the hospital in record time. Lily is out of the car and running to the entrance before the car is even in park. It’s then I notice that her leggings are inside out. Snickering, I don’t even have time to tell her about the small mishap.
I race after her as she sprints through the automatic doors, shouting, “I’m going to be an aunt!” to anybody within earshot.
The lady at the front desk gives Lily an odd look, telling her labor and delivery is on floor five.
“Huff it, Aspen,” Lily exclaims over her shoulder as she makes her way to the elevator.
After Lily hounds two doctors and three nurses, we find Maverick and Veronica’s room.
Veronica takes one look at Lily and yells, “Don’t ever deny the epidural, Lily! I was a dumbass and thought I could deliver naturally, and now it’s too fucking late.” She holds Maverick by the shirt collar, and all he does is give me a helpless look, his eyes as wide as saucers.
Two hours later, Liam Morrison makes his appearance into the world—his first name chosen after Connor’s last.
I’m standing in the hospital room, watching two of my best friends, my fiancée, and my newborn nephew when I realize how good I really have it.
Lily cradles Liam in her arms so delicately, a look of awe on her face as she watches the sleeping baby. Something inside of me tugs at the sight, anxious for the day that I get to witness Lily holding our own child.
Staring at Lily and my friends, I realize how fucking lucky I am. I wouldn’t trade any of these relationships for the world, and I’m excited to see what this new chapter brings—for all of us.
A nurse comes in, telling us visiting hours are over. We exchange goodbyes, Lily with the promise that she’ll be back as soon as they let us in tomorrow morning.
On our way out, I throw my arm over Lil’s shoulders, leisurely strolling with her down the hallway. “Truth or dare?” I ask her, looking down at her smiling face.
“Dare,” she says automatically.
We promised each other no more games of the heart, but every now and then, we like to push each other with a simple game of truth or dare.
“Marry me. Have a family with me.” I reach down and give her a kiss on the head, pushing the down button on the elevator door.
Lily shoves the diamond I gave her in my face. “I already agreed to marry you, remember? There was a whole lot of happy tears involved.”
I nip at her fingers in front of my face, escorting her into the elevator when the doors open. I smile at the memory of me getting down on one knee. I had lit a bunch of candles and placed them all around the fireplace. Lily was so shocked and emotional that she knocked over a burning candle, almost burning our house down in the process.
“Then have a family with me.” We stand alone in the elevator, and she looks up at me with a beaming smile.
“I can’t wait to have your babies, Aspen Bellevue. Once we have all of our shit together, and the boutique isn’t taking up all of my spare time. But there’s one little thing,” she says, peeking up at me.
“And what’s that?” I ask, as the elevator beeps and the doors open. Holding hands, we walk toward the exit of the hospital.
“You know I love you so much—so much—right?” she asks hesitantly, and just by the tone of her voice, I know what she’s about to bring up. “And I know how much you love Gladys, but you know we’ll need something safer if we have kids. Perhaps you can make Gladys a secondary vehicle?”
She forces a smile and awaits my response. Little does she know, I’ve been looking at new trucks online recently.
There’s no way I could ever get rid of Gladys. There are too many amazing memories attached to her, but I do see Lily’s point. A new family car, while Gladys sits on the sidelines, isn’t a bad idea.
“Okay,” I answer simply.
“Okay? Like you’ll do it?” She stops in the middle of the parking lot, looking up at me with a smile.
“Yes, but we’re keeping her. There’s no way I can part with her when she’s part of the reason I have you.”
She swats my arm. “I’d never make you get rid of her. I know how much she means to you.”
It was almost ten years ago when I first met Lily, when she quite literally stumbled into my life and hit me in the balls. It was years of back and forth between us. Years of heartache, grief, and even hate. But we overcame it all to end up right here in this perfect moment—all thanks to a persistent best friend (Veronica), an old truck (Gladys), and a lot of patience (on my part).
We’ll never be able to say the road to finding us was straight and narrow. It was filled with twists and turns, a couple of dead ends, and a whole lot of rain, but the destination ended up being perfect.
Acknowledgments
This is my second time ever writing acknowledgments, and it still doesn’t feel real. I’m getting to live my dream by writing books. Somebody pinch me! There’s no way I could’ve done this on my own and I can’t end this before I thank the team of amazing people who helped make The Road to Finding Us what it is.
To my husband, thank you for supporting me through all of this. There were so many moments where I wasn’t present with you because I had to get my ideas out before I lost them. Aspen and Lily were very demanding at times, and you never faulted me for that. I love you so much. Our love story will always be my favorite.
Christina, my own personal fairy godmother, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I know the road to getting this book done wasn’t always smooth (see what I did there?), but you always made the process so easy. You continuously make me a better writer and help me improve my craft with each new story. I’ll be forever grateful for that. Remember, you’re never allowed to leave me. You’re the real MVP! Thank you, bb.
Ashlee, honestly, I don’t even know where to begin with you. What started as a business relationship has turned into so much more, and I’m here for it. You created the whole aesthetic for all the promotional content of this book and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Thank you for talking through so many plot points with me and the many FaceTimes where I ranted about these characters. I know I’m needy, but you’re legit stuck with me for life. Don’t even think about leaving! LOVE YOU and THANK YOU!
To my betas, y’all deserve a million thank yous, a million times over. You got this book in its rawest form and helped shape its final version. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for all your feedback. I appreciate it so much. The Road to Finding Us wouldn’t be the same without you. Love you guys.
Kat Savage, you read this story at the very beginning and helped shape it into what it is today. You’ve been there from the first day I decided I wanted to self-publish and have given me advice the many tim
es I’ve asked for it. Thank you!
J.R. Rogue and Amanda Cuff, you’ve helped polish The Road to Finding Us up so it’s ready for release. Thank you!
To the bloggers and bookstagrammers, THANK YOU! I wish I could list each of the amazing people I’ve gotten to know since my debut release, but please know that I appreciate all of you. Each and every post, review, picture, etc., does not go unnoticed. I know how much work you guys put into what you do and it’s SO appreciated! My favorite part of this gig is seeing your reactions to my words and getting to discuss my characters with each and every one of you. I love you dearly. Thank you for doing what you do.
I have the privilege of having a growing group of people I can run to on Facebook for anything—Kat Singleton’s Sweethearts. The members in there are always there for me and I’m so fortunate to have you guys in my corner. I owe you so much gratitude for being there on the hard days and on the good days. Y’all are my people.
Lastly, to the readers. If you’ve made it this far, I wish I could give you a huge hug and thank you for taking the time to read my words. I wouldn’t be able to put these books out if there weren’t people like you to read them. There is a numerous amount of amazing, badass, breathtaking books out in the world, and the fact that you chose mine is incredible. Thank you! I hope you continue to tune in to the many more books I have planned.
PINTEREST BOARD AND SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Pinterest Board:
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About the Author
Kat Singleton lives in the Midwest with her husband and their two very lazy doodles. Before she ever wrote her first words, she was a book blogger who fell in love with reading at a young age. In her spare time, you can find her surviving off iced coffee and sneaking in a few pages of her current read. Being an author was a dream of hers—for years and years. She’s excited that dream has now become a reality.
The Road to Finding Us: A Standalone Second Chance Romance (Aftershock Series Book 2) Page 22
