He laced his fingers at the small of her back. “Could you let me talk?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Thank you.” He leaned forward to bump his nose with hers. “You can make that into a business. Not just us. But with a little marketing and word of mouth, I think you could get the word out and do some catering to build your name. Then when we’re on tour, we’ll make sure it’s in the budget to get you and a small crew of your choosing on board with us.”
“I could see if I could steal Annie away,” she said as her mind whirled with ideas. “I’ve got enough in savings to be able to get some equipment. I guess I’m just moving up my timetable.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing since the day we met?”
She laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.” Now that he was there and she could touch him, everything inside her fell into place.
It was terrifying. Being dependent on another person was so foreign to her. And yet, here she was, irrevocably in love with this man. And all of her plans hinged on planning around more than just herself.
She sat back until his beautiful green-gold eyes met hers. “This is a forever kind of deal, Big Guy. Think you can handle it?”
His smile was so huge. Not an ounce of fear lived inside him. God, how could she have found someone like that? That loved her with this much certainty?
“Forever with matching rings, Lawless.”
“Wait, what?” Her breath stalled in her chest.
No. He didn’t...that wasn’t...
He wasn’t serious.
“You heard me.” He stood, hooking her legs around his waist as he walked through the living room to the stairs. “You think I’m giving you the chance to get away again, you’re out of your mind. I’m tying this up with a bow and a license.”
“I didn’t say yes.” She couldn’t say yes. “You didn’t ask,” she squeaked out as he ran up the stairs. “Deacon, you didn’t ask!”
The insufferable man just laughed.
EPILOGUE
November 1, 2:00 PM - Endings & Beginnings
Venice Beach blessed them with a sky as blue as Harper’s eyes and a sunny day that burned off the worst of the November temperatures. Sand sifted through his toes and the familiar roar of the ocean matched the roar in his head.
He shifted under his linen jacket and smoothed down the sand colored silk t-shirt beneath it. He reached into his pocket for the eighty-seventh time, curling his fingers around the velvet box.
“We can still make a run for it,” Simon said out of the side of his mouth.
Deacon smiled and his heart rate came down from thunder to a mere rumble. “Not a chance.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Don’t make me take away your best man status. I can still give it to Jazz.”
Simon adjusted his buff colored jacket that matched Deacon’s. Instead of a t-shirt in the same hue like Deacon wore, Simon’s shirt was the blue Harper had chosen for her attendants. “She’s already the maid of honor.”
“She’s like the all-powerful Oz. She can do it all.”
Simon snorted. “Just because she single-handedly set this entire spread up doesn’t mean a thing.”
Deacon looked out at the folding chairs with their little mason jar flower arrangements tied to the aisle seats. Flower arrangements that he’d helped with. He was damn good at tying a fucking bow.
He dug into his pocket again.
“What do you keep digging for? I’ve got the ring.” Simon flipped open the ring box in his pocket. “See? All safe and sound.”
Deacon looked down at the special wedding ring they’d both had created for each other. Their individual fingerprints were carved into the inside of a simple platinum band. His on Harper’s and vice versa.
Deacon closed it and Simon’s hand together. “Good. Because I don’t want to be arrested for murder on my wedding day.”
Simon slapped him on the arm. “Relax. You’ve been a freaking mess since you guys shared the good news. All will be well, brother.”
They’d rushed the entire deal. If Harper had her way, they would have taken longer to plan the shindig, but all he wanted was to be married to her.
He wasn’t sure what it was about that slip of paper and ring that was so important. She loved him, and she wasn’t going anywhere. But he wanted a tie to him. He’d never had ties or roots, or even a place to truly call home. But Harper was all of those things to him and he wouldn’t ever let her go.
So much so that he actually hadn’t asked her to marry him. Thank God she actually went along with the whirlwind engagement. Of course he really hadn’t given her a choice. He’d just bulldozed his way over any doubts she had.
But now that there was a preacher, and a glowering Hawaiian man standing in the front row, as well as all of the people that were important to him and Harper. Now he didn’t want any doubts on his end.
The pluck of guitar strings pulled him out of his obsessive musings. Gray had volunteered to play the song Deacon had been writing for years. The moment he’d been sure that Harper was lost to him, he’d known just what the song needed. It needed the loss to find the hope. The song had come full circle, just as he had—just as they had. Because of Harper he finally had a purpose in the world that didn’t belong to music.
A partnership that centered him and refueled him.
She would always feed his music. This overwhelming love that this woman had brought out in him was as terrifying as it was exhilarating and he would be forever grateful for that. And make sure that he showed her every single day.
The flap of the white tent at the far end of the aisle snapped him to attention. First he saw Jazz. Her dark hair was clipped up with a single blue strip of hair in the mass of curls. She had a dazzling smile that put every man and woman at ease. You wanted to be part of her world just so you got to see that smile every day.
She wore a simple blue dress that fluttered around her knees in the breeze off the water. She held fat red Gerbera daisies, matching the ones that were tied to each of the chairs on the aisle. She was beautiful, but she wasn’t Harper.
And she was walking down the aisle slower than was humanly possible.
His bubbly Jazz should be sprinting down the aisle. She only had two speeds, dammit. Why did she have to pick now to go slow?
But finally she was there, grinning up at him as she took her place across from him. The song that had become Harper’s flowed into the hopeful finish of the melody. He knew every note by heart, but he went completely deaf, his mind completely blank as Harper stepped out of the little tent she’d been hiding in.
God, she was breath stealing.
She’d twisted her beautiful hair into an intricate braid at the crown leaving the rest of it to dance around her bare shoulders. She held a happy trio of sunflowers with the red daisies wound into the green. Gold threads in her simple white lace dress picked up light from the sun turning her into a shimmering piece of precious gold.
Her father took her arm and walked her down the aisle, but Deacon only had eyes for Harper. He couldn’t have looked away if someone had held a gun to his head. And when she finally got to the little arbor they’d set up and smiled up at him with tears shining in her eyes every doubt flew out to sea.
The blinding love he felt matched the light he saw in her eyes. And when her father answered the preacher to say that he was giving this woman to him, he knew absolute peace.
He dug out the box in his pocket and went down on one knee. “Harper Lee Pruitt, will you marry me?”
She laughed and brought her hand up to her mouth. The sprinkle of tears that dotted her cheeks and little sob that broke free nearly broke him. “I didn’t think you were ever going to actually ask, big guy,” she said with a sniffle. She held out a trembling hand.
He held onto it and slid the antique solitaire over knuckle, pressing a kiss to the top of her hand before he stood and hauled her into him for a kiss that held a few tears and a whole
lot of love.
“It’s not time for that yet,” Simon said.
“It’s always time for that,” Jazz said with a dreamy sigh.
Clearing his throat he linked their fingers and turned to the preacher. “I think we’re ready.”
“More than ready,” Harper said and tightened her grip on his hand.
About the Authors
TARYN ELLIOTT comes from the great state of New York—upstate, thank you very much. She’s usually busy making up stories with her best friend until the wee hours of the morning, or fangirling over her favorite TV show. She falls in love with each and every one of her leading men as she writes their book, and there’s always a soundtrack to match.
She loves talking to readers, so if you’d like to reach her, please visit her website: tarynelliott.com and sign up for her newsletter, or drop her a line at: [email protected].
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR CARI QUINN saves the world one Photoshop file at a time in her job as a graphic designer. At night, she writes sexy romance, drinks a lot of coffee and plays her music way too loud. When she’s not scribbling furiously, she’s watching men’s college basketball, reading excellent books and causing trouble. Sometimes simultaneously.
Visit Cari at www.cariquinn.com to sign up for her brand new newsletter, or drop her a line at: [email protected].
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