Crazy for Your Love
Page 25
“I wanted to know your take on the KonMari method for girlfriends.”
Confused, I frown. “What’s that?”
She swallows. “Remember, I decided I didn’t care if Liam was good enough for my sister as long as he makes her happy?”
I nod carefully. “Right. I remember now.”
“I am not good enough for you, Carter.”
“Tea—”
She presses her fingers to my lips. “I will never be that perfect girl you were looking for. But I’m hoping that, just maybe, your life is better with me in it.”
I wrap my hand around her wrist and pull her fingers from my mouth. “I don’t want perfect. I want you.”
“I want you, too,” she whispers. “So badly.”
Hell yes. “Is it okay that I’m going to get drywall dust all over that sexy dress?”
“Yes,” she says, stepping closer. “I’m here to be ravished, if you couldn’t tell. That is, if you can manage to ravish me.”
“Is that a challenge, Teagan?”
She shrugs, biting back a smile. “Maybe.”
“I can’t back down from a good challenge.” I pull her into my arms and lower my mouth to hers, but she stops me with another finger to my lips.
“You should know something.”
I growl against her finger. “Can it wait until after I kiss you?”
“No.” She trembles in my arms. “I love you. I think maybe I even loved you before you pretended to be my boyfriend. I think maybe I’ve loved you all along, and maybe that’s why I wouldn’t give you a chance. I was too scared.”
My heart races. Best. Night. Ever. “I love you too.” Smiling, I catch her finger between my teeth before releasing it. “I was scared of that too—after losing Max, I was scared of loving anyone. But at some point, loving you became a good kind of scary.”
She nods. “Exactly.”
“I’ve missed you, pinkie toe.”
She laughs against my lips, then melts into me. “Shut up and kiss me, kidney stone.”
Teagan
Six months later . . .
“They couldn’t have asked for better weather. Today is going to be perfect,” I tell Carter as I straighten his tie.
The last six months have been incredible. Date nights with Carter, evenings helping Isaiah with his homework, Sundays at Brayden’s having brunch with the family. Today will be the cherry on top.
It’s a beautiful spring day, and we’re all gathered at the Jackson family cabin for Molly and Brayden’s wedding. The bride and groom insisted on a small event—or as small as anything can be when it involves the whole Jackson clan. We’ll all gather in front of the lake at sunset to listen to them say their vows and then have a barbecue on the back patio and dance until the moon is high in the sky.
“I’m pretty sure it could’ve been raining buckets, and Brayden and Molly would still think it was the perfect day,” Carter says.
“Is the groom nervous?”
“I think he’s convinced she’s going to realize she can do better than him and disappear.”
I laugh. “I really doubt that. I think she’s nervous, but not as nervous as the ring bearer. He’s told me fourteen times that Brayden’s going to be his dad.”
“Only fourteen?” Carter asks. “Every time I’ve called him Noah this week, he’s corrected me. ‘It’s Noah Jackson,’” Carter says, imitating the little boy’s adorable voice.
“He knows where he belongs.”
Carter pulls my hands off his tie and closes the distance between us, wrapping his arms around my waist and slowly lowering his forehead to mine. “I can’t blame him for being excited about it. It’s a good feeling, knowing where you belong, knowing who you can call family.”
“Can’t argue with that.” I loop my arms behind his neck and melt into him.
“Get a room,” Isaiah calls from behind me, and I grin, as grateful to the Jacksons for pulling the teen into the fold as I am for their willingness to include me.
“Can you go find something else to do for a while?” Carter asks Isaiah, and I hear the kid chuckle and the sound of his steps.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I say, even as I curl into him.
“I wanted to ask you a question in private,” he says in my ear.
“What’s that?”
He clears his throat. “Today’s all about family. About making those who are family in our hearts family in name.”
That is such a freaking sweet way to look at it. “I love that.”
He’s quiet for a beat and I feel him go tense. Is he . . . nervous? “So what about you? Would you want to be a Jackson?”
I pull back to look in his eyes, sure I’m misunderstanding what I think I heard and hoping beyond hope anyway. “What?”
Carter grins and shakes his head. “You look amazing in that dress, but I keep thinking you’d look even better wearing a ring.” He digs a hand in his pocket and comes out with a black box. “My ring.”
Oh my God. “Carter . . .”
“You’ve been an honorary Jackson for a long time, Teagan, but I’m ready to scratch the ‘honorary’ from that title altogether.” He drops to one knee and opens the box to show a sparkling diamond. “I love you. You saved me from the darkness, and I’d be grateful to you every day for that alone, but then you became part of my life. You brighten every day that I get to spend with you and bring me more joy than anyone else I’ve ever known. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to call you my girl, but I’d rather call you my wife. Marry me?”
“Yes.” I drop to the ground in front of him and offer him my shaking hand. He slides the ring on, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “I love you so much.”
He lowers his mouth to mine and his kiss is long, lingering, and full of promise. When he breaks the kiss, his smile is radiant. “I can’t wait to do this for the rest of our lives.”
Thank you for reading Crazy for Your Love, book five in The Boys of Jackson Harbor series. I hope you’ll check out Shay Jackson’s happily-ever-after in If It’s Only Love, coming September 2019! If you’d like to receive an email when I release a new book, please sign up for my newsletter: http://eepurl.com/qymaH
I hope you enjoyed this book and will consider leaving a review. Thank you for reading. It’s an honor!
Read other books by Lexi Ryan
A huge thank-you goes out to everyone who helped make this story into more than a mess of words on the page. Most of all, a big thanks to my incredible family. Brian, you are my absolute favorite human. Thank you for believing in me, for listening to me, and for being the calm to my constant storm. Date nights forever! To my kids, Jack and Mary, you are so freaking cool, and I’m so proud of you both. I’m the luckiest mama ever! Thank you for inspiring me to be my very best. To my sister Kim, thank you for coming up with the Jackson Brews slogan. I love it so much I had to put it on T-shirts (and, okay, that part was your idea too). Of course, to my mom, dad, brothers, sisters, in-laws, aunts, uncles, various cousins, and cousins-in-law, thank you for cheering me on—each in your own way. On all days, but especially the heavy ones, I’m grateful for my tribe.
I’m lucky enough to have a life full of amazing friends. Thanks to my writing friends who sprint with me and talk me off the ledge when the book looks like a disaster. To my BFF, Mira Lyn Kelly, who does more than her fair share of hand-holding, hair-stroking, and pep-talking, my eternal gratitude. To my CrossFit friends who have just accepted that sometimes I disappear for a few months but don’t hold it against me, thank you.
To everyone who provided me feedback on this story along the way—especially Heather Carver, Samantha Leighton, Tina Allen, Lisa Kuhne, Dina Littner, Nancy Miller, and Janice Owen—you’re all awesome. A huge, special thanks to Chanpreet Singh, who was my sensitivity reader for Teagan’s story and held my hand through some of the cultural elements in this book. I’m grateful to my source at the Terre Haute Fire Department for answering my protocol questions. Any errors are my own. I ap
preciate you all so much!
I have the best editorial team. It truly takes a village. Lauren Clarke and Rhonda Merwarth, thank you for the insightful line and content edits. You push me to be a better writer and make my stories the best they can be. Thanks to Arran McNicol at Editing720 for proofreading. I’ve worked hard to put together this team, and I’m proud of it!
Thank you to the people who helped me package this book and promote it. Sarah Eirew took the gorgeous cover photo and did the design and branding for the whole series. A shout-out to Lisa Kuhne for stepping up and promising to put out any release-day fires since I’ll be on an international flight the day Teagan and Carter are released into the wild. Nina and Social Butterfly PR, thank you so much for all your work! I love working with you and your awesome assistants! To all of the bloggers, bookstagrammers, readers, and reviewers who help spread the word about my books, I am humbled by the time you take out of your busy lives for my stories. My gratitude will never be enough, but it is sincere. You’re the best.
To my agent, Dan Mandel, for believing in me and always believing the best is yet to come. Thanks to you and Stefanie Diaz for getting my books into the hands of readers all over the world. Thank you for being part of my team.
Finally, the biggest, loudest, most necessary thank-you to my fans. Because of you, I’m living my dream. I couldn’t do it without you. You’re the coolest, smartest, best readers in the world. I appreciate each and every one of you!
XOXO,
Lexi
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Crazy for Your Love © 2019 by Lexi Ryan
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the author except by reviewers, who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to institutions or persons, living or dead, is used fictitiously or purely coincidental.
Cover and cover image © 2019 by Sara Eirew
ISBN-13: 978-1-940832-10-4
ISBN-10: 1-940832-10-1
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