“I told her something that I should’ve told you first.”
“What?”
“I told her that I love you.”
Hearing my mom say it and hearing Billy say it were two very different experiences. This version had tingles spreading throughout my body and my heart racing a mile a minute. I tried to hide my reaction as I casually said, “Yeah, she told me.”
“What do you think about that?”
“That depends,” I said breathlessly.
“On what?” The concern was back up to ten.
“On whether or not you were telling the truth.”
“You know I promised I’d never lie to you.”
“Yes, you did, but you never promised not to lie to my mother.”
His lips curled at the edges. “I was telling the truth. I love you.”
“Okay. Well in that case, following your lead, I guess I should probably call Hank and tell him that I’m pretty sure I love you, too.” I smiled, loving the feeling of saying those words and actually meaning them. Blaine was the only other man I’d ever said that to, and I knew now that I hadn’t meant it. Not one bit.
“You said pretty sure. How sure are you?” His lips lifted up into that sexy half-grin that caused the deep dimple in his left cheek to appear.
“Hmm, I don’t know.” I scrunched my nose. “I think you might need you to kiss me again so I can make up my mind.”
He lowered his head as I lifted up on my tippy toes and our mouths met in a slow, ravishing kiss. Every cell in my body sang as I explored the velvety warmth of his mouth. His masterful tongue slid across mine causing fireworks to explode in other parts of my body that he’d licked and suckled. My nipples hardened rubbing against the lace of my bra as he pulled me even tighter against him.
Slowly, methodically, he broke our kiss, resting his forehead against mine, as his labored breaths fanned across my face.
“Well, what’s the verdict?”
“I love you, Billy Comfort.”
He cut my words off, claiming my mouth once again.
As I stood under the starry sky, being held in the arms of the only man who had ever felt like home, I realized that today might not be my wedding day, like I’d thought it was going to be. But it was the day I truly found my person. The person that I knew, no matter what happened, I’d love for the rest of my life.
EPILOGUE
Billy
TWO MONTHS LATER
I sat on the back porch of the house that Reagan and I had lived in for the past two months, holding my mama’s wedding ring in my hand.
Cheyenne was staying at my place by the water, and Reagan and I had moved into the house she had planned to start renting from me on the very day that she was supposed to have been walking down the aisle with another man.
I liked to tease her that she was only with me to get out of paying rent.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked my brother Hank.
“Pop said he wanted it to go to whichever one of us took the plunge first.”
“Yeah, but I think you should check with Jimmy and Cheyenne to make sure that they don’t want it.”
“I did. They don’t. Any news on the case?”
Like I’d suspected, the police report we’d been given was incomplete. We’d gone back and forth with the police chief. Reagan had even gone as far as to file several petitions and injunctions, but everything was moving at a snail’s pace.
“Nope. Nothing new.”
Hank’s only response was a muffled grunt, which in Hank-talk translated to him being frustrated with the lack of progress, before he abruptly stood and left.
“Good talk, bro.” I waved to his retreating back.
Since our heart-to-heart at the bar, things had gone back to normal between Hank and I. No more hugs or talk of the curse. He’d accepted that Reagan was in my life and was happy for me. I knew that because he almost smiled whenever he saw us together or I talked about her.
I tilted the ring in my fingers. The sunlight hit the stone at the center and it sparkled white, while the outer circle of smaller stones was a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors. It was a two-carat princess cut diamond set in platinum gold. It had been in the Comfort family for generations, handed down from my great-great grandmother.
I’d been asking Reagan to marry me every night for the past four weeks. The first time I asked her was on our