She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,148
some magical powers had brought them together, and though she was taking extra precautions just in case, she said, “Or maybe your mom really thought there would be a storm and my mom’s body wash did nothing.”
“Is that why you’ve been sneaking it into the bottles you buy at the grocery store?”
Her jaw dropped. “You knew?”
“They smell completely different.” He kissed her again and said, “I love that you believe in it, too.”
“I do not. Not really,” she said. “It was just a little extra insurance because I’m not exactly the easiest person to love.”
His brows slanted. “You are easy to love. You’re the only woman I have ever been in love with. I know you think people change for the worse, but I promise you that twenty, forty, sixty years from now the only thing that will change is that I will love my nacho-eating, hammer-yielding, loud-swearing, beautiful better half more with every passing second. You are easy for me to love, and I’m the only one that matters in the loving-you equation. Don’t ever doubt that, Pipe.”
For the millionth time, her insides fluttered, and she whispered, “I never will.”
“I don’t know if I believe in matchmaking, fate, or the power of nachos,” he said as he cradled her beneath him and rolled them onto their sides, nose to nose. “All I know is that I love hearing my nieces call you Auntie Piper and knowing that every morning I’ll wake up next to the woman of my dreams. We’re in this together, babe, ringed forever.”
He kissed her slow and deep. She finally knew what to do with warm and wonderful—embrace it. She gave herself over to their kisses, melting against him, their hearts beating as one.
He moved his leg over hers, bringing their bodies even closer, and said, “This not-married stuff is pretty fucking great, and I think we should celebrate.”
“With expensive wine and caviar?” she teased.
Heat sparked in his eyes. “I believe my girl prefers beer, nachos, and no less than three orgasms.”
She whispered, “Each,” as his warm, loving mouth claimed hers, carrying them to their breathtaking, ringed-forever ecstasy.
EPILOGUE
PIPER LOOKED OUT the second-floor window of Windsor Hall, which Marshall had purchased over the summer. Piper and her crew were handling a few final renovations before the upcoming grand opening of Annie’s Hope. She could hardly believe it had been fifteen months since she and Harley had moved in together and way too many months since they’d found out she was pregnant. She was due any day, and she was truly, blissfully happy. They each had their pet peeves, like the toilet seat being left up and Piper leaving her clothes on the floor, but they were small prices to pay for a life with Harley that was even more amazing than she’d hoped. After she’d moved out of her house, she and her crew had finished the renovations, and Marshall had moved in. He was in the process of buying it from her. He and Harley had gone through a few hairy moments, but thankfully, none of them had ended with fisticuffs. Debra and Delaney had enjoyed a smoother transition with Marshall’s return, and Jolie and Sophie were thrilled to have their uncle in their lives—almost as thrilled as Roxie and Debra were to have another future matchmaking victim on the hook. Harley and Ben and Ben’s business partner, Aiden, were all investing in Annie’s Hope, and the community had rallied in support of Marshall’s efforts. Piper couldn’t be happier about the way Marshall and his family had come back together, or all the ways her life with Harley was blossoming.
She took one last look around the room that would become Marshall’s office and said, “Looks good, Kase. I want to check out the progress on the café.” They had taken down most of the walls on the first floor to create an inviting café. They’d kept all of the original moldings, and they were building meeting nooks throughout the café, separated by half walls that would double as bookshelves and would offer self-help books and uplifting fiction.
As they descended the stairs, a dull ache crept across Piper’s back. She gripped the handrail, stopping halfway down the stairs. She breathed deeply, rubbing her lower back, which had been killing her from carrying around twenty-five pounds of burgeoning baby and bulbous boobs, both of which Harley was madly in love with.
“Are you okay, boss?” Kase asked, bringing rise to the familiar, and frustrating, worry she’d seen in his