Take the Chance (Top Shelf Romance #9) - Brittainy Cherry Page 0,95

near her parents. So whenever she wandered into our room, I held her tight and thanked the universe for having my daughter to show me what true love looked like.

After Talon was tucked in, I headed back to the nursery where Lucy was falling asleep in the gliding chair with Ollie still resting. I took him from her arms and laid him in his crib, gently kissing his forehead.

“Bedtime,” I whispered to my wife, gently kissing her cheek and helping her stand.

“Bedtime,” she muttered back, yawning as I helped her to our room. After I pulled back the covers on the bed and laid her down, I crawled into bed beside her and held her close to me.

Her lips brushed against my neck as she moved in closer. “Happy?” she yawned.

I kissed her forehead. “Happy,” I replied.

“I love you, my Graham Cracker,” she said softly seconds before she fell asleep.

“I love you, my Lucille,” I said, kissing her forehead.

As we lay there that night, I thought about our story. How she found me when I was lost, how she saved me when I needed her the most. How she forced me to stop pushing people away and proved to me that real love wasn’t something from fairytale books. She taught me that real love took time. Real love took work. Real love took communication. Real love only grew if those involved took the time to nurture it, to water it, to give it light.

Lucille Hope Russell was my love story, and I promised myself I’d spend the rest of my life being hers.

After all, maktub—it was already written.

We were destined to live happily ever after as our hearts floated near the stars and our feet remained on solid ground.

The End

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About the Author

Brittainy C. Cherry is an Amazon #1 Bestselling Author who has always been in love with words. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. Brittainy lives in Brookfield, Wisconsin with her family. When she’s not running a million errands and crafting stories, she’s probably playing with her adorable pets or traveling to new places.

The Elements Series (All Complete Standalones)

The Air He Breathes

The Fire Between High & Lo

The Silent Waters

The Gravity of Us

Other Books by Brittainy C. Cherry

Loving Mr. Daniels

Art & Soul

The Space in Between

Our Totally, Ridiculous, Made-Up Christmas Relationship

Forever Right Now

By Emma Scott

Playlist

Sex and Candy, Marcy Playground

Down, Marian Hill

One More Light, Linkin Park

Tightrope, LP

Open Your Heart, Madonna

You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Cheek to Cheek, Ella Fitzgerald

In the Mood, The Glenn Miller Band

To Wish Impossible Things, The Cure

Muddy Waters, LP

Cell Block Tango: Chicago the Musical, Kander and Ebb

Only Hope, Mandy Moore

To those fighting secret battles, don’t let your light go out. This one is for you.

Act One

Coincidence of Opposites (philosophy): a revelation of the oneness of things previously believed to be different.

Prologue

Sawyer

August 15, 10 months ago

I barely heard the doorbell under the pounding music and the laughing conversations of a hundred of my closest friends. Jackson Smith jerked his head at me from across the room, a shit-eating grin on his face. He was dressed as Idris Elba’s Roland the Gunslinger, to my Man in Black. Across the crowd of costumed guests—each dressed as a villain from movies or comics—he mouthed the words, Your turn.

I widened my eyes and inclined my head at the beautiful redhead in the Poison Ivy costume beside me. She was a second year at Hastings, asking me for advice about which professors were the hardest in Year Three, my year, but I don’t think she was listening. Her gaze kept drifting down to my mouth.

Jackson shook his head and made eyes at the pretty Nurse Ratchet beside him, then held up his hands in an exaggerated shrug.

I sighed at my best friend and scratched