Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 67644 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67644 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Tears spilled down her cheeks, but she smiled radiantly. “I love you, too.”
“Then why are you crying?”
She shrugged and laughed. “Dumb hormones.” Her expression faltered, and she cocked her head to the side. “Wait, we haven’t figured out the whole living in two states thing,” she said warily.
With a sheepish shake of my head, I admitted, “I wanted to surprise you but apparently, I suck at this shit.”
I explained about rushing to get the album done and ironing out the details of the contract with The Lennox and The Artemis. Her eyes had grown wide and were filled with hope and love.
“What about Rising Phoenix?”
“Believe it or not, the guys are all ready to be settled down, at least for a while. Bex had a weird requirement to add to the contract, so it’s with our lawyer. Otherwise, we would have signed already. We might go on short tours from time to time, three-month stints at the very most. But I’ll only go if you’re able to get away and come with me.”
Her pink lips formed a cute little O, and she stared at me in wonder. “You’d give up touring to be with me?”
“I’d give up everything to be with you.”
Epilogue
Belle
One year later
I barely resisted the urge to swipe my finger through the frosting while I stared in awe at the four-tier cake Ariel had made for my first wedding anniversary. It was the perfect blend of Griffith and me, with lavender flowers, black musical notes etched into the sides, and a guitar-themed, Mr. and Mrs. cake topper. “You outdid yourself this time. I think this is the most gorgeous cake you’ve ever made.”
“Yay! I’m so glad you like it.” Ariel clapped her hands together and grinned. “I was having a hard time coming up with the perfect gift since your hubby loves to spoil you. Then I thought about how I didn’t have the chance to make you the perfect cake when you got married since he rushed you to the altar. Your anniversary seemed like the perfect opportunity to rectify that travesty.”
Coming from anyone else, calling the two-tier cake she’d whipped up for us a year ago a travesty would’ve been an exaggeration. But Ariel was serious about her pastries, which came in handy since she was in charge of all the wedding cakes for The Chapel of Dreams. She loved baking and it showed, which was one of the things that helped put our little chapel on the map.
“It’s not my fault we got married the day after Griffith came back to Vegas.” I pointed towards Knox, who was holding my four-month-old baby girl. “You have your darling niece to thank for that. If I hadn’t been so exhausted when I told her daddy about being pregnant, he would’ve carried me down to the chapel and talked Aurora into bumping whoever else was getting married to another time so we could take their spot.”
“You’re half right. I did wait a day because of how you were feeling, but Cyra wasn’t the reason I wanted to get married so quickly. That was all your doing,” Griffith murmured as he came up and wrapped his arms around me. “After hearing you say you loved me, I couldn’t wait to get my rings on your finger so every motherfucker around would know you’re taken.”
I ran my thumb over the thick platinum band circling his finger. “It’s not like I can argue since part of the reason why I went along with you rushing me to the altar was that I was looking forward to marking you as my own too.”
His arms dropped, and he circled around me. “I hadn’t planned on showing you this particular gift until we were alone later, but you just gave me the perfect opening.” He lifted his shirt over his head and flashed me a wicked grin.
My gaze dropped to his bare chest, and it took me a long moment before what I was seeing registered in my brain. “You tattooed my name on your chest?”
“Fuck, yeah. I’ve been meaning to get it done for a while now, but I was waiting for the guy who does all my ink to come up with the perfect design.” He gestured at the red heart that had my name etched on it in black and music flowing through it. “Maddox came up with this last week, just in time for our anniversary.”
I was blown away by the sight and could only say, “I love it.”
“You’d better, ‘cause you’re going to be seeing it for the rest of your life.”
I grinned but then it fell when I glanced around and noticed a few other people admiring his naked chest as well. “You can show me again later,” I told him while tugging on his shirt. Griffith laughed and pulled it back on before swaggering off to steal our daughter from Knox.