“Ten years ago?”
“Yep. Hence the ‘something old’.”
“Okay? I don’t get it.”
“See, I was going to give it to you until we made that stupid pact to forever be best friends. You were to have the half of the heart with my name on it and I was to have the half with your name on it.” He cleared his throat. “Point being I was into you then, wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend. Instead, we had the fight that led to the pact sending my plan straight to hell.”
Tears pricked my eyes, and I willed them to stay put or I’d really be walking down the aisle with raccoon eyes. “You’ve had them this the whole time?”
“Well, kind of. Mom found them tucked away in her jewelry box this morning. I’d forgotten all about giving them to her to hold, back then.”
I hit the jackpot. I mean, the man was like a kickass gift you’d never think about regifting.
“I love you, Mr. Stone.”
“I love you, too, almost Mrs. Stone. Tuck that something old in your dress and get your sexy-as-all-hell ass out here and marry me.”
The pews at Cathedral Basilica were bedecked with tulle bows, my body shaking as Dad led me down the aisle with a custom runner that said,Lucas and Macy Forever Ever After.
Speaking of forever, it seemed to take an eternity to reach my groom, the wedding march seemingly much longer than it had been during all the rehearsals just days before.
Friends and family let out audible oohs and ahhs as I sauntered by, familiar faces gushing at me from left and right.
Approaching the altar, I kept my eyes glued to members of the wedding party: Sage, who was rubbing her belly, and Chloe as my Maids of Honor; and AJ as my handsome groom’s Best Man, as they all watched, eyes twinkling, as I drew near. I knew if I’d taken one look at Lucas, I would have started the tear fest way too soon.
Even so, once my dad and I reached the altar, Lucas captured my gaze with his sweet baby blues, a smile that truly did melt my panties, and a tux that glorified his all-muscle body.
Hands in his, I prayed my mouth would not lose the ability to talk.
“Hey,” he said, face beaming.
“Hey,” I said right back, prompting our wedding guests to erupt in giggles.
The priest began his spiel and it felt like no one was in the church but me and my man. Vows we’d written were exchanged, rings slid onto fingers—and the moment I’d been waiting for, since I picked up my first Danielle Steel novel, arrived.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the—”
“Holy, S-word,” Sage yelped. “My water! My water just effing broke.
And as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.
Sage and AJ waited two weeks past their due date for their baby, a sweet and healthy little guy they named Andrew Jackson, Jr. who was born on my birthday, the day I finally married the man of my bookaholic dreams…
Lucas Stone, the drool-worthy morsel of hunky-hotness who’d been my best friend since forever.
Epilogue
Five Years Later
Lucas
Hot. Wife.
Those two words had pretty much been the everlasting definition of Macy Stone, my breathtakingly beautiful-as-all-hell best friend, lover, and wife.
Our first five years as husband and wife had been nothing but bliss, and I was ready for fifty more years times infinity.
My football career had been one made of dreams, too, winning two Super Bowl championships, and MVP—ahem—Most Valuable Player. The Jets extended my contract, as did major sponsors like Nike, and I was in talks with ESPN to be a commentator once I finally decided to hang up my cleats.
