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Epilogue
LONDON
Eighteen months later
The whole day has been a surprise, just as Luca had planned it to be.It started in the best possible in our bed, moaning his name as he woke me up with his mouth, then when he slid inside and soon had me screaming out again afterward.
Then he got up and left me dozing—since I was innoposition to move—and brought me pancakes in bed.Then I got my birthday presents, since today is my twenty-ninth birthday.First was a weekend trip to New York to go visit Violet, who has now started her own fashion line, and a rose-gold necklace to match my promise ring.Then there was what I consider to be the best gift of them all, a certificate for a tandem skydive with Luca, his first official one since becoming a licensed skydiver.
Now, we’re back at one of the sites of our first official date day—sitting front row, center ice, on the second level of the United Center, both of us decked out in Blackhawks jerseys and ready to cheer on our team.Ten minutes before the puck drops, I’m trying to stave off a hungry Luca, who’s determined to steal a bite of my hotdog, when I spot familiar faces coming down the row toward us.
“Mom?Dad?Vi?What are you doing here?”I say, turning my gaze from them to my grinning boyfriend.
“Surprise!”he says with a grin.Using the distraction of my parents, he wraps his hand around my wrist and jerks the food to his mouth for a sneaky bite.
“Hey!”
“I luff you,” he mumbles, still grinning.
I narrow my eyes but move past him to hug my family, especially my sister who I haven't seen for months.
But the surprises keep coming when the rest of the old crew from Firehouse 101 makes their way down the aisle and fill all of the seats around us—including Luca’s parents.
“What did you do?”I ask Luca when we all finally sit down after we’ve greeted everyone.
He leans over, hooks his hand behind my neck, and pulls me in for a long, deep, super-hot kiss, ending it with a smile against my lips.“Making sure my girl has the best twenty-ninth birthday ever.”
“I’m with you.Ofcourseit will be.”
That gets me a growl and another kiss, this time hard and quick but no less dirty.Happy birthday to me!
Halfway through the intermission between the first and second periods, the stadium's Jumbotron lights up and “Love Shack” by The B-52s starts playing, signaling the start of the kiss-cam shenanigans.
This time, it goes to a lovely elderly couple who look like lifelong Hawks fans.All of us cheer when the man lays a big wet one on his wife, much to the crowd’s delight.
Scotty and his new wife Mandy jump and wave to get the cameraman's attention, having just gotten back from their Hawaiian honeymoon, which followed there over-the-top and surprisingly romantic tiki-themed wedding.The moment their faces fill the big screen, they’re all over each other, lips, hands, and even Mandy’s leg hooked around Scotty’s hips.Their kiss earns hollers of “get a room” from all the firehouse guys, my dad included.
Next, the cam comes to Marco and a six-months pregnant Renee.Marco makes every woman in the arena sigh and swoon when he rests a hand on her round belly before leaning in and kissing her sweetly.
The camera shifts to Luc's parents.Mr.Rossi, the man who taught the Rossi men everything they know about how to treat their women, hooks an arm around Mama's waist, dips her back, and kisses her soft and slow, making a real performance of it.
Then it's Rhodes and Dee, who proceed to gross out their sons Jake and Harvey with a hot and heavy make-out session.Gio and Alex are next, kissing and laughing the whole time while they do it, with Skye and Cohen following, making a show of being all over each other.
When it shifts to Val, I start to wonder if the kiss-cam cameraman is obsessed with our section.Val, never one to be outdone by her siblings, turns to her partner, Mel, and winks straight at the camera before cupping her face and laying one on her, too, to a huge roar in the crowd.
I start to feel a little disappointed that Luc and I won’t get a turn—especially since almost everybody else in our group has—when the music changes, and “Kiss Me” starts playing.
I gasp and turn to look at Luc, but he’s not standing.Instead, he’s somehow squeezed himself down onto one knee next to me.
Tears spring to my eyes.My smile is huge as he reaches out to hold my hands.The whole arena erupts in a roar of cheers and chants.But none of that matters as he slides my promise ring off my right hand and shifts it to the left, his gaze lifting to mine.
“I promised you that one day I would make you mine forever and right now, in front of our friends and family, I’m asking if you’ll make me the luckiest man on earth and do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
I nod, my lips stretched so wide as tears stream down my cheeks, and he slowly slides the ring down to the base of my ring finger, fulfilling the promise he made eighteen months ago.
Then I’m leaning down, he’s surging up, and we meet halfway before I frame his jaw in my hands and give him the best damn kiss the United Center kiss cam has ever seen.
Best birthday ever.
The End
