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I gave his hand one last squeeze before releasing it and going back to where Rowan stood.
“Well,” the woman spoke, brushing at her cheeks before extending her hand in my direction, two twenty dollar bills held out to me. “This has most certainly been a blessed day. We’ve received the answer to our prayerandI get this beautiful jewelry for a steal!”
I let out a light giggle as I gently pushed her hand back. “You get this jewelry for free.”
“Oh, no,” Officer Michaels sputtered. “We couldn’t…”
“You can,” I insisted. “Consider it a gift.”
“A gift for what?”
“For offering a scared little girl the kindness she needed to get her through a hard time.” One more tear broke free from his eyes as he gave me a jerky nod.
“You okay?” Rowan asked a few minutes later, once the older couple had blended into the mass of shoppers.
“Yeah.” I sighed, reaching to wrap both my arms around his waist. I rested my head on his strong, sturdy chest as I silently counted my blessings. “I’m great, actually.”
His fingers came to my chin, tilting my face up so he could place a soft kiss on my lips. “You know I love you, right?”
“I love you, too.” I smiled sincerely.
“You better say yes when I propose,” he warned playfully, and my smile grew even bigger.
“Then you better make it a damn good proposal.”
Rowan winked and I felt my body melt further into him. “Don’t you worry about that. When I do, it’ll be epic.”
As I stared up into Rowan’s icy blue eyes, there was no fear, no uncertainty. The walls I’d built around myself to protect my heart were long gone.
“I can’t wait.”
“This is soboring,” Carson groaned at the ceiling dramatically, making a scene and causing the people near us to turn and stare.
“Will you please shut up?” Cassidy whisper-yelled. “It’s almost over.”
I shot a look at my brother, hoping to melt the skin off his face before looking back at Rowan and giving him a thumbs-up just as the last person in line placed their book on the table for him to sign.
I couldn’t have been prouder of him. His latest book,Love Hate Relationship, released to astounding numbers, still sitting at the number one spot on the New York Times, as well as every other bestseller list, for the fourth week in a row. To say he was more than a little shocked would have been putting it lightly. The book was a step outside of the box for him. He’d never written anything but murder mysteries his entire career, so releasing a book that was eerily similar to our own personal story opened him up to a whole new audience… one that included me.
While he vehemently denied that his book fell into the genre, I got off on giving him shit for writing his first ever romance novel, telling him how excited I was that he’d finally written something interesting. That had led tomanyfights. Not that I cared really; the only thing better than sex with Rowan wasmakeupsex with Rowan.
In celebration of his success, we’d flown my entire family up from Texas so they could spend the holidays in New York, as well as see Rowan in his element. I thought it would be good fun for Carson and Cassidy to join me, Rowan’s mom and brother, along with Griffin and Pepper, at one of Rowan’s readings while Kal and Milly took Willow and Kallum to Central Park. The only thing I hadn’t realized was that our little hodge-podge group should have never been allowed out in public. If it wasn’t Carson showing his ass, it was Griffin intentionally setting Pepper off on a tangent. The whole day had been one drama after another. I really could have used Harlow there to keep me sane, but she’d gone back home to Jackson Hole a week ago for a family emergency.
“Thank God,” he grunted loudly.
Ignoring the weird looks from the people who had crammed into The Strand for Rowan’s latest book signing, I turned to Carson and issued my fifth threat of the day. “I swear to God, if you don’tshutup, I’m going to murder you in your sleep,” I hissed as quietly as possible. “Then I’m going to raise Kallum to be a Yankee Democrat!”
“You wouldn’t,” he gasped.
“Watch me.”
Carson leaned against the wall, arms crossed angrily across his chest as he pouted. “This is so stupid. Why do I have to be here?”
“Because you’re supporting the man I love,” I countered.
“I’m never even gonna read the damn book,” he shot back. “Real men don’t read that girly, chick shit.”
“Amen,” Richard added in solidarity, raising his hand to high-five Carson. I was surrounded by toddlers.
