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“I prefer you being a pain in my ass than treating me like glass.”
Travis pushes a hand through his hair. “I went down to the morgue the night you were operated on to see Jessica for myself.”
That hurts. And I know he’ll want that divorce. I—
“I was just a dumbass that I thought you two were doppelgängers, but you weren’t. Just height and hair and green eyes. The beginning and end of resemblance, by the way. I went there because I needed to. I thought, I don’t know, I’d be furious. I’d hate her more. But I just felt… nothing.”
He’s going to hurt me any second.
“And it’s taken me a while to get this, but I was so obsessed with not making the same mistakes when I rushed into it, I kept worrying that the highs I had with her were bad. But they just were.
“See, the difference is, she was wild. Chaos, too much change and no room to breathe. And that kind of storm burns out and wreaks havoc, and then it’s like it was never there. You, Brandi, you’re a deep sea wave, a huge rolling thing that comes up and takes its time to crash over you, over and over. You also offer calm. And your highs are so sweet I could ride them all day long.”
“I sound boring.”
He laughs. “You sound perfect. Exciting, exhilarating, and no chaotic center that’s gonna collapse on itself.”
Travis comes back and sits. “The truth is you and me happened so fast, too fast, I should have given it the time to breathe and I jumped on it, into it, eyes open. Because I think my soul, heart, and body knew it loved you before my brain understood how our love works. Ours is deep, eternal, Brandi. So no. I’m not letting you divorce me.”
A wildness, happy, singing stirs inside. “And if I insist? If I demand it?”
“You can fight me, but I know what I want. You. I should have fought for you from the start. From the moment I saw you the first time and my heart skipped a beat like one of your romance novels and I fell in love with you. I’ve loved you every single moment of every day, and the second that our lips touched for the first time, you were it for me. I should have fucking thrown down and told you and not tried to be good and give you the space my brother of all people says you didn’t want.”
I sit up too and grab his face. “Say that again.”
“Which part?”
“The one about loving me. Because I wasn’t scared for me when she came at me, it was you. I could let you go. It would have killed me but I could have done it, knowing you’re okay. Living your best life.”
“That’s stupid. My best life is with you. I love you, Brandi. You, all of you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I should have known exactly what you were to me when I asked Mom for my grandmother’s engagement ring. I didn’t for Jessica. Didn’t even think about it, even though I knew it was there. But you? That’s where I immediately went. That ring on your finger means something. It means you have my heart.”
He takes my hand and we’re both shaking. He slips it on.
“Marry me again, Brandi. Big wedding. The works. I want to shout it to the world you have my heart.”
“Yes, Travis, yes.”
And he has mine.
A month later and I’m a bundle of nerves. Maya’s going to walk me down the aisle.
Travis pokes his head in.
“It’s bad luck, Trav, to see me on our wedding day.”
“And what do you call the sex we had this morning when you knocked on my hotel room door and demanded I make you come on my face? I don’t think this is going to count. We already saw all of each other. Besides”—he comes up and sweeps me into his arms and kisses me soft, slow, and full of dirty promises—“technically we’re still married, so it’s fine.”
“Oh, it is, is it? Maybe I’ll buy a special husband taming whip, keep you and that sass-filled mouth in line.”
“I have handcuffs.”
“Promises.” I rise up and kiss him, knowing Maya’s going to be back any moment and kick him out on his ass.
“Always, just like I’ll remarry you every day for the rest of our lives to show you what you mean to me.”
