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“I want you to be okay with this. I want you to be happy for us.”
He stops pacing and looks at me. Two couples walk by and once they’re inside, he says, “I’m trying to process this. It’s fucking weird, Taryn.”
“It’s not, though. I’ve been crushing on Carter since middle school. You know this.”
“A childhood crush is completely different.”
“Is it?” I ask, taking a step closer to him, trying not to shiver in the cold wind that blows my dress around my ankles. “It’s like I always knew it would be him.”
He lifts his eyes to mine. “You did?”
I take another step closer. “I think so. When we got together, it just felt right. He admits it too.”
Eric looks at me suspiciously. “He does?”
“You should have seen him when I was in the hospital. He lost his goddamn mind, Eric. I thought he was going to start flipping over tables.”
He shakes his head and I think I see his lips tip up a little. “That sounds like him.”
“Listen. We love each other. This isn’t some fling. He treats me like a queen and I treat him like a king. He takes care of me. We take care of each other.” I pause, looking at my brother, whose angry countenance has softened slightly. “We’ve been counting down the days for you to get out so we could share our excitement with you. I don’t blame you for your reaction—I was ready for it. I just hope in time you can come to accept us being together, Eric. We’re not breaking up. I’m going to be with him until either he dies or I do. I need you to be an uncle to our future children.”
His jaw bunches and then he shakes his head. “This is a lot to take in. My best friend and my baby sister.”
“I’m not going to apologize for it, but I hope you can be happy for us.”
We both turn to see Carter standing there in front of the door. He makes his way over to us and puts his arm around me. I reach up and touch his hand on my shoulder.
Eric ignores his statement and reaches up to touch my ring, his eyes wide. Then, he looks at Carter. “Fucking show-off.”
I breathe a sigh of relief at the smirk on my brother’s face.
“I told him I didn’t need something so big. He told me if I was going to be his wife, I had to get over it. So, I begrudgingly accepted it.”
Eric smiles wider. “Yes, what a hardship that must have been.”
“It’s not,” I quip, smiling.
“Your employees don’t care?” he asks, pointing at the ring.
Carter chuckles “I’m the fucking CEO, I don’t give a shit if they care. They don’t like it, they can get over it or leave.”
Eric smiles big. “There’s the asshole I missed.”
“We good?” Carter asks, squeezing me to him while looking at his best friend.
Eric puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans and flicks his gaze between us before narrowing his eyes. “For now. But Carter”—he pierces my fiancé with a homicidal look—“you fucking hurt her, you’re done for.”
Carter puts his hands up in surrender and makes a mock noise of fear. “Oh, okay. You got it, boss.”
I shake my head, laughing, and put my hand out for Eric. He grabs it. “Get back inside to your party. I want you to meet someone.”
He eyes me speculatively. “That smoking hot tattooed brunette who looks like a pinup girl from a wet dream?”
“That’s the one.” I wink with a chuckle.
We walk inside, and even though I’d already introduced Eric generally to everyone there he didn’t know, I tell Christa to come and stand next to me.
“Christa, my brother Eric,” I say.
