Authors: Maisey Yates

B00VQNYV1Y (R) (13 page)

“I know. You pretty much did. But I was being an idiot so I didn’t listen. I thought about it. And I… It’s been a weird few days.”

“Weird isn’t the word I would use for it. Terrible. Horrible. No good, very bad. Something like that.”

He ran his hand over his face, and for the first time she noticed how tired he looked. Good. She was happy to think this hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park for him. “I know. I talked to Beckett. Saw a lot of what I did to you reflected in his face. Since Kaitlin pretty much turned down his declaration of love too. Then I talked to Kaitlin. Who was a lot braver than I was, and I realized that she was making the wrong decision sooner than I did.” He took a ragged breath. “You’re a lot braver than I am, Mel. You came through a lot worse a lot better than I ever did. I believe in hard work. I believe that people can change their circumstances. At least, I wanted to. And then I couldn’t do it for myself. I couldn’t study hard enough, couldn’t overcome my dyslexia. I’m a grown man, standing here admitting that, and I feel stupid. Stupid that I let that run my life, but I did. It didn’t end there. It’s like, this thing inside me that I can’t fix and can’t control. So I’ve tried for so long to control and fix everything around me, to try and make that smaller. To make it so it didn’t matter. And on top of that, I never wanted to try and fail again. So I just didn’t. Sure, I opened the garage, I started my own business, but none of that was a dream. Now, I think somehow I knew that if I let myself dream about you, you would consume everything.”

“What?” The word came out a whisper, thin, hopeful. She despised herself for allowing that hopefulness. For getting drawn in. But she couldn’t help herself.

“I knew I could want you for everything. Always. More than I wanted to graduate, more than I wanted to make my parents proud. More than I ever wanted to protect Kaitlin from the evil clutches of Beckett. I knew that I could want you more than any of that. Somewhere, deep down I did. And I wrapped all of it up in excuses, even when I realized that I wanted you. It was easy to justify touching you. To tell myself I was fixing things for you. Ignoring the fact that I wanted it for myself. That I wanted you for myself. And then, the picnic. The spaghetti. The romantic garlic bread. In hindsight, garlic isn’t that romantic.”

“Shut your mouth. Butter is always romantic. Almost especially when in combination with garlic.”

“Okay. Clearly it was the right choice for you. I told myself I did that for you. To fulfill the promise I made you to…give you something normal. But it was because I wanted more. I wanted to be with you as more than just a friend. More than just a lover. I wanted the romance, the in between. The everything. The… The love thing.”

She swallowed hard, her heart beating so fast she was dizzy. “Please tell me that you’re going to say that you love me. If you’re throwing around the love word, but you’re not going to apply it to me, I’m pretty sure I’m well within my rights to punch you in the face.”

He closed the distance between them, pulling her into his arms, looking at her intensely. “Yes, I love you.” Then he was kissing her, deep, hard, and perfect. “I love you,” he repeated when they parted.

She frowned. “Why did you have to make it hurt like this? Why did you have to make it so hard?”

“I learned the wrong lesson from life. I learned to run. I learned to stop trying. I had to want something enough to relearn that lesson. To find the strength to push through, instead of turning away. That was you. You were the thing I wanted more.”

She thought her heart would burst, and she knew she was going to end up crying in front of him. But she didn’t care. “I would like to be a little bit more angry with you. A little bit more self-righteous. But I was afraid too. I knew I wanted you. But I was too afraid to reach out and take you. And I almost went straight into the arms of another man rather than going after you, because I was too afraid to take what I wanted.”

“Aren’t we a pair?”

“A yellow-bellied pair.”

“Well,” he said, “not anymore.”

She smiled. “No, not anymore.”

“I think that’s why it was so easy to stay your friend,” he said. “I could be close to you, talk to you whenever I wanted, and never risk a damn thing.”

“That was easier. But not enough.”

“What will be enough?” he asked, cupping her chin.

“Everything. Everything should be enough.”

“Then everything is what I’ll give you.”

Epilogue

‡

L
UKE
S
HULLER WALKED
down the aisle of the exquisitely decorated church, love and marriage on his mind, absolutely in that order.

The guests would be here soon, their families, everyone they’d ever loved would be here to watch him marry Melanie Richards. He still wasn’t a businessman, still wasn’t a college graduate, or even high school graduate. Still wasn’t everything his parents had worked for, wasn’t everything they’d wanted him to be.

But he loved Melanie. And today, he was going to become her husband. The rest just didn’t seem to matter so much.

The doors to the church opened wide, a rush of cool fall air blowing inside. They hadn’t had a lot of patience to wait to get married, which meant a wedding in less than ideal weather. But since the bride was ideal, he didn’t really care.

Along with a gust of wind, said bride blew right inside of the church, her white lacy dress swirling around her legs, her veil and blonde hair blowing over her shoulders. She forced the doors shut, and looked up at him and smiled.

There she was. He let himself look at her now, all of her. Didn’t force himself to see her with a filter of friendship applied. He looked at her, and saw a beauty so intense it hurt. The most beautiful ache in existence.

“What are you doing in here, Mel? You know I’m not supposed to see you before the ceremony.”

Her smile turned wicked. “Are you going to throw me over your shoulder and carry me back out?”

“I’d hate to start rumors.”

“The truth is I came to see you. I just wanted a moment before things got going. A moment alone.”

“You aren’t about to tell me you’re leaving me for Beckett or something, are you?”

“I think Kaitlin would kill me. And in spite of her advanced pregnancy, she would be well able to do it.”

He raised his brows. “Is that the only reason?”

“Beckett is a sexy bastard. But I have a weakness.”

He brushed her hair out of her face, adjusted her veil. “What’s that?”

“I want it all. And you, Luke Shuller are the whole deal.”

“I’ve waited a long time for this day,” he said. “I didn’t know how long. I didn’t know it’s what I was waiting for. But it was. I’m so glad it’s here.”

“Finally.” She smiled again, stretching up on her toes, kissing his lips.

Right then, he knew he had had it all. He didn’t need to protect himself. Didn’t need to control everything, protect his heart from pain. He was surrounded by a joy so bright, so strong, it overshadowed everything else.

He had Mel. His best friend. His lover. His bride. Finally.

The Montana Born Brides Series

If you enjoyed
Finally His Bride
, you’ll love the other Montana Born Bride stories!

The Fairy Tale Bride
by Scarlet Wilson

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The Blushing Bride
by Dani Collins

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Bride by Mistake
by Nicole Helm

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Finally his Bride
by Maisey Yates

Kiss the Bride
by Rachael Johns

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Two Nights with His Bride
by Kat Latham

Coming soon

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.

In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world. Visit her at
MaiseyYates.com
.

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