Wrapped Up: A Triple Threat Sports Romance (22 page)

Epilogue

Brooke

It was our wedding day, the day we had been waiting for since day one of our new relationship. This whole thing had been our second chance, and it was scary to think sometimes that we almost blew it all again. Or maybe it took almost calling it off to force us to get it right.

“Do I look alright?” I asked Hollie, checking my dress in the mirror again, making sure it still fit the way it had when I picked it out.

“Yes, you look fine,” she told me. “What is with you? You’ve asked me about that dress a million times already.”

“Promise not to say anything?” I asked.

“No way, Brooke. No way! You’re not trying to tell me you’re…you know…are you?” Her eyes were wide open, and I could see that she was working pretty hard to keep her jaw off the floor.

“Don’t you tell a single person here, or I swear to God, Hollie,” I said, threatening her through my teeth.

“Relax, Brooke. Who am I going to tell?”

I imagined her running up to Jake or one of his groomsmen to tell them, and it looked so painfully awkward in my imagination, even though she seemed to be attracted to Connor, the lawyer.

“Good point,” I said with a sigh.

“How long have you known?” she asked, reaching a hand out for my stomach.

“A few weeks,” I told her.

“And you haven’t told Jake yet? You’re not thinking about doing anything crazy are you?” she asked.

I laughed harshly. She knew me better than that. “No way. I was waiting for the perfect time. I’m going to tell him tonight at the reception.”

“Oh, that will be perfect!”

“It will be. He’s been talking about having kids a lot lately, Hollie. When we got back together to help each other out with marriage and just having something permanent, I figured I’d be sharing him with other women while we were faking our marriage. He had a reputation then that he couldn’t keep it in his pants. And, hell, he couldn’t. At least, not with me, you know?”

“Yeah, but you guys have a history,” she said, dismissing what I’d said. “It’s different when you’ve been with someone before, you know? As opposed to being with them for the first time.”

“I guess you’re right. Either way, the point is he just sort of gave up on other women pretty quickly. He never talks about other women. I don’t even catch him checking other women out. Can you believe it?”

“Oh, I’ve seen how he looks at
you
. I can definitely believe it, Brooke. He doesn’t have eyes for anyone else, not even just to check them out,” Hollie insisted.

“But kids? I never imagined I’d be a mother, especially not after getting back together with Jake. Don’t get me wrong. He’s going to make a great dad, but I never, not in a million years, believed he would be the kind of man to
want
kids.”

“Of course he’s going to want kids, Brooke. He’s settling down. Actually, he’s already settled down. He settled down the moment you two started dating. By the time you two were on the cover of everything at the news stand, he had already settled down. He has been yours since the very beginning. I’m willing to bet that no matter how many women he’s taken to bed over the years, he hasn’t really dated anyone since you,” Hollie insisted.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” It made sense. I hadn’t really dated anyone since Jake. Jake was the ideal boyfriend. He was the one I always went back to in my mind when looking for someone. I had compared every guy to him over the years, and most of them never stacked up, in or out of bed.

“Well, look, it’s almost time for us to walk out,” she said. The music was starting.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. This was it, the moment I had been waiting for and dreaming of since I was eighteen years old. I had never dreamed of marrying another man, much less having another man’s children. I knew that our beautiful child was going to be present with us at the altar as we joined our lives together permanently, whether Jake knew it or not. I knew that once it was all over, we were going to kiss, and then we were going to head over to the reception, where we would be with our closest friends and family. When we gave our speeches, I planned on telling him we were going to be parents.

We had already been lovers and business partners. We were about to be husband and wife, and soon we would be mother and father to our own precious treasure, the glorious product of the years of love we had shared, even if we hadn’t shared them together.

The procession began. The groomsmen and the bridesmaids walked down the aisle together in front of me. I approached, prepared to walk down the aisle alone to meet my groom and the rest of the wedding party.

My father and I hadn’t spoken since I purchased all of his shares from the company. The last I heard, he was under an actual investigation for mishandling the company’s assets. There were also rumors that they were thinking about getting him on money laundering charges. It wouldn’t have surprised me. The more time I spent around people like my father and Jake, the more it seemed the most successful people I knew were all involved in something crooked.

I had accepted the fact that I would be giving myself away to Jake. I had been doing that since we were teens anyway. Besides, I didn’t belong to anyone else to begin with. I had been my own woman as long as I cared to remember. But when I approached the aisle to begin my procession, my father stepped up next to me and offered me his arm.

“You look lovely, my dear,” he said in a sweet, fatherly tone. It was a tone I hadn’t heard since I was a little girl.

Tears immediately started streaming down my cheeks. Tears of joy.

Tears of torture as they threatened to ruin my makeup.

“I hope you didn’t think I was going to miss this for any reason,” he said as we started to walk down together.

As we approached the altar where Jake and the preacher wait for me, I could see clearly on Jake’s face that he had arranged for my father to be there. He had known I wouldn’t have reached out to my old man, and the old bastard wouldn’t have reached out to me either. We were both far too proud to come back from the things we had said and done over the past few months without some assistance.

Luckily, I was marrying a man with a gift for working with people and convincing them to do what he wanted them to do. I wondered what other tricks he had up his sleeve. I figured I had our whole lives together to figure it out.

My father gave me away to Jake, my high school sweetheart, the one who got away but was also the one who had come back for me. I stepped up next to my groom and the ceremony began. We were being united. We were becoming a family, and it made my heart swell in my chest to know that Jake had no idea how far along we were in becoming a family.

I stood with the love of my life in front of our closest family and friends, including teammates and coworkers. We held hands in front of the preacher. Jake’s thick, firm hands held mine gently, tenderly, as if he were afraid he would break me if he held too tightly.

As we said our vows, I could feel each word passing through our lips. We meant everything we said. We weren’t just reciting what we were told to say. The words changed as they were charged with meaning from our loving voices, our lips eager to touch each other instead of just talking to each other a few feet apart.

When it was over, when we were presented as husband and wife to our beloved guests, we kissed. Our lips met, and time froze around us. Nothing else existed at that moment except the burning love inside of both of us as we tried to force it all together between our lips and tongues.

The wedding moved quickly after that. It was as if when I opened my eyes, we were suddenly at the reception, sitting in the middle of the family table. My father had been talking, and I could feel the blush on my cheeks even though I couldn’t remember what he had just said that had everyone laughing and had me embarrassed. It could have been anything.

As the speeches wound down, I decided it was time to share what I had to say. I stood with a glass of water in my hand, despite the fact that everyone else in attendance had either champagne or wine.

“I want to thank you all for being with us today as Jake and I were finally joined together in marriage. As many of you know, our journey started back in high school, and I know I always felt like we had unfinished business, so when the opportunity presented itself for us to get back together, I knew we had to take it. It has been one hell of a ride, and I thank those of you who had been there to help us weather the storm.”

I raised my glass briefly before I continued.

“But as dark as the past was at times, our future is as bright as could be, and I have beautiful news to share with you all today. Jake and I are going to be parents. I’m pregnant.”

His face lit up, and he stood, taking me in his arms at the table. He kissed me. Our lips locked together. Once again, the world beyond the two of us ceased to exist for a brief moment, and I knew that we had done the right thing by getting married and letting our relationship grow back into what it was before, back into something that could continue to grow.

We made a wonderful team, and soon, we were going to have our own little teammates running around the house. I knew the child I carried was not going to be the last. Not if he kept kissing me the way he was right then.

THE END

Here is your free bonus book, RYDER

Ryder

I touched my boss’s precious princess. Now, he wants my head on a platter.
 

Ryder
I shouldn’t have gone anywhere near Pia. 
But how can you blame me?
Her father is the one who assigned me to guard her 24/7. 
With a body that fine, a smile that tempting…
I’ve never been good at keeping my hands to myself.
It was only a matter of time until I 
took her as my own.
This time, though, I might’ve gone too far. 
After all, it’s never a good idea to mess with the daughter of the Don.
When he finds out what I’ve done, 
he wants blood.
My blood.
Now, I’m torn between my duty and my desire.
And no matter which way I turn, I can’t see a way out.
 

I knew he wasn’t the man for me… until I ended up pregnant with his baby.

Pia

Ryder is a hitman for my mafia boss father.
When I’m attacked by a masked man one night, he adds “Pia’s bodyguard” to his job description.
He was supposed to protect me.
But the moment Ryder showed up at my door, 
he made me his.
 
His mouth claimed me.
His hands possessed me.
His eyes enslaved me.
But now, my father is forcing me to marry another man. 
That is, until he discovers that 
I’m carrying Ryder’s baby.
Now, all our lives are in danger.
Family, fear, pheromones… it’s hard to know what to do next.
There’s only one thing I know for certain:
My world will never be the same again.