You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

“Do you think it’s weird that my name is going to be Leigh Lee?” my client asked as she shook her head with a smile on her face.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I’ve seen people walk down the aisle with the perfect last name, and they weren’t happy. And I see the way Scotty looks at you. He’s so crazy about you, and that’s what everyone dreams of. When you two are together, you can feel all that love. So who cares what your last name is? If it bothers you, you could hyphenate your maiden name, or Scotty could take your last name. But that just comes down to what makes you both happy. Anyone focusing on your name at the wedding is just envious of what you two have. Because it’s rare. And I don’t think you should go into this weekend with anything but joy, because you’re lucky,” I said honestly, and I startled when I realized a tear was rolling down my cheek.

Will I ever get a freaking break?

Leigh turned her chair to face me in the conference room, taking my hands in hers. “Montana, you’ve literally made my wedding dreams come true, and we haven’t even walked down the aisle yet. You’re amazing, and you deserve all the happiness too.” She sniffed and smiled up at me. “I never liked Phillip for you. Do you know that everyone in town used to say that he was dating out of his class, because he was never good enough for you? But you sure seemed happy whenever I’d see you with Myles around town. You two were always laughing and smiling and looking at one another like there was no one else around. You never seemed like that with Phillip. And I don’t know if you were dating Myles or what was going on; it’s not my business. But I know you deserve to feel like that all the time.”

A lump so thick formed in my throat, and I shook my head. “I’m the wedding planner. I’m supposed to be making you cry. Not vice versa.”

“You’re so much more than a wedding planner to me, Montana. You’re a friend. And you feel like family. And I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. So I’m going to rock being Mrs. Leigh Lee for the rest of my life. And if anyone has something to say about it, I’ll just think of you and smirk, knowing that they’re just envious.”

“Damn straight, girl. You’re living the whole fairy tale.” I pushed to my feet, and she did the same as we hugged. After we’d pulled apart, we made our way back out to the office. She waved goodbye, and I turned to see the seating chart that Blakely had printed out for us.

“Oh, this is perfect,” I said, looking it over. “Yes. Keeping a few tables between her parents will make it a little less stressful for Leigh.”

Her parents had gone through a brutal divorce a few years back. Her father had remarried, and there was no love between them anymore. So Leigh had been worried about it, but a thoughtful seating chart could alleviate a lot of that anxiety.

“Hey,” Violet said, emerging from her office. “Do you want to head over to the farmhouse and check it out? Apparently, it’s all done.”

“Yes. Why don’t we close up early so the three of us can head over there and see it together,” I said as the bells on the door chimed, and I turned around.

My mouth gaped open at the sight of him.

Myles St. James.

He stood there in dark jeans, a dress shirt, and a camel-colored dress coat. His hair was cut short on the sides and a little longer on top. Peppered facial hair dusted his jaw, and his sage green eyes found mine.

I couldn’t speak. I wanted to lunge at him and wrap my arms around him.

But I was frozen.

Afraid to let those feelings free again.

He was probably visiting. Here for a quick trip and just passing by.

“Hey,” he said, his voice gruff.

“Hi.” My voice sounded more like a squeak, and I glanced over at Violet and Blakely, who were both gaping at the man as if they couldn’t believe he was here either.

“I wanted to see if you had a free minute to speak.” He took a step closer, and I sucked in a breath.

“What are you doing here? I thought Connor was handling everything for the business?” I squared my shoulders, suddenly remembering that I needed to protect myself where this man was concerned.

“Do you want to do this right here?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” Violet and Blakely said at the same time, and I tried to ignore them.

“Is this business related?” I asked.

“Montana,” he said, moving another step closer. “It’s never been business related with us, has it?”

I shook my head, unsure what to say.

“I fucked up when I left here and agreed not to speak to you.”

“Why?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Because I think about you every day when I wake up. I think about you all day when I’m at work. I think about you when I eat dinner alone, because I don’t want to be with anyone but you.”

“So you just want to stroll into town and have dinner with me, and then leave again?” I asked, taking a step back because I’d never be able to move on if I let him come in and out of my life whenever he felt like it.

“Nope. That’s not what I’m saying.”noveldrama

“What are you saying?” Violet asked.

“I’m saying that I’m madly in love with you, Montana Kingsley. And I’m saying that . . .” He paused and cleared his throat. His voice was low and deep as he bent down and looked me right in the eyes. “‘I Remember Everything.’”

My heart pounded in my ears at his words. He’d remembered the song. I blinked rapidly several times, trying to keep the tears away.

“‘I Remember Everything’ too,” I whispered. “But what does this change?”

“Well, it changes everything. I want you. I want us, Montana. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make that work.”

“But you don’t live here,” I said, my voice shaking.

He slipped his coat off and dropped it on the desk. And then he reached for the buttons on his dress shirt and started unbuttoning them one at a time, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Oh, hell yes!” Violet called out as she reached for a handful of Skittles from the candy jar.

Blakely took a few pieces of candy from Violet’s hand as she watched Myles open his shirt.

His six-pack abs were on full display, and then he pushed his shirt off his left shoulder, exposing dark ink.

You, Me, and Forever.

He’d tattooed those words over his heart.

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.

“Samuel is going to take on a larger role at the company, and I am going to spend a lot of time here. I can work remotely most of the time, and I’ll travel for meetings and to check on projects. We can have three homes. One here, one in Banff, and one in New York. You can’t be throwing weddings when it’s dark for twenty hours a day. So we’ll be in the city, together, when you aren’t working. And when you need to be here, I’ll be here beside you.” He placed his hand over his chest just beneath the ink. “You, me, and forever, baby.”

I lunged forward, throwing myself into his arms. Tears ran down my face as I hugged him.

“You, me, and forever, Moneybags,” I whispered against his ear.

He set me down on my feet and placed a hand on each side of my face. “I missed you, Honey Badger.”

“I’ve missed you too,” I croaked.

“I’ve actually missed you too,” Violet said with a laugh. “My girl has been a real sad sack, and I was about done with it.”

“She tried to put on a brave face,” Blakely said. “But some things you can’t hide.”

“Okay, I appreciate the commentating, but I’d like to take my man to my office and kiss him properly in private,” I said as I grabbed his coat and led him away.

“What fun is that?” Violet shouted from behind us.

Once we were inside my office, I closed the door and wrapped my hands around his neck.

Emotion was thick as I looked up at him. My bottom lip shook. “I can’t believe you’re here. And you really want to make this work.”

“It’s not an option,” he said as his thumb stroked my bottom lip. “I don’t want to live without you, Montana. I have never told a woman outside of my mother and grandmother that I loved them. But I fucking love you. I love you in a way I never knew I was capable of loving another person. I knew I loved you the day you told me how you felt, and I let fear stop me from saying it back to you. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to give you what you deserve. But I’m over that bullshit. Because I will do whatever it takes to make this work. If that means I live in a small town with a moose with giant balls and a porcupine who camps out on my doorstep, so fucking be it. I. Love. You. All of you. Every inch of you.”

“I love you too.” Tears streamed down my face.

“No more tears, baby. It’s you and me now.”

“You and me forever, huh?” I sniffed.

“Yes. And forever starts right fucking now.”

“Where are you going to live?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the man I loved was moving to Blushing, Alaska, so we could be together.

He tugged me close as his arms came around me, and his hands found my ass before lifting me off the ground. My legs wrapped around his waist as my fingers tangled in his hair.

“I don’t do anything half-assed; you should know that. So I’m coming here because I want to be with you. I want you by my side. I made a very generous offer on that Airbnb I was staying in, and they’ve already accepted verbally, and we’re just getting the paperwork filed.”

My head tipped back on a laugh. “You don’t mess around, Moneybags.”

“Buckle up, baby. I plan on convincing you to move in with me as soon as possible, but I figured it would take you a little time to process all of this.”

“You could have just moved in to my house, you know?”

“It’s the size of a postage stamp, and we can’t have Porky living alone, right? Plus, I want to have plenty of space for us each to have a home office, and lots of rooms to grow into.”

My eyes widened. “Wow. You had me at ‘porcupine.’”

“And you had me the minute I laid eyes on you, Montana Kingsley. I may not know what I’m doing, but I’m going to try like hell to show you that I can do this. Do you trust me?”

“I mean, I did go home with you the very first night we met. I’d never done that before. And that was before I even knew you. I just had this feeling about you,” I said, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.

“What feeling, baby?”

“Like I’d met the man I was going to spend my life with. Like he was going to be worth all the heartache.”

He smiled. “No more heartache. We’re together now, and that’s all that matters.”

“I love you, Myles St. James.”

“I love you.” He tugged my head down and kissed me.

It was needy and fevered and desperate.

Like two souls that had been kept apart and finally reunited.

My fingers tangled in his hair as I tried to pull him closer.

Wanting.

Needing.

Mine.