Stuck With You: A Christmas Romance

by Lara Swann

  And I’ve got some fun ideas there…especially with the way my body is already aching for him.

  “So, hiking again, right? Since you’re a big fan.”

  I groan and he just laughs at me, snatching a kiss before taking stock of the trail and leading us off to the right. I’m about to make some quip about how well he knows where he’s going, when we emerge out of the trees and onto a path looking down over Canandaigua Lake…and I have to stop and gasp.

  “Oh, it’s beautiful.” I say, stepping up closer than I probably should to the edge. It’s not a hard drop, just a steep scramble with trees dotted down the slope, but still enough to give me a little vertigo.

  Tristan steps up beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing me lightly.

  “This was a really good choice.” I say, looking out at the area. “I don’t know why I haven’t spent more time up here. The Finger Lakes really aren’t that far from New York City, and I’ve really come to love lakes like this.”

  “Yeah?” He murmurs, looking more at me than the view.

  “Yeah, they remind me…well, I guess they remind me of those times in Aspen. The Maroon Bells area.”

  He smiles, his eyes shining as he turns toward me.

  “Me too.” He says, taking my hands in his. “Colorado is a long way away, but…I wanted to go somewhere that would remind us of how this all started.”

  “For the vacation?” I ask, tilting my head, slightly puzzled. We didn’t talk about that when booking this place. “A cabin by the lakes, instead of in the mountains, huh?”

  “Something like that.” He says, and then before I know what he’s doing, he’s sinking down on one knee.

  I just stare for a moment, my heart thudding hard in my chest as I realize what he’s about to do.

  “Lauren, this last year we’ve had together has been the best I’ve ever known. I didn’t think it was possible—didn’t think it would work, didn’t think it was something I even wanted—but you’ve opened my eyes to the world and everything in it. You’ve shown me more about myself than I ever learned on my own, and I don’t ever want this to end. I want to keep going on adventures with you, I want to keep curling up and doing nothing for hours on end with you. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  “Tristan, I…” I choke up, too many emotions assailing me. The sight of him down there on his knees and the thought of everything we’ve had together over the last year…each moment more perfect than the last…

  He doesn’t give me a chance to get my breath, his eyes full of passion and intensity as they look back at me.

  “I know this didn’t work out the way you wanted the first time around, but I promise that this time will be different—”

  “Don’t be stupid.” I choke out, laughing despite myself. I sink down to my knees next to him, grabbing his mouth and kissing him hard, intense, desperate. “Of course I know this is different. It’s you. You’re the right man. You’re the one who makes me so glad, every day, that I didn’t marry that idiot a couple of years ago. Yes, Tristan, yes, I want to marry you. I want this to be forever.”

  I fling my arms around him and his hands come up to my back, holding me tight as I kiss him with everything I have. I’ve still got tears burning in the back of my throat, everything feels faint and fuzzy and so perfect that I barely know how to breathe. It’s not until I finally pull back that he laughs a little, shifting against me.

  “The ring…” He murmurs, reaching his hand into his pocket. “I didn’t even get a chance to give you the ring before you flung yourself down here at me.”

  “Hey.” I say, laughing too. “I was saying I wanted to be your wife. I’m allowed to fling myself at you a little.”

  “You’re allowed to fling yourself at me a lot.” He corrects, pulling out the box and opening it in front of me. “Here. I really liked this one, but if you’d rather, we can go and pick out—”

  “Hush.” I say, smiling as I look at the gorgeous ring in front of me. “It’s beautiful. I want this one.”

  It’s a deceptively simple ring, with a simple diamond set on a single band that has a twist at the end, a little flourish, and I love it. Simple, elegant and just lovely.

  “Thank you.” I murmur, as he slips it onto my finger, and then I fling my arms around him all over again. “For everything.”

  “You too.” He says, stroking my hair back from my face. “Thank you for giving me everything I’ve always wanted.”

  The lump rises in my throat again and I have to bury my head into his chest, because if I keep looking into those eyes I swear I’m going to lose it.

  We sit there for a while longer, his arms around me as I sink back against his chest and look out at the view.

  “I could stay here forever.” I say, sighing softly. “Forget finding the cabin. You were right. This is the way to spend our vacation.”

  “Well, actually…”

  “Hmm?” I look back at him.

  “I did have one other thing I wanted to show you.”

  “What is it?”

  He smiles, a secretive look that somehow goes right through me.

  “You’ll see…when you’re ready to get up, that is.”

  “Well, now I’m too curious not to.” I say, sighing exaggeratedly, but grinning too. I love surprises. “Okay, c’mon, show me the other thing.”

  He laughs as I pull him up, and we set off along the edge of the trees, making our way steadily down the trail, but with the lake in sight the whole time. It’s not at all the ‘just over here’ thing I was expecting, and after about an hour I start looking at him incredulously.

  “Just how far are we going?”

  “Not much further—I think we’re almost there.”

  “You think?” I narrow my gaze at him. That doesn’t sound promising.

  He laughs, steps in closer and kisses me again.

  “Trust me?” He murmurs, and I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for the way he looks at me.

  “Well, I guess you did just propose…you can have your hour-and-a-half of keeping me on tenterhooks waiting for something to appear.” I say, just as something does actually seem to appear…in the distance.

  I look over to see a large, stately house on the edge of the lake, surrounded on all sides by the forest and completely isolated.

  “Is that where we’re going?” I ask, pointing toward it.

  He laughs again, wrapping his arm around my waist. “I can’t keep anything from you for long. Yeah. C’mon.”

  We make our way further down the trail, weaving in and out of the trees, so that it gets closer at intermittent intervals. I’ve got to admit, I am curious now. What is it that he’s got organized down there? A fancy lunch? With the length of this hike, I’m getting pretty hungry - I would definitely be into that.

  Then we disappear into the trees entirely and it’s not until we’re practically on the grounds of the place that I get to see it again and…then I’m left frowning in confusion. There are an array of chairs set out just beside the house and in front of the lake, a little arch at the head of it, and all sorts of people milling about. It almost looks like…

  “Tristan, what…”

  He turns as I stop, a slow grin spreading across his face.

  I just frown. “Tristan, this looks like…some kind of wedding.”

  Surely we can’t just go up there and disturb them.

  “Well…you did just agree to marry me.” He says, and just at that moment I start to recognize some of the people walking towards us.

  I just stare at him, not comprehending in the slightest, and he finally takes pity on me, coming over to rest his hands on my hips and brush my mouth with his, gazing at me with eyes that are far too warm and intense to be playing some kind of practical joke on me, even if he is obviously amused.

  “I didn’t want you to have to go through the planning all over again - not when you’d already done it all before and it ended…like it did. I didn’t
want the whole thing to be a long, drawn out process that reminded you of any of that. I asked you to marry me—I meant it. Every word. I want you as my wife. Today. Now. I didn’t see any reason to wait. So I pulled this together with Hannah—she was amazing, by the way. She knew all the things you’d planned before and - more importantly - which parts you actually cared about. So I tried to replicate what you wanted, as best I could, with a few little flairs and flourishes of our own and…this is it. Our wedding.”

  He smiles, his eyes bright and shining with love as he looks at me, and I can’t even—I don’t know how to—it’s just—I’m lost.

  Totally and utterly lost as I stare at this man, who has done so much for me, just because…just because he could.

  “I’m glad you said yes.” He adds, and it’s enough to startle a laugh out of me, cutting through my total disbelief.

  “You…what would you have done if I hadn’t?!”

  “Oh, come now.” He says, in his most aggravatingly arrogant voice. “We both knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

  “I—you—” I stutter. “You’re the most infuriating man I’ve ever met…and the best damn one too.”

  I collapse into his arms, sinking against his chest and trying not to sob as emotion totally overwhelms me.

  Fucking hell. He did all that…just because…

  “Shit, Tristan, you’re going to leave me crying on my wedding day.”

  My wedding day. The day I’ve dreamed about for so long. The day I’ve longed for and dreaded going through again, in equal measure. I can’t believe it’s actually happening. Right here. Right now. And I don’t even have to think about it.

  “I’m pretty sure the makeup artist can sort that out for you.” He says, totally unconcerned, and I hug him so tightly I think I’m going to burst, falling in love with him again and again and again in just that one moment.

  “Hey! Congratulations!”

  Hannah’s voice is enough to have me looking up from Tristan’s chest, taking a deep breath and trying to compose myself at least a little, as I turn to look at her. She’s wearing a grin big enough to match Tristan’s and she comes forward to hug me immediately, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing tight. It’s more awkward than it was two months ago, now that she’s really starting to show, but I love that about it even more.

  “Hannah, I don’t…I…did you know?!”

  She laughs, long and loud. “Of course I knew, idiot.”

  Of course she did. She’s here, after all. And so is…everyone else. I mean, Tristan even told me she did, but still, I just…

  “Fucking hell.” I mutter, looking up at all the people in the distance, all gathered and waiting…for me.

  She laughs again.

  “C’mon, we need to get you ready. We’ve got the cutest little building over here to get ready in—Mom’s there, and Nicole, and all the children—” She turns to Tristan over her shoulder and adds. “Sorry, man, we took the better one.”

  He gives her a crooked smile. “I wouldn’t have expected any less.”

  Before she can drag me away, though, he steps up and takes me into his arms, his eyes searching mine for a moment as his hand comes up to stroke my cheek.

  “Are you okay, Lauren?” He murmurs. “Really?”

  “I—yes—” I say, still slightly gasping for breath, but getting more and more excited with every passing moment as I slowly realize this is actually happening. “Thank you, Tristan. This is…unbelievable…but it’s…everything I could have wanted.”

  He smiles, his expression finally relaxing, and he leans in to kiss me softly before finally letting me go.

  “You know you’re not supposed to even see her before the wedding.” Hannah points out, helpful as always. “Let alone kiss her.”

  “Since when have I ever done what’s expected?” Tristan asks with a far too smug smile, and I’m pretty sure Hannah only lets him get away with it because he…well…organized all this for me.

  Since we got together, they’ve become fast friends—almost like real siblings, actually, and I smile at the thought that after today, they really will be brother and sister.

  Hannah takes my arm in hers and leads me away to the building she described - and it really is as quaint and lovely as she mentioned - where the rest of my family wait. Or the women, anyway, as well as a couple of my friends. Then everything passes in a blur as I find my wedding dress - the one I’d originally fallen in love with, that I never got to wear, and that my Mom kept for me - and pick out all sorts of details about which shoes, hair and makeup I’d prefer.

  I just know if I’d been given these choices months before the wedding, they would have taken forever and I would have second-guessed myself endlessly, but like this it’s easy. There’s no time for any of that - and no reason, either. That’s one thing about this surprise wedding…it drives home to me just what’s actually important here. And it’s not the clothes, or the setting, or the food.

  It’s the people. It’s the man I want to marry. And it’s what this means to me, on a deep level.

  I notice all the little things he kept that truly matter to me…my nephews and niece, throwing flowers and running around in front of me…the readings I’d picked out about what love and life together means for me…the people there to watch me in the happiest moment of my life…

  I have a moment of shock when I walk out to see them all gathered there, my friends and family on both sides of the aisle, and realize…they’re all mine. It hadn’t even occurred to me but of course, apart from a few friends from all over the country, Tristan doesn’t have anyone.

  My heart goes out to him in that moment, a lump rising into my throat once again, and in exactly the same instant I realize it doesn’t matter. The people here…they’re for both of us. My family has taken him in completely and utterly, and the bonds he’s built in the last year are as strong as any I could wish him to have…and watching him open up to that has been one of the greatest privileges I’ve ever had.

  There are little things that make this his, too. I recognize a couple of the wedding photographers, and there sitting right at the front is the urn with his Nana’s ashes in it. There are readings I’ve never heard before, that are solemn and beautiful in a way that’s all him, and I have it on good authority that unlike at Hannah’s wedding, there are definitely a few unused rooms in that house to sneak off to.

  And when we finally come together, speaking our vows under the loving eyes of everyone that we care about, my heart swells until it feels like it could burst. It’s perfect. Absolutely everything.

  Tristan kisses me, and it feels like all my dreams come true.

  “Thank you.” I say softly, as he holds me there in front of everyone, tears in my eyes. “This is the best wedding I ever could have asked for...and everything I didn’t know I needed.”

  “It’s not over yet.” He murmurs, heat and promise in his eyes, the kind that reignites everything inside me and makes me burn for him.

  No, it isn’t...

  And everything else has only just begun.

  THE END

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  More Books by Lara Swann

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  I’ve spent years raising my sister.

  Starting a billion-dollar company to keep her secure.

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  Guess what happens?

  It was only supposed to be one night - but she left me desperate for more.

  Searching for the girl with the sparkling blue eyes and wild passion. Ava Lockley.

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out with total abandon in my arms.

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  One night turns into two, stealing moments together and sneaking around.

  Then she says she’s pregnant.

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  She’ll lose the one chance she’s got at her dream job.

  So now we have this secret - and all I want to do is tell people.

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  The only thing that stops me is putting her career in jeopardy.

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  Even if I have to give up my life’s work.

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  Hero Next Door

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