by Kaylee Ryan
“What’s so funny?”
“This.” I turn my phone so he can see the screen.
“Ugh,” he groans. “Tell my little brother that I’ll remember this day,” he says as he takes in the image of him as a little boy on my phone.
“It’s cute,” I tell him.
“I’m naked, pissing in the wind, holding a NERF gun.”
“It’s cute, and you were what three? Four?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure Mom does.” I go back to looking at the image when I hear him talking. “Hey, fucker, can you not send my girl naked pictures of me when I was little?” He pauses. “Remember this, Grant, payback’s a bitch.” He shakes his head, ending the call.
“Oh, come on, don’t be mad. I have pictures,” I assure him. “They’re packed away in my apartment, but I can show you if it will make you feel better.”
“Much. You know what else would make me feel even better?”
“What’s that?”
“Let’s go to your place and start packing. We can load up the first load.”
“You really want to spend the weekend moving?”
“Yes. I want to spend the weekend moving my sexy-ass girlfriend into our home.”
I groan. “I hate packing and moving.”
“You pack, baby. I’ll call my brothers, and we’ll have you moved in no time. Actually, I can just hire it to be done.” He picks up his phone. “I can have movers there today.”
“It’s Saturday afternoon.”
“Money talks, sweetheart. Now, what’s it going to be? Me and my brothers, or movers?”
“Let’s just you and I go over and start.”
“Deal.” He stands from his seat on the couch and stretches his long, tattooed arms over his head. “Let’s get moving, babe. Time’s wasting.”
“Fine,” I grumble, trying to act annoyed when I’m secretly thrilled. Something tells me it’s not really that big of a secret when he smirks.
Half an hour later, we’re in my apartment with boxes in tow. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Let’s start with your clothes. That way, you have everything you might need. We can get the rest later.”
“Solid plan,” I agree. Grabbing a box and tape, I head down the hall to my bedroom. I hear Royce on the phone, but don’t bother to listen in; I’ve got too much to do. Taping the box, I start opening dresser drawers and emptying them. I don’t worry about wrinkles or packing it nice and neat, as I just want it done. There will be time for that later once we get back to his place.
By the time Royce joins me, I have my large dresser emptied. “Wow, you work fast,” he says, looking at the three already full boxes. “One more dresser to go before diving into the closet.”
“Is there going to be room for all of this at your place?” I ask.
“Our place,” he corrects me. “Yes. There is another walk-in closet. I’m sure you’ve never been inside. It’s bigger than mine and has a closet organizer already installed.” His phone rings in his hand. “Hello.” He pauses. “Yeah, that’s it. I’ll let you in.”
“Who was that?”
“Jase. He and Sam are stopping by to help. My brothers are on their way too.”
“Royce, I thought it was just going to be us?”
“Our family, baby. Hadley and Derek are picking up pizza and beer and are on their way.”
“This is an ambush,” I say, not the least bit upset.
“Yep.” He grins. “I told you, baby. This is our future. It’s time to start living again.” I feel his words, as well as hear them. Until I met Royce, I didn’t realize I too was a shadow of the person I used to be after losing my parents. I was going through the motions. I put up with a pig for a boss for far too long. I like to think that my parents gave me the strength to end it that day. I want to believe that they led me to Royce, guiding me toward my happily ever after.
“You good, babe?” he asks, sensing my mood shifting.
“Yeah,” I say honestly. “I’m good.”
A knock sounds at the door. “That’s them. Love you.” He kisses my cheek and rushes to let Jase and Sam into my apartment.
I trail after him, hoping to get my baby Aria fix. “Hey,” I greet Sam with a hug.
“Hi. Hope you don’t mind us crashing your party? Jase’s mom is at the house with Aria and insisted that we get out for a few hours.”
“And you came here? Go see a movie or out to dinner.”
“Nah, we’d rather be here.” She claps her hands together. “Where should we start?”
“You can help me in the bedroom,” I tell her. She follows me back to my room, and we dive in. I hear Royce’s brothers arrive, and not long after Hadley joins us in the bedroom, and within a couple of hours, my entire room is packed.
“Wow, that didn’t take long at all.”
“That man is determined.” Sam laughs.
“That he is,” I agree.
She looks down at her watch. “I hate to abandon you, but I need to get home to Aria. I’m sure she’s fine, but I’m missing my baby girl.”
“I can’t thank you enough for helping. Give her a kiss from me.”
“Will do.”
The three of us make our way to the living room, and what I see stops me in my tracks. The walls are bare, all of my decorations are packed away, and the cabinet doors in the kitchen are open, showing me that they’re bare too. “You all work fast. I was going to donate some of that,” I tell Royce.
“You still can. Let’s get it moved, and you can take your time going through it.”
“But why move it if we don’t have to?” I question.
“Because I need you moved. I need you living in our house sooner rather than later. We have the space. Keep it, donate it, sell it, trash it, I don’t care as long as we share an address.”
“What about a last name?” Jase asks, smirking. Sam smacks him in the chest, but she looks toward Royce as if she’s waiting on an answer.
“That too,” Royce says, kissing my temple.
Jase nods approvingly. “We’re heading out. Mom has Aria, and it’s been long enough.”
“Thanks for coming. We’ll get together soon,” Royce tells him.
“All right, I’ve got the truck and trailer, so we’re going to start loading this stuff up.”
“Today?”
“Yeah.” Conrad shrugs. “Why not? We’re here. Let’s get this done, so my brother can stop whining.”
I look at Royce, and he shrugs. “All right, let’s start loading.” There’s no use in arguing with them. They’re all five stubborn as hell. Besides, moving in one day? Yes, please. I’d rather have it done. I would have liked to have gone through some of the things I don’t want to keep, but this gives me time to mix my things with his and decide for certain what I want to get rid of. At the end of the day, I’m moving in with him, and that’s all that matters.
I’m standing at Royce’s house, well, our house, staring into the boxes and furniture that’s sitting in the extra bay of the garage. “This is not what a four-car garage is for,” I tell him.
“It works. I’ll move the SUV to the detached garage, and you can take that spot. You have plenty of time to work through your stuff. All of your clothes are in our room.”
“Our room,” I repeat his words, letting them roll off my tongue.
“Come on, it’s cold out here.” He takes my hand and leads me into the house.
“I wish everyone would have stayed and let me feed them.”
“Had and Derek brought pizza. And they know how much you appreciate it. That’s what family does.”
My eyes water. I have a family again. “I know but, I need to thank them.”
“How about we invite everyone over in a couple of weeks? We can cook, or we’ll order in, but you can thank them then.”
“Deal.” Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I send a text to Hadley and Derek.
Me: Thank you both so much for all for your help.
&
nbsp; Had & D: That’s what family is for.
Royce looks over my shoulder, reading the message. “Told you,” he says, smirking.
Me: Thank you all so much for helping today.
I hit Send to Owen, Grant, Conrad, and Marshall. Their replies are immediate.
Grant: Anytime, S.
Conrad: You tamed the beast!
Marshall: You kids be good.
Owen: That’s what family is for.
“Come on, you.” Royce pulls my phone from my hands. “Shower and bed.” I don’t put up a fight as he leads me to our room. That’s going to take some getting used to, but the smile on my face is genuine. I’m exhausted but in the best way. We’re on our way to starting our future together. My mind flashes an image of the diamond ring I know he has in the safe. I don’t know when he’s going to ask me, but when he does, I’m ready to say yes. Fate brought us together, and love is going to carry us into the future.
Epilogue Royce
Royce
“I’m stuffed,” Dad says, pushing back from the table. “Delicious as always, dear,” he tells my mom. We’re sitting around my parents’ massive dining room table, having just finished eating Thanksgiving dinner.
“It wasn’t just me this year. Sawyer was a huge help.” She smiles over at my girl.
“All I did was mash the potatoes. With a mixer.” Sawyer laughs.
“It’s more help than I’m used to getting.” Mom gives each of us a pointed look.
“Hey, now,” Marshall pipes up. “Last time we tried to help, you kicked us out of the kitchen.”
“You ruined the deviled eggs.” Mom points at him, barely containing her laughter.
“We didn’t know they didn’t need to be cooked,” he tells her, making us all laugh.
“Thank you for having me. Everything was delicious,” Sawyer tells my parents.
“You’re family, Sawyer” is my mom’s only reply.
“Hey.” I lean over and whisper in her ear, “Take a walk with me?”
She turns and gives me a smile that lights up the room. “Let me help clean up first.”
“Nope. You helped cook. These five can help me. You two go on.”
“Are you sure?”
“We’ve got this,” Dad tells her.
“Come on.” I stand and reach for her hand. I lead her to the door where we bundle up and head outside.
She sucks in a deep breath. “I love it here, Royce. It’s so peaceful, and the stars,” she says, looking up at the night sky.
My heart pounds against my chest at the realization of what’s about to happen. “You want to walk or take the UTV?”
“Let’s ride. Can we go out to the gazebo? I bet it’s beautiful with all the snow.”
“Yeah, babe. We can go to the gazebo.” I couldn’t have planned this better. She’s falling right into what I’ve already orchestrated. Thanks to the help of my parents and my brother, everything is all set up and waiting for us.
I take the long way around. The UTV has a window and roof, so it keeps the wind off us. I grabbed a blanket from the chest, though, and give it to her to cover up with. Mom is always prepared. I never realized how handy that is, but it’s worked in my favor more times than I can count.
I pull up to an old treehouse that has seen better days. “This is our old treehouse.” I shine the lights so she can see. “It’s too rough to use, but someday when our kids get old enough, we’ll build them another one, just like this one.”
“Make sure it’s big enough for me to sit in there too.”
“Yeah?”
She nods. “I want to be able to experience it with them.”
“Me too,” I say as I continue on. “This is where Owen got Dad’s new tractor stuck when he was sixteen. I was eighteen. It was the summer before I was headed off to college. He got the bright idea to dig a mud hole for the four-wheelers. Not a terrible idea, but he did it during a torrential summer downpour. Hence the tractor getting stuck.”
“Oh, I bet he was mad.”
“Surprisingly, he wasn’t. The next day he pulled it out and then proceeded to help Owen make the pit. The six of us then played around all day in the mud with the four-wheelers.” I chuckle. “I can still remember Mom’s face when we walked up to the front porch covered from head to toe in mud.”
“What did she do?” my girl asks, hanging on every word.
“She sprayed us with the water hose, then made us strip right there on the front porch before letting us inside.”
Her laugh surrounds us. “I’ll have to remember that.”
Finally, we approach the gazebo—the moment of truth. I remember being nervous when I asked Jennifer to marry me. Not because I was afraid she would say no, but because in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted. It was the next progression in life, so I went with it. This time it’s different. There are no jitters, no nerves, and nothing but absolute certainty that Sawyer is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
Epilogue Sawyer
Sawyer
“What happened to the lights?” I ask Royce as we walk toward the gazebo with nothing to guide us but the starry night sky.
“Watch your step,” he says, helping me up into the gazebo. “These lights,” he says as we’re suddenly bathed in a soft glow of twinkle lights.
“Wow,” I breathe, staring up at them. “These are different than before,” I say, noticing the new lights that hang from the ceiling, making them look like hundreds of twinkling stars. “Royce.” I turn to look at him only to find him kneeling on the same quilt we used that first night.
“You’re right. They are different. These are special, just for you,” he says, taking my hand in his.
“They’re beautiful,” I whisper.
“You’re beautiful,” he counters. “Sawyer.” He swallows hard. “You brought me back to life. You saved me from my past. I was living with the regrets of my past hanging over my head, but you changed all of that. You showed me that I have something worth living for.”
I run my shaking fingers over his hair. “You always did,” I tell him.
He nods. “But when I met you, it’s as if something just clicked into place. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s almost like my heart recognized that you were meant to be mine. Every day with you is better than the one before it. I can’t think of my future without seeing you by my side. I want to spend every day of the rest of my life loving you. I want to make babies with you. I want the future that we’ve talked about.”
I watch through tear-filled eyes as he opens the ring box and pulls the sparkling diamond out of it. “Sawyer Gibson, will you do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife? Will you live your forever with me, baby?”
I lose control of my emotions, and my tears begin to fall. Dropping to my knees, I kiss him hard. “Yes,” I say against his lips. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Loud shouts and clapping greet me. I look up to find his family, along with Hadley, Derek, Jase, Sam, and baby Aria, standing on the bank of the lake, watching us.
“She said yes!” Royce shouts.
“I can’t believe you pulled this off,” I tell him.
“I wanted it to be special for you. I wanted you to know that you have family and that it’s more than just me who loves you. They’re our family, Sawyer.”
“So many layers, Mr. Riggins,” I say, smiling.
“You love my layers.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to read Layer by Layer. Are you ready for more of the Riggins brothers? Owen’s story is next in Piece by Piece.
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More from Kaylee
With You Series:
Anywhere with You | More with You
Everything with You
Soul Serenade Series:
Emphatic | Assured
Definite | Insistent
Southern Heart Series:
Southern Pleasure | Southern Desire
Southern Attraction | Southern Devotion
Unexpected Arrivals Series
Unexpected Reality |Unexpected Fight
Unexpected Fall | Unexpected Bond
Unexpected Odds
Standalone Titles:
Tempting Tatum | Unwrapping Tatum | Levitate
Just Say When | I Just Want You
Reminding Avery
Hey, Whiskey | When Sparks Collide
Pull You Through | Beyond the Bases
Remedy | The Difference
Trust the Push
Entangled Hearts Duet:
Agony | Bliss
Co-written with Lacey Black:
It’s Not Over | Just Getting Started
Can’t Fight It
Cocky Hero Club:
Lucky Bastard
Riggins Brothers Series:
Play by Play / Layer by Layer
Acknowledgments
To my family:
Your support means the world to me. Thank you for always standing by my side.
Alfred Liebl:
The moment I saw this image, I knew I needed it. Had to have it! It took me some time to write the story to go with it, but the image brings Royce to life. Thank you for your talent, and a cover worthy image.