“Nice?” The condo was a new development with high-end finishes and upgrades. It had tons of natural light, which he knew she loved. An open floor space, so they could always be in the same space without walls separating them, and a nice patch of green space outside, perfect for the next surprise he had in store for her. Not to mention the amenities the complex came with.
“It would be great for you,” she muttered, making his forehead bunch up.
“For me?” He took a deep breath before rolling his neck and walking over to her. “This would be for us.”
“I can stay where I am,” she groaned, and he rolled his eyes.
“You’re not going to live above a garage,” he snapped and saw her eye twitch and her lips turn into a pout. She was trying to keep her cool when she was obviously irritated with him, which only made him fall harder for her. Fuck, she was cute.
“I know that. But for now, with classes about to start, maybe I should.” He took her hand and dragged her to the wide kitchen with white cabinets and black subway tile backsplash. But before she started to argue with him, he sat her on the white quartz countertop and slid in between her legs.
“This place is closer to school.” An only ten-minute drive to campus would make it easier for her to commute and stay focused. He would do anything to help her achieve her dreams, because in doing so, seeing her happy made his come true.
Funny, when you’re a kid, you think happiness can come from a job or a thing. If he were able to tell his eighteen-year-old self, he would be afraid of smacking him upside the head and warn him about everything that would one day happen. But then again, everything that happened, everything he went through, big or small, had led him to her.
Who would have thought getting drunk and letting some idiots he could have taken out without any effort kick his ass would be the best thing to ever happen to him?
“I know that,” she sighed.
“I love you,” he said, brushing a stray hair from her face. Fuck, he loved the way her face softened and her eyes warmed up whenever he said those words.
“You know I love you too, but this is too much.”
“Nothing will ever be too much for you,” he sincerely told her.
“That’s really sweet, babe, but—”
“No buts.” He winked. “Babe, you know Kip would have a shit fit if I stayed the night with you, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re done not sharing a bed at the end of the night for the foreseeable future.”
“What about when you have to go out of town for a stunt job?” she smarted off, and he rolled his eyes.
“You know what I mean. And as cool as it is to have someone make your bed every time you leave, living in a hotel isn’t for me. We need a place of our own.”
“I know,” she sighed, melting into him, her hands at his shoulders,
“So, do you like it?”
“I do,” she whispered, and he saw it in her eyes. She fucking loved the place.
“Can you see us here? Living here, making a life?”
“Making a life?” Her eyes widened as she repeated his words. “When I lugged you into my car that night, I had no idea I’d get this lucky.” His hands tightened and pulled her close. Fuck, the woman knew how to bring out his inner caveman. Listening to her be sweet made him want to slam his dick into her and claim her all over.
“You can’t be sweet like this right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s is a real estate agent walking around who I’m sure wouldn’t be too happy with us if we started to christen the place,” he gritted through his teeth, and she giggled.
“How did this become my life?” She held his face with both hands. “If we get this place, we would need a crap load of furniture, mister. My stuff would look tiny here,” she wearily shared. He just smiled bigger.
Him. Garrett fucking Wright, king of the assholes, was smiling freely and without thought and about to suggest what would send most men into hives.
“Then I guess we gotta go shopping, don’t we?” he joked, excited at the idea. Glancing at the living room, he could picture a dark oversized sectional with a chaise on one end, where he could lie out and she could sprawl out next to him as he watched a game, her nose buried in a book.
“I can help with the down—” she started to talk, but he stopped her from saying another word by placing a chaste kiss on her lips. He knew this was something she was going to bring up, and right now was as good a time as any to set everything straight.
“Are you mine?”
“Yes.”
“Let me give us this.”
“Give us this, huh?”
“Yes.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Please?” When he moved away, she hoped down from the countertop.
“You can be pretty charming when you wanna be, Mr. Wright.”
“As long as you think so, that’s all I care about. So?”
“Okay. Let’s do this.” She grinned. He took her in his arms and spun her around in excitement.
Stefanie
Escrow takes the normal person thirty to forty-five days to close and get handed keys.
But when you’re impatient Garrett Wright, it takes two long weeks from the moment you put the bid in to the moment the last box is unpacked and tossed into the recycling bin. But looking at him from the kitchen, a smile on my face as he was watching a game from the couch in the living room, I couldn’t be too mad at him for making our poor real estate agent’s life difficult.
There were a lot of things I was discovering about Garrett as time went on. Little things that made my eyes roll while others filled my heart with so much love I thought I might implode. Love I never thought I’d be given, especially not as freely as he had. The last two months since he’d handed me the key to his heart with that notebook had been incredible.
Classes and the odd shift here and there at the bar mixed in with Garrett’s stunt jobs and family get-togethers had somehow all meshed in easily. I’d had a girls’ night in at Valerie’s place, where Mrs. Wright, Nicola, Grace, her sisters, and little Lexi had been over. We’d gorged ourselves on desserts and laughter while we followed the instructions of an art teacher who taught us how to paint a beach scape.
“I have to leave early today,” I reminded him.
“Aye,” he grunted.
“It’s Thursday,” I reminded him. He leaned his head against the back of the couch and looked at me.
“Are you going to hurt those poor people again?” he teased playfully.
“I don’t hurt them!” I laughed and shook my head. “It’s fun. You should try it.”
“No thanks,” he mumbled, looking away.
“One day.”
“Nope.”
I threw my purse over my shoulder as I rounded the breakfast bar and walked to him to give him a kiss good night.
“If you change your mind…”
“I highly doubt it. My ears still hurt from last week,” he teased as he pulled me onto his lap.
“You’re lucky you’re hot,” I told him, placing my lips on his. Lightly moving over his, barely taking his top lip into my mouth before he took over and had me pinned beneath him on the couch.
“You sure you have to go host this thing?” He groaned against my mouth, his taste filling my senses. “I miss you.”
“You just had me, like, two hours ago.”
“Two hours? That’s forever,” he whined, and I laughed.
“You’re crazy.”
“About you.” He kissed me hard before pulling away and helping me up. I adjusted my clothes and the necklace around my neck and didn’t miss the way his eyes flared up just like they did anytime they caught the cactus charm around my neck.
“I better go.”
“You should, before I tie you to our bed and take my time with you until you’re begging me to stop making you come.” The image flashed in my head, and I bit my lip only to hear his deep groan. “You’re picturing it, aren’t you?”
“I better go before you convince me to stay.” His laughter filled the air as I walked out of our place and headed to the bar with a smile on my face.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Stefanie
“It’s a full house,” Alex said, bumping his hip against mine. I laughed, shaking my head.
“It’s crazy. I don’t think I’ve seen it like this before.”
“It’s because of the karaoke idea I had,” Kip mumbled behind us, and we started laughing.
“Your idea, huh?” Alex cracked up before turning to help a group of three girls at one end of the bar.
“You doing okay, kid?”
“I am.”
“School good?”
“Yeah.” I loved school. I always had. I took classes for my degree now instead of general ed and couldn’t be happier about the major I’d chosen.
“Any little shits bugging you?”
“I’m not in middle school anymore, Kip,” I teased, even though him giving a shit made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
“Whatever…” He crossed his arms, and I frowned, confused why he was stalling, standing around. “I wanted to talk to you before it got busy here.”
“Okay.” Worry hit my stomach. “Did your doctor’s appointment not go—”
“Na. Nothing like that, kiddo.” He grabbed my hand in his and looked at it, and then looked at me. His usual ice-cold stare was actually warm. “I just wanted you to know I’m proud of you, Stefanie. Seriously freaking proud of you.”
“I don’t think you’ve called me anything other than kid since we met,” I whispered.
“If you were my kid,”—he cleared his throat—“I’d be off my rocker with how proud.”
“If I were your kid, I would be pretty lucky.” My voice came out slightly scratchy with emotion. He nodded, and before I knew it, he pulled me in for a strong but quick hug.
“Now, get going. Here’s the sign-up sheet,” he ordered, the raspy quality of his voice a dead giveaway we were done with his impromptu mushy moment.
“Look at you! Weirdly organized and excited about karaoke,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood, before I pulled away and tilted my head. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” he asked. Something about the way he was dressed and acting was seriously suspicious. Kip McCallister was clearly nervous.
“Is something going on?”
“Nothing,” he gruffed. “Get going. These people need to drink away the bad singing, which makes me money. Chop. Chop.” And with that, he left.
Taking the list, I went up to the makeshift stage and smiled, taking note of how full the place really was.
“Everyone having a good time tonight?” I asked into the mic, feeling slightly nervous for the first time since I’d talked Kip into letting me do this.
Patrons cheered and clapped, and I grinned trying to shake off the weird butterflies in my belly. “Okay, let’s get tonight started! Caroline, you ready? Ladies and gents, Caroline!”
I watched as one of the karaoke regulars hoped up on stage and started her usual with These Boots Are Made for Walking. Singing softly along because there was no way you couldn’t sing and sway your body along to Nany’s words, I looked at the list Kip had handed me. Caroline was having a great time, and the crowd was eating it up. One patron after another sang and laughed, having a blast.
Whatever weird mood had hit earlier had long faded as someone took on the challenge of Dancing Queen and a couple of college-aged guys took on the Beastie Boys. I loved Thursdays. Some people loved Fridays or the weekends, but my favorite day of the week had always been Thursday.
Just as I was about to close the night’s shenanigans by calling the last singer up, Alex waved me over toward a booth. By the look on his face it was urgent.
As I walked over, Kip took the stage just as Delanie finished up his very special rendition of Blue Moon. I stopped in my tracks wondering what the hell was going on.
“Alright, ladies and gents,” Kips voice called out, “this one is going out to our very own girl. You all know how special this kid is,” his voice cracked. “Without this kid, the doors to this place would have closed a long time ago.” He cleared his throat. “So, without further ado and more marshmallow talk…” He pointed behind him, and I covered my mouth.
My eyes were as big as saucers when Garrett walked onto the stage to all but familiar beats of a song that started a dance challenge over the Internet and Garrett’s deep voice started singing.
“Trap, Trap…. This shit got me in my feelings. Stefi, do you love me…” Giggles started bubbling out as I watched him not only sing but do the dance that went along with the song.
But as quickly as the song started, it stopped, and Donnie stepped out with an acoustic guitar. I covered my mouth with my hands. What the hell was he doing?
The notes started slowly, the song vaguely familiar. The soft but sultry notes floated around. Then Garrett started to sing.
Holy crap.
Big, bad, grouchy Garrett Wright was singing.
In public.
To me.
Not badly either. Nope. Not my guy. Who would have thought he had such an incredible voice? I blinked away tears as I took in the lyrics of the song I now recognized.
“Could I be the one you talk about in your stories…” The James Arthur song had never sounded better.
Every husky word flowed mercilessly out his mouth and right to my heart. The way he sang, how his eyes never moved from where I stood, transparent with everything he felt, made my knees weak. The next moment, Kip stood next to me, his elbow interlocked with mine by my side. Before I knew it, I had someone else by my side. Garrett’s grandmother smiled up at me and kissed my cheek as she held my other elbow. I laughed. I tried to breathe, but my heart was too full. Too unfamiliar with that particular brand of joy.
“Can I be him?” he rasped, his dark eyes penetrating through my soul as he kept going.
Singing lyrics so beautiful and full of meaning I had no idea how I was still standing. How he wanted to be the one who starred in every single memory to come, and God, I wanted that. I wanted him to be the one I shared every moment of my life with. I wanted everything with him, and I knew, no matter how rocky our start had been, individually and together, he was it. When the song ended, Nicola let go of my elbow, and I noticed his entire family behind me. Watching with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces.
“Come on, kid,” Kip whispered, then he walked me to the stage where Garrett had a hand extended for me, so I could hop up.
“Garrett,” I breathed. Something cracked inside of me as he kneeled in front of me. But that crack was odd. A deep break that somehow made me whole. Healing something I didn’t know was possible to be put together.
“I’d do anything, cheat death, run to the ends of the earth, and go to hell and back for you. You’re my home. My purpose. My everything.” The tears were uncontrollable as they streamed down my face. “Marry me, Stefanie. Be mine.” I choked on my yes and nodded, hoping he could understand it through the shouts of glee that came from the crowd as he stood and lifted me in his arms. “Say it again,” he demanded in a hushed tone in my ear.
“I’m already yours.” I sniffled, “Yes.” I grinned through the happy tears as he pulled back and I got lost in his masculine beauty. His eyes bright and his smile wide before his lips landed on mine and somehow, he made all the catcalls and the world disappear.
Garrett
Her lips were soft and sweet on his as the taste of her mouth became synonymous with the blood that ran through his body.
Pulling away before he took things too far, he leaned his forehead to hers and realized she wasn’t the only one whose face was tear-streaked.
“I will give you a good life, Stefanie. I promise, sunshine.”
“We,” she corrected, and she wasn’t wrong. “We will make a great life. Together.” She smiled against his lips, and he felt it in his heart. He was a lucky
motherfucker.
His entire family was in the crowd, and he knew he had to let her go for a moment, but he took a small box from his pocket and slipped his ring on her finger. He stared at the rose gold band over her finger. The three-carat diamond shined as brightly as her eyes. He knew she would say he had gone overboard with the ring, but he was going to show her as they lived their lives that nothing would be too much when it came to his girl.
The road hadn’t been easy. It’d been hell and death, but with her in his arms he was complete. He got it. He got why he had to keep fighting the demons of his mind, and he was glad as fuck he’d never given in to the complete darkness. Not that he hadn’t swerved into that direction in the past. He’d been a dick to those he loved, and he hoped he could find complete redemption one day.
But like he had told Stef, he would take everything one day at a time.
He turned around to the familiar faces in the crowd and locked eyes with the old man with glassy eyes, who loved his girl unconditionally. Kip nodded, giving his silent approval, and Garrett nodded back before losing sight of him as Kip moved through the crowd of people. Then Garrett shouted, “She said yes!”
Epilogue
Garrett
“Stefanie Wright.” He held his breath when pride flowed through his veins as his girl walked steadily, with her head held up high and a smile over face.
Garrett watched as she shook the Dean’s hand, accepting her diploma with the other. With his fingers in his mouth, he whistled, then shouted her name through the crowd. His cheers were probably drowned out by his own family, but he didn’t care. She knew he was there. She knew he would always be there. He caught sight of her eyes searching through the crowds, and their stares caught, sharing a knowing look before she waved with a bright smile.
Carefully, she looked away and took one step at a time as she went back to her seat.
The ceremony continued, but his eyes stayed on her.
He couldn’t look away.
CHEAT (Right Men Series Book 3) Page 26