Something unstoppable. A connection she couldn’t explain.
A soul-deep knowledge that she could fall for him if she dropped her guard. That being with him, even once, could risk all her plans for her new life.
She thought being with Dex would complicate things, but now she knew how she felt. Now she’d let herself feel it. Being with him was the easiest decision she’d ever made, and the least complicated thing in her life.
She finally reached the garage and stopped without even properly parking. Leaving the car running, she climbed out and ran for the steps to the apartment above. She reached the top step and pounded on the door.
“Dex?” She kept banging, her tears threatening all over again. “Please let me in…please.”
“He’s gone, Hattie.”
She spun around.
Hugh stood at the foot of the stairs, frowning deeply. “He loaded his car and left close to an hour ago. I’m sorry.”
“He’s gone?”
He nodded.
Hattie’s legs gave out from under her and she ended up sitting on the ground on the small landing in front of the door, using it for support.
He was gone. She was too late.
Chapter 11
Dex straightened his tie, grabbed his suit jacket off the passenger seat of his truck, and taking a fortifying breath, opened the door and climbed out.
People were gathered around the church, talking and laughing. He was not in the mood to do either. He’d been hoping to sneak in and take a seat at the back. He muttered a curse under his breath when he saw the bride’s family and Zane’s mom and grandparents all gathered there.
Nothing for it now.
As he approached, it felt like everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him. Maybe he was imagining it? But he didn’t think so. What did they expect? For him to break down? Deck Zane and make a huge scene? Well, right then he didn’t give a fuck about any of this.
He hadn’t given a fuck for a while and especially not in the last couple of weeks.
He just wanted Hattie. That’s all he wanted. He’d almost changed his mind that morning when he woke in his hotel and had nearly convinced himself to give this entire spectacle a miss. But if he’d done that, he’d have never heard the end of it from his brother, and the prick had enough trouble shutting the hell up as it was.
Zane would assume Dex’s absence was about Chloe, and that was the last thing he wanted.
The man himself broke away from the crowd and walked toward Dex, a broad smile on his face, though somehow on his brother it looked more like a smirk.
Zane clapped him on the shoulder. “You made it.” He looked around Dex in an exaggerated way. “Thought you had a date?”
“Said I’d come.” His throat felt dry, scratchy, tight. “She couldn’t make it.”
Fuck. Hattie. What was she doing now? Was she at work? Was she at home all alone? Had she thought about him at all?
He kicked the door closed hard on those thoughts. Not here. Not now.
“That’s a shame. You sure you didn’t make her up?” Zane chuckled at his own joke.
In the last two days, Dex had wondered the same thing himself. Hattie had seemed too good to be true from the moment he laid eyes on her. Turned out she was just too good for him.
When Dex said nothing and just stared at his brother, Zane’s smirk—because that’s exactly what it was—reached his eyes. The fucker was enjoying this.
“You look out of sorts,” Zane said, fake sympathy written all over his face. “But then, this has to be hard for you, Chloe getting married to me. You thought it’d be you and her once, right?”
Dex shook his head. “No, it’s not hard for me, and I never planned on marrying, not Chloe, not anyone.” Not until now. Idiot. It was thoughts like that, and opening his damned mouth and saying things he shouldn’t, that lost him the woman of his dreams.
“No?” Zane said, frowning. Christ, he looked skeptical. His brother didn’t believe him.
Whatever. Dex didn’t give a shit. He just wanted this over so he could go back to his hotel and work his way to the bottom of a bottle of Jameson.
A car rounded the corner.
“Shit, the bride’s here. I better get inside.” Zane strode off and the other guests still outside did the same. Dex hung back, planning to wait until the church was full. If he was at the back, he’d be the first to get out of there.
“Dex!” He spun around, stupid hope making his heart pound, but it was Chloe.
She waved him over.
He approached her as she climbed out of the bridal car.
“You came.” She smiled softly.
“Yeah, of course.” He forced a smile, or what passed for one. “You look beautiful.”
She smiled wider. “Thank you.” She put her hands on his forearm. “I’m so glad you decided to come. I’d hate for us not to be friends anymore.”
“It’s all good, Chloe.”
She gave his forearm a squeeze, and he turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm again. “I hope you find someone, too. Someone special,” she said.
He dipped his chin and strode up the path and into the church.
He’d already found his someone special, and then he’d pushed too hard, too soon, and he’d lost her.
A guy at the door closed it behind him, trapping him in with the guests, and there were more than he’d realized. The place was packed.
He was going to stand at the back, but then Zane saw him and motioned to the second row. Dex spotted his seat easily. The space was wide enough for him and Hattie. Awesome.
He strode up the aisle and took his seat, feeling like he was all alone, that everyone was looking at him again and the vacant space beside him.
Music playing quietly and the low hum of people talking filled the room while they all waited for the bride. Thankfully, the people down from him didn’t find it necessary to make small talk. Dex occupied himself by staring at his fucking shoes. The pricks pinched like hell.
The song finally ended and the silence stretched out, excitement growing as people anticipated the bride’s arrival. He just wanted it over with so he could fucking leave.
There was a bump at the door and the sound of it being flung open. Dex kept his head down, not wanting to turn around like everyone else had and risk accidentally catching the eye of a member of Chloe’s family or one of Zane’s asshole friends. And he had no interest in watching Chloe walk up the aisle while people watched him, scrutinizing him and his reaction.
“Bride or groom?” the dude at the door could be heard asking someone in the quiet church. Not the bride, then. Another guest.
“Um…the groom, I guess,” a familiar voice said.
Dex spun round in his seat.
Hattie stood at the door, face flushed, eyes bright, while she scanned the room. She was in a pink dress that hugged every inch of her and heels to match, and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Still, even with her standing right there, he tried to squash the hope building in his chest.
Her gaze finally found and locked on him, and she started moving, striding down the aisle toward him, eyes full of purpose. She was so fucking gorgeous he struggled to breathe past his pounding heart. All gazes followed her as she approached him, as she sidestepped into the row he was in and stood beside him.
Dex stared up at her, speechless, his heart in his throat.
“I’m sorry,” she said and grabbed one of his hands, clutching it in both of hers before bringing it to her lips and kissing it. Her gaze lifted to his again, and she swallowed hard. “God, Dex, I’m so sorry. I was afraid, and I…I was letting my parents control me, my life. I let them back into my head. I did that to myself and I hurt you, trying to prove them wrong. I hurt us both.” She kissed his scarred hand again. “I love you, too. So much.”
He groaned, shot out of his seat, and scooped her into his arms right as the wedding march began, as everyone stood around them. He didn’t g
ive a shit and kissed Hattie hard and deep, lost in her, the feel of her back in his arms where she belonged. He only stopped when the person behind them tapped him on the shoulder, telling him and Hattie to sit like everyone else in the church.
He forced himself to stop kissing her and sat, pulling her down beside him, and clutched her hand in his, afraid it was all a dream, that she’d suddenly disappear and he’d be sitting there all alone, aching for her.
He glanced up, and Zane was scowling at him. Dex grinned back, because he had his woman at his side. And she loved him, too.
As soon as the ceremony ended, he led her from the church and out to his truck, but he didn’t leave, not yet. He pulled Hattie onto his lap and kissed her again until they were both breathless.
Her eyes were glossy and heavy when he finally stopped, when he cupped her cheeks in his hands and took in every inch of her beautiful face, reassuring himself that she was there, that she was his.
“You love me?” he rasped, needing to hear the words one more time.
She nodded and curled her fingers around the side of his neck, thumb brushing over his bearded jaw. “Yes, Dex. I love you, so much.” She smiled and shook her head. “This is…I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Me either,” he said. “Fucking glad it is, though.” He grinned so wide his face hurt.
Hattie laughed and kissed him again. Against his lips, she said, “Let’s go get your things and go home.”
Dex nodded, but they didn’t leave right away. They kissed some more, a lot more.
Epilogue
One year later
“Okay, Mills, let’s get started,” Hugh said to his daughter.
Milly looked at her brothers and cousin and rolled her eyes when they all started yelling at once. “Me! Me first!”
Brody, Connor, and Rhett were never far from each other when the family got together. An adorable, loud trio of mischief.
Hattie grinned at them, knowing their parents were probably going to kill her and Dex when the boys opened the gifts they’d gotten them. But she hadn’t been able to resist the fire trucks when she saw them, and Dex had loved them as well. She’d caught him looking them over closely, making the sirens go, and was more than a little excited to see how far the working fire hoses could shoot water.
“Could you give the boys their gifts from us, Mills?” Hattie asked.
Dex grabbed Hattie’s hand and pulled her onto his lap. She grinned at him, threading her fingers with her husband’s, then watched the boys tear into them.
All three boys were obsessed with trucks and their shrieks of delight made both her and Dex laugh. They all hit the buttons for the sirens at the same time. Gracie giggled and Evie, Adam and Lucy’s baby girl, currently sitting on her daddy’s lap, stopped her chant of “dada dada,” and clapped her hands.
“Why do you hate me,” Joe said to Dex. “What did I ever do to you?”
Dex chuckled and it rolled through Hattie. God, she loved it when he did that. Loved everything about the man, holding her to him like she was the most precious thing in the world.
Finding each other, falling in love, getting married a few months after that, had all been such a whirlwind. But nothing had ever felt as right in her life.
When you knew, you knew.
They’d both known, had known from the start—even if Hattie had tried to fight it.
Hattie grinned to herself, a flutter of nerves igniting in her belly. And it looked like they were going to continue on that way—warp speed—and she couldn’t be happier.
Her parents on the other hand, weren’t happy about any of it. They hadn’t talked to her since she told them about Dex. It hurt, but she was okay with it. If they couldn’t love him, accept him, she didn’t want them in their lives.
Noah took a couple of gifts from under the tree, and handed one to his big sister. Darcey looked up at him in surprise. “You bought me something?”
Noah, now fifteen, had recently started working at the garage after school. He wanted to be a mechanic like Joe, and the man in question, dropped the scowl he still had aimed at Dex, when Noah handed him a gift as well.
“For me?” Joe asked.
Noah shrugged, blushing a little. “Just wanted to get you guys something.”
Joe glanced at Darcey, who had opened hers, and was clutching a delicate silver chain with tiny letters dangling off it. J, D, N, & E. Tears filled her eyes. “Noah, oh my God, I love it.”
He shrugged again, but there was no missing the way his chest puffed out, or the smile he was trying to suppress.
Joe opened his and stilled.
“It’s silly,” Noah said. “I just thought…”
“Silly?” Joe looked up at him, clutching a photo in a very cool frame of the two of them at what looked like Noah’s first baseball game. Noah looked about seven in it.
“It ah…it reminds me of when I first moved in with you and Darcey. I never thanked you,” Noah said, “for everything you did for me…for putting up with me…being there for me, both of you.”
Joe was shaking his head before Noah finished talking, eyes glistening. “Don’t ever need to thank me for that, kid. Not ever. It was my privilege, every moment.” Then he stood and pulled Noah in for a tight hug. “We’ll always be here for you, always.” Darcey joined them and they all hugged while the other adults in the room all wiped their eyes.
A little while later, they were back to opening gifts, the kids tearing through theirs, the adults going at a slower pace. Shay had knitted Hugh a sweater, her yearly tradition apparently, and Hugh had gotten her a new e-reader.
Adam got Lucy a voucher for a spa day and something she “needed to open in private” and Lucy got her husband some vinyl records to add to his collection and gourmet chocolates since he had a sweet tooth to rival all others.
Darcey had knitted Joe a hat, Shay had taught her, and got him a bottle of whiskey from the list he’d compiled of ones he wanted to try from all over the world, and Joe gave Darcey tickets to a surprise getaway they were taking after New Year and a homemade coupon book full of ways she could reward him for his awesome present.
Then it was Hattie and Dex’s turn. Dex handed Hattie a small box, looking self-conscious, and cute, and insanely sexy. She opened it and it took her several moments to form words. Inside was a gold charm bracelet. Hattie bit her lip and lifted it. “Oh my God, it’s gorgeous.”
“I thought we could add memories to it?” Dex said, voice rough.
There were already two charms attached, a tiny wineglass and a Christmas tree.
“For when we met,” he said.
Hattie looked up at her husband and knew she was the luckiest woman in the world. “I love it, so much.”
The pride on his face made her heart full. His joy was like a shot of sheer happiness to her system.
“My turn,” he said with a goofy grin on his face. “So what is it, another pair of Christmas socks to add to my collection.”
She laughed. “Hey, it was the thought that counts, and one pair is not a collection.”
“Ah ha! So not socks, then,” he said. “See how tricky I am?”
“A master at gathering intel,” Joe said and everyone laughed.
Hattie handed Dex his gift, her heart racing, nerves going crazy, excitement making her shake.
He unwrapped it, his big, rough-skinned hands that she loved so much, tearing off the tape as carefully as he could.
Finally, he got it open and he lifted the tiny lemon yellow onesie up so he could get a better look at it. She watched as his gaze moved over the words printed on the front.
Just like my dad.
Hattie watched as Dex continued to look at it. As he frowned like he was trying to process what he was seeing. His entire body stilled and his eyes widened before his gaze shot to her.
“Hattie?” he rasped.
She couldn’t contain her smile. “We’re having a baby.”
Her big husband stared into her eyes, look
ing stunned. Finally, he blinked and tears slid down his cheek. “We’re having a baby?” he rasped.
She nodded, tears running down her face as well now.
Dex pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, his colossal frame trembling and he held her tight and said roughly into her ear again, “We’re having a baby.”
When he finally loosened his hold, he cupped her face, smiling wide and gorgeous, his cheeks still glistening with tears. “Jesus, I love you.”
Then everyone was crying again and hugging and congratulating them.
Later that night, Hattie curled into Dex. She could barely move after the way he’d just made her come again, but she didn’t have to, he pulled her closer, wrapping her in his strong arms.
“We’ll need to finish off the room next to ours,” he said against her hair.
They’d moved into a new house, in the same neighborhood as Hugh and Shay, and they were having fun putting their own stamp on it, making it their own.
Hattie tilted her head back and looked into her husband’s gorgeous brown eyes. “How is it possible to be this happy?” she whispered.
He squeezed her butt, and his other hand slid up her back, brushing her hair back, gaze growing intense. “Happy doesn’t cut it, sweetness, doesn’t come close to how I’m feeling. I wake up every day, positive I couldn’t possibly love you more, love our life together more, then the next day, somehow it feels even bigger, deeper. I’m not happy, I’m so much more than that.”
The tears started again, she’d been a watering can all day. “Today was the best Christmas Day ever,” she said.
“And next year will be even better.”
Hattie moved up, covering him, and pressed her lips to his. “I’m so glad you decided to buy me that drink.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Christ, sweetness,” he said, voice so rough and deep, Hattie shivered with delight. “Not as glad as me.”
Spark (Boosted Hearts Book 4) Page 10