Game Breaker:The Loop
Page 7
“Hey, wifey.”
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Whatcha doin’?”
“Hiding.”
He lifts a brow. “From?”
“You, Mark, the neighbor, life…”
He snickers. “You flashed the neighbor again?”
“Nope. He gave me a glimpse of what life with a teenage son might be like.”
Wyatt grimaces before he wraps an arm over my waist and snuggles in close. “You can still runaway bride me if you want.”
I let out a loud sigh and melt into him. “I’ll be okay. I just need to get dressed, then we can call the cab.”
He pulls back the covers and hops out. Standing by the bed, he holds out his hand and helps me up, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Everything is going to be alright, Sez. I promise you.”
“I’ll be fine. Well, I will be eventually.”
“Yes, I think you will be.”
I lean back and look up at him with a grin. “That’s because I have you.”
“Forever and always.”
I’ve always been confident. I’ve never once doubted myself or my abilities to achieve what I want.
When I left the army, I had a goal to get a civilian job, buy a house I could raise a family in, and once I was settled and mentally prepared, find Sarah Mason and wear her down until she admitted she was mine—again.
But for the first time in a very long time, I’m nervous.
It’s the same feeling I had when I made the decision to enlist, because with everything that’s important in life, even with the best of intentions, things don’t always go the way you want them to.
At least this time, I know right down to the bottom of my soul that I’ve done everything in my power to make sure today ends the way I want it to.
I haven’t stopping thinking about Sarah since I dropped her home on Wednesday night. But if there’s one thing I realized from our time together, it’s that she never gives up. Once she’s decided on something, she will always follow through on it. In her mind, marrying Wyatt today is the only way she is going to be able to help her parents and save their house. What she didn’t count on was my determination to be the only one she ever says ‘I do’ to.
She was right when she said that I would be at her back if I’d stayed. I may not be able to make up for any of the times I haven’t been there for her in the past, but I’m damn well sure I’m going to be there for her from this point on.
That’s why fifteen minutes later, I’m outside the lower level of the courthouse when Wyatt and Sarah come into view.
She looks amazing, wearing the same dress I saw her in on the train five days ago. The same dress I tore her out of before sinking inside her and making her mine.
Something I hope to do again very soon.
Her eyes meet mine, and her step falters. Wyatt sees me and grins before leaning down and whispering something in her ear.
Watching them together, I feel like an idiot for ever being worried about Wyatt. He’s a good guy—he always was—and there’s no way he would’ve married Sarah knowing how she felt about me now that I’m back in her life. And I am definitely back, whether she likes it or not.
He kisses her cheek, his lips forming the word ‘go’ as he wraps an arm around her back and pushes her forward.
She stops a few feet in front of me, her brows scrunched adorably, and crosses her arms over her chest. “Cam, what are you—” she says, at the same time as I say, “I’m here to—”
We both stop and she smiles, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You're the last person I thought I'd see here.”
“You're the only person I'd ever be here for, Sez.”
Her expression dims and she clasps her hands in front of her, looking away from me.
I reach down and cover her hands with one of mine. “I couldn't leave things as they were between us.
“I never meant to hurt you, Sarah. Either back then or now, and I know you might not believe me, but I wasn't lying when I said I never stopped thinking about you.
“I know why you felt you had to go through with the ceremony today, but I'm here to stop it. To stop you from doing something we'll both regret.”
She opens her mouth, but I keep going before she can argue with me. “Especially when the reasons you were doing it no longer exist.”
I see the moment my words sink in, her eyes narrowing as she wrenches her hands free and puts them on her hips. “What did you do?”
“I did everything I had to do to make sure the only man you would ever marry would be me.”
“Tell me you didn't. Cam…” Her expression softens.
“I killed two birds with one stone,” I reply, matter-of-factly.
“And I suppose I’m supposed to be the stone?” she huffs.
“No, this is.” I drop down to one knee right there in the middle of the corridor, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the black velvet ring box stowed there.
“What did you do?” she whispers.
“First, I put your dad in contact with an old family friend who used to work for my father. He’s started a new company and they’re looking for an accountant. Since I remember he worked in that department at Carsen Capital, I thought they’d work well together. When I called your dad this morning to follow up with him, he was starting next week. I also loaned him the money—with interest at his insistence—to cover the property taxes and clear the house title.” Now the dam breaks, and tears slowly fall down her cheeks. I reach out with my spare hand and lace my fingers with hers.
“That’s one bird,” she says quietly, her voice thick with emotion.
“The other was something I’d planned to do years ago. The same time that I bought this ring.” She gasps as I flick my thumb up and open the ring box to reveal the small diamond engagement ring I spent all my savings on when I was twenty, just one month before I enlisted.
“I’ve had this ring for more than sixteen years, knowing it has one rightful home, and that’s at the base of your wedding finger. Today, I asked for your father’s blessing to propose to you. I’m not saying we’re doing it today, or even tomorrow. But I promise you…” I pull the white gold ring out of the box and with shaking hands, glide it down her outstretched finger.
When I open my mouth again, my voice is gruff. “I will marry you one day soon but it will be big, it will be right, and it will be the dream wedding you always talked about.”
“Cam,” she sobs, raising her hand to her mouth.
I stand up straight and step into her, cupping her jaw in my hands. “Will you marry me, Sez?”
My eyes sting with tears of my own as she lifts on her toes and brushes her lips against mine. She nods her answer.
And standing outside the Marriage and Civil Union Court at City Hall, I kiss my fiancée, the only woman I’ve ever loved, as if my life depends on it.
When we finally pull apart, she turns to Wyatt and shows him her hand as he checks out the ring.
“I’ve just got one question,” he says to the both of us.
I tuck Sarah into my side and wrap an arm around her shoulders. “What’s that?”
“Is Beans On Me really shut down? Because I would kill for a coffee right now.”
“Wyatt!” Sarah groans, shaking her head and looking up at me. “I’m sorry. Please don’t change your mind because you’ve got a lifetime of him now.”
“Not a chance,” I say with a laugh. “As long as it means that I’ve got a lifetime with you, I’ll put up with almost anything.”
BJ Harvey is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Bliss Series. She also regards herself as a smut peddler, suspense conjurer and a funny romance thinker upper. An avid music fan, you will always find her singing some hit song badly but loving every minute of it. She’s a wife, a mom to two beautiful girls, and hails from what she considers as the best country in the world—New Zealand.
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Romantic Comedy
Bliss Series (Interconnected Standalones)
Temporary Bliss (Bliss #1)
True Bliss (Bliss #2)
Blissful Surrender (Bliss #3)
Permanent Bliss (Bliss #4)
Finding Bliss (Bliss #5)
The Game Series (Bliss Series Spin Off)
Game Player (Game #1)
Game Maker (Game #2)
Game Saver (Game #3)
Game Ender (Game #4)
Game Breaker: The Loop (Game #5)
Holiday Romance
Stranded (Christmas novella with a Bliss Series connection)
Romance Suspense
Lost in Distraction (Lost #1)
Lost For You (Lost #2)
Lost Without You (Lost #3)
Erotic Suspense—Standalone
Crave
Contemporary Romance
Touch (Sovereign Part One)
Taste (Sovereign Part Two)
Feel (Sovereign Part Three)