by Toni Aleo
Seeing him and Grace on the stage at graduation, handing me an envelope containing enough to make a down payment on my gym, is something I’ll never forget. The picture hangs above my desk in my office, but I don’t need to see it to remember everything about that moment. To see the pride shining in Ryan’s eyes or the tears streaming down Grace’s face. I can still hear the Adlers in the audience screaming my name and cheering me on. I remember my mom crying her eyes out and the way my heart was in my throat most of the day.
It was one of the best days of my life, joining the day I got to see Ryan behind the bench at the Assassins’ game, doing his thing.
I’ve never been prouder.
He does such a great job, and he is a natural. That’s what Shea said. Shea sat on the edge of his seat, and it blew me away. I wasn’t sure if he was watching the game or Ryan. Either way, he is so proud of his nephew. We all are. And Ryan loves it so much. God, he loves his job. He’s so incredibly happy, which makes me happy. While at first, the road trips sucked, I know he loves them now. I’m sure I drive him crazy with my gym stuff, so he has to enjoy being able to leave so he doesn’t have to pick out equipment or argue with me about how many foam pits to have. I still think we needed at least five, but he won with three. Two for the gymnasts and one for just the two of us.
Foam pits are special.
Since the moment ours was installed, it’s where we’ve spent most nights talking. Talking about our life, about how things can’t get better. Though, each day it does. Ryan is beyond words. He has a heart of gold. While he isn’t like his dad where he showers me with jewelry, which I don’t wear much of anyway, he showers me with love. He leaves me little notes, flowers, and always words of affirmation. There still hasn’t been a day where he doesn’t tell me how beautiful I am. Or how much he loves me. I’ve never felt so loved in my life.
I love him. God, I love him.
For the last year, he’s been my rock. It’s been tough recruiting gymnasts, but he was always there for me for late-night chats and watching videos. I’m pretty excited about the ten girls I have starting with me, and I know he is too. I’m new. It will take time for people to notice I’ve got something special going on here, but I know they’ll see it. Ryan knows too; he says no one can ignore me. He sure can’t, and I believe in this gym.
In us.
As I look around the gym, everything reminds me of him. We have a wall dedicated to the Assassins, which makes no sense to me, but it made him happy. And Shea and Elli, they loved it. There is a wall for the awards my girls will bring home and a different wall for when my girls graduate. There is also a wall full of all my trophies and medals, along with photos of me throughout my career. Everything is so perfect, and I can’t wait for it to open. I just wish Ryan was here.
“Bella.”
I look back at where my mom stands, without her walker, in the doorway of my office. She has been doing so well lately, and it does crazy things to my heart. Maybe, like me, she just had to get out of Nevada to be whole.
She’s holding paperwork, her brows furrowed as she shakes her head. “This paperwork is a mess. You’re awful at this.”
I scoff. “It’s your job to do all that. Make it better, office manager lady.”
She rolls her eyes as she heads back into my office, and I can’t wipe the grin off my face. I still can’t believe Ryan brought her out here two months ago. Our goal was when the gym was doing well, we’d bring her out. But he said he wanted her here now. He got her an apartment right next to the gym, and any time she needs him, he is there. She cooks for him all the time, and he’s already begging me to give it away, that she’s making him fat. She absolutely adores him.
As do I.
When the side door opens, I’m confused until I realize it’s Grace. In ass-kicking heels, she walks toward me with a grin on her face. Her hair is down, curled to perfection, and she wears a no-shit-taken kind of power suit. “Hey, honey.”
“Hey,” I call to her as she steps over a beam.
She holds out a file folder and winks. “Your paperwork for Justice Gymnastics.”
My heart swells in my chest as a grin covers my lips. I look up at her and shake my head. “I can’t believe this.”
“No one can stop you,” she says, and I exhale.
“I can’t wait for Ryan to see it.”
She grins. “When will he be home?”
“Tomorrow. They aren’t flying out till the morning. We’re bummed he’ll miss the first day.”
She waves me off. “He’d be bored anyway. He only cares when you are the one in the leo.”
My face warms as I laugh because she’s right. Ryan loves me in a leo, not that I’ve worn one in over a year. Before I can ask about Amelia and what she’s been up to since we haven’t talked in a while, my mom calls to Grace, and off she goes. Mom and Grace are the best of friends. It’s good for my mom, too. She needs a friend, someone to hang out with and to keep her out of my hair so Ryan and I have time together.
Speaking of Ryan, I take out my phone and dial his number, but when it goes straight to voice mail, I make a face.
I open his message thread and write a quick text.
Me: Jerk.
I laugh as I tuck my phone into my pocket. He’s probably out to lunch with the guys or bandaging someone up. While I know he loves his job, I still worry. For the first year, I was a mess, concerned he had made the wrong decision. But the more I watched him, I knew he had made the right one. I find myself still asking if he wishes he had gone to Ontario way back when, but every time, he promises he is where he needs to be. I happen to agree.
A small, contented grin comes over my face as I feel my heart fill with such love and pride. This is my gym, our gym. Ryan and I did this together, and I can’t wait for him to see the massive Justice Gymnastics sign outside and then how I had it painted along the wall. I waited for Ryan to go on this trip before I had it all done. I know I’m not a Justice, but it’s not for Ryan. It’s for James Justice. I wanted to honor him because, without him and Grace, I wouldn’t be where I am.
Completely and utterly happy with my dreams coming true and in love with their amazing son.
No, this gym is a tribute to them. To the amazing gifts they gave me.
An education and all my hopes and dreams.
Ryan is just one hell of a bonus.
A grin tugs at my lips as I think of how Shelli teases me for giving a gym the Justice name without a ring on my finger. Everyone expected us to get married when I graduated, or at least get engaged when Ryan graduated. While the name of the gym has nothing to do with my own name, I know Ryan wants to marry me. I want to marry him too, but we’ve just been busy. We’re already completely committed to each other; we haven’t just been hanging out for the last five years. We’ve loved, we’ve fought, and we’ve made a lot of love. It’s good between us, and I’m lucky to be in love with someone I can truthfully say is my best friend. We don’t need paperwork or a ring to prove that. We have our love, and that’s perfectly enough.
As my eyes scan along the beams, the bars, and the big, bold writing that makes up the gym’s name, I’m breathless. I can’t wait to show Ryan tomorrow.
As I turn, I look out at the vaults and stop dead in my tracks.
My face turns up in a grin as I take in Ryan, standing behind one of the vaults with a disbelieving look on his face. A stunning, gorgeous smile that has me speechless. He stands in a dark suit, his hair brushed to the side, not gelled. The first few buttons of his shirt are open, and his coat is tight on his shoulders. He looks delicious. “Hey,” he calls to me, and I shake my head. I haven’t seen this guy in ten days, and he says hey?
“Hey? That’s it?”
“Sorry. Hello, my gorgeous girlfriend!”
I roll my eyes as he laughs. I start for him, and I’m a little taken aback he doesn’t come for me. We always meet in the middle, it’s our thing, but he doesn’t move. “I thought you weren’t coming in till tomorrow?”
His eyes stay trained on mine. “You think I’d miss opening day?”
My lips tilt before I hold my hands out, pointing to the Justice Gymnastics sign. “Do you see it? It’s for your dad.”
“I do. I was supposed to be surprising you, but like always, you keep surprising me.”
I beam as I head toward him. “I wanted to keep his legacy going. I think it’s perfect.”
“I do too, and I’m trying real hard to keep it together, so come here.”
“But you love it?”
“I do. Damn it, I do, but I love you more.”
My heart soars, but before I can finally reach him, I notice a little blue box on the vault. I pause mid-stride, and when I look up at him, his face is bright and he’s wearing a huge grin. “Ryan?”
“Come here.”
I come to the vault and take his hands in mine. I meet his gaze, and his eyes feel like coming home. “So?”
“So,” he says, and then his cheeks warm with color as he shakes his head. “This is the vault that I first saw you on.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s not. I bought—”
“No,” he says, cutting me off. “I bought this from the university because I needed the piece of equipment that I first saw you on. The event that you murdered with no questions asked. You were magnificent, and I can still recall everything about that day ’cause it was the day I knew I had to know you.”
I gaze up at him as his fingers lock with mine, feeling out of breath. “I thought it looked old. I almost sent it back, but my mom wouldn’t let me.”
“I know,” he says with a wink. “I told you a very long time ago that I knew that was the day I fell in love with you. Sometimes I know that to be true, but then you’ll do something else, and I feel like I fall for you all over again. Every day, you do something, and I think, how can I still be falling in love with this girl after all this time?”
My lip juts out as I nod. “I think I’m falling in love with you all over again right now.”
“Good,” he says, coming around the vault, still holding my hands. “We’ve gotten a pretty good start on this life of ours.”
I nod, my lip quivering as I hold his gaze. “We have.”
“We’ve grown and fallen deeper in love. We are really good at doing it now.”
“And I don’t even need Google.”
“Thank God,” he teases, and my heart soars in my chest.
“I love you, Ryan, you know that.”
“I know,” he says, and when a tear rolls down his cheek, I come undone. Pulling a hand free and covering my mouth, I cry into it as he holds my gaze. “This is one of those moments when it’s too hard to keep the emotion in. I see my family’s name up there, and knowing I’m about to ask if you’ll take that name, makes me the happiest guy on earth… Damn it, it’s really hard to keep the tears in.”
I can’t speak. I feel like I’m drowning in emotion as I gaze up at him. The person I will love for the rest of my life.
“Some said we were too young to make it, but I think we’ve proved them wrong.”
“Fuck ’em,” I say, and he laughs, shaking his head.
“Exactly.”
“Because we’re good.”
“We’re awesome,” he says softly, his lips tilting up. “You’re mine forever, Sofia. And no matter what, I promise you, I’m all in.”
When he drops to one knee, a sob escapes from behind my hand, and he just grins up at me with watery eyes. “With all that I have, with all I am, I choose you, Sofia. For the rest of our lives—hell, in a hundred lifetimes—I choose you. Do you choose me?”
I fall to my knees between his and scoot closer to him. He laughs as he wraps his arms around me, kissing my temple. “Yes. Over and over again, Ryan, I choose only you.”
He swallows hard, and somehow, he opens the box with one hand, holding it out for me. It’s a stunning single diamond in a platinum band. It’s perfect. “I didn’t want it to be too big where it would get caught on the leos, and I didn’t want you to ever take it off.”
“I won’t,” I say, his words rattling my soul. “I love it.”
“So, you’ll marry me?”
“Oh, you don’t have to ask, Ryan, because my whole heart is yours for the rest of our lives.”
He takes in a deep breath as he holds out the ring to me. “Why don’t you say yes for the people in the back?”
When he shoots me a wink, I laugh as I look over to where he is pointing to see our moms blubbering like babies. I grin at them before looking up at Ryan. “Yes.”
“A little louder,” he says with another wink, and I laugh.
“Yes, yes, Ryan, I am going to marry you!” I cry out, and his grin is so beautiful, I think I’m sobbing a little harder if that’s even possible. The gym fills with cheers as he slides the ring down my finger, and then our lips meet in a hungry embrace. His fingers grip my face as our mouths move together in our familiar but breathtaking way. When he pulls back, his eyes bore into mine, and I know he is the kind of man who will constantly blow me away. I close my eyes as I cuddle deeper to his chest, and I bring my hands up to tuck under his chin where they belong.
I have been marking off goals since the moment I met him. I wanted to be the best, I wanted to get the best grades, I wanted to graduate, and I wanted to open my gym. Through all that, I wanted to continue to love him the way he deserved.
But today, I can mark off a goal I never dared to dream.
Marry the love of my life.
As I gaze into his eyes, I can’t wait to mark off more goals with him by my side.
Because together, we’re unstoppable.
* * *
THE END
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* * *
Keep reading forward for the first chapter of my newest series, Not the One!
Preview of Not the One
A Spring Grove Novel
Prologue.
* * *
Blue lights were flashing like mad, giving her a headache as she leaned against the police car.
Genevieve’s body was shaking with fear, but a little bit of excitement was also bubbling deep inside of her. She knew damn well her family was going to flip. Once word got back to the country club, everyone would be talking about how the precious Genevieve Stone, daughter of the prestigious Murray Stone of Stone Masons, was caught trafficking drugs. The disappointment would ring loud in her father’s voice—he’d probably take her credit card away. And her poor mother would probably wring her hands, steeling her nerves with a healthy dose of vodka in her morning juice.
Too bad Gen didn’t care.
This trip was supposed to be the time of her life. She was going to see the world, but he’d said they had to stop back in his hometown first. What she didn’t know was that he had been planning to bring a whole bunch of drugs back for his buddies to sell down in Lexington. When she found out, by opening the trunk to put her bag in, the smart part of her brain told her to run the other way. But then he looked at her, his blazing blue eyes burning into hers as her lips pressed together in an “oh shit” kind of look. She should have taken that as a sign even he knew he was doing wrong, yet she just shrugged, threw her bag in, and went to the front seat.
She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she knew she wanted to go on this trip with him.
But after only three days in his hometown of Spring Grove, where she fell in love with small-town life and learned more about herself than she had in her whole life, Gen found herself leaning against a cop car with her hands cuffed behind her back.
Well, shit.
Terms were being thrown around—some she knew, some she didn’t. But as she watched two cops from a neighboring town investigate, since Spring Grove only had on
e sheriff and a deputy, she knew she was in deep shit.
“I never thought I’d find you this hot with blue lights flashing on your skin, but I do.”
Gen looked up, her eyes meeting his extra blue eyes since the lights were flashing directly into them. “Yeah, neither did I.”
His lips pulled up at the side. “Probably should have stayed at home. Maybe my big brother would have taken you to the formal.”
She scoffed. “Pfft. Like I wanted to go anyway.”
“You did. You’re made for that life.”
She laughed, shaking her head. That was the furthest from the truth. She was actually more trailer park trash, like her mom used to be before her father found her and settled her in at the country club with diamonds hanging off her. “You must not know me.”
“Not as well as I want,” he said, making her heart flutter. He had that power, the one that made her whole body feel like it was tingling. Her mother said it was because she was young and naïve, but she was convinced it was just him. Theo. His thick shoulders, his darker than night hair. It was such a contrast, his eyes to his hair, and she loved it. She did. Even now, as she stood cuffed, knowing that serious charges could be coming her way, she still found him alluring. “But I know that formal would have been better than this.”
She shrugged, looking away. “Says you.”
He grinned over at her, and she met his grin with a smile. Things were easy between them. Since Gen had struggled her whole life, she enjoyed being with someone and not having to try so hard. She didn’t have to be proper; she didn’t have to make sure she had her manners turned on. She could just be her, burp if she wanted, and he would burp along with her. He was everything she had never experienced, and she couldn’t get enough.