He’d spent much of his life telling himself he didn’t need a family, but right then, for the first time ever, he’d have loved to have been included as a family member and not a guest. “I want to help.”

Maddie stared at him for a long beat, but apparently she decided to take him at his word because she put him to work. Hours later, he and Jax had assembled a big white tent and outside heaters to keep the guests warm, set up all the tables, including hanging mistletoe at each one, assisted Tara in the kitchen, and run around town picking up more Christmas trees and decorations by demand of Chloe herself. He even set up the trees with Carlos. They didn’t speak much, but they didn’t brawl either, so that was a bonus. Halfway through, Carlos’s girlfriend, Theresa, showed up with a basket of cookies, which Carlos reluctantly offered to share with Nick.

Not a martyr, Nick dug in. “If you have a girlfriend,” he asked, mouth full of delicious chocolate chip cookie, “what the hell was earlier about?”

Carlos shrugged. “Still care about her.”

“You have a girlfriend,” Nick repeated.

“Yeah, but you never really get over your first love.”

Nick chewed on that statement along with the cookie. His first love was Mia, too. And since he couldn’t imagine moving on or forgetting her, he finally nodded his understanding.

The rehearsal dinner was a blur, and afterward Mia vanished with her mom and aunts doing…whatever girls did the night before a wedding. Nick was politely shown to his room at the B&B.

He got up early the next morning, made himself useful some more, and knew he’d won over at least half the clan when Tara made him a big breakfast and Maddie hugged him for all he’d done to help out.

By the time the guests showed up and the ceremony began, he was hungry for a peek at Mia.

And then she was walking down the aisle in a beautiful forest-green dress, flowers in her hands, hair flowing behind her in the slight breeze, a warm smile on her face. Just looking at her, Nick ached. She was a part of him. The very best part.

Halfway down the aisle, their gazes caught and held. He wasn’t sure he recognized the look on her face, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off of her.

Tara was next, and then Maddie, holding her son. Her three-year-old daughter was walking at her side, carefully and precisely dumping a fistful of flowers out of her basket with each step. When she ran out of flowers, she stopped short, refusing to go another step. “I need more flowers!”

Maddie shot her husband a desperate look where he stood with Ford and Sawyer. Jax jogged down the aisle and gave Maddie a quick kiss, and then picked up his daughter.

“Daddy, I need more flowers!”

“I know, baby.” Jax adjusted her in one arm and slid the other around Maddie, and they walked the rest of the aisle together.

Then the crowd hushed and it was Chloe’s turn to walk toward Sawyer. Nick was struck by her expression as she smiled at her soon-to-be husband from brilliantly shiny eyes. And then it hit him like a one-two punch—it was the same expression Mia had worn only a moment before when she’d locked gazes with Nick.

Love.

Stunned, Nick sat there and missed nearly every word of the ceremony, which apparently had been incredibly touching because there wasn’t a dry eye in sight when it was over.

Then the music started and the bride and groom had their first dance. Nick caught sight of Mia dancing with Ford, and then Sawyer. And then Carlos.

Nick stood. Pocketing the swig of mistletoe from the table, he made his way toward the dance floor. He knew this wasn’t going to be on the top ten list of the smartest things he’d ever done, but he didn’t care. “Can I cut in?”

Carlos looked at Mia, who nodded. Nick took her hand and brought it up around his neck, pulling her in close, drinking in her familiar scent and the warm, soft feel of her curves. He molded his body to hers and felt her react by melting into him.

It was almost as good as being inside her. Unable to help himself, he ran his hands down the length of her back, closing his eyes to savor the feel of her.

“Nick?”

He opened his eyes and met hers, surprised to see a glimmer of uncertainty.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Dancing.”

“It feels like a lot more.”

“Good.” He held the mistletoe over her head.

She let out a low laugh. “You want a kiss?”

“To start,” he said, and leaned in and touched his lips to hers. “You are so beautiful, Mia.”

“You really do have some pretty fancy words lately.”

“Yeah.” He put the mistletoe in his pocket and pulled her in closer. “And here’s three more…I love you.”

“I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that.” She stared up at him. “I love you, too, Nick. So much. But—”

“No. No buts,” he said, dropping his forehead to hers. “Not tonight.”

She relaxed slightly in his arms, and as the beat of the music flowed over them, he wished the song wouldn’t end. As if she felt the same, her hands tightened around his neck. Again she pressed her face into the curve of his throat, but this time his heart dropped in his chest when he felt the wetness of her tears against his skin.

“Mia,” he said, devastated. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry.” He wasn’t exactly sure what he was sorry for, but he’d be sorry for breathing if that was the problem.

“No, they’re happy tears,” she said, and sniffed. “It’s Christmas Eve, it’s Chloe’s wedding, and it’s all been wonderful.” She lifted her head and met his gaze, her own drenched. “And you’re still here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

Her mom and aunts cut in then, and the women all danced together for a while, laughing and sharing a few happy tears. Afterward, Mia went looking for Nick, and had a moment’s panic when she couldn’t find him. She didn’t think he and Carlos would fight again. Earlier she’d actually seen them hauling in cases of beer and wine together. They’d even been laughing at Jax’s brown Lab, Izzy, who was napping in the center of the aisle all sprawled out, forcing everyone to literally take a flying leap to get past her.

Watching Nick interact here with her family, with the people who mattered so deeply to her, had been a jump start to her aching heart.

“I know that smile,” Chloe said, coming up beside Mia, slinging an arm around her shoulder and nearly drowning Mia in white silk. “It’s the smile of a woman in love.”

“How do you tell the difference between lust and love?” Mia asked.

“If you can wear your laundry panties on a date with him, you know it’s true love.”

Mia put her hands to her butt and tried to remember what panties she was wearing.

Chloe laughed softly and hugged her. “Baby, you’re so lovable you don’t have to worry about it. Your heart will talk to you.”

Her heart was talking to her plenty. “How do I know it’s not just heartburn?” she asked. “Is there a magic handshake?”

Chloe smiled. “Yes. You don’t marry the first guy you can see yourself living with.”

“I don’t?”

“No. You marry the first guy you can’t live without.”

Mia smiled. “Says the woman who strung along the town sheriff for five years before caving and marrying him.”

“Hey, some things take time,” Chloe said unapologetically. “The best things take time.”

And one thing Mia did have was time. “Have you seen Nick?”

Her aunt turned and pointed across the dance floor to the bar—where she could see her dad and her uncles talking to a tall, handsome Nick.

He looked relaxed enough, even perfectly at ease. “He’s handling it,” she said, relieved.

“Handling what?” Chloe asked. “Looking fine? You got that right.”

Mia smiled. He did look especially fine. If fine was hot as hell. “He doesn’t have family, you know. He doesn’t come from roots and ties. He never had anyone teach him loyalty and unconditional love.”

“Some things you don’t have to be taught,” Chloe said.

“He was uncertain about my big family, and how he might feel out of place, but he came anyway.”

Chloe squeezed her gently. “We’re a bunch of misfits ourselves, aren’t we? All of us. But we fit together. Including Nick.”

Mia’s throat tightened, and she turned into Chloe. They hugged for a long moment, then Mia pulled back. “I have to go.”

“You’re going to go eavesdrop on them,” Chloe said.

“Hell, yeah.”

Chloe grinned. “Me too.”

They skirted around the dance floor and made their surreptitious way toward the bar, hiding behind a white lattice that Chloe totally blended into with her wedding dress. Not so much Mia, in her forest green. In fact, with the lights flashing on the other side of the lattice, she probably looked like a Christmas tree.

But the guys were paying them no attention at all.

“You know she’s only twenty-two,” Ford was saying to Nick.

Mia opened her mouth at this because she was twenty-three, dammit. Or at least she would be next month. But Chloe squeezed her hand to keep her quiet.

“Yes,” Nick said. “She’s twenty-two. A grown-up. Listen, I get that you’re her family and you’re all very protective of her, but she kicks ass at life. You can trust her to make her own decisions.”

“She hasn’t decided on you yet,” Sawyer pointed out smoothly. Calmly. Eyes steady. He wasn’t wearing a gun on his hip today, not with his tux, but Mia would bet he had one hidden on him somewhere.

Chloe rolled her eyes at her new husband and muttered something about him being the sexiest stubborn ass she’d ever met.

“I realize she hasn’t chosen me,” Nick said. “But I’m still going to be here for her.”

“Even if she dumps you?” Jax asked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s quite a promise.”

“It’s a fact,” Nick said.

Chloe sighed dreamily.

Mia did the same. And her heart melted into a puddle of love that swelled against her rib cage.

“We weren’t always here for her,” Ford said quietly. “So we’re a little overprotective. I won’t apologize for that. But she’s everything to me, and I’m not a complete idiot. I can see that you’re everything to her. All I want is for her to be someone’s everything.”

“Done,” Nick said without hesitation. “And maybe you weren’t always a part of her life, but you gave her life. A great life. And she’s made the most of it. She’s really amazing.”

Chloe sighed again.

Mia didn’t have breath left in her lungs to sigh. Pulling free of Chloe, she walked around the lattice, eyes only on Nick.

Some things take time, Chloe had said. And that was true. It’d taken her seventeen years to get to meet her birth parents and find this great big family waiting to embrace her.

And six months to give her heart to Nick.

He’d come here for her. He’d picked her.

She walked right up to him and into his arms, which closed hard around her. “Mia,” he breathed into her hair, burying his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. Taking comfort, she realized. It wasn’t something he’d ever done before, actively sought comfort from her. She whispered his name and hugged him to her, aware that everyone had moved off to give them some privacy.

He pulled back enough to shove his hand into his pocket and come out with a small black box.

Her heart stopped. She pulled it open and stared down at the delicate white gold promise ring that was two ribbons woven together leading to a knot lined with tiny sapphires.

Her birthstone.

“It’s after midnight,” he said softly. “Merry Christmas.”

“We weren’t going to give each other a present,” she said just as softly, mirroring his words back to her from a few days ago as she ran a reverent finger over the beautiful ring.

“Then it’s just a present present,” he said, a smile in his voice. “A promise for the future. Our future.”

“Oh Nick,” she breathed, slipping the ring on, so happy she could scarcely contain herself. “I wasn’t sure you wanted a future.”

“I do, very much. I think about my life before you came into it, Mia. It sucked.” He met her gaze. “I need you. I want you to know that. I should have told you sooner, but I thought that made me weak. I was wrong about that. You’re the only thing I care about. You’re the only thing that matters to me. I turned down the job—”

“Nick,” she gasped. “No. You—”

“I took a different one, with the same company. Still restorative justice, but I’ll be staying within the state of New York.”

“But you wanted to travel.”

“Wanted. Past tense. I want to be with you, Mia. You’re it for me. You’re everything.” He paused and let his gaze touch her every feature. “You’re the best choice I ever made. You’re my only choice.”

She pressed her forehead to his, her words brushing against his lips. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”