One year later

Lucy stood in front of me. We were standing outside of Firehouse Café on a chilly, early autumn evening. We had just arrived at a surprise party planned by Amelia, Susannah, and Maisie. All of this planning had taken place behind Lucy’s back.

We’d gotten married the day before. Lucy’s blonde hair was piled up in a messy knot, the wind blowing it wild. She had absolutely, positively refused to plan a wedding, so we’d eloped.

Well, I didn’t know if it was technically eloping when we told everyone we were doing just that. I loved Lucy, so much that I still wondered how I’d ever lived without her. But trying to get to the actual marrying part hadn’t been easy. She’d dragged her feet every step of the way. She didn’t want a ceremony, and she refused to wear a wedding dress. The only part she hadn’t argued about was getting married. Thank fuck for that.

With the help of friends, I’d managed to get her here. Cade had done a bit of dirty work by swapping out her truck battery for a dead one while she and Amelia were working today. Orchestrating the plan, Amelia had conveniently left work early, so Lucy was stuck at the job site and had to call me for a ride.

We already had ‘plans’ to meet Amelia and Cade for dinner at Wildlands. I claimed I needed to stop and pick up something from Janet at the café. We reached the door, at which point Lucy realized it said Closed.

She peeked through the window before spinning back to face me. “Why is it closed and only our friends are there? And your parents? And my mom?” she demanded, hands on her hips as she glared at me.

“Amelia wanted to have a party since you wouldn’t let her plan our wedding,” I offered, reaching for her hand and reeling her to me. “So here’s the party.”

She stared at me for a moment and then shook her head, her cheeks flushing. She relaxed against me, burying her face in my chest.

“Why does everyone have to make it a thing? I hate when people pay attention to me,” she mumbled into my chest.

I smoothed a hand over her hair, tucking a lock behind her ear and cupping her chin. Nudging it up, I looked down at her. “Because people love you. We have dinner with friends and family all the time. That’s all this is.”

Her teeth snagged her bottom lip as she eyed me. On the heels of a sigh, she murmured, “Fine. Let’s go in.”

* * *

A few hours later, after plenty of food had been served and probably a bit too much alcohol, Lucy was sitting on my lap at one of the tables. We’d just been trounced in poker by Maisie. She was epically good at poker, so this was a common occurrence.

Lucy swung her legs, one of her heels bumping my calf, and looked to me. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes bright. She was so damn beautiful, I lost my breath for a beat.

“We always lose. Why do we keep doing this?” she asked as she traced her fingers idly along my forearm.

I still wasn’t quite accustomed to how easily she affected me. The light touch of her fingertips on my arm—my arm for crying out loud—and I was half-distracted. I forced my attention to her question.

“Because it’s fun,” I replied with a chuckle, catching her hand in mine.

She laughed and glanced to Maisie. “Someday I’ll beat you.”

At that moment, Lucy’s mother paused by the table. Lucy looked up at her mother. “Are you leaving?”

“Oh yes. You know me, I like to get to bed early,” Jody replied.

Lucy slipped off my lap and gave her mother a hug. They’d come to more of a relaxed peace over the last year.

After Lucy hugged her mother goodbye, she slipped back into my lap and glanced over at Maisie, picking up where she’d left off. “It’s a good thing we don’t play for money. At this point, you’d have enough for a down payment on a house.”

Maisie laughed, while Beck flashed a grin and sifted his fingers through the curls on Maisie’s shoulder. It was beyond nice—the feeling of relaxing with Lucy and our friends.

Cade said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. Rather, I’d gotten distracted by Lucy’s musky scent and was dusting kisses along the side of her neck. The taste of her skin was a straight shot of lust to my groin.

“Levi?” Cade asked, just loud enough to remind me we were in public.

I glanced his way. “Oh, were you talking to me?”

He rolled his eyes. “I was.”

“Need something?” I asked.

“Just asked if you’d like the good battery back.”

Lucy’s fist thumped my shoulder. “I knew something was up with my battery! I just had it replaced a few months ago.”

“Hey, that wasn’t my plan. It was Amelia’s idea.”

“Absolutely. I knew if Levi wasn’t driving, you’d never stop here. I have no shame,” Amelia said firmly.

Lucy threw a balled up napkin at Amelia, her eyes catching mine again.

“It wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked.

She held my gaze, and for a flash, everything else fell away. We might as well have been alone. The air hummed around us as she shook her head slowly. “No, it wasn’t bad at all.” She dipped her head, dropping a kiss at the base of my neck. “It’s all worth it because I love you,” she murmured.

And then I was kissing her, our tongues tangling. I truly forgot where we were until the voices around us punctured my haze.

I drew back, thinking I needed to get her out of here as soon as feasibly possible. I needed her bare naked and skin to skin with me.

“I can’t believe you ever teased me for being whipped,” Cade said.

I glanced to him and shrugged nonchalantly. I was far past giving a damn that anybody knew I’d do anything for Lucy.

Lucy said something to Amelia and then settled against me. Her gaze canted up to mine, her sky blue eyes taking my breath away.

“Should we go?” she asked.

“Let’s.”

I pulled her close, catching her lips in a kiss. I stood, lifting her with me, and carried her out in my arms—into the late summer night with stars scattered like diamonds across the plum colored sky.