We haven’t left the room in four days. His jet lag has gotten the best of him a couple of times. I watched a movie with his warm, exhausted body curled up on me. And then I watched one more. We’ve slept in each other’s arms during normal hours and some not-so-normal, and we keep waking up smiling.

There’s nobody expecting Logan anywhere, so we’re having a blast simply basking in this new version of us.

I snuck into the bathroom to call Lex and ask for her help with our studio.

“I’ll cover your classes for one whole week, and then you’ve gotta come up for air,” she said, laughing. “You realize we’re doing a double wedding, right?”

“We have to.”

“He’ll hate it.”

“He’ll pretend to.”

Her voice became serious. “How is it with you guys? Was it weird the first time?”

“Kind of. No, not really. It felt like it was meant to be.” Fixing a hand towel hanging askew on the rack, I smiled to myself. “Mom and Dad were so excited I was moving back in, but I only stayed for one night.”

Lexi muttered, “I bet Dad’s got his head in the sand over what you guys are doing.” She impersonated him, “Sam and Logan are just having a sleep over.” I quietly cracked up as she mimicked Mom next. “Oh, Jason, they’re going at it and you know it.”

We both used his mock-horror voice, “Sarah!”

A knock on the door came. “You on the phone?”

“Talking to Lexi. Be right out.” Putting toothpaste on the hotel’s travel-size toothbrush, I told my sister, “He’s up. I’ve gotta go.”

“I’m so happy for you, Sam.”

I paused at the gentle tone in her voice, extremely rare. “Thank you, Lexi. I’m really happy for me, too. What if he hadn’t flown home?”

“You still would’ve left Steven.”

“But I would have been with someone else who wasn’t Logan!”

“Would you have?” she asked.

He sweeps hair away from my eyes and kisses me, our legs entwined around new sheets we just let the hotel’s maid change while we took a bath. She didn’t seem fazed by our disinterest in leaving, or in the fact that we were just in the next room, goofing around…and more.

To be intimate with my best friend is a whole new level of fun. I thought I loved Steven, but it wasn’t real love. Nothing compares to this.

Logan’s been with me through all the phases of my life. He’s been my rock when Lexi was my river, the friend I clung to for stability when her wildness gave me none. I love her like crazy, but she can really challenge a person, whereas he always made my blood settle and simmer.

Now he heats it up.

Logan’s tracing my naked body as I gaze at him. “I love your hair this length,” I smile, running my fingers through the soft strands.

“Yeah? Me too.” He kisses me, lips lingering as he stretches. We lock eyes as he reveals from under his pillow a small, blue, velvet box.

I gasp as he unravels our bodies, and kneels on the floor by the bed, completely naked and gorgeous.

Bursting upright, my hands fly to my parted lips as he opens the box to show me the most beautiful diamond wedding ring with pale gold accents.

Cobalt-blue eyes shine with love on the confession, “I didn’t take a nap after I met you at your studio.”

I gasp, tears hovering, “Logan!”

“Samantha Cocker, I’ve known you since I can remember. I want to know you for the rest of my life, too. I want to stand by you, protect you, laugh with you, dance this life with you. Everything from now on, includes us. We’ve been apart for too long. Let’s never do that again. Marry me?”

I cry out, “Yes!” and jump onto him. We tumble onto thick carpet, him laughing as I rain kisses all over his face. We’re a tangled heap. “Yes, I would love to marry you, my Logan Emmanuel Clark, I would absolutely love to marry you.” He wrestles my left hand to freedom and somehow gets the ring out of the box in between my kissing him like crazy. He slides it onto the finger that will never be naked again.

This is the least graceful moment of our lives, but the best.

Raw.

Real.

Ours.

We make love on the floor, slowly, with sensual kisses that last. He holds me as I cry and hoarsely whisper what I can’t stop thinking about, “Logan, I’m so sorry I didn’t know you loved me. I feel like I made a mistake!”

“Shh, don’t think that. You know what your dad said to me one time?” Sniffling, I shake my head, waiting to hear. “He said you were too young.”

“No, I wasn’t!”

“Sam, when I flew in the other night, and you opened that door, I saw a woman standing in front of me. A woman is what I want, because I have big dreams now for us, not just me. Both of us were too young back then to build a life together.”

“How do you know that?”

Wiping my cheek, he murmurs, “You know what I know? Regret is a waste of time. Let’s just enjoy now. The past isn’t real anymore. It’s in our rearview. We’re together now.”

I kiss him, smiling through my tears. “I love you, Logan.”

“You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that. I love you, too.”

“We’re going to live next to Lexi.”

“Dammit.”

“Across the street?”

He exhales fake frustration, “Fine.” A handsome grin spreads. “If you can’t beat the Cockers, and you can’t forget about them…I guess you’ve gotta join ‘em.”

“Don’t tell Ryder that.”

Logan chuckles, “He already knows.”

Soon we’ll go apartment hunting, and find the perfect space—something small and intimate to start our life together. It’ll be in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood, where the rest of my family is. Max and Caden live a stone’s throw from each other, and less than ten minutes from Mom and Dad’s. Lexi has a house there, too, but we’re not financially ready for that, yet. So we’ll be around the corner no matter how much she complains that we should have bought the three bedroom next to hers. Only Hunter won’t be with us. We still don’t know where he lays his ginger head at night.

Maybe someday we’ll find out.

“What are you thinking about, Sam?” Logan sleepily asks as he gathers me into his arms and pulls the blanket over our naked bodies. “You’re miles away. Still looking back?”

“No,” I smile, tilting my head to kiss my future husband. “I was looking at our future. It’s filled with family.”

“I want ten kids.”

“What?!”

He laughs, snuggling closer. “Okay, five.”

“Five is how many I grew up with.”

“I know. I always envied you guys.”

Gazing into his groggy cobalt blues, I tell him, “Envy is a map, remember?”

“Mmhmm.” He closes his eyes and murmurs, “Shows you what you want, so you can go get your own.”

I watch him fall into dreamland, lips parting as his breathing shifts.

Quietly, so as not to wake him, I whisper, “You’re going to make your own family. With me. You’re my favorite person, Logan.”

Closing my eyes, I burrow into his body, releasing regrets from my heart to fall happily asleep knowing everything is finally, exactly how it was always meant to be.

I hope you enjoyed Samantha and Logan’s love story!

Because the series intertwines, there are scenes from Samantha’s story that play out in other books, if you’re interested.

The BBQ where Logan has flown in from NY, takes place from Caden’s perspective in his novel: Cocky Surgeon.

The photograph where her siblings are holding Samantha as a newborn, and Lexi is ‘claiming her as her own,’ takes place in the bonus scenes of their parents’ romance: Cocky Romantic: Jason Cocker, Book 4.

Also, at the request of my readers I’ve written an alternate ending available to my mailing list.

What are bonus scenes? They’re delicious companions to every book in the Cocker Brothers universe — heartfelt moments from their futures after “The End.” You can get them for book 1-16 on Amazon , or they are free to my mailing list.

There’s (the actors cast as them are in character) chatting about their stories from the books.

On the website you’ll also find:

• Cocker Family Tree
• Cocker Universe Timeline
• Merchandise (100% profits go to Wounded Warriors)

All of the cousins will get their own love stories, I promise.

Welcome to the Cocker family!