I’d been content with Nate, with Nova, with my family. But now, I was elated.
“Oh, thank God.” The mic caught that last bit as Nate stood, sliding the ring onto my finger, and then picking me up and spinning me around. There were laughter and more cheers after that, but it was all a blur to me.
It was compounded by everything and everyone, and I had no words for a moment.
Finally, I just wrapped my arms around Nate and said, “Thank you for loving me.”
He pulled back, searching my eyes, and a deeper look came over him. “Thank you for loving me.”
I smiled, and his eyes darkened again before his mouth found mine.
Nova didn’t want to leave the cow, so we went to her. The crowd went with us, which Nova was annoyed because she literally only wanted to be with the cow. We didn’t care.
There were hugs, kisses, congratulations.
A line formed, coming up to us, and there were more hugs. So many hugs. I was hugged out by the end of the night. When we shared what happened with Nova later that night, she nodded, a very serious look coming over her. Then she stood, hugged both of us one by one, and asked, perched on our laps. “Milly told me that she’d like us to rescue her.”
It took a second before the dots connected.
Milly was the cow, and Milly seemed happy, but Mason and Sam rescued their dog, so Nova thought every animal needed rescuing.
Nate said, “We’re going to have to move to a farm.”
Nova’s eyes got big. “REALLY?!”
I gave him a look. “Now she thinks us getting married means we’re moving to a farm.”
He grinned at me. “Maybe we could get married on a farm?”
I laughed because maybe we could.
Six months later, we got married on a farm.
Nova put in a request to “rescue” some ducks, too.
One year later, Valerie Stephanie Monson was born.
A year after that, Lilac Aspen Monson was born.
If you enjoyed Nate’s story, please leave a review!
They truly help so much.
For more reading, check out the rest of my books.
Acknowledgments
Oh man! I have so many to thank. My editors, proofreaders! You guys are all so amazing and flexible, very very flexible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To Crystal and Amy — holy goodness thank you to both! You both drop what you’re doing and help me out, and not with simple things. It’s heavy time investments, but you guys do it. You guys are all my team, and yesss. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you to Debra Anastasia, Helena Hunting, and Ilsa Madden-Mills. You three are like my cheerleaders when I need to vent or need to get picked up. Without a doubt, all three of you will Skype or call or whatever I need.
Thank you to Kimberly because damn, woman. You’re a rockstar in getting these books out to the rest of the world.
Thank you to ALL OF THE FALLEN CREST READERS! Nate did not talk to me. Like, ever. He was very hard to crack, and I honestly felt like I needed to write Aspen’s book first before his because I didn’t understand myself.
Then I wrote Aspen. And I understood.
I’m an author who really listens to the characters. I let them show me who they are and I’m just as surprised when I peel back their layers as readers are. There’s been a lot of mystery and curiosity about Nate, and once I wrote him, I was like —OH! Now I understand.
Nate and Quincey AND Nova!
Gosh. I hope you guys loved them as much as I did and do.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me in creating this book, and for everyone who keeps the Fallen Crest world alive!
Also by Tijan
Related books:
Fallen Crest/Roussou Universe
Fallen Crest Series
Crew Series
The Boy I Grew Up With (standalone)
Rich Prick (standalone)
Frisco
Other series:
Broken and Screwed Series (YA/NA)
Jaded Series (YA/NA suspense)
Davy Harwood Series (paranormal)
Carter Reed Series (mafia)
The Insiders
Mafia Standalones:
Cole
Bennett Mafia
Jonah Bennett
Canary
Sports Romance Standalones:
Enemies
Teardrop Shot
Hate To Love You
The Not-Outcast
Young Adult Standalones:
Ryan’s Bed
A Whole New Crowd
Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail
College Standalones:
Antistepbrother
Kian
Contemporary Romances:
Bad Boy Brody
Home Tears
Fighter
Rockstar Romance Standalone:
Sustain
Paranormal Standalone:
Evil
Micaela’s Big Bad
More books to come!
Bennett Mafia
Chapter One
“Die, you fly!”
I locked eyes with a black fly, or maybe our eyes weren’t locked, but he was perched on the rock next to me. He was going down. He had been harassing me for the last hour. I was outside, trying to clean up the yard, but I was going nuts with this damn thing buzzing all around me.
He was teasing me, taunting me. He flew out of the way every time I swung at him. He was too fast, and as he paused on my shoulder, I swung at the same time the screen door opened. I heard its creak across the yard right before a numbing pain exploded in my shoulder.
“Ry—did you just clock yourself?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I groaned, my knees buckling.
I had.
I’d swung with the rock in my hands, and now I felt blood trickling down my shoulder and arm. My shirtsleeve was rapidly turning red.
The fly fucker was trying to kill me, by outsmarting me.
“Shit.”
The door slammed shut, and I heard Blade’s feet scuffling down the stairs as he ran to me. The gravel crunched under his weight, and then he slid in behind me. His pants would be ripped up, but knowing Blade, he wouldn’t care.
He rarely cared about clothes. We were just happy he wore them, most of the time.