“It sure doesn’t,” Cassie agreed as she shut the door and followed him.

King’s gaze met mine and although he was a hard man, I saw some soft in him today. “Scott Cole is a lucky bastard,” he said, his eyes remaining steady on mine. I had to give him credit – he didn’t lower his gaze once. The man clearly had respect for his brother.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile.

He nodded once. “You ready, beautiful?”

“Almost,” Madison cut in. “We just have to finish taking care of her borrowed and her blue.”

King hit her with a frown. “Her borrowed and her blue? What the fuck is that?”

“He speaks my language,” Roxie said with her signature sarcasm.

“Wedding traditions,” Mum advised him and then said to Madison, “I took care of her something blue last night.”

This was news to me. “What is it?”

“I stitched the date of your first date with Scott and today’s date into your wedding dress. In blue.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “How did you know the date of our first date?”

“I asked him.” She watched me with the look of a proud mother – the kind of look that said, ‘You did so well, he even remembers dates’, because to my mother, remembering the special moments meant everything to her.

Madison’s face resembled the way I felt. She stared at my mother in utter surprise. Turning to me, she muttered, “J has a lot to learn from my brother. Okay, so we have blue covered, and I have these if you want, for the borrowed.”

She passed me a beautiful pair of earrings. “Are these yours?” I asked.

“Yes. I wore them when I married J, so they have some meaning. We could hand them down to our daughters when they get married - God willing we have daughters - and start a Cole/Reilly family tradition if you want.”

Family tradition.

Love rushed through me and I threw my arms around her. “I love you, Madison Reilly. I would love to start that tradition with you.” When I let her go, I reached for a tissue because tears finally threatened to ruin my makeup.

Madison smiled at me, through her own tears. “Quick, King, you need to get her out of here before we all become blubbering messes.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “Nothing worse than crying females.”

As I scooped my dress up and walked downstairs to the car – Scott’s Charger – my heart was full to almost bursting levels.

We’d all made it through the storm and now I got to live my happy ever after.

22

Scott

“I do.”

Harlow beamed up at me as I said the words I never thought would come out of my mouth. She stood in front of me, in all her beauty, and I was sure my heart would explode out of my chest. I thought I’d felt everything I’d ever feel for her already, but I was wrong. In that moment, I knew this truly was just the beginning of a whole new range of emotions. And as much as I was a man who’d gotten through life up until Harlow without feeling or expressing love, I was fucking down with feeling all of this. So long as she is by my side.

I hardly heard the words the celebrant said after I said my vows, but I sure as fuck heard her say, “You may now kiss the bride.”

Pressing my lips to Harlow’s, I growled, “Mrs Cole.” She then showed me how much she loved those words on my lips with the kind of kiss that should be made illegal. When she finally let me go, I said, “Fuck, baby, you do know I have to walk out of here in front of everyone we know, right?”

She hit me with that sexy grin of hers and nodded. “Yes.”

Shaking my head at her, I returned her grin and muttered, “Thanks to that kiss, I’ll be doing it with a raging hard-on.”

“Nothing you’ve never done before,” she threw back.

She had a point.

The celebrant distracted me from my thoughts and moved us to sit down and sign the wedding certificates before finally announcing us as Mr and Mrs Cole.

Taking hold of my wife’s hand, I walked us down the aisle, which was a long stretch of red carpet the boys had sourced for me.

Harlow leaned in and said, “You picked the exact right spot for our wedding. I’ll never forget the first time you brought me here, and now I’ll never forget it as the place you made all my dreams come true.”

Fuck.

I figured the park at Wynnum that I’d brought her on our first date was a great location to exchange our vows, but I hadn’t factored in how much it would mean to her.

“I hope I can make all your dreams come true, sweetheart.” I’m gonna work my ass off to make that happen.

She tightened her grip on my hand. “You already have, Scott. I’m living my dream.”

Like a fucking drug straight to my veins.

And like the junkie I was, I craved every high Harlow could give me, and would do whatever the fuck it took to ensure I got that high every day for the rest of my life.

When we made it to the end of the red carpet, I stopped her and took her in my arms. “I love you, Harlow Cole. I love every-fucking-thing.” I placed my hand on her belly. “And the fact you’re going to be the mother to my child makes me the happiest man on this planet. I’m the one living my dream.”

A dream I never knew I had.

A dream I’d go to the ends of the earth to protect.

Her beautiful green eyes searched mine, whispering a million promises, and then finally they twinkled with mischief, and she said, “Scott Cole does sweet really, really, really good. Who would have known?”

“That secret stays with us,” I bossed her.

“And there’s the man I love, all bossy and shit.”

The man I love.

I’d never get tired of hearing her say that.

Brushing my lips across hers, I said, “Okay, Mrs Cole, we have a reception to get through, and then I’m going to take you home and bless your body with my mouth and my tongue.”

“And your cock?”

I chuckled. “Fuck, woman, that dirty mouth…” I moved my mouth to her ear. “Always with my cock. I’ve been waving that thing around like freaking King Shit since the day I met you.”

I’d repeated the words she’d said to me the night she first set foot in Indigo, and I wondered if she would remember. When her mouth fell open and she gasped, I knew she had.

“You remembered that all this time?” she asked, clearly stunned.

“There’s nothing about you, baby, that I don’t remember.”

And there wasn’t.

Harlow James had stumbled into my life and turned it upside down, and I’d remember every step of our journey. I might have been the one who’d taken command of our relationship, and bossed her into being with me, but she’d taken command of my heart and would always own it.

Epilogue

Harlow

1 Year Later

“Sit with Uncle Blade while I go and see where Daddy is,” I said to Aurora as I made my way to where Blade sat with Layla.

His eyes lit up when he saw us approaching, and his arms automatically stretched out to take my daughter from me.

“Thanks,” I said. “I just want to go and find Scott, and then I promise I’ll be back for her.”

Layla grinned. “Don’t rush, Harlow. Honestly, he can’t get enough of her.”

I watched as Blade blew raspberries on Aurora’s belly, and decided Layla wasn’t lying. “Looks like babies might be in your future?”

Blade diverted his attention from Aurora for a moment and said, “Yes, they are, but my wife seems to think we should wait a little while longer before we start trying.”

Layla sighed, but I could tell she wanted this as much as he did. “All I said was that I wanted another six months or so to get my bar operating at more of a profit, and then we could start working on a baby.”