Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2)(86)

And she was smiling at him.

Christ, that was the best part of all.

It even topped the moment his father stepped out of the crowd and guided Rosie toward him, the music beginning to swell. He could barely tear his eyes off her long enough to notice there was a man holding a Bible beside him.

Wedding. This was a wedding.

Dominic wasn’t a man given to tears, but hell if he didn’t have to blink back moisture. What had changed since yesterday? What had he done to deserve this?

He wanted to ask his wife those questions, but when she stopped in front of him, he was only capable of asking her with his eyes.

She handed her bouquet to a nearby Bethany and swiped at the tears in her own eyes. Then she took his hands, squeezing them tight—his chest constricting along with the action.

“Rosie,” he rasped.

“Dominic,” she said, taking a deep breath. “First of all, I’m sorry for doing this to you. I know you don’t do surprises and here I am in a wedding dress.” Laughter rippled through the room. “But you . . .” She stepped closer and lowered her voice for his ears alone. “You love me fiercely and quietly—you always have—and you’ve started loving me out loud these last few weeks. Instead of letting one mistake detract from that, we’re going to trample right over it, okay? I’m going to love you out loud, too. And since you need actions, deeds . . . here I am. I’m marrying you again in front of everyone in this house where we’ll grow old.”

“The house,” he managed, reeling from the affection shining from his wife’s eyes. “We don’t have it anymore.”

“Actually, we do.” She smiled so beautifully, his whole body ached with the need to hold her and never let go. “There’s one person who has his finger on the pulse of Port Jeff real estate. Stephen. I knew he’d have the details. What neither of us knew is Brick and Morty bought the house, marking the second time it’s been purchased in secret. Stephen claims he was going to flip it, but I think he was just waiting for you to realize you wanted it back. Or . . .” She blushed adorably. “Maybe he was waiting for me to storm into his office and demand the sale be canceled. It could have been that, too.”

He shook his head, panic beginning to take hold. “But the restaurant. You need the capital. You’re not losing it now.”

“I’m not. We’re not losing the restaurant.” She laid his hand against her cheek. “I agreed to sell our other house. To Stephen. He’s going to flip that one instead.”

“Might even come out ahead on that one,” Stephen told the crowd, only to be slapped on the shoulders by both of his sisters and his wife. “I’m just saying, it was good business.”

Rosie laughed while Dominic tried his damndest to absorb the information.

“We don’t love each other the easy way, Dominic, but our hearts are in the right place every single time.” The lights caught the sheen in her eyes. “The words will come from you, the deeds will come from me. I trust that. But what we have between us is impossible to express sometimes. It’s real and it’s big and sometimes the magnitude of it creates flaws. I’m accepting those flaws because they mean I get to love the most wonderful man I know.”

“I love you so much, Rosie,” Dominic said gruffly. “Thank you for loving a flawed man.”

She kissed his palm. “Thank you for loving a flawed woman.”

“Flawed?” He swallowed hard and stepped closer to Rosie. “Agree to disagree.” Forcing himself to stop staring at his bride, Dominic threw a look at the pastor. “Please make this official before she changes her mind.”

Everyone laughed. Then they celebrated.

And that night, Rosie and Dominic camped on the living room floor in sleeping bags, making plans for their future home until the sun came up.





Epilogue


This was really happening.

Rosie stared at the row of order tickets attached to the silver kitchen rack, and both knees turned to goo. It was here. Opening night of Buena Onda was upon her, and according to the number of dinner tickets flapping in the kitchen breeze, the entire population of Port Jefferson had turned out. And they were hungry.

She took a deep breath and ran a finger down the list of entrees scrawled on the far left ticket. Her first-ever order. A Camarones al Ajillo appetizer, one serving of beef empanadas, and two orders of her homemade spinach-and-ricotta cannelloni. Good choices. She was prepared for this. Over the course of the past two weeks, she’d done two soft openings with friends only. And at least quadruple that number with just Dominic. The poor man had consumed enough Argentinian food to feed a small village, but he’d done it with a smile on his face.

Rosie brushed a curl back from her face and nodded at her newly hired sous chef, Marco—a local father of three with a positive disposition—prompting him to begin prepping the dishes. Her hands shook a little now that the moment was there, but she silently reminded herself of the rhythm she’d mastered with Dominic by her side. If she closed her eyes, she could feel him standing behind her, humming into her neck, his hands helping her mold pastry.

God, she loved the man she’d married. Twice.

Every day she swore she’d reached the final fathom of the depth of that love, but it continued to go deeper. And deeper. If it turned out there was no bottom, Rosie was just fine with that. She could go on swimming forever, because he’d be beside her every stroke and kick of the way.