Leveled (Saints of Denver #0.5)(44)

“You know I’m going to kiss the shit out of you for that, right?” My voice was raspy and full of a thousand different emotions.

He chuckled as I moved forward to make good on my threat. “Be my guest. I like having the shit kissed out of me by you.”

I was going to kiss him.

I was going to hold on to him.

I was going to get my hands inside of his police blues and on his dick.

I was going to put my mouth all over him and then turn around and let him put his mouth all over me.

In the future, I was going to move in with him. I was going to marry him. I was going to have kids with him.

But right now I was going to love and be loved because Dom had taught me how when I forgot.

He was right, he was a good teacher … among many other things … all of them great … all of them mine.

Epilogue

Many months, first kisses, engagements, weddings and babies on down the line …

I’d had to invest in more than one pair of slacks and more than a handful of dress shirts over the last year. I refused to wear a tie still and I would die before putting on shoes that were shiny but Lando was okay with my dressed-down, dressed-up style and I hadn’t been kicked out of a wedding yet. In fact when spring rolled around the following year, I was walking my best friend down the aisle and handing her off to the southern charmer who had stolen her heart forever. I’ll only admit to a select few that there may have been a tear or five in my eyes when Royal asked me to do the honors. I told her of course I would do it, even if it meant I would have to wear a tux. It was an honor and I jokingly told her I could use the practice because both of my sisters were involved in pretty serious relationships and eventually it would fall on me to give them away.

It seemed like Lando and I were always off to an engagement party, a baby shower or a wedding. Now that I had immersed myself in his life and the lives of the people Royal had found to be her family there was more love and happiness floating around than anyone could shake a stick at.

Colorado is called the Centennial State and it fit in a different way than I think the old-timers intended. It seemed like there were a hundred ways to fall in love in Mile High City and all of them were just as majestic, imposing, and rocky as the mountains surrounding the area.

I was sitting on an uncomfortable plastic chair in the heart of the Botanical Gardens waiting for yet another wedding to start. I was fidgety and sweaty because Lando had nixed the black cargo shorts I wanted to wear and told me that I needed to put on slacks. I wasn’t sure what I wore mattered to anyone, not with the bride standing under a beautiful floral arch dressed in an ivory gown with just a hint of lilac at the bottom. She was facing her big, tattooed husband-to-be and the smile on her face was radiant. Truthfully I didn’t think they needed any kind of vows to express how they felt about one another. It was there on their faces and the way no one else existed except for the two of them.

I’d never really been into boys with a lot of ink and edge, but I had to admit the more of these shindigs I attended, the more I saw the appeal. They all looked badass and no-nonsense, but the way they were with their women was something special, something that deserved to be appreciated and celebrated.

I jokingly tried to talk Lando into getting a sleeve or a piercing and thought my Mr. Fancy-Pants would blow me off. Much to my shock and delight he showed up after work one day with a shiny barbell pierced right through the tip of his dick. It was my new favorite thing ever, at least it was now that it was healed and I could actually put it to good use. I loved that there were still things about being with him that were surprising.

The priest finally told the couple they could kiss and they did so to a chorus of fanfare and applause. They looked good together, maybe not like a matched set but more like a special kind of curio that you just knew you had to have to make your space feel like it belonged to you, like it was home.

Suddenly the precious little flower girl with wild blond ringlets and a frilly lavender dress ran to where an uncomfortable little boy was standing in his miniature tuxedo amidst several giant men dressed the same and planted a kiss smack on his surprised slackened mouth. Much to the little boy’s credit he didn’t flinch or pull away from the fairy-like little girl. Instead, he seemed to give a resigned sigh and took her hand and guided her down the aisle as the music for the wedding party to exit started to play. Just like a tiny little gentleman. They were adorable. They stole the show and it was the perfect ending to a flawless ceremony. When life moved on like this, it was a charmed thing.

I was still chuckling at the kids under my breath when Lando turned to me and put a hand on my thigh. His pale eyes glowed like the forget-me-nots that surrounded us and his heart was shining there as clear as day.

“I’m so glad you are here with me.”

My chuckle turned into a lump in my throat. He did that to me a lot.

Leveled me with the way he loved me.

“There’s no other place I would rather be.” And no other man I would want to be there with.