Aspen shuffles over, cookie in her hand. “Is this the one you made?”
I look at the sugar cookie with the yellow bits in it and smile. “It is.”
“They’re good.” She grins and pops the last bite in her mouth.
Rob lifts Aspen’s hand to his mouth and licks the crumbs off her fingers.
“Oh, fuck off,” King grumbles, then turns us the other way.
I can’t help my laugh. They do such a good job of needling him.
Then I realize a cookie sounds like a good idea, so I drag King toward the dessert table.
Each of us girls picked a cookie from Cassie’s food blog and made them as our wedding present to her. Even the men made some, with Nero choosing Cassie’s twist on Rice Krispies bars that are made out of popcorn instead of cereal.
As soon as we showed her the desserts, Cassie broke into big, noisy tears, making the three batches of corn cookies that I had to throw away after burning them totally worth it.
Val
“I’ve always wanted to do this.” Cassie grins, then turns her back to us, ready to toss her bouquet into the air.
While Payton does the countdown, I look across the room to where my husband is standing. He’s talking to King, and his big, tattooed hands are gently cradling Danielle, our infant daughter, to his chest.
I’ll never get tired of the sight.
He’s a wonderful father. But that’s no surprise. And as soon as I’m done breastfeeding, I’m going to have Dom give me another tattoo. It will be a different name this time, but I don’t think he’ll mind.
“One!” Payton yells, and Cassie throws her bouquet.
I stretch my arms up.
I’m already married, but those flowers are pretty, and I want them.
But before anyone catches them, a man leaps up and snags the bouquet out of the air.
Rob is grinning ear to ear as he holds them above his head. And I don’t care how much Dom complains about me saying it, Rob is hot.
“Put those down!” King shouts, stomping toward the man dating our sister.
Rob skips backward, away from King, and finds Aspen in the small crowd.
Then he drops down onto one knee in front of her.
King’s “Oh, hell no!” is drowned out by all the women gasping.
“Aspen, my love.” Rob looks up at his woman. “Will you do me the honor of telling your terrifying brother that we’re already married?”
My mouth drops open, and I whip my head over to look at Dom.
My husband is smiling at the pair, and when his gaze moves to find mine, he winks.
That bastard already knew.
King stomps over to Aspen. “Is this true?”
Aspen, not at all intimidated by his attitude, slips her hand into her dress pocket and pulls out a big, shiny ring.
“We did it last week.” She slides the ring onto her finger, then uses her left hand to pat King’s chest. “You can stop worrying about me now. I promise I’m happy.”
King heaves out a loud exhale, then pulls her into a hug.
Rob is grinning when he stands, and he holds his arms out for a hug next.
King rolls his eyes, then embraces the other man, but when he lets go, he punches Rob in the shoulder. Hard. “Don’t fuck this up.”
Cassie
The music has ended, and the couples of The Alliance are all lounged around King’s living room, and I feel like I could carry the whole world if I wanted to.
Hans is standing across the room from me, talking with Nero. And I can’t help but be drawn to the silver band on his left hand. He looks so good marked as mine.
I look down at the matching band on my hand.
Hans wanted to get me diamonds, but I wanted us to match. And we both know that Hans will always give me what I want.
God, I love him so much.
I’m about to cross to him, needing to be closer, ready to give him his final wedding gift, when Val addresses the room.
“So I know this is a little bit of short notice, but everyone is invited—”
“Expected,” Dom interrupts.
Val shakes her head. “We would like you all to come to Chicago for Christmas. It’s Danielle’s first Christmas.” She strokes her hand over her daughter’s head. “And we want her to spend it surrounded by her loved ones.”
I watch Hans, my heart swelling even more with my love for him.
For half of his life, he’s had no one to share holidays with. And now we have this.
“We’ll be there,” Hans answers first.
When his eyes move to meet mine, I can see it all in his face. The affection. The peace.
My fingers reach up to touch the spot on my arm, next to my tracker, where the other implant used to be.