Epilogue #AdrianHayesStays #2
Before I could respond, a commotion near the back of the store caught my attention. Through the crowd, I spotted Judd Kincaid emerging from the storage room looking slightly rumpled, followed by Alex, whose hair was suspiciously messed up and whose lips looked recently kissed.
“Safety inspection complete!” Kincaid announced to no one in particular, his usual stern expression somewhat undermined by the fact that his shirt was partially untucked.
“Everything… er… passed,” Alex added, his cheeks slightly flushed. “After a very… thorough evaluation.”
Maya snorted. “Subtle as a brick to the face, those two.”
The crowd had grown substantially, with people spilling out of the store and gathering on the sidewalk despite the cold. Adrian had set up the outdoor speakers to play a mix of holiday music, creating a festive atmosphere that drew even more curious passersby.
Maya, Adrian, and I continued to mingle and thank people for coming, stopping to shake hands and accept congratulations from people I’d known my whole life and tourists who’d become customers over the past year.
Watching Adrian charm everyone made me strangely proud.
Proud to see him so relaxed and comfortable in his own skin, proud of the people of Legacy who’d adopted him even faster than I had, and proud of the open communication we’d established that had allowed us to trust each other.
That trust had allowed me to believe him when he’d stated only a few months ago that he wanted to cut back on travel and focus on building out the store. And because of that trust, he’d believed me when I’d reluctantly admitted to enjoying sharing our lives online.
When everyone was finally gone, including Maya, who I assumed had already gone up to bed, Adrian turned the lock on the door and grinned at me. “Congratulations, Mr. Sullivan. I’d consider that a huge success.”
I moved forward and pulled him into my arms. “Same. And we have you to thank. I can’t imagine ever doing something this incredible if it hadn’t been for your vision.”
Adrian’s eyes crinkled as he smiled at me. “Sweet talker. Keep going.”
I leaned in and kissed him. “How’bout I keep going upstairs in bed. Preferably while you’re getting naked.”
Adrian’s hand moved into the hair at the back of my neck, and he pulled me in for a long kiss. “Not quite yet. First, I need you to find me a three-eighths-inch galvanized hex nut with a locking flange.” He pulled back and made a shooing motion toward the nuts-and-bolts aisle.
I blinked at him. “A what?”
“You heard me. Go. The sooner I get my nut, the sooner you can get yours,” he said with a wink.
I narrowed my eyes at him but started walking backward toward the necessary aisle. “Since when do you know what a galvanized hex nut with a locking flange is?”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Since I began running a hardware store, that’s when. Stop being an ass.”
I blew out a huff of air and grumbled as I went to grab what he needed. “What’s this for?”
“A permanent solution to an issue I’ve been having.”
“An issue with what?” I called over my shoulder, already scanning the bins out of habit.
He didn’t answer.
I crouched down and pulled open the drawer labeled 3/8” Galv Hex Nut—Lock Flange. Inside, nestled among the dull silver hardware, was a small velvet ring box.
My heart stuttered.
I stared at it for a beat too long before reaching in and picking it up. When I turned around, Adrian was standing a few feet away, suddenly looking less smug and more… terrified.
“I, um—” He cleared his throat. “You once said the secret to making s’mores was to hold on tight and not let go, even when you’re scared. And, ah… that’s what I want. For us.” He swallowed. “Shit. This sounded much better in my head.”
I couldn’t speak, not even to chuckle at his loss of composure.
Adrian took a shaky breath and stepped closer. “Maddox Sullivan, will you marry me? And keep holding on? Even when it’s hard. Even when you’re scared. Even when I’m being a dramatic, overaccessorized pain in your ass.”
I looked down at the ring box, then back up at him, grinning like a fool.
“Glad you mentioned that last part,” I managed, my voice thick. “But yeah. Yeah, I’ll marry you. I told you I’d pick you every time, Adrian Hayes.”
He exhaled a laugh that cracked into a relieved sob, and when I grabbed him, the ring box bounced to the floor and clattered on the old hardwoods, forgotten for the moment.
Because I was kissing my fiancé in the damn nuts-and-bolts aisle—and there wasn’t a single part of my life I didn’t want to hold on to.
Especially him.
“I love you so fucking much,” he said, voice rough against my throat. “I can’t believe I get to have this. Have you, and Maya, and… our family here. Just… everything. I’m so fucking happy.”
“I love you, too,” I agreed, turning his face to kiss his lips before meeting his eyes. “And I will be your family for the rest of our lives. Nothing would make me happier than to share my life with you forever.”
Adrian pushed me up against the wall of tiny hardware drawers, kissing me deeply and shoving his thigh between mine. When he finally pulled back, his eyes carried the promise of a heat I was desperate to kindle. I just needed to get him upstairs and into our bedroom first.
“C’mon, you promised me a nut,” I said, straightening up and adjusting myself.
His face broke into a teasing grin. “I gave you one, jackass. And you dropped it on the floor.”
Shit, the ring.
I scrambled down to the floor in search of the velvet box. By the time I found it and opened it, Adrian had moved next to me and squatted down on one knee to watch my reaction.
Inside was a black band with an inlay of dark wood. “Holy fuck,” I breathed. “It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s tungsten inlaid with old-growth heart pine.
” He tipped my chin up until I met his eyes.
“Taken from one of the planks we had to remove from the shop floor during the expansion. This wood has seen a hundred winters, a thousand boots, and a lifetime’s worth of memories of the man I fell in love with.
I figured it was an important part of our next chapter. ”
I was speechless. It didn’t surprise me that he’d recognized how important my family’s legacy was to me, but I was still bowled over by his thoughtful gesture.
“I don’t know what to say,” I croaked.
“I just need you to say yes when the officiant asks you a question one day very soon.”
I nodded like a bobblehead as he pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. I let out a choked “I love you” again and tackled him to the ground, kissing and hugging him like I’d gone a little bit loopy.
Adrian yanked me up from the floor and began to tug me past the window displays, through the back room, and up to our apartment.
Outside, snow had begun to fall yet again, covering Legacy in new snow that sparkled under the streetlights. As he pulled me to the bedroom, I realized I had never been happier to be exactly where I was.
“How is it possible to be this happy?” I murmured.
His smile was soft and warm and full of promise, but before he could say anything, he stopped and stared at the small, wrapped present on the end of our neatly made bed.
“What’s this?” he asked, turning toward me.
I shrugged, but he could tell from my expression I knew exactly what it was. “Guess you should open it.”
“Santa came early, hm?” Adrian picked it up and turned it around, investigating it before beginning to pull apart the wrapping paper.
“At least someone got to come,” I teased. “Because I still have plans for you.”
Inside was a new framed photo for our wall. A large print of the shot Maya had gotten on our very first date, the one where I had a dot of whipped cream on my nose and Adrian had reached over to wipe it off. The chemistry in that one shot had been enough to catapult us into sudden stardom.
Engraved in the wooden frame at the bottom were the words #FuckRuleThreeForever.
Adrian’s eyes filled as he grinned at me. “This is better than my ring. Better than the documentary workshop in Denver Maya and I got you for your birthday. I really need to up my game.”
I shook my head and laughed, gently removing the photo and setting it on the nearby dresser. “Baby, if we start keeping score now, we’re in trouble.”
“I’m going to buy you a house,” he insisted.
I reached for the bottom of his hoodie and pulled it up and off him. I couldn’t resist staring at my ring as I moved my hands up over his head.
“How about you get me a second one of these rings so I can give it to my boyfriend?” I suggested.
“You mean your fiancé,” he corrected, lowering his voice until it made the hairs prickle on my scalp.
“My fiancé,” I agreed, looking into the blue eyes I adored. “My partner. My love. My home. My favorite holidate.”
He snorted, though his eyes were still misty as he caught my hand and pressed a kiss just over my ring. “Only holidate.”
“Forever-holidate,” I whispered, overwhelmed by the certainty in his voice, the solid weight of the ring on my finger, the man in my arms who’d chosen to stay.
Outside, snow continued to fall on Legacy, but inside our little apartment above the business we were building together, everything was warm and right and exactly where it should be.
Adrian’s hands found the hem of my shirt, his touch gentle but insistent. “Do you want to come to bed with me, fiancé?”
“I do,” I said, and I let him pull me toward our future.