Epilogue #2
That was only one of the many reasons she adored this family.
They didn’t try to change people. They accepted them for who they were and watched out for them in ways that would go unnoticed by many.
The way they had welcomed her and Brian into their close-knit group warmed her heart.
Brian had been cautious at first. Like Shauna, he’d had to learn how to relate to people who wanted to get to know him for no reason other than genuine friendship.
It was harder for Brian, being fresh out of rehab.
He’d had to learn to trust himself in order to trust others.
His therapist was helping, and Zander was as patient and thoughtful with Brian as he’d always been with her.
She was proud of Brian. He was taking responsibility for every aspect of his life and working hard to stay on the right side of sobriety.
She couldn’t be happier to have her first best friend back.
“You think you can outdance me, Con?” Dare Whiskey, one of Zander’s many cousins from Colorado, shouted.
“I don’t think. I know,” Conroy said. He handed the adorable toddler he was holding, Leo, to Preacher, and then strutted toward the dance floor.
“Shit, I’ll outdance you both!” another cousin called out.
The room erupted into shouts and challenges, and people rushed to the dance floor as the band started playing “Uptown Funk.” Within seconds men and women were stomping and spinning, hips shaking, arms waving, with exaggerated flair.
The crowd circled them and cheered them on.
Kids came running, giggling as they tried to copy the adults’ moves.
Lettie burst through the crowd in a pretty green dress, her hands raised.
“Move over, old ones. Let me show you how it’s done!
” Lucas, a teen relative from Colorado, barreled onto the dance floor after her.
Blaine pushed through the dancing crowd, planting himself beside Lettie, and stood there, arms crossed, like a freaking bodyguard.
“Let’s go!” Madigan hollered, dragging Tobias toward the dance floor, inciting mayhem.
Amid the flurry of excitement, Aria took a step back, and Zeke put an arm protectively around her.
“Let’s go, darlin’!” Zander took Shauna’s hand, and they followed Brian and the others to the dance floor.
They all danced in a group, acting silly, wiggling their butts, twirling around, and cracking up. Even Blaine and Tank got in on the fun as one song bled into another. They danced until they were all out of breath, and then they made their way to the refreshment table, laughing and joking.
“That looked like fun,” Aria said as she and Zeke joined them.
“You should’ve come with us,” Madigan encouraged, sinking back against Tobias, who wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Aria shook her head. “Too wild for me.”
“I don’t blame you,” Shauna said. “That was total chaos.”
“Nah. It’s just family, darlin’.” Zander pulled her in for a kiss.
“Translation for people like us…This is what normal families do,” Brian said, holding a plate stacked with pigs in a blanket. “It’s like getting used to people showing up at your door at six in the morning.”
“Or stealing food off your plate,” Gunner said, snatching a snack off Brian’s plate.
“Dude,” Brian complained, but he was beaming.
“I’m starved.” Maverick reached over Brian’s shoulder to grab one and popped the whole thing into his mouth.
Gunner high-fived him.
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Men. You give them food and they still act like toddlers.”
“Toddlers with better facial hair,” Maverick said, planting a kiss on Chloe’s cheek. He stole another pig in a blanket off Brian’s plate. “Thanks, man.”
“Don’t thank me. Thank Zander,” Brian said. “I would have a plate full of sugar if not for him. He’s got me watching my macros and working out harder. I swear this guy’s got my brain and my body working better.”
Shauna leaned into Zander and said, “He’s good at taking care of people.”
“I’ve got to admit, Zan, you’ve become hella responsible,” Zeke said.
Zander scoffed. “Don’t spread that rumor. You’ll ruin my reputation.”
“I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see Zander domesticated,” Aria said sweetly. “I’ve got to admit, it suits you.”
“Domesticated?” Zander scoffed. “You make me sound like a house cat.”
“Well, you are kind of a pussy,” Gunner said with a snicker, and bumped fists with Tobias.
Aria’s cheeks pinked up, a smile tugging at her lips. “I meant a lion or a tiger.”
Shauna laughed. “Lion, tiger, beast. It doesn’t matter what you call him, he’ll always be the king of my jungle.”
“My girl likes my claws,” Zander said with a proud smirk.
“And you like mine.” Shauna glanced at Aria and said, “I know how to make him purr.”
The guys hooted and laughed, and Zander pulled her into a scorching kiss.
“A’right, you two. Save it for the bedroom,” Sid said.
“Now that you’ve been caged and I don’t have to watch your back, what will I do with all my free time?” Zeke said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Take up knitting,” Brian suggested, earning chuckles.
“You’ve already got that grumpy-old-man vibe going on,” Gunner added.
“Don’t go counting your chickens just yet, Zeke,” Zander said, flashing a sexy smirk.
Zeke held his hands up. “Not my circus anymore. Now it’s your wife’s job to keep you in line.”
“I’ll gladly take on that job for my hunka hunka burnin’ love, but I happen to like his circus,” Shauna said, sliding her arm around Zander’s waist.
“You tell ’em, darlin’,” Zander said.
“Well, you are her husband,” Madigan said.
“Some might say, her property,” Chloe added.
Zander glanced at Shauna with a silent, knowing taunt and said, “Have you been bragging about your man, Angel?”
She grinned. “I might have told them what you did yesterday.”
“Jesus, Zan. What the hell did you do now?” Zeke asked.
Zander flashed the wicked grin that sent heat curling low in Shauna’s stomach and said, “Just got some new ink.” He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open with both hands, revealing Property of Shauna Wicked in fresh, bold script across his chest.
Everyone roared with laughter. Aria shrank back from the noise, tucking herself against Zeke’s side, but she was laughing, too, as jokes rang out, and Zander ate it up.
When he’d come home yesterday and had shown Shauna the tattoo, she hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry.
She’d ended up doing both. He was wildly impulsive, but his love knew no boundaries, and she was the luckiest woman in the world to be claimed so fiercely by him.
“Did you tattoo that on him?” Zeke asked Aria.
Aria shrugged, an unstoppable smile egging him on as she turned and walked away, which made everyone laugh harder.
Much later in the evening, as couples mingled and babies slept, Zander led Shauna onto the dance floor and drew her into his arms, his hot, possessive hands holding her close. He brushed his scruff along her cheek, rasping into her ear. “I cannot wait to see that dress on our floor.”
Lust coiled low in her belly. She’d never tire of his naughty side. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing about your clothes.” Her pulse skipped at the heat in his eyes, and she lowered her voice. “I have a confession to make.”
“If it’s that you’ve been thinking about dragging me into the office so I could bend you over the desk, I’m in.”
Yes, please.
“What’s the confession, darlin’?”
“Um…I’m still thinking about the office.” She laughed softly.
He nipped at her lower lip. “Careful, Angel. I’ve spent all evening watching you slink around in that sexy dress, thinking about tying your wrists to the pole when we get home, so I can play out all the fantasies I’ve come up with.
” His hand slid down her back, holding her tight against him as he rasped, “If I take you into that office, I’m going to make you come so hard and scream so loud, everyone in here will be scarred for life. ”
Her body ignited.
“Ready to confess your sins, sexy girl?”
She tried to force her thoughts away from the enticing picture he’d just painted. She was a little nervous to reveal her secret, but there was no taking it back. “Uh-huh. You know how I said I had to leave early to meet the girls today?”
His brows slanted. “Yeah.”
“I wasn’t really getting ready for the wedding with them all morning. I was getting a surprise for you, and I can’t wait to get home to show it to you.”
“That sounds promising. Go on.”
As they swayed to the slow song, she said, “I might’ve gotten a tattoo.”
“What kind of tattoo?” he asked, low and gruff.
“One that says Zan’s ride or die with angel wings around it.”
He stopped dead, muscles going rigid against her. The feral look in his eyes made her knees weak and her body hum. “Where?” he demanded.
She went up on her toes and whispered, “Someplace only you get to see it.”
In the next breath, he was dragging her off the dance floor.
“Where are we going?”
“Office,” he gritted out. “I want to see my tattoo.”
A little voice told her sneaking off to do dirty things during a wedding reception was wrong, but as he pulled her through the office door and his hot, loving mouth claimed hers, she knew with every beat of her heart that loving Zander Wicked was the rightest, truest thing she’d ever do.