Epilogue
The lights in Las Vegas were literally breathtaking. They sparkled and shined and glowed like a million fireflies. And they got even brighter with each hour that ticked by. Coming to Las Vegas for JoJo’s bachelorette party was the best idea I had ever had in my entire life—besides being with Luke.
We decided a few months ago—actually, let me rephrase that—Ryan and Luke decided a few months ago, when they’d caught wind of our mini-vacation, that they were coming with us.
It wasn’t so much a bachelorette party anymore as a pre-wedding celebration between the four of us, which was fine.
It was better that way. The guys were the ones who had to deal with JoJo and me being drunken, annoying (yet still hilarious and adorable) idiots, anyway.
The first night, we spent over five hundred dollars each at the casino. I won three dollars, which I put toward buying JoJo a bride-to-be drink. She won a thousand dollars, which she said was good luck for her and Ryan’s marriage.
I wasn’t worried. They would be just fine. They’d been in love for ages, and it only got stronger with each passing year.
Luke and I still hadn’t talked much about getting married.
He’d mentioned it a few times in passing, but every time, I only laughed.
He wasn’t giving up on that. Not yet, anyway.
I mean, we basically lived with one another, but we were still arguing over which house we wanted to live in permanently.
I liked my house too much, and he was just plain stubborn, so we were still technically paying for both of our houses—although we definitely spent more time at mine.
We were trying to con Ms. Deacon out of her house, because it was much bigger, but she wouldn’t give it up. She said, and I quote, “I’m not giving up my house so you two kids can have sex in every room.”
I mean, she wasn’t wrong, but it was hilarious to hear it come from an eighty-year-old woman while she held two cats who looked like they belonged on a throne in Egypt.
“What do you say, Doc?” Luke came up behind me and wrapped his strong arms around my tight, shimmery dress.
The street was glowing and bustling with people. JoJo and Ryan went inside a very erotic-looking store to buy each other a sex toy. Don’t ask; they had this ridiculously long list of things they wanted to do on this trip, and buying each other a sex toy was one of them.
“What do you mean?” I asked, leaning my head back into Luke’s chest, smelling his cologne.
He chuckled. “Stop sniffing me.”
I laughed and shook my head no.
“I mean…” Luke spun me around so I was looking up into his eyes. Then, he nodded to something across the street. “What do you say? Are you ready yet?”
When my eyes caught the giant, blinking, white-and- blue sign that read “Little Vegas Chapel—Where your dreams come true,” my heart went soaring.
“Wait…what?” I turned my head back around, and Luke was grinning from ear to ear.
“Are you ready to marry me yet?”
I knew my answer right away. Each month with him was better than the last. I fell more in love with him every single day, but…was it too soon? What would our parents think?
Before I could overthink it, I said, “Yes.”
His eyes snapped to mine. “Really?”
I nodded vigorously. But then I eyed him suspiciously. “Do you have a ring?”
A smile overtook his face. My eyes almost fell out of my head when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, black, velvet box.
I gasped. “Luke! I was kidding!”
He flipped the box open, and my mouth parted, leaving me completely speechless. The ring was simple but breathtaking. It was a thin, silver band with a beautiful, sparkling, oval-shaped diamond placed in the center.
I grabbed the box, feeling the velvet along my fingers. My heart beat wildly in my chest. I swallowed before bringing my tear-glistened eyes up to his. “When did you get this?”
He looked down at the box in my hand. “About a month after you agreed to be my girlfriend.”
I laughed and looked down at the diamond again. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
I snapped the lid shut and handed it back to him. His smile fell, and he crinkled his forehead as he slowly took it back .
Then, I shrugged while forming a grin on my face. “Let’s make this trip even more memorable.”
He let out a huge breath while un-crinkling his forehead. “So…you’re in this for the long haul? Even if I get orders to move to Japan or Hawaii? You’re coming with me?” His green irises showed a small amount of fear.
I raised my eyebrows. “Especially if it’s Hawaii. You’re my home , Luke.”
Luke’s lips captured mine with a throaty growl. “Then let’s get hitched, baby!”
I squealed, and he grabbed my hand, pulling me across the busy street.
Before we walked inside, he looked at me once more. “You’re serious, right? You’re really going to marry me?”
I reached up on my tiptoes, placing a small kiss on his lips. “Yes. Now stop worrying. Let’s go!”
He grinned and pulled me the rest of the way in.
After getting everything settled, I was ushered toward a back room that was tackier than all get-out, but that only made the experience that much better.
I’d never considered myself to be a traditional type of girl, anyway.
This was right. I could feel it all the way in my bones.
My face had literally begun to hurt after smiling so much for the last twenty minutes.
Life with Luke was anything but ordinary. We were completely unorthodox. But that was why I loved us so much.
“Wear this one!” JoJo exclaimed.
She was over the freaking moon. As soon as Luke had texted Ryan, he and JoJo had come running through the door, holding hot-pink shopping bags with a very inappropriate logo on the front.
She kept chanting, “I knew this would happen! I knew it!” Then, she’d blurt, “Look at her ring, Ryan! Look!” Luke and I just laughed even harder.
“That looks perfect,” I whispered, feeling butterflies whizz throughout my stomach.
JoJo held up an ivory, lace dress that several other women had probably worn before me, but I didn’t care.
I shimmied out of my gold, sequined dress and pulled the gown over my head.
Its silk fabric slid down my body quickly, and JoJo buttoned up the back.
Fiddling with the buttons, she paused. “Wait.”
I waited as she unbuttoned the dress again and then unclasped my bra. It slid off my shoulders, and I threw it to the ground, where it fell swiftly to land beside my discarded dress. Once I was buttoned up and JoJo had adjusted the gown, a smile overtook her face.
She stepped aside, and my heart skipped a beat.
Even though I was in a dingy, barely lit dressing room with generic wedding photos of smiling couples lining the walls, I had never felt more right in my entire life.
My hazel eyes shined with happiness, and my cheeks were flushed with excitement.
My hair could probably have looked better, but the overall effect was perfect.
The ivory-colored dress hugged all my curves with its silky material, and a small bit of lace outlined the deep V that stopped just a few inches below my sternum.
I looked like a bride, and I was about to marry one of the best men who had ever walked this earth.
“If Ryan and I hadn’t already paid a shit-ton for our wedding in a few months, I would totally do this, too.”
“You still can! No one has to know that you two are already married when you have your real wedding.”
She smirked, and I could already see her wheels turning.
“Are you ready, bride?” A shorter lady with curly hair and eyes lined in electric blue popped her head into the dressing room.
I nodded my head enthusiastically, and she handed me the bouquet of light-pink flowers I had picked out.
JoJo grabbed my arm and led me down the narrow, hot-pink hallway, and before I knew it, we were at the altar, which was brimming with fake flowers.
Luke appeared just seconds later, and I squealed. He threw his head back and laughed at my high-pitched noise, but not before his eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face.
He was wearing an Elvis-like tux with ruffles on the front and a small, blue bow tie just underneath his chin. His emerald eyes shined radiantly at me, and I could have sworn I saw tears glistening in them.
Before the ceremony even started, I walked over to him and kissed him softly on the mouth.
“I love you, Luke.”
He smiled against my lips. “I know.”
I smacked him playfully on the chest before he grabbed my wrists tightly. “I love you so much, Cammie.” Then, he kissed me again, but this time, I could feel the love flowing into my heart.
Where it would stay for the rest of my life.