25. Keith #4
It started as barely a chuckle, more of a forced breath out of my nose, but then it turned into an actual sound. Then a full chuckle. Then a laugh. And then, the absurdity became too much, and I doubled over, hands on my knees as I imagined relaying the entire situation to Olivia.
Olivia...
My mirth ebbed at the thought of her, and for the first time since I’d arrived, I pulled my phone out to text her. However, I didn’t really want to be interrupted by any of the guys, so I calmly walked to the driveway.
Hey there, I texted quickly, having much improved my phone communication after Amanda had turned off swipe for me and enabled a better autofill. How are things—
I stopped typing when I heard footsteps.
I looked up, half expecting to see the magician and his assistant hurrying out of the front of the house.
But the night continued to be full of surprises, because it wasn’t Giancarlo or Minerva hurrying home to discuss how they’d accidentally summoned a prehistoric wolf.
No, it was the exact woman I wanted to see. Olivia, looking resplendent as always as she walked up the drive toward me.
“Hey there!” I said, bounding to close the distance between us. “Is everything okay? How did you get here?”
She was grinning sappily, so it was very unlikely that something bad had happened. That helped simmer down the alarm that had spiked in me, but my curiosity was still as strong as ever.
“I missed you,” she said, putting her arms around my shoulders and looking up at my face in a way that made me feel like I was truly the most loved man in existence. “So I ran to you.”
She said it so simply, so easily, and joy surged through me in response. I couldn’t believe I got to live the rest of my life with someone who would sprint across multiple blocks of the city to see me.
I picked her up and spun her around, loving the way she always let me carry her weight without objection. Laughter erupted from the both of us, even happier than the outburst I just had, and I didn’t put her down until I became dizzy.
“I’m so glad that you’re here,” I breathed, meaning it with every fiber of my being. And believe me, that was a whole lot of fibers.
“I am too.”
And then we kissed.
Two years together, thousands of make-out sessions and countless numbers of little pecks and smooches, and yet somehow, it never got old.
My heart pounded like the first time, unmitigated joy bubbling through me.
Although my forever and Olivia’s forever were quite different, I was still thrilled to spend all of mine with her and wait for her with open arms in whatever afterlife we had, so we could pick up right where we left off.
When we parted, it was like she was glistening in the moonlight, quicksilver on her dark hair and starlight in her gaze.
“I can’t wait to marry you, Keith Insrym-Rizoli.”
I’d heard all those words before but certainly not in that order.
Giddy, I kissed her again. “Oh, so we’re hyphenating?
” Maybe that was something we probably should have discussed before our wedding, but with the dress, the florals, the catering, learning Italian, all of Olivia’s extracurriculars, and acclimating to the shifter world, I supposed there were some details we might have skipped over.
“Of course. Unless you want to take my name?”
I considered it. “Hmmm, Keith Rizoli does have a certain ring to it.”
“Really? You’d do that for me?”
Another thing that never got old was how cute it was when astonishment played across her rounded features.
I loved it. If there ever was a day that I didn’t stop and admire how adorable she was when she made that expression, lightning could strike me down, because then life would have stopped being worth living.
“I would do many things for you, Olivia, and taking on your pack name is the least of it.”
“God, you really are perfect, aren’t you?”
“Hardly, but I’m glad you think so. I will happily remind you that you said that the next time that I annoy you.”
We laughed, and although I definitely wasn’t perfect, the night felt like it was, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend the latter half of my bachelor party. With Olivia’s arms still around my shoulders, I gazed down at her, drinking in all those features that I knew and loved so well.
Before the romance between us could swell too much, a deep rumbling sound issued from the scant space between us.
“Was that your stomach?” I asked my blushing soon-to-be bride. When she nodded sheepishly, I burst into laughter for the third time in short order.
Although I liked being a big, burly guy, I was going to develop abs if the wonderful people who had stumbled into my life kept amusing me so much. Or maybe it was I who had stumbled into theirs.
“How does some Chinese food sound?” I asked. There was plenty of meat still available, but I wanted something special for just me and my girl. My Olivia. My fiancée. “I know this place with amazing crab rangoon. You might have heard of it?”
The grin she sent me made all the celestial bodies above seem that much dimmer in comparison. She unwound her arms from around my shoulders and slipped her hand into mine.
“You had me at Chinese food.”