Epilogue Lara
Epilogue
Lara
One month later
“Did Creed have another case?”
“Huh?” Calder looked up in the middle of unfolding the crossword he’d brought to our picnic.
“He was packing up his truck when we left the camper, but I thought he’d finished the case on the reservation last week.”
“He has . . . something.”
I arched my brows. “Is everything okay?”
Calder frowned. “Not sure,” he said, then sighed. “He said there was something he had to take care of back in Riverton and that he’d be gone another week or two.”
“Oh. Interesting,” I murmured, swiping my toes through the cold, clear surface of the lake.
I’d known Creed for only a few weeks now, but it would take only days for anyone to realize the former military man’s purpose was set in stone.
His life revolved around business and he worked like a machine, receiving orders and then executing them.
No emotion, no questions involved. So for him to return somewhere after a case was finished . . .
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Calder grunted. “Apparently, he also asked Callum to look into one of the police officers on the reservation.”
My eyes widened. “Does he suspect some kind of foul play?” I swiped my foot through the water again.
“No . . .” Calder trailed off and grimaced, drawing a pen from his pocket. “It’s a female police officer.”
This time, my mouth just shaped the O without making a sound.
“Yeah,” Calder murmured, his gaze meeting mine. “Now, are we going to do this puzzle or not?”
My smile went full bloom. “Fire away, Wild Man.”
His stare glittered on me for one hot, lingering second before looking at the paper and reading off the first clue. “‘Nineties sitcom where a neurotic interior designer moves in with her gay best friend. His name.’ Four letters—”
“Will!” I called out, excited. “Did you not watch Will & Grace?”
“No.” His brows scrunched.
“What?” I gaped, my splashing stopping short. Even after a month of waking up to Calder every day, I couldn’t stop the flutters in my stomach when his eyes caught mine.
It still didn’t feel real. Not here. Not on the shores of Lima Bean Lake, the water so clear, so blue, it was like liquefied sky buried in the skin of the earth. Not surrounded by sky-scraping mountain peaks stitched with autumn-hewn treetops.
Here, underneath a million-star sky at night and next to the man I’d fantasized about for over a decade, it felt too good to be true.
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen it. We’re going to have to watch it.” I pointed at him. “Add that to the list.”
I wasn’t in Wyoming long before I commandeered one of Calder’s beloved case notebooks and labeled it A Survivalist’s Guide to Pop Culture. Inside was a running list of all the shows and movies and experiences Calder’s childhood had skipped. We were slowly making our way through them all.
Just like we were slowly figuring out our life together.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t move. I cocked my head and then kicked my foot in his direction, sending a spray of water toward our picnic blanket.
In a nanosecond, he was up. Coming for me. I laughed—squealed—when I found myself hauled over his shoulder and carted back to the blanket.
“If you know all the answers, Tomb Raider, then you finish the puzzle,” he said, depositing me in the center and handing me the crossword and pen.
“Fine.” I jutted out my chin. “So, Will from Will & Grace. Next is . . . ‘TV series about an obsessive, charming young man who stalks his love interests and intervenes’—oh, that one’s easy.
” I looked up at Calder, who returned my stare with a blank one.
“Really?” I leaned forward, bringing my face close to his.
“You have to have seen a commercial . . . an ad . . .” Still nothing. I huffed. “The answer is You.”
“Me?”
“No. You. The show is called You.”
“The show is called Calder Stone?” he said, feigning confusion.
I shot him an unentertained stare. “No, it’s called Costello,” I deadpanned, knowing he would at least get that classic comedy-duo reference.
Grinning, he grabbed my chin and pulled my mouth to his for a kiss. His tongue slid along my lips, striking heat over my skin.
“Stop trying to distract me,” I ordered, pulling away before he made me forget my own name. “Here. Eat some charcuterie.” I pushed the board in his direction, a few pieces of cheese and some grapes left.
Cassius had thoughtfully made up the board for us when Calder mentioned he was taking me on a picnic to Lima Bean Lake. I hadn’t been back to—let alone enjoyed—the idyllic haven since I’d helped Colby on her Donnie scavenger hunt.
“Finish it, then,” Calder said with a grin, sitting back on his haunches and popping a grape into his mouth. Did he make everything look hot? Yes. Yes, he did. More importantly, though, he looked happy.
Like he’d found a piece of himself that had been lost. Not just with me but with his father. With his siblings. And I’d never loved him more.
“Next.” I counted the open boxes and then found the clue. “Five letters. ‘Tie the knot.’”
“Marry.”
My eyes jumped to his, my throat tightening.
“You didn’t say I couldn’t help,” he teased huskily.
“No,” I murmured. “I didn’t.”
Jotting the letters into their spots, I quickly moved on before my thoughts got ahead of me.
“‘Abbreviation for Maine.’”
“Me.”
“M-E,” I spelled out.
“No, Lara. Me.”
“You?” I chuckled, carving the letters onto the paper. “Is this another Abbott and Costello joke? I think you’ve exhausted your—” The pen slid from my fingers.
Calder wasn’t sitting on his haunches. He was on his knees.
One knee.
With a ring box open in his hands. I stared at the emerald-cut diamond, a giant glittering star cushioned in a black velvet sky.
“Will. You. Marry. Me?” he murmured, and I lifted my eyes to his before dropping them to the crossword, all the dots connecting into a constellation.
Will You Marry Me. The answers were lined up in perfect formation in the puzzle.
“You made this.” I lifted my head and slid the paper from my lap, rising up on my knees so our faces were level.
We’d done countless crossword puzzles together over the last month, so I never would’ve guessed—never would’ve thought—this one was rigged. I guess that was the point.
“Callum did. I’ve never heard of those shows before,” he admitted, with that same gruffness he’s always taken with me when he was trying to hide the depths of his want.
When he was nervous he’d never have me then.
And that I might say no to him now. “I love you, Lara. I’ve loved you from that very first look. ”
My cheeks burned. My thudding heart rumbled goose bumps over my skin.
This couldn’t be real, I thought as I reached for him, anchoring my palms to the hard heat of his chest. I wanted to look at the ring—to stare and appreciate every expensive facet of it—but all I could see was him.
Love lustrous in his eyes. Need feathering the corner of his jaw.
He took my wrist and dragged my left hand to his mouth, kissing the middle of my palm as he said roughly, “Marry me, Lara.”
“Are you asking or ordering me?” I teased through an unsteady breath.
He bit into my trembling flesh, and I shivered violently, my heart thrashing in my chest.
“Whichever gets you to say yes faster.”
“I love you, Calder,” I murmured, a watery smile stretching my cheeks as I lifted my face to his. “And yes, I will marry you.”
The metal band was warm as he slid it along my finger, the diamond a welcome weight on my hand.
I would’ve liked to admire the ring he’d chosen, but that was going to have to wait, because as soon as it was settled on my finger, his mouth claimed mine.
“Were you worried I wasn’t going to say yes?” I panted several minutes later as he hauled me to straddle his lap.
“No,” he growled, divesting me of my top.
“No?” My laughed choked off into a moan as he cupped my breast.
He leaned his head back, his lust-rimmed gaze finding mine. “Why would I be worried about you saying yes when I know how to make you scream it?”
And then he did just that.