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“I know. It’s so silly.”
He placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “How you feel isn’t silly. It’s how you feel. Trust me when I say that while I’m looking forward to saying our vows in front of all those people, what I’m looking forward to most is being yours and yours alone.”
“You told me once that you weren’t good at these kinds of conversations,” Reese said. “I think you lied.”
“I’ve been practicing on this beautiful woman. How am I doing?”
She giggled. “Pretty good.”
“Pretty good? Just when I thought I was starting to win you over.”
“You won me over a long time ago, Sterling.”
His eyes lit up. “That reminds me. I have a gift for you.” He released her for a moment and crossed the room. Reese hadn’t even noticed a rectangular package tied up neatly with a bow. Sterling grinned sheepishly. “Morgan may have helped wrap this and sneak it in here.”
“You didn’t need to get me anything,” Reese said. “You already got me a ring and a honeymoon and so many things.”
“Will you please let me give you a gift? It’s the last gift you’ll get as my fiancée. Stop fighting it.”
Reese sighed and took the package. It felt solid, like a book. “You just want me to open it?”
Sterling touched her hand. “First, I want to say one more thing. Kind of by way of explanation.”
“I’m a little nervous about this gift if it needs an explanation.”
Reese looked up at Sterling, who was grinning again. He put his hands on her waist. “Reese, you have been the best kind of surprise. I didn’t think I would ever get married, to be honest. I didn’t expect to fall in love. Especially not with an overzealous, stalker fan.”
She rolled her eyes. “This again? Today? You have to bring this up today?”
“It’s part of the story where we first met. Sorry, my dear, but you won’t ever live this down. Anyway, you have surprised me every step of the way. I cannot imagine life going back to the way it was before, flat and without color. Will you open your gift?”
The smile felt like it would never leave her face. She tore open the wrapping paper, realizing what was inside the moment her fingers touched the picture frame. She began to laugh, even as he pulled her close, trapping her hands between them along with the autographed photo from the night they met.
Sterling’s lips brushed her ear as he spoke. Her heart swelled with love and joy.
“I never would have believed it at the time. Reese, you were so very right, and we are completely right together.”
Epilogue
Pax took a deep breath, staring at his phone in his hand. He had pulled off the road into a parking lot to make the call. Not just because he wasn’t a fan of talking and driving. But this call had him nervous for reasons he didn’t yet want to admit. He could hardly keep his hands from shaking.
It wasn’t that he was starstruck, though he had a huge dose of admiration for Sterling James. It went both ways. They’d been introduced a few years before at a party for a playoff game where Sterling performed the halftime show. Pax had gotten Sterling tickets for several games and Sterling had returned the favor with backstage passes to several shows. Pax was a big fan of Sterling’s music, but he had another reason for his nerves.
He wanted—no, needed—Sterling to say yes. And it was a big ask.
“Paxton Shaw! How in the world are you, man?”
“You know. How’s married life? I’ll be honest—I never thought I’d be asking you that question.”
Sterling laughed. “Right? It’s amazing. Only because Reese is amazing. Guess it’s true what they say about meeting the right woman.”
Pax couldn’t find his voice for a moment and made a sound that hopefully passed as agreement. Not terror, which is what he was currently feeling at the thought of marriage. And the right woman.
“Not that you need a reason to call, but what’s up?” Sterling asked.
“You’re in Austin for Christmas, right?”
“Are you stalking me, Pax?”
