Page 51 of Driving Whiskey Wild

“You done good, darlin’,” Biggs said as he stepped beside her.

“This was a collaborative effort, and I’m so happy it’s going well.”

“The event is going well, too, but I meant with my boy.”

She looked across the lawn at Bullet just as Kennedy barreled into his legs, and he scooped her up into his other arm. He was the most loyal, loving man Finlay knew, and even though he’d struggled with what that meant when he was younger, she knew the man he was had everything to do with the parents who had raised him. Thinking of the life lessons Biggs had taught Bullet and the way he’d waited years, silently holding on to what must have been extreme curiosity until Bullet was ready to share his secret with him, she said, “You done good, too.”

With that thought, her mind turned to her parents and how much she missed her own father. She thought about her mother moving away after they’d lost him. Then her thoughts turned back to the man across the field, the one who had become an even bigger part of her life as he’d come out from under his guilt a little more each day. Bullet saw things in Finlay that no one else—including her—ever had. Finlay hadn’t realized she’d needed closure with Aaron’s family, too, but Bullet had, and he had secretly set up a meeting with them. Little had she known when they’d set out for a ride last Saturday morning, they’d end up in Pleasant Hill having breakfast with Aaron’s parents. Or that later, as they’d driven home, she’d realized that if anything ever happened to Bullet, moving away from the harbor wouldn’t be enough to help her move forward. Their love was too deep and too big to ever leave behind.

AS IF THEY were connected by energy bigger than the eye could see, Bullet couldn’t look away from Finlay as she crossed the grass in a long plum-colored dress that hugged her luscious curves. Her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, softening the edginess of the black leather jacket she wore. Bullet was struck with the images he’d begun seeing in his mind lately. Images of their future. He’d never thought past the day he was living until he’d found Finlay, and now he couldn’t stop visions of her, her belly round with their baby, or cooking with a child on her hip and Tinkerbell by her side, from finding their way into his mind on a near-daily basis. He envisioned himself lying beneath the stars with Finlay and a gaggle of their children, Tinkerbell standing sentinel over them all. Sometimes, like now, as he stepped toward her with Kennedy and Lincoln in his arms, he imagined he and Finlay old and gray, riding over the bridge that led out of Peaceful Harbor and off into the sunset on his bike—knowing they’d be coming back over that bridge together.

“Look how pwetty Aunt Finlay looks in her dwess, Uncle Bullet.” Kennedy waved at Finlay.

“She sure does.”

Finlay waved and blew a kiss to Bullet. Kennedy pretended to catch the kiss and pressed her hand to her cheek.

“Hey, that was my kiss,” Bullet said.

Kennedy giggled and pressed her hand to Bullet’s lips. “Now you have it, too.” She reached over and pressed her hand to Lincoln’s cheek. “And Linc has one, too.”

“Thanks, princess.”

Finlay smiled and kissed the babies. “Your uncle Bullet sure does have a way with you guys, doesn’t he? He always keeps you smiling.”

Kennedy nodded, and Lincoln shyly pressed his face into Bullet’s neck.

“Wait until we have our own,” Bullet said.

“You’re going to have a baby?” Kennedy asked with wide eyes.

“No, honey,” Finlay said, giving Bullet a why-would-you-say-that look. “Uncle Bullet is just being silly.”

“Uncle Bullet doesn’t know how to be silly,” Kennedy said with a serious look on her pretty little face. “Mommy said he is too good at protecting everyone to be silly.”

“I know how to be silly,” Bullet said, and blew raspberries against Lincoln’s cheek, making him giggle up a storm.

“Do me!” Kennedy pleaded.

Bullet did, earning lots of sweet little-girl giggles. He spotted Bear, and motioned for him to join them. “Can you take these little darlin’s for a bit?”

“Absolutely.” Bear took Lincoln from him as Kennedy wriggled from Bullet’s arms.

Kennedy took Bear’s hand and dragged him toward Bones, who was headed toward the food tent with Bradley. “I want to see Uncle Boney!”

Finlay laughed. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing her call him that.”

“What do you think our kids will call him?” He draped an arm over her shoulder and headed for the bar.

“I don’t know. You mean our little leather-wearing, ring-bearing, bike-riding kids?” she asked as they headed into the bar.

“Don’t you mean our cake-baking, bike-riding kids?” He groped her ass as he closed the door behind them and guided her over toward the bar.

“Bullet,” she whispered, as if the whole world might hear her chastising him for groping her. “I told Izzy I’d be quick.”

“God, I love you, baby. You know that?”

She blushed, and his heart swelled.

“We’ll be as long as we’ll be,” he said as he took her in his arms and gazed into the eyes of the woman who had changed his life. “Do you remember our first kiss?”

“Yes. I still get the chills when I think of it.”

“So do I, lollipop. And when I think of the way you stood up to me, right over there”—he glanced across the bar—“in that pretty dress, your gorgeous eyes boring into me with such strength and conviction, I knew right then I’d met my match.”

As he dropped to one knee and took her hand in his, he knew he should be more nervous than ever before, but he was dead calm, because this—him and Finlay—was the rightest thing he’d ever done.

Her eyes widened, and “Bullet” slipped from her lips like a prayer.

“Finlay, my angel, I have no idea how or why you agreed to go out with me—”

“It was the kiss,” she said through her tears.

He chuckled. “It was a hell of a kiss, and I thank God every day that you were wearing rose-colored glasses that night, because I adore you, and I never want to imagine a single day without you by my side. I told you that I’m not Prince Charming, and our lives will never be a fairy tale. But if you marry me, I will spend every moment of our lives worshipping, protecting, and loving you with everything I have.”

As he rose to his feet, he slipped the rose-gold, princess-cut solitaire ring from his pocket, running his thumb over the black diamonds in the shape of an infinity symbol on either side of the band. He gazed into Finlay’s eyes and said, “Marry me, lollipop. Be mine, and let me be your man.”

Nodding, with tears sliding down her beautiful cheeks, she said, “I’ve been yours since that very first kiss, and I’ll be yours until my very last.”

For years Bullet had wondered if his life might have been better if he hadn’t enlisted in the military, if he hadn’t nearly lost his life or watched other men lose theirs. But now, as he took Finlay in his arms and sealed their promises with a kiss, he realized all that pain had led him to her—and knew he would live through it all over again just to be right there with the woman he loved. His sugar rush. His angel. His everything.