This is Reckless (Checkmate Duet 3)

“I don’t know how you did it.” I place my palm on her cheek and kiss her.

“I wasn’t giving up on you, Drew. I would’ve waited forever.”

I pull her into my arms and hope she can feel how much I love her.

COURTNEY

Weddings make me happy. I love watching when two people who are head over heels for each other make it official. And I love that Drew’s here with me. Honestly, he’s become such an integral part of my life that it would feel awkward without him.

We dance and drink ourselves silly with wine. After the cake is cut, Benita throws the bouquet out to all the single ladies, and I happen to catch it. I squeal, and my mom waves and points at Drew and I try to ignore her because she’s being loud and embarrassing. We’re not rushing things, but she wants grandkids now, and my brothers aren’t ready for family life yet. Hell, all of them are single except for Jackson, which is surprising that he could find someone who puts up with his constant jokes.

As I’m walking over to Drew, his eyebrows are raised, and he’s smiling. Evan walks past me and steals the bouquet out of my hand. “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” he teases.

“You need it more than me anyway,” I yell back to him and family around us starts laughing.

I don’t even try to run after the bouquet of flowers because I’m magnetized toward Drew and the way he’s looking at me at this moment. In the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of Evan taking pictures with Benita as he caught it. When Drew wraps his arms around me, and I wrap mine around his waist, I don’t care about anything else because as long as we’re together, nothing else in the world matters. I think it’s always been like that, even before when we were just best friends.

“You’d make a beautiful bride,” he whispers in my ear.

“Maybe one day.” I wink and grab his hand.

“Your husband will be the luckiest man in the world.” Drew’s looking at me like I’m the most beautiful woman in the room, and it makes my heart swell. I swallow hard, never hearing him say anything like this before. I never imagined we’d be here, falling so hard for one another, with no end in sight. I wished it, I wanted it, but now that it’s happening, it feels unreal. If this is a dream, I never want to wake.

My Aunt Charlotte passes out bubbles to everyone, and we get ready to send Benita and her husband off. We line up outside, and as soon as they walk out, Drew glances over at me and pulls me to the back of the crowd. Once we’re away from everyone, he pulls me into his arms and kisses me so hard that he steals my breath away. “I love you. More than you’ll ever know. I’m sorry, but I had to tell you right now.” His thumb traces my bottom lip before he dips down and kisses me again. No one around us is paying attention because their eyes are focused on Benita, and for once I’m thankful for that.

“I love you too, Drew. I love you so much. Don’t ever be sorry. I’m yours, babe. Whisk me away whenever you want.”

Bubbles float around us from the way the wind is blowing, and I never want to forget this moment. Once the pickup drives off and the Bud Light cans start clanking against the pavement, the crowd begins to trickle away though the party’s still going.

Alex can see we’re in no shape to drive and offers to take us home.

“Alex, you’re my favorite brother; you know that, right?”

He laughs. “Yeah, sis. It’s mainly because I’m not a huge asshole. I know the truth.”

I hiccup. “Good.”

Alex pulls up to the house and I open the door and Drew holds tightly around my waist as I partially lose my balance. We tell Alex thanks and say our goodbyes because we have to be at the airport at six in the morning. I wrap my arm around Drew as we walk inside. When he looks over at me and smiles, my world feels as if it tilts on its axis.

The lights in the house are off except for the one at the top of the stairs, and I turn around and put my finger over my mouth to shh him, so my parents won’t wake. “Walk lightly.” With his hand in mine, I drag him up the stairs. I hold back laughter as he looks at the photos on the wall and whispers comments about how I looked as a kid.

“Deputy,” I playfully warn. “I’m going to have Viola pull out the family photo album when we get home if you don’t stop.”