Chapter 1
“Fuck me,” I say as a proud smile spreads across my face. My girl is doing it. The one thing she has worked her ass off for the past seven years and she’s fucking doing it.
I watch with overwhelming excitement as Tora’s name is announced and she rises from her seat. She walks down the narrow aisle, passing her peers before crossing the front of the stage and heading for the three little stairs that lead up onto it.
I can’t believe she did it. Well, actually, I can believe it. She worked her ass off for this and deserves to be here. I guess, I just can’t believe it’s actually here. Everything she’s worked for is right here being handed to her.
It’s been seven years of late night studying, cramming for exams, nervously panicking, and calling me in the middle of the night, needing me to talk her off the edge. And here she finally is, walking up the steps of the Harvard Law stage, about to receive her diploma.
She fucking did it and I’ve never been so proud.
The years since high school have been the best years of my life. Having Tora by my side as the woman I’m shamelessly in love with has been incredible. Every day with her continues to get better, yet the last three years have been some of the hardest I’ve ever endured.
I love that Tora is so driven and goal-orientated that she strived to make her dreams of attending Harvard Law become a reality, the only issue is that Harvard isn’t exactly around the corner from Broken Hill. It’s more like a six hour, boring as fuck, flight.
At first it was hard.
Not being with her every day was excruciating and not having her in my arms each night killed me. But what was worse was knowing that if something had happened to her, or if she was in any sort of danger, I couldn’t get to her. Knowing that, tore me apart and let me tell you, Tora Roberts attracts danger like a moth to flame. It took everything I had not to go over there, pack up her shit, and haul her back home, kicking and screaming. She would have killed me and I would have been fine with it because I would know that she was safe.
As time went by, it got easier to cope. Every few weeks she would fly home or I would go to her. That time we had together was as incredible as it was bittersweet. Our time was limited and knowing that we only had a handful of days together was hard.
I don’t know how we got through it, but now being at the end, I like to think that we’re stronger for it. Our relationship has suffered through the hardest trials and as usual, we always come out the other end, hands held, ready to kick ass and face down whatever comes at us next.
The only thing that has the potential to tear us apart is death, and even then, she will still be mine just as I will always be hers.
Shit. That’s fucking cheesy.
My business has soared, meaning I now have the option to be able to take a week off here and there and know that my boys in the shop will keep things going. It was helpful during those times where law school was overwhelming Tora and she needed me there. Hell, even during those times where I missed her and needed to hold her in my arms, I could call the boys, tell them I’ll be back in a week, and take off knowing that when I get back, my shop will be thriving; new projects will still be coming in and the current ones will be moving along or complete.
I have a great team working for me. I still have Ryan who’s been a godsend through all this. He’s been there since the beginning and has helped me grow my business into the success it is today. Hell, it’s so fucking successful that come another year’s time, I’ll be ready to expand. Maybe build a second shop in Haven Falls. I don’t know yet, but I’m so fucking excited. Who knows? Maybe in ten, twenty years, I’ll have taken over the country.
No matter what my goal is or how unrealistic it sounds, I know I’ll make it happen if I have Tora by my side. She has been my backbone for the past eight years. Never once has her love for me waivered, even through those difficult times in the beginning.
We’ve fought, we’ve loved, we’ve wanted to strangle each other at times, but it was all worth it. Especially now, watching her walk up those steps to the stage she’s always wanted to stand on.
Tora presses her lips together and from the way the apples of her cheeks are protruding from her face, it’s clear to me she’s doing everything in her power to control herself. She wants nothing more than to lose her shit and start dancing her way across the stage, rubbing it in the face of all her haters because she fucking did it. She wants to scream. She wants to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. She wants to own this moment like a motherfucking boss. But she won’t. She’ll keep her cool, accept her diploma, and say a huge thank you while remaining gracious.