Dare Me

“Callum!”

“Lake DePalma, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I cried. “Yes, Callum, yes,” I whispered, wiping my tears to watch him slide the beautiful ring on my finger. I wanted to stare and admire it forever but I needed to feel his lips even more. We sat there on the bedroom floor for the rest of the morning, kissing, engaged, in bliss. Finally together. Again and forever, just us, the way we were always meant to be. In his arms, I could feel his heart as much as mine, and I knew neither of ours had ever been fuller. It had been such a long, crazy, unbelievable fight back to each other.

But God, was it worth it.

Epilogue

Callum

Two Years Later

We lived for the dares as kids. During the war back to each other’s hearts, we ached for nothing but all truth. I knew Lake and I were in a good place when we found a happy medium that leaned a hair more toward the dares.

We got married in Scotland, on a smaller island. Logan was my best man because I knew it was important to him – Oz was just happy for an excuse to wear his kilt. My mother gave an embarrassing toast about how she found it amusing that Lake and I thought our teenage love was subtle. I gave Lake the idea to surprise her at the reception.

“I can’t believe I never thought about that,” Lake had groaned into her hands while we were doing planning.

“It wasn’t your last memory of it. But it was for her.”

The song “Cheek to Cheek” had lived forever in Lake’s heart as a good memory. She’d already been gone by the time my mom waltzed down the hall to the tune, only to discover Lake’s bedroom empty, important things packed away and a note left on her bed. So I figured it was time to make it once again a good memory for my mother.

There was no traditional father-daughter dance to be had at the wedding, so after we walked into the grand ballroom as Mr. and Mrs. Pike, Lake surprised my mother by gliding to her with a hand extended. With a dramatic flourish, she tucked a big, red flower in her hair. My mom got it before we even played their song. She gasped and squealed loud enough to make even Oz wince, and they danced around the floor to the crooning that would never again do anything but lift my mother’s heart.

Our guests drank, danced and laughed all night. Isabel said “matron of honor” sounded gross, and that she’d had the role in too many weddings already, so serving as maid of honor was Shanna, the incredible woman who played such a big role in delivering Lake back to me. She’d actually known before most that I was going to propose. I’d told her to get ready to visit, just as we were leaving Sunstone. She flew in early from Virginia because it was actually more of a wedding week, and all our friends, from all walks of our lives, took part in the festivities leading up to the big day. It was what made the actual night so perfect and filled with true joy. The kind of perfect that even Oz, Logan and I had to notice.

“Fuckin’ great wedding, mate.”

“Damned good,” Logan nodded.

“I agree,” I grinned. They both looked at me at the same time and then shook their heads.

“I don’t even want to imagine how you twisted kids are going to celebrate your honeymoon,” Logan snorted.

“Fuck, I do,” Oz said. When I cringed, he clarified. “Don’t worry, only her end of it. And I promise I’ll stop fantasizing about her the second you get home because you know, that’s your wife.”

Lake was my wife. I couldn’t stop saying it to myself in my head.

We went several places on our honeymoon. We justified that we’d earned the full month off to travel and relax. I waited till our final stop – just an easy trip to St. Barts – to bust out the whip.

Or rather, the tie.

“Don’t tell me that’s the one,” Lake whispered in giddy shock, biting that sexy lip of hers.

I kept it tight in my grip even as I whipped off my shirt. “Oh, it’s the one.”

She knew at that point that she was in for it. It was the damned white tie that she’d tricked me with ages ago. She caught on to the camera I’d installed in my room to catch her stealing. I’d been an idiot to think Lake was ever anything but a step ahead of me. I saw it missing, dove into the film and found her doing a striptease for me on my bed.

I made her repeat it for me that night.

This time, when she stuck that perfect ass in the air, I brought the tie down on it. I tied it around her ankles when I had her lay on her stomach on the king mattress. Never had she felt so fucking tight. I came home from that honeymoon with several new favorites, as far as positions in bed. Or out of bed. I had a feeling we’d never really stop discovering those.

Bedroom adventure aside, I also came back from the trip with new ink. Lake and I had too good of a streak to let me leave a dare open, even if it was from almost a decade ago. Instead of completing it as promised, I’d covered up the “L” I had done for Lake when I was twenty. So on our honeymoon, I started and finished a fresh, new tattoo of her name. There was ink down my arms but none on my chest so it was an appropriate spot. I loved my wife in a way I’d never loved anyone else, so her name was carved over my heart, sitting there all on its own.

At least until our beautiful Ella was born.

Epilogue