I push forward and kiss her once before pulling back. “You know,” I start, fingers tap, tap, tapping against her flesh. “It’s because of you and your strength that you guys are where you are, and she’s doing a lot better.”
“I’m glad, baby, but it’s not just me. It’s all of us. We all worked to get here.”
She’s wrong. It’s all her, but trying to convince her would be pointless.
“Second?”
“Second was Mia’s speech. For sure.”
“Ah, that almost killed me,” she says through a sigh. And then she’s shifting, moving over me, coating my entire existence in her warmth. “I’m glad there are people in your life who recognize how amazing you are, Holden Eastwood.”
I grab her ass. Squeeze once. “You’re pretty amazing, too, Mrs. Eastwood.”
She squeals into my neck. “Okay, and three?”
“Your speech was amazing, but after it, when you told Peg-leg”—Jamie lifts her head to scowl at me—“I mean, Paul, to hit play on the stereo and that Taylor Swift song came on. And everyone got up to sign and dance!”
“Right? It was like it was planned!” Jamie giggles.
“And Paul knew all the lyrics!” I say, chuckling.
Jamie’s laughing so hard, she rolls off of me. “I’m telling you, he’s a closet Swiftie!” She takes a moment to catch her breath. “It’s our song, you know?”
“No, it’s not!”
“Yes, it is!”
“I’m not having a Taylor Swift song as our song!” I say, adamant.
Jamie sits up. “What is our song then?”
I rack my brain. “‘Rockstar’ by Post Malone.”
Her eyes narrow. “The first line of that song is ‘I’ve been fucking hoes’…”
“I have been,” I say, trying to contain my chuckle. And then I grab the back of her head and pull down until her face hits the mattress and her ass is in the air. I spank her once. “You.”
“Oh, you’re lucky we’re married!” she exclaims, straightening up.
I can’t stop laughing.
“Did you see what Paul gifted us?”
I shake my head, trying to silence my idiocy.
“It’s this big metal sign for next to the door.” She shows me how big with her hands. “And he cut out all these daisies and dahlias and it says Eastwood, established: and he left the year blank because he wasn’t sure whether we wanted the year we got married or the year we met.”
“That’s cool,” I respond. “Maybe we could replace that pink flying pig of yours, because, babe, I fucking love you, but that pig is ugly.”
Her gasp has me howling. “It’s cute!”
“I think it’s the bright red bottle cap eyes,” I manage to get out. “It looks evil.”
“No, they’re hearts in the eyes!”
She’s so serious in her defense of the damn pig, and it only makes it funnier. I shake my head. “Not when I leave for work in the morning, they’re not!”
She glares at me, her mouth wide open in shock. “You know what?” she almost shouts.
“What?”
“No wedding sex for you!” And then she gets her phone, plays “Love Story” by Taylor Swift—the song that started this whole mess—through the speakers and blasts it so loud the sound distorts. She stomps across the house in her almost naked glory and opens the front door. She returns only moments later holding the pig to her chest, and then… then she dances with it.
I sit on the edge of the bed, laughing to the point of tears. In nothing but her bra and underwear, she sways around the house—our home—gliding and spinning across the floorboards and shouting the lyrics at the top of her lungs, and she’s so… extraordinary, and beautiful, but most of all… she’s free.
And while I know she thinks I somehow had something to do with that… she did this all on her own. She fought the entire world to be who she is.
How she is.
Jamie saved herself, and in turn, she saved me.
Saved us.
She’s the hero in our story—our Love Story—and I’m forever grateful that she came home to me.
My sunshine.
My solace.
WANT MORE MIA?
You can read all about her epic story in Leo, A Preston Brothers Novel #3. Leo can be read as a standalone, but why not get to know all the Preston boys?
Peston Brothers
Lucas
Logan
Leo
ALSO BY JAY MCLEAN
More Than Series
More Than This
More Than Her
More Than Him
More Than Forever
More Than Enough
Preston Brothers Novel
Lucas
Logan
Leo
The Pieces Duet
Pieces of You
Pieces of Me
The Road Series
Where the Road Takes Me
Kick Push
Coast
Combative Trilogy
Combative
Redemptive
Destructive
Darkness Matters
Darkness Matters
The Heartache Duet
Heartache and Hope
First and Forever
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jay McLean is an international best-selling author and full-time reader, writer of New Adult and Young Adult romance, and skilled procrastinator. When she's not doing any of those things, she can be found running after her three boys, investing way too much time on True Crime Documentaries and binge-watching reality TV.
She writes what she loves to read, which are books that can make her laugh, make her hurt and make her feel.
Jay lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in her dream home where music is loud and laughter is louder.
Connect With Jay