“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you, Aidan. I thought I was being so strong and brave, but I was still afraid. I’m afraid right now. Maybe the fear will always be there. I don’t know. What I do know for sure is that I don’t want to be without you. I want us to be together. I love you so much.”

One corner of his mouth turned up, then the other. “I love you, too. A lot. It kind of freaked me out when I figured it out.”

Relief tasted sweet. Like the perfect cookie melting on her tongue. Only the sensation was in every part of her.

“Did you scream like a little girl?” she teased.

“Almost.”

His smile faded. “Shelby, I love you and I want to be with you, but there are some things you have to know.” He drew in a breath. “I get you were scared and that’s okay. You’re going to be scared. I probably am, too, sometimes. And we’re going to screw up. We can’t be together for the next seventy years and not hurt each other. That comes with being in love. But no matter what, I’m going to keep trying. I’m going to love you every day and when something bad happens, you and I are going to talk about it. Endlessly.”

She started to laugh, then cry. Finally she threw herself at him. He pulled her close and hung on like he would never let go.

He was warm and solid as he held her. Everything about him was right.

“Marry me,” he whispered in her ear. “Please marry me.”

She looked at him. “Yes. Please. Of course.”

He laughed and swung her around. Charlie barked at them, then ran in circles, as if he, too, knew something great had just happened.

Aidan kissed her, his lips lingering on hers. Then he drew back. “I hope it’s okay, but I promised Nick we’d get married in Happily Inc. I guess it’s some kind of destination wedding town. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine, as long as I get to pick the honeymoon destination.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Somewhere sunny with a big bed.”

He grinned. “Works for me.”

* * *

“NOW, HOW DOES this go?” Noelle asked, looking at her two cards.

Gabriel patiently pushed the cards so they faced the table. “No one is supposed to see those, honey.”

“Because you’ll bet against me?” she asked. “But you love me. You can’t bet against me. So I’m supposed to decide how much to put down?”

Shelby held in a grin. “Noelle, it’s cards, not Sophie’s Choice. Just go with it.”

Angel sighed heavily. “Whose idea was this?”

Taryn leaned into him. “Are you saying you’re not having fun?”

“I’m not sure having women join us at Texas hold ’em is a good thing.”

“Later I’ll take all my clothes off.”

Justice raised his eyebrows. “Here or at home? Because if it’s here, we might get uncomfortable. Not that it wouldn’t be a good show,” he added hastily.

Patience shot him a glance. “Really? You want to see Taryn naked? I never knew that.”

“I don’t. I was being supportive of one of your friends.” He turned to Aidan. “Help.”

Aidan leaned back in his chair. “See, gentlemen? Being friends with the ladies is harder than it looks. Now you’re all going to apologize to me for all the insulting things you thought when you found out I was hanging out with Shelby as just a friend.”

“You went to a baby shower,” Kipling said. “That’s kind of hard to let go.”

Shelby grinned, knowing Kipling would be even more shocked by the pedicures. But that was their little secret.