Page 47 of When Hairy Met Stella

And just when she thought she’d seen the biggest smile of his moments ago, he shot her one now that knocked the other one out of the park. “I like the sound of that.”

“Good.” She leaned in closer, their foreheads touching as she looked into his dark eyes. “Because you’re stuck with me, Nater Tot.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be, Stella Bella.”

Epilogue

ONE YEAR LATER…

“I’m ready, Freddie!”

Nate watched Stella punch the air like a boxer about to enter the ring, not a woman ready to tackle an aerial course.

“I believe you,” he responded with a smile. The bright autumn sun peeked out from behind a cloud, splashing light across Stella’s face, highlighting her beauty. Not that she needed any help from the sun for that. How had he gotten so lucky to be loved by this woman? “Are you really sure this is how you want to celebrate your first full year and a half of business ownership?” He’d suggested revisiting Oglebay to commemorate the one-year anniversary, but she said it hadn’t really felt likeherplace until the chandelier was up. So, she wanted to toast to thechandy-versary, or whatever she’d called it. He couldn’t really remember, but he was more than happy to play along. Any excuse to celebrate this woman was alright by him.

“I’m doing this.” She leveled him with a stare that would have meant business if not for the tiny smirk that played at the cornerof her mouth. A corner he found impossible to resist. So, he didn’t.

“Hey.” She chuckled once they broke the kiss. “I need to focus here. You’re distracting me at a very pivotal moment of this adventure.”

“What…starting the course?”

“No. Mentally preparing myself for the atomic wedgie I’m about to get in that harness.”

Nate laughed again. He’d been doing a lot of that during the last year. It seemed Stella softened him in a way he didn’t know was possible. She’d truly changed him.

And speaking of change, he didn’t now. His life as a werewolf was much different than it had been this time last year. Seemed the love of this woman, grimacing and shifting her butt all around in that harness, saved him from the shackles of the full moon. Not that he never shifted. He’d come close a few times when he’d been really hungry, but Stella always kept a pack of Goldfish in her purse for such occasions.

“Ready to go?” he asked as he joined her on the stand and got strapped into his own harness.

“Yep.” She craned her neck to look behind her. “But how far up my rear does this thing go?” She wiggled some more. “I feel like the jeans of my pockets are going to disappear.”

Nate stilled, remembering something that was in the back pocket ofhisjeans.

“What’s that face? Did I overshare?”

“Yes, but what else is new?” He was trying for a joke, but even he knew his tone didn’t sell it.

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing. I’m just ready to rock this course.” He checked to make sure he hadn’t lost what he’d brought along on this adventure today. What he’d carried around in his pocket forweeks now. He was beginning to wonder if finding a perfect moment was more challenging than not shifting into a werewolf.

“Now I know something is up, because when have you ever said you were going to rock anything?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And your hands. They’re shaking.”

Dang it. They were. Apparently, he really was nervous about all this. It didn’t make sense, because he knew they were meant to spend the rest of their lives together. And he was about ninety-nine percent sure she was going to say yes to what he was planning to ask.

“Nate, look here.” She brought her hand to his face, tipping his chin so she could meet his eyes. “Do you know what today is the exact one-year anniversary of?”

He nodded. He knew what she was doing. She was distracting him, making him think about something other than what was making him nervous—same as he’d done the day they did this aerial course together last year. Only then, he was the one distracting her…with his words. It wasn’t until much later that she’d confessed how much his physique had taken her attention away from plummeting to her death—something that still made him blush whenever she reminded him.

“It’s the anniversary of your chandelier-hanging. That’s why we’re here.”

She shook her head. “Nope. That’s actually still a couple days away.”

“Then it’s the anniversary of when we completed this course.”

“Oh-for-two,” she said with a smirk he would have kissed off her face if his hands still weren’t shaking so badly.

“I honestly don’t know.” He bit his lip, suddenly worried this was one of those things couples argued over. He’d seen his fair share of squabbles in sitcoms when someone forgot an important anniversary.

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