Page 117 of Rewrite Our Story

She carefully guides my arms to take the stack of papers. She shifts it in my grip until she can fan through all of the pages. Mare stops when she reaches the very last page. At the top it saysEPILOGUEin big, bold letters, but the rest of the page is blank.

“If I were writing an end to Wade and Daisy’s story”—she uses the fictional names as if this isn’t exactlyourstory—“then I see Daisy realizing that she has a lot of big dreams she wants to come true, but her biggest dream was always Wade.”

I swallow because I remember my mom saying a line almost exactly like that one. It isn’t lost on me.

“Are we really talking about Daisy?”

Mare shakes her head. “I have a lot of dreams, Cade Jennings. But none of them compare to the best dream come true of all. Loving you. Being loved by you. It’s the most special and real feeling I’ve ever experienced. I think I’m in a place now where the whole author thing can be done from anywhere—from Sutten—as long as it’s somewhere with you.”

I stare at her because I don’t know what to say. She’s everything I could’ve ever wanted in my life. There’s a thread that ties us together that is unexplainable, but also something so rare and precious that I’d put anything on the line to keep it—even if it meant moving wherever she wanted me to. Giving up whatever I had to in order to be with her.

“You’re not going to say anything?” she asks.

I run my hands along her cheekbones, needing to touch her. “All I want is you. With me. Wherever you want, Goldie. I can’t be without you.”

“I think it’d be a poetic ending if Daisy made her dreams come true from the small town she left in the first place.”

“You’d move back to Sutten? What about being an author?”

Mare leans into my touch. “I hear the man I’m in love with is building me a house with a breakfast nook I’d love to write at.”

“I’ll build you ten,” I say through the emotion clogging my throat.

“So what’s the ending going to be?”

I pull Mare’s forehead to mine, speaking against her lips. “An ending together in Sutten seems fucking perfect to me.”

Mare smiles. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

Our next kiss is full of the promise of forever.

EPILOGUE - MARE - EIGHT MONTHS LATER

I pull at the piece of fabric over my eyes. “Cade, I can’t see a thing underneath this,” I complain. I try to feel around me to find my surroundings, but all I can feel is his warm chest underneath my touch.

“It’s a blindfold, Goldie. That’s the point.”

I let out an aggravated sigh. He’s been hush hush all day about what we’re going to do for my birthday surprise. I’d tried getting it out of him, but the man never faltered.

The door to his truck shuts. I’m left in silence for a few moments. I fight the urge to use the time to my advantage and push the blindfold off my eyes so I can sneak a peek.

Somehow I’m able to resist the urge. Or maybe it’s the fact that Cade doesn’t take long to open the passenger door of his truck. His warm hands slide up my thighs, sending shivers of excitement down my spine.

“You ready for your surprise?” His voice is close. So close that I can feel the tickle of his breath against my cheeks.

“Is that even a question?”

He laughs. It’s low and comes from deep in his chest. It’s almost been a year since Linda left us, and eight months since I moved back to Sutten. I’ve found him laughing more and more. All of us have laughed more, time taking part in healing our wounds.

Cade takes my hand. He tugs on my arm slightly before he lets go. My hand tumbles to my lap as his lips crash against mine. I eagerly kiss him back, despite him catching me by surprise.

My thighs rub together, loving the feel of his strong fingers digging into the soft skin. I moan into his mouth when they dance against my inner thigh.

“Fuck,” Cade growls. “We may have to use this blindfold again, baby. I have so many ideas of what I could do to you while you wear this…”

I arch my back into him, already turned on by the idea of letting him have his way with me while I couldn’t see a thing.

Cade groans, laying one last chaste kiss against my lips before he pulls away. I miss his warmth immediately. “As much as I love the idea of you naked underneath me, wearing nothing but the blindfold, I have big plans for you tonight, Goldie.”

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