Page 37 of We Wish You a Happily Ever After

He froze, his glass in midair.

There was only one voice that sounded like an angel.

Bella.

His friends, the noise, the room full of people faded away as Jeremy turned slowly to see Bella on the stage, the microphone in her hand, as though she were born to be there. She was absolutely stunning in a fitted red dress that hugged every one of her curves and sparkled under the Christmas lights that hung over the stage. Her long, dark hair hung in soft waves over her shoulders and her piercing green eyes looked directly at him as she sang the lyrics to the familiar Christmas song. Just as she had days earlier at Ever After Ranch.

Despite being surrounded by almost a hundred of his friends and neighbors, this performance was dramatically more intimate. Everyone else fell away and it was just the two of them. She sang directly to him. The familiar lyrics of his favorite carol had never sounded so romantic, so special, and so completely perfect.

It wasn’t until the last chorus that Jeremy even realized he was up and out of his seat. He made his way through the crowd until he was on the stage standing next to Bella as she sang the last line, “Although it’s been said many times, many ways…Merry Christmas, to you.”

She reached out her hand and he took it. The crowd erupted in applause as he pulled her to him and kissed her, long and slow.

He could have kissed her forever, and he planned to. But first, there was something he needed to say. “Bella, I—”

“Jeremy, I’m so—”

He silenced her with a gentle finger to her lips. She had a lot of explaining to do, of that there was no doubt. But there would be time for that.

“Later,” he whispered. “Right now, the only thing that matters is that you’re here and I’m here with you in my arms. I don’t know if it’s the magic of the season or what, but what I do know, Bella Burton, is that I’m falling in love with you.”

Her smile was the sweetest and sexiest thing he’d ever seen all at once, but when she spoke, he knew he was gone for good. Bella bit her lower lip. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that, Jeremy, because I’ve already fallen. Completely and totally. I love you.”

Jeremy didn’t care that everyone was watching and even that the applause had turned into cheering as he kissed her again, this time deeper. He didn’t care because the only thing that mattered was that she was there. She was in his arms, she felt the same way he did, and his Christmas wish had come true.

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