Page 123 of Grumpy Sunshine

“I love you, too, Aella.”I watched her scramble back into her pants.

Her obnoxious Christmas Crocs were slipped on next, and then she was waving at me before opening the door.

“See you at the altar, lover.”

“At the altar,” I said just before she closed the door.

An hour later, I finally made my way out of my room at the club.

The first person to see me was of course the last person I wanted to see.

There was no way I could hide the way his daughter had come to my room and given me arguably the best sex of my life.

There was just something about the knowledge that in a few hours, she would be permanently mine, that made the sex even better than ever.

“You have glitter in your beard,” Cakes said, eyeing me with narrowed eyes.

I ran my hand over my beard, mostly to hide my smile.“So I do.”

Epilogue

When the love is real, the farts don’t matter.

—Text from Aella to Silver

AELLA

5 years later

If you’d asked me ten years ago where I saw my life going, it definitely wouldn’t have been where I found myself now.

I had kids.

I had a paid-off five-thousand-square-feet monstrosity of a house on the lake.

I had a brand-new car every year.

I had a job that I adored.

I had a husband that was my life.

I had it all.

And still, my man, the love of my life, found a way to continue to make my life beautiful.

My grumpy man stood in front of me, tired and haggard, ready to go to sleep.

Yet, he still found time to stop at my favorite coffee place and bring me my favorite coffee and bagel.

He held out a cake pop to our youngest child, Haven, his sweet baby girl that had her daddy wrapped around her finger.

Her hair was a matted mess and she was still in her pajamas from last night.

Riggens, our son, came in with cake smeared all over his face, his three-year-old self uncaring.

He was also in his pajamas from last night, only they were half unzipped with several of his toys stored in his pants so he could have easy access.

He handed me his empty stick, and I immediately threw it into the trashcan that was closer to him than me.

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