Page 90 of Mr. Big Mistake
I scooped her into my arms. “I’ll grovel for the rest of my life if it means having you at my side. I love you, Kelly. I’ll never be capable of loving another person the way I love you. Stay with me. Let me try this again. Give me one last chance to be the man I’ve always been whenever you’re in the picture.”
She threaded her arms around my neck. “You sure you can give up your old ways?”
My forehead fell against hers. “I did that the moment I said ‘I do.’”
“Oh, Brenden.”
I closed my eyes. “You make me whole, Kelly. I’ll only live half a life if you’re not--.”
The second I felt her lips against my own, I pulled her against my body. I picked her up off her feet as our song wound down to a close and swung her around. I pressed my tongue through her lips. I tasted her as her hands threaded through my hair. I placed her back onto her feet as happiness gripped my heart. It was a happiness I hoped never went away.
“I love you too, Brenden,” she whispered.
I nuzzled my nose against hers. “Does that mean you’ll take me back?”
She giggled as she gazed up into my eyes. “Yes, Brenden. I’ll take you back.”
“Yeah!” Roxy shouted.
“Way to go, man!” Zane exclaimed.
“I knew you had it in you!” Karina yelled.
Kelly jumped against me as her eyes bulged. She looked around as the lights came up, and along the upper balcony stood those who mattered the most to us. Zane, with his arm around Karina; Roxy, with her hands over her head as she clapped and whistled; Clint, with his thumbs up and that trademark smirk on his face; and Kelly’s parents. Who, despite the entire blunder I got us into, had smiles on their faces while they both applauded us.
“Daddy!” Kelly gasped.
I held her close. “I certainly wouldn’t do something like this without them here.”
She looked up at me. “I love you so much.”
I cupped her cheek. “I love you, too.”
Roxy cupped her hands over her mouth. “Can we come down and dance, too!?”
I pointed at her. “Only if you drag Clint down here and make him dance. He needs to cut loose a bit!”
Roxy howled with laughter as she grabbed Clint’s hand. “Come on you big jerk, let’s dance.”
Kelly’s father shouted. “You hurt my little girl again, and I’ll kill you myself!”
I looked up at him. “That’s never going to happen, sir. Not on my watch. You have my word.”
Everyone filtered down the stairs and joined us on the dance floor. Out from the kitchen of the club came a couple of waiters with silver trays donning drinks for all of us to snag. Wine and champagne for the ladies, whiskey, and champagne for the men. I plucked both of us a drink before handing the crystal flute to Kelly, then I clinked my glass against hers.
“A toast to our future,” I said.
She smiled brightly. “May it be less rocky than our beginning.”
I chuckled. “And may it be full of nothing but wonderful things to come.”
She sipped her drink. “I don’t know how you threw all of this together in such a short amount of time.”
I shrugged. “I had some favors to cash in with some people, and they were more than happy to oblige.”
“Is that code for ‘you twisted their arm behind their back’?”
I winked. “And if it is?”
