Page 131 of Merry Me
It was beautiful. It was everything a wedding should be.
But for me, for the girl still holding her breath under a thousand stars’ worth of grief and hope…
It felt like the beginning of something else entirely. Something wilder. Something more dangerous.
Something I wanted.
Easton.
His name pressed against my ribs like it belonged there.
My beginningandmy end.
Finally.
CHAPTER 24
NATALIE
The kiss came, soft and sure, and everyone clapped.
My hands ached from holding the bouquets too tightly, but I was smiling…really smiling. The kind that started in my chest and spilled out without permission, light and full and unshakable.
Because in the middle of all the lace and candlelight and promises spoken out loud, something had shifted inside me.
And it wasn’t grief.
It wasn’t fear.
It was something softer.
Brighter.
Hope.
We funneled out into the courtyard for photos, the sound of champagne flutes clinking somewhere behind us. The air was sharp with pine and laughter, a thousand details blurring together like a snow globe turned upside down. My cheeks were still pink from smiling, my fingers aching slightly around the bouquet stems…but I didn’t care.
And then I felt him.
Easton brushed past me, shoulder to shoulder, warm and solid in a way that made something in me settle. His handskimmed against mine—casual, easy—and then stayed. A soft press. A silent ask.
He didn’t look at me. Just left his hand there, open beside mine.
So I took it.
No hesitation. No drama. Just…yes.
Our fingers slid together like they knew the way, like they’d been waiting for this quiet confirmation.
“Always the prettiest girl in the room,” he murmured, his voice pitched just for me, warm and steady and utterly disarming.
I almost dropped the damn bouquet.
“You’re biased,” I whispered, my voice caught somewhere between breathless and beaming. “And that line is still corny.”
He leaned in, close enough that I felt his breath on my cheek, his grin lazy and laced with affection. “Sure, but it’s my brand of corny. And you love it because it comes with my devastating charm.”
“Debatable,” I shot back, but it came out softer than I meant.
