Page 137 of The Accidental Wife

“The great Tristan Cole Hoult chasing a girl around the city— never thought I’d see the day.” He states, and I grin.

“Ger, she’s not just a girl. She’s the girl. I’ll chase her to the end of the world if I have to.” I tell him excitedly, and he nods, smiling as we whiz through the traffic.

“She sure is, sir.” He agrees, and we pull up at the Church again ten minutes later. I jump out of the car and race up the steps to the church and look around frantically. “Shayla?!” I call out, and Josh comes over to me, laughing. “Bro, you just missed her. She’s gone back to hers to catch you there.”

“Fuck!” I shout, placing my hands on my head, panting. I run back out of the church, not even acknowledging the photographers snapping pictures of me as I run around like a lunatic. Can’t wait to see that article later. Billionaire architect runs amuck in the city looking for his love. I chuckle as I jump back in the car, and Gerald looks at me with a smirk.

“Miss Harts?” He says, and I nod heaving. I sink back into the seat, trying to catch my breath. This was not how I envisioned our reunification happening, but it definitely fits for Shay and me, that’s for sure. I laugh, shaking my head. Only we could royally screw this romantic moment up. I go through in my mind all the things I want to say to her when I finally see her, and I honestly want to scream with joy.

“Sir?” I look over at Gerald, pointing to the black Mini Cooper whizzing past us on the other side of the road. That’s her.

I roll my window down. “Shayla?!” I shout, but she’s already gone. “Fuck. Turn the car around.” I tell Gerald, and he shakes his head and slams his foot on the brake halting the car in the middle of the road. Cars were honking from behind us.

“It will take too long to turn the car around here. If I go all the way around, we’ll miss her again. Run!” He tells me, and I get out of the car through the busy street and run toward the church. My lungs were burning, and I was sweating as if I’d just gone ten rounds in a boxing ring.

As I run, I see Shayla in the distance running toward her car. “Shayla?!” I scream as loud as my lungs would allow and watch her as she looks around, searching for me. Her eyes finally find mine, her shoulders slump, and she pushes her car door shut before she runs toward me through the throng of people. I race toward her and catch her as she leaps into my arms. “Oh, baby.” I pant, encircling my arms around her tight. I bury my face into her neck and inhale deeply, taking in her scent.

“Oh, my God.” Shayla sobs, her arms tight around me, we hold each other like we’ve been longing too, and my God, have I missed her. This girl's love has shaken me to my very core. Shayla pulls back and looks into my eyes. I smile at her, unable to keep the tears back any longer. I can’t believe how close I came to losing her. “Cole, the baby isn’t yours. It’s Derricks.”

I nod, pressing my forehead to hers, panting, “I know, he came and told me everything. She’s been fucking lying to me this whole time.” I tell her, gazing into her beautiful eyes. “It’s over now, baby. Nothing will keep me from you ever again.” I assure her, curling my fingers at the nape of her neck, I pull her mouth to mine and kiss her desperately, and she moans, kissing me back just as fervently.

I’m so in love with her; there are simply no words to express how crazy I am about this girl. We pull apart, and I gaze lovingly into her eyes and tell her exactly what was in my heart. “Marry me, Shay, let’s go back to where it all began in Vegas, with everyone we love, and marry me again,” I express, and she looks at me surprised; her beautiful green eyes fill with tears. “What do you say, baby? Do you want to do this, do you want to be my wife again? For real this time.” I ask and watch as she nods.

“More than anything.” She whispers, and I beam at her, my heart beating like crazy in my chest. I pull her lips to mine again, and we kiss zestfully for a good couple of minutes in the middle of the bustling street, paparazzi witnessing our whole exchange, but we didn’t care. We were both where we belonged. With one another and that’s all that mattered. Shayla pulls back and looks at me, smiling. “I love you, you stupid boy.” She declares cupping my face in her hands, and I laugh.

“I love you, you silly girl,” I reply, and she presses her forehead to mine. “Take me home stud.”

“Yes, my mini muffin,” I reply, and she throws her head back and laughs cheerfully as I set her down on her feet and we walk to her car together, hand in hand, leaving behind all our woes and heartache. Shayla runs over to Josh, and he hugs her tight. He pulls back, and he fist bumps me before we embrace, all anger and resentment between us forgotten.

“About fucking time, bro.” He tells me. I beam at him and pull Shayla into my arms and kiss her forehead. “So, Shay, Aimee’s single, right?” He questions as we all walk together. As much as I wanted to be alone with Shayla, there was plenty of time for that. We went back to hers with Josh. I grin in delight while watching Shayla, and the girls scream, jumping around excitedly at our reconciliation and the news of our decision to get married.

“We’re going out tonight!” Aimee chirps excitedly. “We’re going back to where it all began baby!” We all laugh and clink our glasses of wine. I catch Shayla’s eyes, she smiles at me beautifully, and I grin back, holding her gaze. It’s been really tough, we’ve both got so much healing to do and so much to work through, but I saw everything I needed in her eyes.

The rest of my life.

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