Page 7 of Booked Solid

Who happens to be her sister-in-law’s sister’s husband. I mentally check my calculations, confusing myself as I do so. “Makes your head hurt, huh?” Ashton had asked upon first telling me the connection during our drive. “Mine, too. Still,” she added, making me chuckle.

Now, though, our solitude must end, but we won’t. I knew from the get go that I wasn’t leaving her here alone. I couldn’t. It’d be like ripping my heart from my chest and trying to live without such a vital organ.

Essentially? Impossible.

After a very thorough kiss, I watch Ashton enter her bookshop an hour later, her brother eyeing me once she and I come up for air, then make my way to see Kellan. Ashton doesn’t know it, but he and I had spoken shortly after I discovered she lives here and I’d asked for his help. He eagerly agreed, even prior to knowing it would result in me setting up roots here. I know, without a doubt, that Sweetville is where I’m meant to be.

I told him to contact the realtor about buying the location, sight unseen on my part, and make the necessary arrangements for me to purchase it. The thing about living twenty years on base, having little that requires I spend money on it, means I’m quite flush financially, and the prices here are fantastic on top of that.

Within a few hours, all the paperwork is finalized, the rental car has been returned and the deposit for it refunded, and I’m roaring down the main drag on my bike. Damn did I miss Lola. I can’t wait to have Ashton on the back of it. She’ll be the first, and only, person to have ever used that seat. I never wanted another on it with me. I knew all along that if anyone were to ride with me, it would be the woman I’d marry.

It’s a place of honor reserved solely for my soulmate. Ashton.

I’m off now to get an extra helmet and the appropriate gear for her. At least this way when I officially meet Corbin, Ashton and I agreeing as she starts her shift not the best time to spring me on him, I can prove that her safety is the most important thing in the world to me.

Well, that and having her heart.

**Ashton**

“Was that him?” Corbin asks, the accusation and suspicion clear. We’ve been here for hours and he’s just now bringing up what he saw. To be honest, he held out longer than I thought he would. I’d reward him for that by taking it easy on him, knowing firsthand that witnessing your sibling kissing another is weird, but teasing him is much more fun. I excel at it. If it was an Olympic event, I’d win the gold.

“Your future brother-in-law? Yes.” His jaw drops open, causing Winnie, who has been watching us with curiosity, to step closer to Corbin and poke his arm as she gives me a thumbs up with the other hand.

“I think you broke him,” she informs me.

“We can glue him back together,” I suggest.

“Let’s start with his mouth,” she recommends. That earns us both a glare as he begins to thaw.

“Not funny, you two.”

“I thought it was hilarious. You know the peace that would follow if you couldn’t talk?”

“You’d miss my wit. Admit it.”

“Admit that you’re happy for me first.”

Begrudgingly, he offers, “I am. If he’s what you want.”

“He is,” I answer without hesitation. “I love him.”

“And he loves you,” Wyatt chimes in, his deep voice soothing and not. The latter because it always does something to me, causing me to feel like a live wire seeking it’s other half. A good thing in numerous situations. When your brother is standing there is not among them.

Winnie is once again staring at me, her gaze recognizing that I felt him there before he spoke, so I wasn’t surprised by his presence. It’s a knowing that she has with Jason and vice versa, same with Corbin and Molly. Your heart just knows they’re near.

Admittedly, perhaps this wasn’t the best way to tell Wyatt how I feel about him, but it seemed like the right one. In front of two of the most important people in my life. Solidifying that while they will remain as such, Wyatt now has the top spot. As he should. As they will completely understand considering Jason and Molly hold theirs respectively.

“Okay, then,” Corbin interjects, stepping between Wyatt and I, effectively ruining the moment we’d been having. I’d be ticked, but I know I’m about to witness another, and it will stay with me for a very long time. “Welcome to the family,” he greets Wyatt, then he hugs him.

Wyatt’s eyes jump to me, a little bit of ‘help me’ shining through them, then he accepts and returns it. “Kellan already agreed to be my best man,” Wyatt informs Corbin as they part.

“I’m hurt, brother,” Corbin pouts, holding his chest as if Wyatt wounded him.

“You’re disappointed because he called you on it,” I point out.

“It was a sincere welcome,” Corbin says.

“I know,” I assure him, then look at Wyatt, “and so does he.”

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