Page 75 of Two Sticky Nuts

I smile, thinking in the back of my mind that I’m fairly sure I love this guy. He has everything I want, but he’s nothing I expected. “This is going to work. I can feel it.”

He beams into my eyes. “Then I guess Carter wins. We’re meant to be.” He leans down and kisses me tenderly. Warm tremors surge through my body. The connection between us is unrelenting, like we’ve been together forever.

Suddenly, images flash in my head. I see the future—fights, laughs, love, getting old and nearsighted. Logan is by my side.

I pull away and smile, feeling a glow deep inside.He is the one.

“Too bad Carter isn’t here to witness his victory,” I say sarcastically. “Guess we’ll just have to be satisfied keeping the moment all for ourselves.”

EPILOGUE

“How do I look?” I say, spinning in my red dress with my red hair pulled up into a classic French twist.

Logan, who’s wearing a tux and looks like a movie star, smiles with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. Of course, Loganisa movie star now, and so am I, but not in the traditional sense.

We never auditioned for our roles. We never went to a movie set or memorized lines. All we did was fall in love while his crazy brother pushed us through a maze of situations. Or, as Carter likes to describe it, he created opportunities for Logan and me to be together while allowing “the hand of fate to play out.”

For example, the crate of mysterious toppings sent to my house was going to be the big reveal: His brother is Mr. Sticky Nuts! Carter assumed I’d be shocked to find out what Logan really did for a living, and he was banking on me falling for Logan anyway.

Carter also said that every time he kissed me or bad-mouthed Logan, I looked repulsed, which made him incredibly happy. It was proof that Logan wasthe one,not him.

But what were Carter’s true motivations? Because let’s be real. The entire charade felt massively sadistic. Yet, Carter claimed that he never forgave himself for sleeping with Logan’s fiancée, and this was his attempt at redemption. “It wasn’t meant to be with her, Logan. And then I brought you Mila, your soul mate. So you have to forgive me.”

Crazy bastard. He could’ve just said he was sorry.Though, I’m happy he didn’t. Because of Carter, I met Logan, and he was right (like a broken clock). Logan and I are soul mates.

“You look more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen.” Logan takes my hand and kisses the top.

“You’re just saying that because I finally let you put vodka whipped cream on my cooter last night.”

“I won’t lie. I enjoyed letting someone else be the centerpiece.”

“So you don’t miss being Mr. Sticky Nuts?” I ask.

“No.” Logan quit his streaming business five days after we returned to Dallas. The bad news was that his mother passed shortly after that. The good news was that she went peacefully in her sleep, and both Carter and Logan were at her side.

I don’t know why Carter had a change of heart, but Logan said maybe I was right. Some people aren’t able to confront the bad stuff until the stink (or in his case, the pain) is too strong, just like with me and Mr. Potato Chip, my goldfish.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter why, because their mom got what she needed. Then, after the funeral, I got something I needed, too: Carter was arrested for faking his own abduction. Two years in prison.

Best present ever!

Roman has a warrant out for being his accomplice, but no one can seem to find him. Maybe he’s still following his dream of being the world’s biggest narco, or maybe he’s found a quiet place to lie low.

All I know is thatsomeonepaid for the lawyers who hounded Logan and me for the rights to all the footage, and they also paid to have Carter’s film produced.

We eventually said yes, because between that upfront money and our cut of the film’s very juicy profits, we had enough to put Logan’s sensual culinary oils into production and open his flagship restaurant.

I’ve been by his side, helping him every step of the way over the last twelve months, and tonight’s the night. The grand opening of his highly anticipated aphrodisiac restaurant: Logan’s Delicious Sticky Nuggets.

Just kidding.

That was our private joke name. He actually went withSomething Sensual. Much classier.

I look up at my beautiful man and smile at his clean-shaven face as we stand inside his restaurant, a line of people just outside the doors, waiting for us to open.

I press my hand to his cheek. “Logan, I am so very proud of you.”

“And I am so lucky I let you cover my balls with pickles that day. You topped every expectation.”

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