Page 68 of Claimed By My Ex's Brother

“You look beautiful!” she told me before the ceremony. And I smiled. Krista had seemed in an unusually good mood.

Because here’s the biggest shock of all …

Krista and Jared were dating!

We hadn’t found out until just a few days ago. But Alex spotted them leaving the restaurant up the road together while he was meeting with the florist. And I couldn’t be happier. She hadn’t told me yet, but I was looking forward to her expression.

I felt different as I walked down the aisle. I felt heavier, and my tummy was getting big. Morning sickness was a drag, but I knew that when it was over, the tender loving man I know would be by my side, comforting me. I was proud to be his. Proud to be the person he holds at night in bed together, as we lie awake, satisfying ourselves with each other’s bodies, or simply kissing, looking into one another’s eyes.

He’d become gentle with me, too. When we made love—made that wonderful, messy, romantic, fiery love we made, whenever we could—I felt him wanting to hold me differently, handle me without the wild abandon. I teased him about it, but he told me he couldn’t help it. He was tender now, now that he knew I’d always be his. Now that he knew I was his and his alone. And besides, I liked it. And I knew that with a dirty word or a moment of struggle, I could bring the beast inside him back to life. And what a beast it was.

We were entirely and utterly obsessed with one another.

Well, not quite. Because we knew now that we were both beholden to a higher purpose. And it was the life that grew inside of me, the life I thought about, the child we were going to bring into the world.

I only had one last secret from Alex. And I wanted to tell him about it tonight. That I always, always wanted a child. And I thought if I modeled, I’d always have to put that dream aside—or at least delay it.

Now I know I didn’t have to. And not all the Jared Fords and Fashion Weeks in the world could stop me from feeling like this was where I was meant to be. And being where you were meant to be, was really the best feeling in the world.

And here he was. Flanked by his brother, his best man. Alex was dressed in a light-blue suit, and a dark tie over a crisp, clean white shirt. His shoes were immaculate. Sometimes I wondered if I married the most handsome man in the whole world.

“I love you,” he said. He loved to tell me that these days. It was a new and wonderful feeling for him. And I guess it was for me, too. Even if we’d loved each other from the first moment we met.

“I love you too,” I said, smiling.

Tonight, we’d dance together, him and me. And our song wasFly Me To the Moon. This was my favorite thing: to replay all those moments with him, knowing now that it all worked out, that it wasn’t doomed, it wasn’t over. It was going to last forever. That’s why tomorrow morning, we’d be taking the boat out to the island again.

And then we were off around the world. I wanted to see it all with him—the pyramids, the Eiffel Tower. The Great Wall of China, the Coliseum. I wanted to walk miles with him—if he’d let me. Because this little bump was going to grow.

But for now, we were here, the two of us. Kissing, as our friends and our relations stepped up and cheered together.

And for a moment, time didn’t slip by at all. It seemed to come to a stop. A full stop, like the end of a story that was only just beginning.

THE END

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