Wild Addiction (Wild #2)(68)
Author: Emma Hart

“What… What is this?” I swallow, looking at Tyler.

He’s grinning, but it’s nervous. And I don’t blame him. I want to know why he’s standing next to an officiant and Aaron and Dayton.

“How did you two—what? I don’t understand. Tyler, what the hell are you doing?”

He laughs silently and steps up to me. Then he takes my hands in his and slowly links our fingers.

“Marry me,” he whispers. “Right now.”

My lips part and I shudder out a breath. “For real? This isn’t a joke?”

He shakes his head. “Forever, Liv. It’s only ever going to be you for me.”

I look over his shoulder at my best friend and her new husband. “But—they—”

“Told me to,” he replies. “I like surprises, remember?”

I open my mouth, but how do you respond to the truth? I told him that once. “This is your best surprise,” I whisper, squeezing his fingers. “Yes. Right now.”

His eyes widen. “Really?”

“Turn around before I change my mind.”

He laughs and pulls me forward. He nods to the officiant, who starts the traditional lingo, but Tyler shakes his head.

“Skip it all, mate,” he says, looking into my eyes. “She’s flighty as hell and I’m afraid she’ll change her mind any second.”

I grin, my eyes filling with tears. “It’s true. I’m contemplating running.”

“Well, I can’t have that,” the officiant replies with laughter. “In that case. Tyler Daniel Stone, do you take Olivia Jade Warren to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I bloody well do.”

He takes a ring from Aaron and slides it onto my finger. I sniff as I look at the diamond-embedded band.

“Olivia Jade Warren, do you take Tyler Daniel Stone to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

He wipes a tear from my cheek, and I take the ring from Dayton. I slowly slide it onto his finger, pausing when it reaches the base.

“No doubt about it. I do.”

“Then I pronounce you—”

I don’t hear the rest of it because Tyler cups my face, pulls me into him, and kisses me like it’s the last time he ever will.

Tiny.

I think that’s her nickname. Never mind that her real name is Callie or that, at just under seven pounds born, she wasn’t tiny-tiny. Tiny has stuck since the moment we first saw her on the screen, and as she lies on her back, her blue eyes wide and staring at the Christmas tree, Tiny fits.

Tyler runs a fingertip along her tiny foot, making her toes curl. “She’s so pretty.”

I smile, gazing down at her. “You sound surprised.”

“I know. I shouldn’t be. I mean, look who her dad is.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s a shame the therapist couldn’t talk that ego out of you.”

He grins. “We had the ego chat, and if you weren’t still recovering, I’d tell you to put her to sleep so I can remind you why my ego is necessary.”

I roll my eyes again. “Shut up, you.” I look back at our baby, kicking her legs. “I can’t believe she’s been here for a month already and she’s not even due until tomorrow.”

Early labor wasn’t something I’d imagined I’d have to deal with. I figured that, after the hellish pregnancy, she’d give me an easy time for labor. I was wrong—very wrong. Naturally, panic ensued in the Stone households—yes, all of them—and Tyler rushed me to the hospital. One ultrasound, two steroid injections, and three hours later, she was here.

Tiny, perfect, and utterly gorgeous.

“She just wanted to meet her amazing daddy. I mean, did you get a load of those stories I was telling her? She obviously wanted to meet the man behind the tiger coming for tea.”

I smile at him. “Yes, that’s it. It was all about the stories.”

Tyler grins, still stroking Callie’s foot. Slowly her eyes drift closed and she makes tiny sucking noises as she sucks on the pink pacifier in her mouth.

“She’s our perfection,” he whispers, moving to sit next to me. “She’s the beauty borne from our ugly.”

I rest my head on his shoulder, my finger still encased in her tight grip. “Yeah, she is. Absolutely.”