Untamed (A Moretti Novel) (21 page)

Steve began to harden again and he smiled down at her.  His strokes were slow and steady as he showed her how much her words meant to him.  He would marry her today if she said yes.  Their life together was just beginning and he knew the best was yet to come.

As he made love to her
, her eyes never left his.  His face told her everything she ever needed to know.  He was hers, mind body and soul and there wasn’t anything that could ever change that.

Epilogue

Steve looked at all the faces that were his family and smiled.  The idea of another announcement at
Moretti’s house made him nervous but he couldn’t help but feel joy as he sat with his friends and waited for Mark or Sophie to speak.  Lily put her head on his shoulder and his world was suddenly complete.  They’d spend the next year deciding on everything that would make their wedding perfect.  There was no hurry.  Life was perfect just the way it was.

Mark came into the living room with a tray full of snacks.  “Sophie and I have an announcement to make and we thought it would be easier to do it in person.”  He took a deep breath as he looked at all his friends.  “I’ve been offered a
job in San Francisco and Sophie and I have decided to make the move.”

“What?” 
Layla shook her head.  “No!  You can’t leave.”

Sophie smiled.  “We went up there last weekend and I fell in love.  I know it’s not right next door but you guys can come for holidays or weekends.  We found a place that we love.”

Steve’s brain kicked into gear as he looked at Lily.  “Are you selling this place?”

“It goes on the market tomorrow.”  Mark hugged Sophie.  “This house
has a lot of memories, doesn’t it?”

Caleb sighed.  “This is the place that I realized I was in love with Jena.”  He winked at his wife.  “We tried so hard to
hide our relationship.  We were out there in the pool and I realized I didn’t care who knew.”

“I found out I was going to be an aunt right over there.” 
Layla pointed at the kitchen bar. 

“You almost made Sophie an aunt on the dining room table right in there.”  Ca
leb laughed as Ryan punched him in the arm.

“I got the honor of living in the third floor bedroom after
Layla moved out.  I loved watching the sun set from the balcony up there.”  Lily smiled at Steve.  “I got to know Steve in this house.”

Mark squeezed Sophie’s hand.  “Mario took his first steps in this living room.  It was the same weekend that Molly and
Rich told us they were staying in Florida instead of moving back home.”

“I became part of a family in this house.”  Jena smiled at Mark.  “The circumstances were terrible but I had found my family sitting right here in this living room after Mark got hurt.  You guys were here taking turns sitting with him and I got to know every single one of you really well.”

“I met Lily in this house.”  Steve smiled.  “You were all dancing the night before we left for Hawaii for Soph and Mark’s wedding.  Lily was out there with Kevin and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.”

Andi’s
eyes filled with tears.  She pointed at the table on the back porch.  “It was right out there that Ryan and I told you that we’d decided to take Kevin off life support.”  She wiped her cheeks.  “It was the hardest conversation I’d ever had but I had all of you with me and that kept me going.”

Kevin kissed her.  “It was right out there that Ryan and
Layla asked me to be little Kev’s godfather.  We weren’t sure you two were even going to have a future and next thing we knew, you were pregnant.  I love that little boy so much.  I was terrified that your announcement was going to be something bad.”

“I married
Layla in that yard.  I was weak and wasn’t sure I had a tomorrow.  She wanted me anyway.”  Ryan stared out into the yard.  “You all stood out there with me so I didn’t collapse.  Despite all that, best day of my life.”

“There’ve been some sad things here too.”  Mark rubbed his hands across the table.  “I was sitting right here when you two told us you were done with chemo and that Ryan didn’t have long to live.  Caleb and I h
eld each other up in the dining room trying to find the strength to come back in here and listen to what else you had to say that night.”

“Or the night we stood right there and heard about Mark’s accident.  I don’t remember feeling my legs as we walked to Rich’s car.
  I wasn’t sure Caleb would survive that drive but he became my rock as all the other stuff happened.”  Sophie grabbed Caleb’s hand.  “You were there for me every single day.  I can never thank you enough.”

“Caleb was my rock when I found Ryan on the bathroom floor
upstairs.  It started the battle with leukemia that, with Kevin’s help, Ryan conquered.”  Layla took Kevin’s hand.  “I sat right on that couch with you after the bone marrow transplant and you held me as I fell apart.  You were in pain and you didn’t care because I needed you.”

“Andi gave up her useless fight here and finally gave in to her feelings for me.”  Kevin laughed.  “She was sitting right here at this table, on Ryan’s lap, torturing me.  I’d had enough and threw her over my shoulder and she kicked and screamed all the way up the stairs.”

“Poor Caleb almost passed out that night.”  Andi laughed as her brother rolled his eyes.

“I knew Kevin was the one for my baby sister that night.  I’d denied it long enough too.”  Caleb laughed.  “We watched a lot of Red Sox Yankees games in here.”

“We got tortured with a lot of Pictionary games in here.”  Layla laughed as Sophie stuck her tongue out. 

“Kevin shared the secret about his sister in this living room.  He knew I was running from something before I even did.  You help me sort through all the trash in my past and helped me learn to let go.”  Jena looked back at Caleb.  “I never would have been able to work through my past if I hadn’
t met all of you.”

“I found out about Amber and Mark here.  It seemed like such a bad thing but it was the best
thing that ever happened to me.  That night, Andi told me she’d go with me to kick Amber’s ass.  I didn’t realize that she actually meant that.  She became an instant protector.  You guys all saved me that night, even if you didn’t realize you were doing it.”

“I was sitting by the pool when I got Lily’s message about Damien being back.  I was excited and terrified at the same time.  We were all in such a hurry to get to Steve that no one realized we couldn’t get into the apartment because no one had a key.”  Mark laughed.  “It’s good to have him back.”

“Lots of memories.”  Sophie nodded.

“We’d like to add to the memories
here.”  Kevin smiled when Andi nodded.  “In six months, there will be an addition to the Moretti family.  Andi’s pregnant.”

Everyone stood and hugged them
as they rejoiced in the addition of another person to their amazing family. The memories here were memories of a lifetime.  Steve looked at Lily once more and she nodded.  They could speak to each other without words.

“Lily and I have been looking for the perfect house.”  Steve’s voice got everyone’s attention. 
“Seems like the perfect house just went on the market.”

Mark looked at Steve in shock.  “You want our house?”

Steve pulled Lily into his side.  “No.  We want our house.  I can’t think of a better place to raise the next generation of all of us.  This house has been a home to all of us at one time or another.  When you find something this perfect, you can’t ever let it go.”

With a wink from Steve, Lily smiled.  She had found her home in his arms and in the family that now stood around the table holding each other.

Mark raised his glass in a toast.  “To friends who are family, to never losing each other, and to all the memories that are yet to come.”

As they raised their glasses, they knew that they were part of something magical, something that would never be found again. 

The end

Acknowledgements and Thank you!!

First of all, I need to thank Windie from Novel Hoarders book blog for the AWESOME and totally appropriate name for the final Moretti Novel!!

To my husband and daughter.
  I know I miss a lot while I am locked in my writing cave.  I love you both more than life itself.  I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t have you.  Thank you for understanding my need to create my fictional world.

To m
y Mom, Dad and Brother.  I love you.

To YOU!  Thank you for picking up my books and for going on this journey with me and the Moretti family.  I have loved getting to know you on social media, through emails and at signings.  You are the reason I get to do what I love.  Thank you will never be enough!

To Preston.  Thank you for your friendship and for helping me out of my funk.  I am really looking forward to spending time in Utah with you and can’t wait to see where else our travels take us.

Eric Wainwright of Wainwright Photography.
  This is not an end, it’s a brand new beginning.  I love you.  Thank you for the five AMAZING covers.  But mostly, thank you for being my friend.

To the Moretti Men:  Alex Turner, Sam Coy, Paul Hagen and Preston Tate.  You brought my characters to life and gave them a face and a voice.  You gave me the most important gift you could ever give an author.  I love you all more than you will ever know. 

Dawn, from Dark Dawn Creations.  You have given me the most amazing covers.  I am so proud of them and I appreciate all the hard work you did for me.  Five covers in a year.  And they all rocked!

Nathan Coy.
  Thank you for trusting me enough to use your lyrics to create the very first song for Liquid Regret.  I can’t wait to see what else you come up with as we start the next series.

To my ROCKER AUTHORS that allowed me to be a part of your band’s life in this book!!!  Author Rachel Rae for Ripping Pages, Author
J. M. La Rocca for Perfectly Damaged, Bayou Stix from Author Skye Turner And Maddox Hines of Burning Souls by Author MJ Fields.  I can’t wait to see where my band, Liquid Regret, goes and what kind of trouble they get in with your sexy rocker men!!

To my street teams, The Moretti Minions and Mad for the
Morettis!  You guys continue to rock my world every day.  Thanks for the late night chats, the eye candy, the self esteem boost, the book help, and on and on and on.  I would never have gotten this far without you guys.  I am blessed and can never thank you enough.

To Ashley and Janelle for being the world’s best betas and for being my sounding board when things got rough.
  Thanks for inspiring me and for pushing me to keep going.  I hope you will be my betas forever!

To the millions of blogs that help authors every single day.  It is a job that means the world to us.  We can never thank you guys enough.  There are a TON of blogs that have helped me on my journey
and I could never list them all without starting a whole new book.  To Stephanie’s Book Reports, Book to Book Blog, This Redhead Loves Books, Eye Candy Bookstore, Sassymum’s Book Blog, 50 Shades of Gabriel’s Crossfire Unscripted Destiny Book Club, Panty Dropping Book Blog, Romance Addiction, Orchard Book Club, Novel Hoarders, Book sluts, My Love of Books and the list continues to infinity!  Thank you for what you do for us. 

To the girls of the Exposed Anthology.
  (Brooke Cumberland, Harper Sloan, Erika Ashby, Kimberly Lauren, Mia Sheridan, Kasey Millstead, JS Cooper, Adriane Leigh and JL Berg!)  THANK YOU for allowing me to be a part of this masterpiece.  All the money went to charity and you all stole my heart forever!

To all of my author buddies!!  Rachel Van
Dyken, Harper Sloan, Nickie Nalley Seidler, SK Hartley, Liz King, Allie Mousseau, Skye Turner, Magan Vernon, the two Dawn’s that are apparently interchangeable in my brain but couldn’t be more different – Pendleton and Robertson! S Moose, Dawne Walters, MJ Fields, MR Joseph, Elizabeth Haley, TH Snyder, Alexis Noelle, LP Dover, Jordan Deen, Aurora Rose, Danielle Jamie, K Langston, Felicia Lynn, Megan Smith, Rachel Rae, Sandi Lynn, my kick ass sprinting buddies from #WriteClub and honestly I’m forgetting so many people. You all deserve so much more than just a quick shout out.  You all inspire me in so many different ways.  Your books are the ones I turn to when I get to read.  Your words comfort and soothe me when I am down.  And your laughter and friendship is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way with the Moretti Novels.  It has been an amazing journey and I am glad I got to take it with you.

About the Author