Tipsy (28 page)

Gently, he folded me into his arms and
I pressed my cheek against his chest and sighed. “Yeah, sweetness,
I’m just fine now.”

Close by, Dom started yelling. “Help
me!” he cried. “Can’t you see I’ve been shot!”

Blue pulled back and pinned Dom with a
stare. Dom glanced at him and shut up. A paramedic took a few steps
toward Dom and Blue shook his head.

“
He’s low priority. Let him
bleed.”

Dom started screaming again about
police brutality, and Blue turned back to me.

“
Guess what?” he said,
wrapping me up in his arms once again.

“
What?”

“
Case is over.”

“
Hmmm, does that mean you
won’t stand me up anymore?”

He chuckled. “Are you going to agree to
go out with me again?”

“
Definitely,” I said,
dipping my face into his chest. I couldn’t keep the smile off my
face.

He tipped my chin back with his bruised
and bloodied knuckles. “There’s just one thing.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What?”

“
That you’re mine.
Exclusively.”

Joy and warmth filled me up inside. It
totally washed away all the bad things that happened and even made
me forget I was still bound by duct tape. “I wouldn’t have it any
other way,” I murmured, stretching up on tiptoes so I could kiss
him.

It was there in the middle of a drug
bust that my happily ever after began.

EPILOGUE

One year later…

The alarm beside my bed went off and I
hit the snooze button.

Three times.

When I finally became barely conscious
and squinted at the clock, I swore and stumbled out of bed. I was
late. Before rushing off into my bathroom I gave a huff at the
empty side of the bed—Blue’s side. He wasn’t there.

So much for blaming him for my
tardiness.

Muttering under my breath, I went into
the bathroom to wash my face, apply a million types of lotion, and
get ready for my day. I would never understand how Blue got up so
early in the morning. It was downright wrong.

Yeah, he had to be at work, but even
after all this time of living together, I’d never seen him rush
around in haste to get there on time. I did it more and more. It
was his fault (guess he didn’t need to be here to catch the blame
after all).

He kept me up way past my bedtime doing
things to my body that made it impossible to sleep.

I grinned as I rushed into my closet.
Okay, so maybe I didn’t mind him keeping me up late. I quickly
pulled on a pair of navy-blue linen sailor pants, a fitted red top,
and added a long necklace with various glittery golden beads on
it.

I rushed back out into the bathroom and
reached for my mineral foundation and a brush. Red writing on the
mirror stopped me in my tracks.

How had I missed that
earlier?

Scrawled across the mirror in my very
new, very pricey red lipstick was a note.

Good morning,
sleepyhead.

Blue made it absolutely impossible to
be mad at him.

I grinned the whole time I applied a
basic routine of makeup, then snatched up my supplies to finish my
face at work, and rushed down the stairs. No coffee for me this
morning; there just wasn’t enough time.

Of course, I hit every red light on my
way to work. It was annoying, but it gave me time to run a brush
through my short, wild mane of hair. It looked more mussed than
usual, but I could tame it at work.

When the final light turned green, I
breathed a sigh of relief and sped around the turn, pulling onto
the street of the salon.

The salon that I owned.

It had always been a dream of mine to
open my own shop. To be my own boss. I never thought I could make
it happen so soon, but after the Razor’s Edge was shut down and
Susan lost her cosmetology license, I decided I didn’t want to try
to find a job at someone else’s salon.

Susan was lucky, though, because she
avoided jail time. Her testimony along with all the evidence Blue
and Slater collected put Dom and his crew away for a very long
time. And of course, Dom wasn’t going to go down alone, and he took
LeBraun and some of the Myrtle Beach crew down with him. The
streets were cleaner and kids were safer thanks to Blue and the
hard work of the JPD.

After a couple weeks of time off for
both of us (mostly spent in bed), Blue went back to work on the
force, and I opened up my own business. Right now there was only me
and two other girls working there, but I planned to hire more. Our
calendars were filling up quickly.

Pretty soon,
Shear Perfection Salon
was
going to be the hottest place in town to get your hair
styled.

The flashing of red-and-blue lights in
my rearview mirror caught my attention and I groaned. Up the
street, the sign for my shop beckoned, and I momentarily
entertained the idea of ignoring the cop and just going ahead to
work.

I had a feeling Blue wouldn’t
approve.

As I pulled to the side of the street,
I wondered if being the girlfriend of a cop would get me a warning
instead of a ticket.

Once the car was in park, I turned,
digging around in my bag for my license. A knock on the window had
me turning around.

I knew that torso anywhere.

I slid down the window. “Is there a
problem, officer?” I asked innocently.

“
I have it on good authority
that you were warned once before about speeding through an
intersection, ma’am.”

I bit back a grin. “Normally I don’t
speed. But I have this boyfriend who likes to keep me up half the
night, and I overslept… I’m late for work.”

“
You should get rid of that
guy. He sounds like trouble.”

“
Maybe I like
trouble.”

Blue chuckled and leaned down and
rested his elbows on the ledge of the open window. “Hi.”

Even after a year, he still made my
insides tremble. “Hey.”

And damn could he fill out a
uniform.

He pinned me with a stern look. “You
were speeding, Jules.”

I sighed heavily. “You gonna give me a
ticket?”

“
I’m prepared to let you off
with a warning.” He grinned. “On one condition.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well,
by all means, tell me what I need to do,
officer
.”

Before I could even blink, a black
velvet box appeared between us. I gasped and looked up into his
face. He leaned a little farther into the window.

“
I’ve been carrying this
around for a while now…” He began and cleared his throat. I stared
at the little square box as my hands began to tremble.

I didn’t want to get ahead of myself,
but I couldn’t help but notice that it was the perfect size for a
diamond ring.

I held my breath as he slowly lifted
the lid.

The early morning sunlight reflected
off the diamond, instantly setting it into a glittering fire. I
gasped as my hand pressed against my chest.

It was simply stunning.

A large round diamond—at least a carat
in weight—surrounded by much smaller diamonds circling the large
center stone. It was set in platinum and the band was ultra thin
and light.

“
Blue?” I whispered, tearing
my eyes away from the ring and to look into his face.

“
Marry me,
Julie.”

My heart was beating so hard
against my chest that I couldn’t draw a breath. I just sat there
staring…
feeling
.

He was offering me the thing I wanted
most in this life.

Him. Forever.

I must have sat there too long because
he cleared his throat. “Julie?”

My eyes snapped up to his. How many
times had I gotten lost in those blue depths? “Yeah?”

“
Would you rather have a
ticket than this ring?”

“
No!” I cried. Was he
insane?

“
So you gonna give me an
answer?” He half smiled.

“
Yes!”

“
Yes, you’re going to give
me an answer or…?” His words fell away. I opened my door in a burst
of thrilled energy.

Blue groaned and bent when the door hit
him.

“
Oh!” I cried, slipping out
of the car. “Blue!” I grabbed his arm to see if he was
okay.

“
Speeding
and
assaulting an
officer,” he said, straightening and looking down into my face.
“I’m gonna have to take you in, ma’am.”

“
Yes,” I said. There wasn’t
a hint of doubt anywhere in my voice. I was absolutely sure.
Marrying Blue was going to be a dream come true.

“
Yes?” Blue said, stepping
closer to me.

“
A million times,
yes.”

He grinned and swept me up into his
arms against his solid frame. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so
nervous,” he murmured into my hair.

I pulled back to look up at him. “You
thought I would say no?”

“
Well, you can be pretty
grouchy in the morning,” he quipped.

I smacked his chest and laughed. “Give
me that ring.”

“
With pleasure,” he said,
removing its glittery beauty from the black velvet and taking my
left hand.

Cars whizzed by on the street beside
us, but I didn’t hear them. The only thing I saw and heard was
Blue.

“
I love you, Julie,” he
said, sliding the cool platinum band over my knuckle, placing it
exactly where it belonged.

I didn’t even look at the stone. My
free hand curved up around his neck and drew his face down so I
could kiss him. His lips were giving and moist, soft and generous.
The way we moved together was like we were perfectly in sync. The
buttons on his shirt pressed into my chest as I crushed myself
closer and the hat on his head fell by our feet when my hands slid
up to tangle in his hair.

Behind us, cars began to honk. He broke
the kiss, laughing at the chaos we were causing.

“
Someone’s going to crash,”
he said.

I smiled and pulled my hand up between
us, taking in the engagement ring on my finger. It was absolutely
gorgeous. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry I’d ever seen.
“Did you pick this? It’s perfect.”

“
You’re happy?” he asked,
snaking a hand around my hip.

“
Oh, yes,” I said, tipping
my chin upward. “I’m so happy.”

He tugged on a piece of wayward hair.
“Good.”

“
What about you?” I asked.
“You happy?”

“
I could be better…” he said
with a smile.

“
Oh yeah? Tell me, future
husband, how could you be better?” I asked as heat coiled in my
belly. I was going to be
really
late for work today.

“
Kiss me,” he murmured,
already placing his lips upon mine.

It was the kiss that marked the
beginning of the rest of our life.

THE END

You lucky dog, you. Not
only did you just get to read
TIPSY
but now you get a sneak peek of
Tricks
, written by
Cambria Hebert!

Turn the page for the fun
to begin!

TRICKS

(a
Take It Off
novel)

***This is a new adult contemporary
novel and contains sexual content and graphic language. It is not
intended for young adult readers.***

Love can play tricks on
your heart…

After serving several years in the
United States Marine Corps, Sergeant Tucker Patton decides to hang
up his uniform and go to work at a private investigative firm owned
by his buddy. His boxes are packed and he’s got one foot out the
door when a phone call changes everything.

Instead of going to North Carolina, he
heads to New York City to literally step into the life of his twin
brother, who died under suspicious circumstances. But pretending to
be someone else isn’t easy.

Especially when the person you’re
supposed to be is wanted dead.

Not only that, but he’s going from
being blissfully single to living with his brother’s woman. An
uptight, no-nonsense lawyer.

Charlotte Rose Carter doesn’t have time
for fun and games. She graduated with honors and made all the right
moves fresh out of college to jumpstart her career as a successful
young lawyer. She even snagged the most eligible bachelor in New
York City’s corporate world.

So what if her and Max’s relationship
isn’t burning up the sheets? So what if their life doesn’t read
like a chapter from a sizzling romance novel? This is the real
world, and in the real world that stuff is just fantasy.