He’s tough, and it goes straight to my core. I’m not used to someone being so firm with me. I like it, and he smiles, knowing damn well I’m getting off on it.

“I’ll marry you,” I tell him, because it’s what I want. It might be crazy fast, but I don’t care. This man was made for me. “We could fly to Vegas tonight.”

He smiles and then leans forward, giving me a soft, sweet kiss. It’s the complete opposite of what we were just doing. Then he’s putting me back in my seat and going back into my parents’ driveway.

“What are you doing?” I ask, wondering what the hell is happening.

“I’m going to go ask your dad if I can marry you.”

He’s giving me that cocky grin with his deep dimples, and I melt. I once wanted to smack that look off his face, and now all I want to do is kiss it. He gets it. He understands what my family means to me.

“I love you,” I tell him again.

“I love you, too,” he says before getting out of the car and taking me with him.

EPILOGUE

Royce

Two years later

“What are you two in here doing?” I ask, seeing Pandora and our daughter, Lavender, playing.

“I’m teaching her how to throw a punch,” Pandora says, holding up her hand for Lav to hit.

“Hey, I’m the fighter in this family. I should be the one doing it.” I lean on the doorframe and cross my arms. The sight of the two of them together completes a piece of a puzzle I never knew I was building. We’ve talked about having another one, but Pandora says Penelope has enough for the whole family.

“Nah. I want her to be good at it.” Pandora winks at me, and I growl, getting on the floor with the two of them and lying on my back while Lavender crawls on me.

We kept my loft in the city for Pandora to work a few days a week. I do most of my consulting from home now, so I’m mobile. We have our house on “the compound” as we love to call it, and stay out there the rest of the time.

I stopped fighting after Lavender was born. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but having kids changed our perspective on things. Suddenly it wasn’t just me and Pandora fucking in bathrooms in the basement of dingy bars. Although we still manage to do that on date night. I wanted to give our little girl the world, and that included my time, too. Once I made the decision to step out of the ring, I never looked back. Getting in the ring was a good time, but it’s not a sport you can really work at long term, and I was ready for it to end.

But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, and that’s my love for Pandora. If anything, it’s grown over the past two years to a level I can’t even comprehend. I never knew love could be like this, and every day it grows stronger. Pandora’s dad told me that it’s that way for him and her mom, too. I see it when they’re together, and that’s what I want for us.