by Tessa Bailey
Her laugh was joyful and watery. This man was a marvel. Her marvel. Not to mention her future. “I love you.”
Wes pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her forehead. “I love you, too, Bethany.”
“Hate to interrupt,” Slade broke in, making Wes growl, “but I don’t think you’ll mind what I have to tell you. There is an actual prize for this competition. Something slightly more substantial than bragging rights.”
“Make it good, Slade,” Wes said, never taking his eyes off Bethany. “I need to kiss this woman until she can’t taste the word ‘ex-boyfriend’ anymore.”
Slade laughed. “Stephen has officially conceded victory, making Bethany and Wes the winners of Flip Off.” He dangled a set of keys in front of their faces. “You’ve raised the house value and you’ll be receiving a check for the difference, plus a year in paid property taxes. How does that sound?”
Bethany and Wes turned to each other with identical expressions of shock. Wes recovered first, scooping Bethany up into his arms, parting the sea of crew members as he carried her toward the house—and over the threshold.
“What do you think?” Bethany smiled into Wes’s neck. “Should we keep flipping houses? We make a pretty good team.”
“We make the best team.” He set Bethany down and pressed her to the closest wall, letting his mouth travel over hers slowly, adoringly. “Just stay off rooftops during storms.”
“It’s a deal.”
Their shared laughter lifted and faded. “There’s one more reason I was late this morning, Bethany.” He reached into his pocket and took out a ring box, lifting it between them to the soundtrack of Bethany’s gasp. “We can wait a week or ten years, but I want you to know I plan on loving you straight through eternity. “
How much happiness could one heart withstand? “I’ll love you, too, Wes. Fiercely. Even when we fight. Especially when we fight,” she vowed, her voice shaking. “And I would be honored to be your wife.”
His lips jumped at one corner. “Don’t you want to see the ring?”
“No. All I need to see is you.”
Epilogue
Eight Months Later
They were the scourge of the kindergarten graduation ceremony.
The Castle-Daniels contingent required an entire row to cheer on Laura as she accepted her diploma. Bethany winced over the dirty looks they were receiving from the other parents, but what could she say? She’d gotten there an hour early to secure seating. When you snooze, you lose.
Crammed into the front row of the elementary school auditorium were her parents, Georgie, Travis, Dominic, and Rosie. Kristin and Stephen were there, too, behaving as if Kristin had the future king of England strapped to her chest, glaring at anyone who sneezed or spoke too loudly in his vicinity.
Bethany had to agree about one thing. Her new nephew was pretty great. Bethany, Laura, and Wes had a secret pact to expose the kid to as much normalcy as possible, in the hopes he turned out slightly less bananas than his parents. Although, to be fair, Bethany and Stephen had grown a lot closer post-flip. She’d even let him sit in on a Just Us League meeting around Kristin’s due date, because he’d been too paranoid leaving her there alone.
He’d ended up buzzed on tequila and engaged in a group hug, crying and promising to be a better friend to women. Bethany was still traumatized.
But she loved her big brother. Or whatever.
The day he’d conceded Flip Off to her, she knew he’d meant it. And along with her own growth during those wild three weeks, she’d truly started trusting herself. Believing in herself. And now she never questioned her ability to love or be loved.
Love wasn’t perfect.
Well, some days it was. Other times, it was just muddling through and ripping off your T-shirt to make a bandage. Or her, Wes, and Laura all getting a cold at the same time and piling like zombies in her once-pristine bed for days on end.
They did what worked—and the result was wild, chaotic, beautiful happiness.
Bethany craned her neck to see if Wes had arrived yet. She was saving the seats next to her, right on the aisle, so Laura would be able to see him. And their special guest, if she was able to make it.
The school principal tapped on the microphone, unleashing a peal of feedback. He welcomed everyone to the graduation ceremony, but Bethany was only half listening. For one, she was worried Wes wouldn’t make it on time. But mainly, she couldn’t help but reflect on how much things had changed over the last eight months.
For one, she’d married Wes.
Had she planned a big, perfect wedding?
No, they’d invited everyone to their new house, formerly known as Project Doomsday, and ambushed them with a surprise wedding, right there in the living room. A living room full of finger paintings and framed pictures and dust on the mantel. That’s right, Bethany Castle had gotten married barefoot in a messy house without a single stroke of professional makeup. There was no place she’d rather be.
They didn’t leave her home behind due to a lack of warmth or hominess. They’d simply wanted to create their own space top to bottom, as a family. She’d stood in that haphazard living room with a smile on her face a mile wide. Why wouldn’t she be smiling when she was marrying the most incredible, loyal, steadfast man on all of planet earth and gaining a quasi-daughter in the process?
Now, months later, every single person in the front row had fallen in love with Laura. She didn’t have merely one home, she had several—and in about a decade, she was going to be the busiest babysitter in town, because Rosie and Dominic were expecting twins, Travis and Georgie had a little girl on the way, and, not to be outdone, Stephen and Kristin were already trying for another.
As for Bethany and Wes?
They had their girl and she was more than they could ever want.
Speaking of whom, with the last name Daniels, she was going to be one of the first handful of kids to cross the stage. Where was Wes?
Her thought barely had time to finish before her husband appeared in the entrance of the auditorium, dressed in his signature cowboy hat and too-tight jeans. A look of relief crossed his face when he saw the ceremony hadn’t started yet and Bethany waved him down to the front row. His lips curved at her and he shook his head a little, as if to say, Of course you snagged the front row. Also, I love you.
His expression said that as well. It always did.
She was confused when Wes stepped back out of the auditorium momentarily. Until he walked back in with his half sister at his side.
Bethany breathed a sigh of relief. She’d made it.
After the appeal was filed with the court to grant Wes temporary guardianship of Laura, they didn’t hear from Becky for several months. They’d been so busy moving into their new house, those months had flown by so fast that Bethany had been stunned to open her front door one evening and find Becky standing there.
As luck would have it, there’d been a Just Us League meeting on that night. Becky stayed for it. And then she showed up for the next one, and the one after that. She still hadn’t opened up about everything in her past, but it was impossible not to see the positivity of the club take effect, little by little. With Bethany and Wes’s help, Becky had completed rehabilitation and was now sober, living in Freeport.
With Brick & Morty expanding to take on two flip teams instead of one—Bethany and Wes making up the additional crew—Bethany had been in need of a new stager. She was training Becky for the position.
Her husband and his sister slid into their seats, just in time for the principal to start calling the names of the kindergartners.
“Hey!” Bethany whispered, reaching out to squeeze Becky’s hand and accepting a kiss on the forehead from Wes. “I’m glad you made it.”
Me too, mouthed Becky, seeming a little uncomfortable in her surroundings. Compared to how she’d been at Laura’s Christmas show, however, she was definitely growing more relaxed in family situations. For Laura’s sake, Bethany couldn’t be more pleased ab
out that. Laura had been standoffish with her mother during their first few visits, but the more commitment Becky showed, the more Laura warmed—and Bethany had faith it would only get better from there on out.
Laura’s name was called and the front row broke out the noisemakers, causing Laura’s clear, happy giggle to ring out on stage. She waved at the front row and held up her diploma like Thor’s hammer. Oh yeah, she was done with princesses.
It was all about superheroes now.
Wes’s fingers threaded through Bethany’s, squeezing and drawing her attention. She was surprised to find emotion shining in her husband’s eyes.
He looked down the row of friends and family, then back at her.
“Look at what we’ve got, baby,” he said quietly, brushing a kiss across her wedding ring. “We’ve got everything.”
“Everything,” she breathed.
He leaned in and kissed her mouth, lingering a moment before repeating the vow he’d made on their wedding day and every day since. “You and me. In it together.”
“Forever and ever.”
The End
Already wishing for more Just Us League? Good news! Your favorite side characters star in their own stories . . .
See Georgie and Travis fall head-over-clown-shoes in
FIX HER UP
Watch Rosie and Dominic renovate their rocky relationship in
LOVE HER OR LOSE HER
Available wherever books are sold!
Acknowledgments
It’s here! Wes and Bethany’s story! I tend to save my favorite couple for last. This time was no exception, but I didn’t expect to relate so hard to Bethany. Over the course of writing this book and talking to readers during the process, I realized just how many of us share Bethany’s need to keep up appearances. Even though she most definitely does not have it all together, she wants people to think she does. It’s not enough that she’s a good friend, daughter, club president, and house stager. Nothing is ever enough—and I think we all feel like that some days. We could have done more. We could be more. We could look, act, and vacation like the people we see on the internet. The truth is, we’re doing just fine, each and every one of us. We’re enough just as we are. We’re the glue that holds our families together, we’re the encouraging commenter on a Facebook post that might save someone’s day, we’re the ones whose imaginations bring words on a page to life—and that’s enough. So let’s all take it freaking easy on ourselves, all right?
Thank you, as always, to my family; my editor, Nicole Fischer; marketing and publicity gurus Kayleigh Webb and Imani Gary; the incredible cover designers who worked on this series; and the readers who continue to pick up my stories.
A special thanks to the nurses and aides at my daughter’s school—Nora, Sarah, and Joanna—who take care of my third grader, who is a type 1 diabetic (and an absolute warrior), so I can concentrate on working.
Enjoy the book!
About the Author
TESSA BAILEY is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans, and laptop and drove cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband and her best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, and she managed to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the workforce as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Long Island, New York, with her husband and daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
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Also by Tessa Bailey
THIS SERIES
Fix Her Up • Love Her or Lose Her • Tools of Engagement
THE ACADEMY
Disorderly Conduct • Indecent Exposure • Disturbing His Peace
BROKE AND BEAUTIFUL
Chase Me • Need Me • Make Me
ROMANCING THE CLARKSONS
Too Hot to Handle • Too Wild to Tame
Too Hard to Forget • Too Beautiful to Break
MADE IN JERSEY
Crashed Out • Rough Rhythm
Thrown Down • Worked Up • Wound Tight
CROSSING THE LINE
Risking It All • Up in Smoke
Boiling Point • Raw Redemption
LINE OF DUTY
Protecting What’s His • Protecting What’s Theirs (novella)
His Risk to Take • Officer Off Limits
Asking for Trouble • Staking His Claim
SERVE
Owned by Fate • Exposed by Fate • Driven by Fate
BEACH KINGDOM
Mouth to Mouth • Heat Stroke • Sink or Swim
STANDALONE BOOKS
Unfixable • Baiting the Maid of Honor
Off Base (with Sophie Jordan)
Captivated (with Eve Dangerfield)
Getaway Girl • Runaway Girl
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
TOOLS OF ENGAGEMENT. Copyright © 2020 by Tessa Bailey. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Cover design and illustration by Colleen Reinhart
Emoji here © Art studio G / Shutterstock, Inc.
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-287287-6
Version 07212020
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-287293-7 (paperback)
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-303484-6 (hardcover library edition)
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