Page 68 of Gotta Have Mistletoe

Sven puffs out his chest. “I’ve never done that. I am an excellent bodyguard.” He turns to me. “Congratulations.” Then he fist bumps Max.

We leave the airport as the Solbergian people cheer and congratulate us.

Sven opens the door of the security car, and Erik and I sit beside each other. The security drives us to the castle.

We exit the car, and I stare up at the imposing pink stone building that will be my home forever and always.

“Merry Christmas, Glen,” Erik tells me.

“Merry Christmas, Erik. Shall we go in and not pretend?”

Erik grins. “For the rest of our lives.”

EPILOGUE

Glen

Nothing says Christmas like hauling a pine tree across snow-covered ground at 8:30 in the morning. The Nevada sun is doing its dramatic thing, all pink and orange streaks, like someone spilled paint buckets in the sky.

“You need help with that?” Erik asks behind me.

I jump, and the tree nearly topples from my arms.

I spin toward him. “Nope. I’ve got this.”

A knit hat is pulled over his royal hair, and he’s wearing one of my plaid shirts.

He gives me a knowing look. “You think I can’t be casual?”

I chuckle. “You? No way.”

He frowns, then steals my cowboy hat and places it on top of his head.

“You know you’re wearing two hats.”

“And they’re still not as heavy as the crown.” He winks, then places my cowboy hat back on my head.

I know about that. I have a crown now too for special occasions. It’s smaller than his but sparkles with rubies and emeralds. He wanted me to have Christmas colors on mine.

I carry the tree to the gazebo, the place where he first asked me to be his fake fiancé.

He follows me to the gazebo.

Erik and I spend most of our time in Solberg, but apparently royals take vacations from time to time. Instead of heading to Southern Europe like the others, he goes to Mistletoe Springs with me.

I wanted to kiss him under the mistletoe in this gazebo back then. Now we kiss there whenever we want, and there’s nothing fake about it.

“Garland Contracting always leaves a sparkle behind,” Erik says, sunshine beam in place.

I grin back. “We sure do.”

This time, when I carry the tree, Erik’s beside me, his shoulder bumping mine.

Anders and Max are stringing lights on the gazebo. Max is teaching Anders the proper way to unwind them so they don’t tangle, and Anders is pretending he doesn’t already know while he FaceTimes Tina.

We set up the tree together, all four of us.

Erik hands me the mistletoe sprigs. “I believe mistletoe is mandatory.”

I nod. “Gotta have mistletoe.”

Anders and Max giggle.

I hang up the mistletoe, and then there’s definitely some kissing, and more giggling from Anders and Max. They like seeing their fathers happy.

Erik and I have been together for a year, and married for six months, but I don’t take a single hour, a single minute for granted.