“I couldn’t stay away.” He stood, walked behind my desk.
“What are you . . .”
He lifted me from the seat, swapped our positions, and then sat me on his lap.
“This is my office, Christopher.”
“You’re still the boss,” his husky voice whispered in my ear.
I clamped my legs and willed my body to stop mid-shiver.
“I know you still believe in love, Sienna, because it’s what I feel for you and what you feel for me.”
“You love me?”
“I do. From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one. And damn if I wasn’t crushed when I found out you were committed to someone else.”
“That must have sucked.” I gave him a shy smile.
He snorted. “I’m not the unrequited love type, so I felt pathetic. I pushed you away. Tried to avoid you as much as possible. Even when I knew Keith wasn’t the man for you.”
“It may not have been love at first sight for me, but I saw you. I just pushed down my attraction because—”
“You’re a good woman. You didn’t let your mind go there.”
“But when I finally saw you,” I sighed, “I was a goner, too.”
“When did you see me?”
“When I hunted you down at the Mayor’s Ball. You were smoking a cigarette, pissed off and cold, but too proud to admit it.”
“I saw the determination in your eyes. That, plus that sexy dress you were wearing, sent me over the edge. I had to get away.”
“And I was determined to find you.” I stroked his face.
“I’m glad you did.” He squeezed my hips.
“So, are we official? Facebook official?” I joked.
“We are heart and soul official. You’ve always had it, even when I wasn’t there.” He cupped my cheek. “There’s no going back now.”
“I don’t want to.” I leaned in, kissed him once, twice, teasing and licking until he took control and devoured me.
“Happy?” he whispered against my lips.
I hadn’t put myself first in a long time. And through heartache and trial by fire I became confident, content, self-contained. Happy. I couldn’t love Christopher fully until I learned how to love myself.
I nodded, my smile spreading like sunshine. “Ecstatic.”
EPILOGUE
Something New
One Year Later
Raina
Nikki was rocking it out for the small crowd of one hundred–plus people. It was small potatoes for her these days, but she was doing me a favor. An arm wrapped around my middle.
“Best day ever?” Cam’s warm breath sent shivers down my spine.
“Yes. Best. Day. Ever!”
“Even better than being a New York Times best-selling author?”
Getting that accolade was one of the best feelings in the world. I stayed on the list for eight weeks. I was damn proud of myself, and my agent was bugging me about the next book, which I didn’t plan on touching until after my honeymoon. Writing full-time, plus marketing and book tours, took a lot of my time. Luckily I was with a man who accepted the crazy that came with my career.
I turned around in Cameron’s arms. “We officially belong together. Under the eyes of friends and God. I’m buzzed and we’re partying and I look gorgeous. Of course it’s even better than being a New York Times best-selling author.”
Kinda.
He twirled me around. “And your ass looks gorgeous in that dress.”
I wrapped my arms around him and giggled against his chest. Life was good. After Daddy’s funeral, Cam had tried to convince me to move back in with him. Surprisingly, I declined and moved back in with my mother. My grandma’s sage advice about not shacking up with a man before marriage haunted me. And while I knew in my heart the reason why we didn’t work out the first time was my hang-ups about men leaving me, I wanted to do it right this time around.
So here we were, dangerously in love, dancing to my best friend’s hit song. I blew her a kiss and she gave me a wink, then dashed across the stage to work the crowd.
“You need more champagne!” Kara thrust a flute in front of my face.
“And you need more beer!” With the other hand, she gave Cameron a beer.
We took our beverages. I sipped and continued to dance on Cam.
“Time for the garter toss!” Kara yelled and pumped her now-empty fist in the air. She grabbed my hand and hustled me to the middle of the floor, while Nikki made the announcement. The singer cued the band, and a bass guitar blasted across the speakers.
Nikki pointed at me. “Look at her.” Nikki sang to me and shimmied across the stage to “She’s a Bad Mama Jama.”
My husband strutted across the floor, lifted my dress, and then slid his hands up my thigh.
“Keep it PG, Cameron!”
Kara
I gave the TSA agent my passport.
“Where are you off to?” the old lady with snow white hair asked, her tone affable.
“Italy.” I smiled.
“Oh, that’s nice! For vacation?”
“Work orientation.” I gave her a bright smile. “I’ll be there for a few months. I’m an ambassador for a vineyard.” I smiled again, happy with myself. Normally, I would’ve given one-worded responses to a virtual stranger, but counseling had done me some good. That and finally passing the Court of Masters Sommeliers.
“That sounds like fun. My husband and I are going to Italy next year to celebrate forty years together.” Her hands shook as she stamped the booklet. “Have fun.”
“Thank you.”
I trudged through the rest of the line. Thirty minutes later, I was ready to board. I glanced at my watch, hopeful my companion wouldn’t be late.
“Hey, beautiful.”
I dropped my carry-on bag and turned at his voice. I threw myself into his arms.
Darren’s company had given him the green light to work remotely for a month. It wouldn’t be the entire time I would be staying, but I appreciated that his job gave him the option.
Darren lifted me from the ground, spun me around, and then kissed me. I giggled happily in his arms. If someone would’ve told me a year ago that we would be stronger than ever, I would’ve laughed then cried at the cruel joke. The entire time Darren and I had been estranged, I was so focused on us recalibrating, getting back to how we used to be. Thank God it wasn’t how we used to be. We were broken, otherwise we wouldn’t have had our issues.
Now we were stronger, something new. We had plans to continue our counseling sessions with Dr. Caine via Skype while I was abroad.
Darren had drastically changed for the better. But I won’t lie, sometimes I had nightmares of our tumultuous year before, and fear would creep into my thoughts of him going back to that dark place. He seemed to know every time my thoughts drifted to black. Instead of comforting me with words, he’d gather me in his arms and hold me until the shivering stopped. Our counselor encouraged to me to live in the present. Fear was based on things that occurred in the past, but if I lived in the now, where every day was new, I could achieve happiness. Happiness is a choice. Most days the choice was easy, but sometimes it was hard. Darren squeezed my waist, a worried look on his face.