“Well, it just so happens I do have my own dream.”
His muscles tensed beneath her hands. “Oh?”
She nodded. “I’m thinking of expanding my business.”
Lucas cleared his throat. “That’s great.”
“Sammy proved he is more than capable of running the office on his own. I was thinking of promoting him to partner so I can focus on the expansion.”
A loud thud came from behind the door. Hopefully Sammy hadn’t passed out, but it would serve him right for listening.
“Have any place in mind?” His eyes were lit with a nervous anticipation.
“I’m thinking of starting a location down south on this charming little island off the coast of the Carolinas.”
The wide grin that spread across his face was rivaled only by her own. “Think the folks down there could use your services, huh?”
“Absolutely. People have a hard enough time keeping their main home organized. A vacation home can be even worse. They turn it into a catch-all storage unit of sorts. Plus, there is a ferry—granted it’s somewhat unreliable—that will allow me to service clients on the mainland as well.”
Lucas grew serious again. “But your life is here.”
“True. Which is why I was thinking about only going down in the summer.”
“So you’d spend, say, the school year in Chicago, then head to the beach?”
She nodded. “For the busy season.”
“Sounds like you’ve figured it all out.” He glanced over her shoulder at her desk. “And without a notepad.”
“Not quite everything,” she said. “Going down for peak season might make it difficult to find a place to stay. Busy three months, from what I hear.”
“Well, it just so happens I know this great little bed-and-breakfast. They’re pretty booked up, but I know the owner, so I might be able to get you a room.”
Paige raised a brow. “For double?” she asked. “Or would I qualify for a friends-with-benefits discount?”
Lucas grinned. “I was thinking something more along the lines of a family rate.”
He kissed her again, then stepped back and extended his hand. “So do we have a deal?”
She wasn’t sure if he was being playful or just teasing her, but either way, the expression on his face was a look that was totally working for him. “Deal.”
A loud clap came from the reception area. Looked like Sammy had gotten his way after all. Paige had come back to Chicago with one hell of a vacation story. Except this wasn’t an island fantasy. It was real.
Paige gave Lucas her hand, but rather than shaking, he brought it to his lips. He pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles, then with a sharp tug pulled her flush against the hard planes of his body.
He cupped her chin, tilting her face to his. But instead of kissing her, he hovered just out of reach, studying her as though he were committing every detail to memory. When he finally pressed his lips against hers, he did it slowly, deliberately, taking just a taste before coming back for more. Paige’s skin tightened and her body swayed as though he were kissing her for the very first time. And then his hand came to rest on the small of her back, and she melted against him on a stuttering sigh.
“What do we do now?” she whispered against his lips.
“Everything.”
They may have only gotten started, but something told her it was going to be a long and wonderful ride.
Epilogue
Paige stared at the white plastic stick. Two pink lines. She squeezed her eyes shut, then looked at it again. Still two lines.
“You know that holding your dress while you pee is one of my official duties,” Sammy said through the bathroom door. He’d taken his role as man of honor quite seriously, but feeling slighted by missing out on a chance to gather yards of white fabric in his arms while his Bestie Boss Lady made a most unladylike trip to the bathroom was a bit much, even for him.
“I don’t need you leaning over me while I’m on the toilet,” Paige replied. And certainly not while I pee on a pregnancy test, she thought. Most women would simply have waited until after the ceremony—or better yet, have realized that they were six days late before the morning of their wedding. But not Paige. No, she had to have that epiphany as they were driving to the church. Although to be fair, with the crazy schedule she’d been keeping over the last few weeks—planning a wedding while at the same time running her business in Chicago and finalizing the grand opening of the new location in North Carolina, not to mention dealing with her mother!—it wasn’t like she’d had time to study her calendar.
She’d feigned a need for breath mints, demanding the limo driver pull over so she could run into the drugstore for candy that only she was qualified to select. Sammy accused her of taking her control-freak tendencies to the next level, but other than that, he wasn’t too fazed. The cashier, on the other hand, definitely knew what was up. Because while her dress was tucked safely in a garment bag as they drove to the church, Paige’s hair was already swept up into an intricate twist, and her makeup was as glamorous as any cover girl’s.
The real giveaway, though, was the rhinestone tiara. It wasn’t exactly Paige’s style, but Maddie had accompanied the bridal entourage to the dress shop and had insisted that a crown was necessary to ensure a “fairy-tale princess wedding.” Who was Paige to argue with that logic? Besides, the smile on her soon-to-be stepdaughter’s face was worth enduring the shock on the face of the store clerk. Paige couldn’t really blame her. The intricate crown she wore could only mean one of two things: either Paige was a homecoming queen or a bride, and since she was well past the age of the former, it was safe to say the clerk assumed the latter, which would explain the smirk that curved her lips as she pushed the buttons on the cash register. Guess it wasn’t every day she sold a pregnancy test to a bride.
Speaking of pregnancy tests, what the heck was she supposed to do with this one now? The trash can in the bride’s room bathroom was a small wicker job with no lid. Not ideal for hiding evidence. Because most brides don’t realize they’re knocked up thirty minutes before go time, she thought. Smuggling the darn thing into the bathroom had been tricky enough. She’d wanted to get to it the moment they’d reached the church. Sure would have made taking aim a lot easier if she’d done it before she was strapped into a silk gown with a gazillion pearl buttons. But her mother had been waiting as the car rolled up, and between her and Bridesmaid-zilla, this was the first chance she’d had.
Paige cracked the bathroom door open. For once she was glad to find Sammy hovering. “Can you pass me my phone?” she whispered.