“We need to bring you to karaoke,” Luna suggests, causing snickers to erupt between them.
“What is it?” I ask.
Hunter leans in, chuckling and shares, “You sing in front of people to random songs you choose. It’s usually horrible, anyone can do it, and there’s a lot of screeching by the end of the night.”
I giggle, and Mary nods, grinning ear to ear. “He’s right. We found a place down the street the other night and sang our hearts out. We had a blast.”
The five of them laugh, and I find myself beaming. This is how it was always meant to be—me with my three friends and Hunter by my side. I never knew something was wrong until I got back home and realized my world was messy, full of heartache and hunger. However, now everything makes sense, and we can all have our happily ever after.
Epilogue One
HUNTER
One Year Later…
Aura climbs off my bike, and as soon as I join her, she says, “Let’s do it.”
“Do what, beautiful?”
“Get married.” Her hair’s windblown as usual, and her cheeks are kissed by the sun. Her looking like this has me wanting to say yes to anything she asks for. In most cases, I do, but I won’t budge on our wedding. We’ve been through this already.
“I love you. I want to say yes, but it’s going to be a hard no.” We just came back from Luna’s wedding, and it has my woman itching for the opportunity to jet off and elope. “You’ve put far too much into making sure our wedding is everything you’ve dreamed of. I know you want the whole shebang, so we’re going to do this right and stick to the plan. Once the big ‘I do’ is over, we can fly to Vegas or wherever your heart desires to get married a million times over. It’ll happen, and I promise you there’s nothing I want more than my ring on your finger.”
She pouts. The brat knows what that bottom lip does to my willpower. The pang in my chest hits me, telling me to give in, but I fight it.
“I want to marry you now. I’m ready.”
I nod. “I am, too, but it still doesn’t change things. Our wedding is in a week, and we can wait seven days. I have a fantastic idea for the meantime, though.”
“Oh yeah?” She grins, instantly intrigued as we walk into her parents’ house. “Tell me, handsome.”
“When we get back home, you can put on your fluffy dress ‘cause, let’s be honest, I know you picked something fluffy,” I begin, and she nods, egging me on. I bet it’s sparkly too. She’ll be blinged out for our special day and look like a true princess. “I’ll see you wrapped up in the gorgeous monstrosity tonight, and we can go over our vows. Then, last but definitely not least, I’ll rip the dress off your sexy body like I plan to, and we can have crazy exciting wedding sex.”
“Hunter!” She gapes, and her mom interrupts.
“You’re not ripping the wedding dress. I suggest you find a knock-off if you want to go caveman.”
Aura turns bright red while I chuckle, entertained by her response. “I’m down for that option as well. You wouldn’t happen to have one we can borrow, Lucia, do you?”
She scowls but ends up laughing and shaking her head. “You’re practically my son, Hunter, and she’s my only daughter. Let’s keep the sex talk to a minimum. I don’t want any of it venturing into my mind. I’ll send her father to interrupt you all night on your wedding.”
I shrug, not perturbed in the slightest. “If you insist, but it’d bring our conversations up a notch,” I joke, and Aura smacks me in my gut. “Easy, woman, it was just a suggestion. Besides, I’m pretty sure you were going to agree to my idea until your mom overheard.”
She sends me a mock glare, glancing from her mother’s back to me as we follow her to the dining room for dinner. “I most certainly was not.”
I send her a wink because she’s bluffing, and she’s adorable. I know my woman, and she loves the crazy shit we do. “So, if I show up with a wedding dress…” I trail off. Her mom sends me a look over her shoulder, and Aura puts her finger over her mouth, trying to shush me. “Maybe I’ll ask your dad, I’m sure he’d enjoy the idea.”
Aura shoves me, making me chuckle louder. She’s playful, and I love every minute of it. She knows how to take my teasing and usually gives it right back to me. All in all, I’ve never been happier in my life. Finding her was the best thing to ever happen to me. Marrying her will be the next, there’s not a doubt in my mind.
“Philip,” Steven greets me with a handshake and then hugs his daughter. He still calls me by my given name as does Lucia, but it doesn’t irk me, considering everyone outside my club brothers and Aura use it.
My parents soon join us, and we all exchange pleasantries with them as well, eventually making our way to the dining table for dinner. We lucked out and didn’t get stuck with reception activities since Luna’s new husband whisked her off on their honeymoon right after the ceremony.
“You look stunning as always, Aura,” my mom says as we scoot our heavy, expertly carved chairs in. The staff brings out our dinner salads and fills our wine glasses. “You’re going to make such a gorgeous bride.”
Wedding talk has been everything for the past six months, and I’m tired of the same repeated conversations. I don’t say as much because Aura eats it up, and her happiness is everything to me. I swore to myself when I was rotting downstairs that I’d get out of there and make sure I kept the smile on my woman’s face.
“Thank you, I was attempting to talk your son into a quicker wedding earlier, but he wasn’t having it,” she tattles.
Both our mothers chime in simultaneously, begging her not to change the date. Everything’s in place, and we all want her to have the wedding of her dreams, especially after being stuck on the island for so long and having nothing. She deserves to have it all and more.
Steven clears his throat. “I asked you all here today to discuss the future of our company. We believe it’s time for some changes.” Everyone quiets at once, turning our attention to the man sitting at the head of the table. He glances at each of us, saying, “Lucia and I dreamed of having our daughter take over Beautiful Botanicals one day. With her kidnapping and disappearance for so many years, we never thought it would be a possibility.” He draws in a breath, becoming emotional over the mention of her abduction. I think it all hits us straight in the chest whenever it’s brought up. We know damn well we need to discuss it, but none of us want to remember it.
Lucia reaches for Aura’s hand as her father continues, “We’re getting older and would like to take a further step back from the company if possible. We have people in place to run it, but we still need one of us to oversee everything, to keep it steered in the right direction. We have a core set of values and treasured employees we want to remain with the company.”
“Just ask them, honey,” Lucia coaxes, flashing him a tender smile.
Steven’s stare bounces from me to Aura and back. “Aura, we’d like you to step on board if you feel comfortable enough. Your presence and influence would be a great honor for us.”