Recklessly Rogue (Royals Gone Rogue #4)

Epilogue

RUBY

Six months later…

“ I can’t believe I was wrong about him being a criminal, though,” Henry tells Iris.

I’m sitting in an armchair along the wall in his gym, waiting for him to finish up so we can grab dinner before going home.

On Fridays, I often get done early with class and go to a study group, but tonight, my group can’t meet, so Henry wants to take me out to a romantic dinner.

We haven’t had a nice dinner out, just the two of us, in months.

Law school is amazing but often feels all-consuming, and we, of course, have lots of things going on when we do have free time. We’re in Autre a lot, and then, there are our roommates, the friend of the sister of one of my classmates, and a young guy Henry met through one of the trainees he’s working with. They both had very rocky childhoods, are no-contact with their parents, and are now enrolled in college thanks to a personal scholarship from Henry Dean. They both need mentoring for sure, but they’re doing great.

“Well, at least there’s that,” Henry tells Iris over the phone. “Thanks for letting me know.” He pauses. “Okay, talk to you later.”

He disconnects and sighs.

“They still haven’t found anything my dad’s been doing that’s illegal?” I ask.

“No. That’s simply impossible to believe,” he says.

Henry and Cian would both love to see my father sitting in a prison cell. I’m just happy that his church is slowly failing.

“Attendance at church is down fifty percent, though,” he says. “And contributions are down sixty-two percent. The youth group is also down to about ten kids.”

I nod. “I actually like that better. It’s one thing for people to turn their back on him if he’s an actual criminal, but somehow it’s kind of sweeter that they all just realize he’s not a good guy and leave him because of that.”

Henry drops into the chair next to me. “I guess.”

I laugh. “Sorry my biological father isn’t a hardened criminal.”

Henry looks over at me and grins. “Me too.”

He looks so good. He’s been working out with Tabitha, Kai, and Sera, the new young adults who’ve been recruited as bodyguards into the O’Grady-Olsen circle.

He’s training Tabby and Kai to accompany Mariah to college, and Sera will eventually be assigned to Saoirse. Saoirse will probably have at least one other as well, but Sera showed such promise that Iris, Miles, and Henry agreed they needed to bring her in early.

Tabby and Sera live in New Orleans full-time right now, but Kai only travels in on occasion. He’s already been training as a bodyguard for about two years and spends most of his time in Emerald as an ‘exchange student’ from Hawaii. That helps explain why he’s living there and going to school but has no parents with him. He keeps an eye on Mariah and also checks up on Cian and Scarlett whenever Henry needs a report.

“What time is our reservation?” I ask, sliding into Henry’s lap, straddling his thighs, and slipping my hands into his hair.

He’s a little sweaty, he hasn’t shaved in about a week, and he’s wearing athletic shorts and a black tank that stretches over his broad chest and flat stomach.

He looks so hot. I wiggle on his lap and feel the hard shaft of his cock between my legs.

He’s also been teaching me self-defense whenever we have a chance and that gets very hot.

“Maybe we could have a session?” I say, pressing closer and rubbing against his erection.

He grasps my hips and holds me still. “As much as I’d love to have a session, fuck you on these mats, and then just order pizza like we did last time, we haven’t been out on a really nice date where we can linger over dinner, and I can treat you and pamper you in a very long time.”

He leans in and runs his stubbled jaw along my jaw, down my neck, and over my collarbone, making goosebumps break out everywhere.

“The money is just building up in my bank account. I don’t know what to do.”

I laugh. “Oh, no. I know how you get when you can’t throw it around on ridiculous things.”

He chuckles and the vibration against my neck causes my nipples to tighten.

“Let me pamper you tonight, Gem,” he says huskily. “I’ll fuck you hard and sweaty and dirty another time.” He nips my neck. “Lots of other times.”

I tip my head back so he can kiss and lick and nip his way to the other side. “Well, gee, okay.”

He squeezes my hips. “That’s my girl.”

“But you will fuck me tonight, right? Maybe slow and sweet? And dirty?” I already know the answer.

“If you’re a good girl at dinner.”

“And that entails…” I ask with an eyebrow up.

“Well, for one thing, when I slide my hand up your leg and beneath your skirt under the tablecloth, there better not be any panties in my way.”

I moan. “That can be arranged.”

“And—” He’s cut off by his phone ringing. He sighs. “Hold that thought.”

He reaches into his bag and withdraws his phone.

I see Cian’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” Henry answers, hitting the button to put Cian on speaker.

“Hey! We’re ten minutes from your place!”

Henry stiffens, and our gazes meet. Our plans are about to get derailed.

“You’re in New Orleans?” he asks.

“Yeah, we’re on our way back to Ohio from the community opening in Dallas and thought we’d stop in. Surprise!”

Yes, Cian and my sister still manage to drop in even though they live a thousand miles away.

It’s been a month since we’ve seen them. I text Scarlett every day, and we talk at least three times a week, but my schedule is crazy with school, and it’s hard to connect more than that. She understands, of course, and is super supportive, so it’s all fine. We do send selfies and photos and memes all the time. We text about the podcast after every episode. I made sure to send her a photo of the amazing muffuletta sandwich I had the other day —her favorite—and she and Mariah send photos of Pete the Pig almost daily. He’s getting huge.

But we haven’t seen them in a while. We miss them, of course, but time goes fast in-between visits. We’re busy. They’re busy. And they are doing so great.

What should I do? Henry mouths.

My phone dings with a text. I look at it.

Scarlett: Hey! We’re in town!! heart eye emoji

Oh, man.

I don’t know , I mouth to Henry.

“Hey, Cian, hang on. I’m at the gym. Just finished up a session with the kids. Give me a minute.” He mutes the call. “Gem, we haven’t had a lot of time, just you and me. I really want that tonight,” he says.

I nod. “Me too.”

“So…”

“So… we send Cian and Scarlett to Autre tonight and we see them tomorrow.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

That’s fine. We shouldn’t feel guilty about that. They’ll love seeing everyone in Autre and we’ll have the whole day tomorrow, maybe the whole weekend, together.

“Oh, I do have to study Sunday night, though,” I say.

“We’ll kick them out if they’re not heading out by two,” he says.

“Okay.”

Henry unmutes the call, and I text my sister.

“Sorry about that,” he tells Cian. “So, we’ve got plans tonight and won’t be back until late. Do you think we can meet up with you in Autre tomorrow?”

Me: Hey! I’m so excited to see you! We’ve got stuff going on tonight, but can we meet you in Autre tomorrow?

“Oh, yeah,” Cian says. “Sure. We should know better than to pop in. You guys are busy.” He chuckles. “I’m still getting used to you not dropping everything for me every time.”

Henry laughs. “I know.”

Cian chuckles too. “Okay, okay. I’ll go hang out with my sister and other people who love me and will be so excited to see me.”

“And we’ll be down there for breakfast,” Henry says.

“Okay, see you then.”

Scarlett: Okay! I have BIG news and I want to tell you in person! But… don’t blame me if other people get to hear it first…

I gasp and show Henry the message. “She’s the worst.”

He shakes his head. “She’s never going to tell other people something really big before she tells you. You’re you .”

I take a breath and blow it out. “Okay. You’re right. Probably.”

He kisses me, then says, “We can go to Autre tonight if you need to.”

I shake my head. “No, I want to go on our date.” I kiss him, making sure he feels my sincerity. I pull back. “Honestly. They’re fine. They don’t need us to rearrange everything when they waltz into town unexpectedly.”

“Exactly.” Henry nudges me off his lap, and we both stand. “Let’s go get ready. Our reservation is at eight.”

We walk out to the car, hand in hand. I’m looking forward to the evening. We haven’t dressed up and gone out somewhere really nice in forever.

But I can’t stop wondering what Scarlett’s news is.

No, that’s not true. My twin connection is tingling, and I think I know what it is.

“Ruby?”

I look up at Henry. He’s got the car door open and is waiting for me to get in.

“Will that work?”

“Will what work?” I ask. Obviously, I missed his question.

“Can you get ready in time if I move the reservation up to seven?”

“Yes, but why would you do that?”

He grins. “Because I know you’re going to be itching to go to Autre. We can have dinner and head down there tonight.”

“But our evening…”

He leans in, brushes a kiss against my cheek, and then says in my ear, “I think we both know that I can do all the things I want to do to you tonight in the bed in Autre as easily as I can here.”

That’s very true.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” I ask.

“You’re already worrying about her news,” he says with a smile.

“Well, if she blurts out that she’s pregnant to someone before she tells me, I’m going to be so disappointed!”

Henry looks like I just told him Scarlett and Cian are actually aliens in human suits. “Wait. She’s pregnant ?”

“I’m ninety percent sure.”

He’s clearly stunned. “Cian…is going to be a dad?”

“He’s already a dad to Mariah.”

“Well, yes, but she was already…Mariah. He didn’t start from scratch with her.”

I laugh. “True.”

It all seems to sink in, and Henry slowly smiles. It’s a smile full of love and pride. “Wow. They’re going to be amazing parents.”

I nod. “And we get to be an aunt and uncle. Again.”

“That’s awesome.”

He looks so happy. I press my lips together, then say, “You know, I’m really proud of us putting ourselves first and going out tonight before seeing them and not just turning our plans upside down for them the way we both have for so many years.”

He nods. “Yeah. That’s good. It’s important that we recognize that we’re just as important, and our lives can be separate from theirs.”

I nod. “Definitely. We’re the main characters in our story.”

“For sure.”

We both pause.

Then we say, “But…” at the same time.

I grin. “We could go to Autre tonight and see them. That doesn’t mean we’re putting them first all the time. We have definitely put ourselves and our new life and our relationship at the center. But we love them. And there’s something big going on. And we miss them. And that’s all totally fine.”

He leans over and kisses me deeply. “You are and always will be the most important person in my life, Gem.”

“I know. And same.”

“I know.”

And an hour later, we’re in Ellie’s bar, celebrating that Scarlett and Cian are, indeed, expecting a baby.

Scarlett pulled me to the side to tell me before they announced it to the entire group, and I immediately burst into tears. Happy tears. It was so different from the last time she told me she was pregnant.

Most importantly, this time, she has an incredible amount of support and love around her.

I love that she gets to have this experience again, this time full of positivity and celebration. I could not be happier.

Henry hugs me against his side as we watch Cian and Scarlett shining at the center of one of our many beloved communities.

“You know what?” Henry asks.

“What?”

“We are really fucking good at this.”

“This?”

He looks down at me. “Loving people.”

I smile up at the best man I’ve ever met. “We really are.”

“And I want to do it with you forever.”

“Me too.”

“So will you marry me?”

I pivot out from under his arm so quickly he nearly stumbles. I turn to face him. “Did you just propose to me?”

“I did.”

“At Cian and Scarlett’s pregnancy announcement?”

“Yes. Because that’s their main focus. But we are our main focus. And I love you and want to marry you and I didn’t want to wait to ask you any longer.”

I think about that and…yes. Yes, to all of that.

“It doesn’t take anything away from their moment,” he says. “This is just between you and me right now. But I want you to be my wife, and this place and this moment felt like the right time to ask you.”

It really does.

The two people we loved and took care of for so many years are now going to become the ultimate caregivers themselves.

They’re so ready for it.

And the master of over-the-top and going overboard just casually proposed in the middle of this happy, wholesome, almost quiet—relatively—moment because it felt right.

“Yes,” I say. “I will absolutely marry you, Henry.”

His smile is wide and bright, and it makes my heart so full.

“I love you,” he says as he lowers his head and kisses me deeply.

When he lifts his head, I look around. We’ve talked to everyone, hugged everyone, heard the amazing news, and told Cian and Scarlett how happy and proud we are.

And anyway, we’ll see them all for breakfast.

They don’t need us anymore tonight.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say, taking his hand and starting toward the door.

“Uh…” But he looks around and clearly comes to the same conclusion. He nods. “Yeah. We’re done here.”

“Well, for tonight,” I say as we step out of Ellie’s and start for the car.

“Right. Just done for tonight.”

“Right.” I stop by the car and take a deep, contented breath.

Henry and I will never be completely done taking care of people.

“By the way,” he says as he opens the car door for me. “I’m going to be putting about fifty-thousand dollars in the charity account.”

My mouth drops open. “ What ? Why?”

“Because I’m marrying my dream girl,” he says. “A woman who is way too good for me but said yes anyway. So I’m going to go way overboard on the ring, the wedding, the honeymoon…all of it.”

I grin. “I don’t need a big, gaudy, crazy ring.”

“Too late,” he says, and pulls something out of his pocket.

A big, gorgeous , crazy ring. That he’s obviously been carrying around.

He slips it onto my finger, then lifts it to his lips and kisses it. “I’m going over the top for this. For us. Deal with it.”

And dammit, what am I supposed to do? We’ve all heard of Prince Charming, but no one prepared me for Prince Charming’s hot, bossy bodyguard with a heart of gold.

There’s no resisting that.

So I just say, “Fifty-thousand or an amount equal to what we spend on the wedding, whichever is greater.”

He leans in and growls. “I expect you to make it worth every penny.”

I grin and say, “Ditto.”

And I have no doubt everything will surpass my wildest dreams.

Thank you so much for reading Recklessly Rogue!

I hope you loved Henry and Ruby’s story!