Epilogue
Two weeks later
“ T hat tie is really unnecessary.”
Lucas Lyons scowled at his reflection in the mirror hanging over the door of Matthew and Nina Zola’s guest room, trying to get his tie to sit properly. No matter what he did, the Windsor knot looked crooked.
In his twenty years at the helm of Lyons Corp, he’d faced down hostile takeovers, congressional hearings, and boardrooms full of people who would have happily destroyed him.
But the thought of walking downstairs to meet Marie’s family on Christmas morning had his hands shaking like a child’s on the first day of school.
“Mattie will probably be in his robe,” Marie said from where she sat on the bed behind him.
“You said your brother likes vintage suits that he buys from Kate, right?”
“Sure, but he won’t be wearing them at eight in the morning on Christmas. My bet’s on an undershirt and some flannel pajamas.”
Lucas sighed, then ripped off the tie and turned to face his girlfriend.
It was such an inadequate word, girlfriend, for what she was to him.
At almost five months pregnant, Marie was more beautiful than ever in a deep green sweater that brought out her eyes and a pair of dark wool pants that accommodated her growing curves.
Her hair had gotten long enough to brush her shoulders since moving to France, and Lucas’s fingers twitched with the desire to run his hand through those silky black waves whenever he saw her.
But it wasn’t just her looks, of course, that made him stare.
It was her kindness, her patience, her wit, and so much more. Calling her his girlfriend was like calling Beethoven’s Fifth a jingle. She was his everything.
“Honestly, they’ll probably like you more without the trappings of wealth,” she said, standing to fix his collar herself.
Lucas caught the familiar scent of her perfume—something light and floral from a parfumerie she liked in Paris.
“No one likes a story about bootstraps and grit more than Zolas. Tell them you gave up everything, and they’ll be kittens. ”
Lucas managed a weak smile. “I mean, it wasn’t everything . I gave away my shares of the company, not every one of my assets. That takes a bit more time, so right now, our net worth is still about?—”
“ Your net worth. I told you, I don’t want to know.”
He caught her hands in his and trapped them over his heart.
He knew it overwhelmed her when he talked in terms of “we” and “our.” It had, after all, only been two weeks since he’d found her in France.
But he couldn’t help himself. Marie struggled with dreaming the same way he did—probably because enough hypotheticals had disappointed her from such a young age.
She didn’t like talking about futures that might not materialize, didn’t trust possibilities that seemed too good to be true.
In other words, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He’d keep them both on if it was the last thing he did.
“We should go down,” Marie said. “The kids have probably already started opening presents.”
Lucas nodded, though his stomach turned.
They’d arrived so late the night before that everyone had already gone to bed.
This would be his first real introduction to the rest of the Zola clan—people who knew exactly what he’d done to their sister last August and September, how he’d twisted her feelings, how he’d betrayed her completely for money.
People who had every reason to hate him.
“Ready?” Marie took his hand and squeezed.
“No,” Lucas admitted. “But let’s do it anyway.”
They walked downstairs to the sounds of a family gathering for Christmas morning.
Children’s voices, the clink of coffee cups, and the crunch of wrapping paper filled the air.
It was all very foreign to Lucas, who had spent most of his Christmases surrounded by his father’s corporate cronies, then shuttled off to a room where a nanny would entertain him, and later Daniel, until they could take care of themselves.
In the living room, the family was scattered in various stages of Christmas.
Lucas nodded hello to Kate and Nathan, but the others were faces he’d only seen across the room when Marie FaceTimed her siblings.
Matthew, the eldest Zola, was sitting in an armchair and holding his infant son while he and his wife watched her daughter, Olivia, open a package.
Four other children—undoubtedly Marie’s nephews and niece from her sister Lea—were also in the middle of tearing off wrapping paper while their mom directed.
Joni sat on her boyfriend Nathan’s lap while Kate had made herself comfortable in the other corner.
“Morning, everyone,” Marie said as they entered the room. “I’d like you to meet Lucas.”
The name was like a bomb dropped.
Of liquid nitrogen, given the way everyone froze.
Marie’s brother looked up with an expression that went from curious to thunderous in the space of a heartbeat.
“Matthew, don’t,” his wife murmured, but he was already handing her the baby so he could stand and walk directly to where Lucas stood.
“Lucas Lyons?” he asked without preamble.
Lucas nodded. “That’s right. It’s nice to meet you. Matthew, right?”
The punch was swift and perfectly placed to his left jaw. Lucas’s head snapped back with a crack, and he staggered but didn’t go down.
The only thing he recalled from it later was vaguely thinking Good for him , as he managed to stand up with stars in his vision.
“Mattie!” Marie shrieked. “What the hell?”
The room erupted.
“Oh, my God, Mattie,” Lea called from where she was trying and failing to keep her sons from climbing over her to see the drama. “Do you have to punch everyone we bring home?”
“He didn’t punch me,” Nathan pointed out to Joni. “Should I feel left out that your brother has never assaulted me?”
“I’m sure he would if you asked him to,” she replied with a grin that could only be described as saucy.
“Whoa!” One of Lea’s boys—Nathan thought his name was Pete, based on the photos he’d studied on the plane—jumped up from his presents. “Zio just knocked that guy out!”
“He didn’t knock him out,” corrected the older one, Tommy. “He tried, but he’s still awake. Looks like the rich guy can take a punch at least. Zio, try again. Maybe you’ll get him this time.”
“Hush, Tommy,” Lea said sharply, though Lucas caught the hint of approval in her expression. “Mattie, it’s Christmas morning. You think you can wait until after Christ’s birthday to give my boys a lesson on how to be a hoodlum?”
“What’s a hoodlum?” asked the youngest of the brothers. MJ, Lucas recalled even as he held his throbbing jaw.
“She means like a gangster,” Tommy explained helpfully.
“Oh, I want a lesson on that,” Pete said with enthusiasm.
“You really don’t,” Joni assured them. “Have Nathan teach you how to be a doctor instead.”
Nathan looked troubled. “That would take a very long time.”
“Matthew, please?” The quiet voice of Nina, Matthew’s wife, cut through the chaos.
Lucas recognized her as a member of the de Vries clan.
She was about ten years younger than him, but their families had known each other for years.
Matthew, however, looked at his wife—really looked at her, like she was the only person in the room who mattered—and Lucas saw something shift in his expression.
“You’re lucky it’s Christmas, asshole,” Matthew said finally, but he stepped back.
Lucas met those green eyes that were unnervingly like Marie’s, but didn’t flinch. “You’re lucky your family’s here too.” He might have been more experienced with business battles, but ten years of Krav Maga ensured he was no slouch in a fight.
Marie sighed. “So much for good first impressions.”
After the excitement died down and Lucas had been supplied with coffee and an ice pack, the family settled back into their Christmas morning. Lucas found himself sitting at the far end of a large sofa with Marie while they watched the rest of the mayhem.
There was a moment of silence as Lea opened a gift from her children: a small, framed photo of her late husband, Mike. The frame had been decorated with glued macaroni.
The children grew quiet as they watched their mother examine the gift with watery eyes.
“He should be here,” Matthew told her quietly as he took the frame and put it up on the mantle. “Great gift, you three. Now your dad is with us today too.”
The boys nodded, though all three seemed more subdued until their uncle located new gifts and quickly turned their attention to something besides their father.
As the gift-opening resumed, Lucas found himself studying the family dynamics with the same analytical attention he’d once brought to corporate acquisitions. The Zolas were loud, certainly, and fiercely loyal to each other, and he could see why Marie had sometimes felt swallowed up by them.
But he could also see a different side of her with them.
This Marie was a little more outspoken, then would sit back and listen while the others almost forgot she was there.
It was an interesting mix—the quiet observer and the confident woman she’d become.
He could spend the rest of his life learning all the different facets of her personality.
God, if only she’d let him.
He couldn’t understand how she’d ever felt overshadowed by her sisters.
To him, she was easily the most captivating woman in the room—hell, the most captivating woman he’d ever seen, especially now.
At nearly four months pregnant, she was starting to show, but it somehow made her even more beautiful.
Her breasts strained against her clothes in a way that distracted him, no matter how many times he told himself not to stare.
They were more sensitive too, as he’d learned just last night when she’d all but begged him for an orgasm to help her fall asleep.
She knew what it did to him when she begged too.
He’d had to keep his hand over her mouth the whole time to stay quiet in her brother’s house. That had only made her come more quickly too.