Epilogue
THOMAS
TWO NIGHTS LATER
Nadia’s bare feet padded down the hallway and into their room, the skirt he wanted to run his hands up her legs under and take off her floating around her ankles.
She joined him in the empty walk-in closet he’d been standing in for some time, staring at the walls.
They’d moved back into his house last fall, right before Thanksgiving.
Everything had been repaired. No further reminders of that day except their own scars.
Nothing else needed to be fixed, except for this small space where he once had wanted Nadia to build him a panic room.
“What’s cooking in that brain of yours?” She tapped his temple.
He turned to face her and fell into those jade eyes of hers. She took his breath away, always did without fail. He crossed his arms. “You sure you want to know?”
“Of course. No secrets, remember?”
He arched a brow and her brilliant smile faltered just a notch, hinting she might be slightly wary of his answer. He gave in to a sly grin.
“Uh-oh,” she murmured.
“I’ve been thinking about what to do with this room.” He paused for effect. “I’m liking your idea more and more.”
“Which one?” She had multiple, from making it into a closet just for her shoes to converting it into the panic room he’d planned. Because you never know.
He was banking that any reason he’d once had need for a panic room was now in his past.
“Your original one. What you thought I wanted when I’d invited you here to work on it. Remember? You told me about it a couple months ago, and I think you’re onto something.”
She frowned. Then her eyes widened and mouth dropped open. She shook her head and her finger at him. “Oh, no, no, no. You are not going to go all Christian Grey on me.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Seriously?”
“What does he have to do with us converting this to a pleasure den?”
Nadia shrieked and he laughed at her mortified outrage. His arms snagged her waist, hugging her from behind. He buried his face into her nape and skimmed wet, open-mouthed kisses across her shoulder. “Who is he?” he asked when he reached her arm, his hand coming up to cup her breast.
“Do not make me explain him to you.”
“You’re only making me more curious.” He clasped her other breast, dragging out a deep sigh of longing from her that coiled tightly inside him. He could listen to her make that sound all night. In fact, he’d make sure exactly that happened tonight. But first…
He abruptly broke the embrace and took her hand. “I have something for you.”
“A present? I love presents.”
From a back pocket, he pulled out a small green velvet box.
Nadia stared at the box. She bit into her lip, her worried eyes lifting to his. “Tom… we talked about this.”
“Not what you think.”
She huffed a breath and took the box from him, letting it rest in her palm.
“Open it,” he encouraged.
She did, stared at what was inside, and snapped it shut. “It’s a ring.”
“A promise ring.”
“Like in high school? What? Are you promising to be monogamous until marriage?”
“No. About the marriage part. I wouldn’t dream of proposing.
I understand how much you value your independence.
” He clasped her shoulders and turned her to face him.
Crooked a finger under her chin until she was looking at him and not the ring she was probably contemplating flinging into the toilet the moment they left the closet.
“It’s a promise that I’ll never leave you like your father did. ”
Her bottom lip trembled. “Tom…”
“It’s a promise that I’ll never lie to you again, or keep secrets from you, or hold you to keeping them for me.”
A tear trickled down her unblemished cheek and his thumb wiped away the dampness.
“It’s a promise that I’ll never fall out of love with you because it’s impossible for me to do so.
I have loved you since we were kids.” He clasped her face in his hands as her bottom lip trembled.
He felt an intense pinch of emotion in his own chest. “It’s always been you, Nadia. Even when I didn’t realize it was.”
“It’s always been you, too.”
He kissed her then, open-mouthed, bundling her in his arms, his hand cupping the back of her head to keep her close. “Positive you don’t mind being stuck with the villain?” he teased against her lips when they came up for air.
She traced a finger along his jawline. “I’ve always been drawn to the darkness in stories. The villain is by far the more interesting character.”
“It’s settled then. I’m yours for keeps.”
“As if that’s news to me.” She smiled.
He took Nadia’s hand and the ring from the box.
And with his lips pressed against hers, he slid the yellow gold band with the vintage-inspired design he thought contrasted beautifully with her auburn hair, the central emerald-cut green tourmaline stone an almost exact match to her eyes, onto her right ring finger.
The gemologist at the little shop tucked away in Carmel-by-the-Sea where he’d come across the ring had told him the stone symbolized growth and resilience.
Thomas’s two favorite qualities in Nadia.
The ring was sophisticated, unconventional, and all Nadia.
Nadia looked down at the ring, her fingers splayed. “It’s beautiful,” she said through a luminous smile.
She was beautiful to him in every way.
With an arm around her waist, they returned to the bedroom where he picked up a throw blanket off a chair and opened the glass door to the patio.
Mist filled the valley, but the stars were visible overhead.
He bundled the blanket around them, his arms around her, his front to her back, and he finally felt something more enduring than the contentment and security he once sought.
He felt at peace. When Nadia leaned her head back on his shoulder, he realized that despite everything they’d done, they’d discovered something together far stronger and far longer lasting than any panic room. In each other, they’d found home.
***