Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Sophie
Ten Years Later
I stop in front of the shelf, my eyes drawn right in to the pretty light pink and purple cans with silver flowers on them. “Look,” I practically squeal, turning toward Travis. He comes walking over, tossing a few bags of chips into the cart then looks to where I’m pointing. The product design is eerily similar to what I designed back in undergrad. And it’s for an organic soda. Go figure.
“I seem to recall you telling me that pastels and flowers would never make for a good soda line, Mr. Hunt.” I cock my brow at him. “Looks to me like someone else thinks differently. Maybe my idea wasn’t so bad after all.”
A sexy smirk forms on his lips and my toes curl right up in my shoes.
“I didn’t think it was a bad idea, Mrs. Hunt.” He pulls me into his arms. “In fact, as I recall, you seem to have gotten a one hundred on that assignment.” I laugh. After I completed Mr. Maxwell’s extra credit, I did. “But I still stand by my opinion. I would never buy those.”
“Why not? They’re so pretty.” I shrug out of his arms and pick up a six-pack, taking a closer look at the packaging, reading the ingredients. “They’re better for you too. These aren’t going to burn the insides of your kidneys out.”
“I’m not going to serve frilly looking froufrou drinks to a bunch of football players, babe. Besides, I bet they taste like flowers.”
I think he’s wrong. I bet they taste amazing. Just like the real thing, but cleaner. I place the pack into the cart and reach for another flavor.
“Are you seriously getting them?”
“I think the wives will like them. Besides, these are better for the baby than that battery acid.”
He looks down at my small bump and smiles. “Okay. Whatever my pretty girl wants, she can have.”
I put one of each flavor into the cart and we keep strolling down the aisle, finishing up the rest of the shopping for the barbecue. It’s our turn to host the team and their wives today, so we need to be well stocked. Those guys can seriously pack down the food.
As soon as we get home, it’s time to prep. There’s a knock on the door, followed by Presley’s voice. “Hey, guys! All clear?”
I giggle at her remark. She thinks Travis and I go at it like rabbits. To her credit, she’s not wrong. But Travis is outside grilling up all the meat, while I get everything else ready.
“You’re safe!” I tease. “Come on in!”
“Where do you want these?” She holds out the trays of treats. I swear the baby kicks in delight, starving for some sugar. I need to crack open a soda, so I don’t dive into the sweets before the guests arrive.
“Just put them over there.” I point to the side counter. I go to grab one of the light pink cans and a glass of ice while she sets them down.
“Okay, so spill.” She turns, taking off her purse and making herself at home. “I’m dying to know what you wanted to tell me. Did you guys find out the sex of the baby? I hope you’re having a little girl like us so we can have playdates and tea parties and dress them like twins.”
I shake my head. “We’ve decided to wait to find out. But if we have a little boy, then we’ll just have to hope they become best friends like you and Kyler, and one day fall madly in love with each other.
“I like that idea even better.” She’s smiles. “Okay, so what’s the news then?”
I didn’t tell her what happened the other day because I needed to see her reaction in person.
“You know how I told you we’re trying to hire a new manager to run the marketing team. Well, you’re never going to believe who came in for the job.” Even I can’t get over the coincidence and how small of world we truly live in. “Remember Sarah Jeffers?”
Her eyes get big. “No Way!”
“Yep. As soon as I saw her, I told my VP I’d handle the interview myself.” Usually, I’m not called in until the final round, once my team has narrowed down the candidates, but I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time on this one.
“Oh my God! So, what did you do? And what did she do when she saw you?”
She was definitely shocked. Her eyes grew big and her cheeks turned bright red. Her friendly smile turned right down into a scowl, looking exactly like she did back in school. And the funny thing is, it didn’t trigger me. I didn’t feel a sliver of the fear or pain. In fact, I was happy she was there. It reminded me that I still had some unfinished business to take care of.
“She walked into my office and told me that she thought it was best for someone else to handle her interview since we knew each other. She didn’t want there to be any ‘bias’ with the decision.” What she really wanted was to ensure I didn’t ruin her chance of getting the job. Little did she know, I own the company. The girl should’ve done her research first.
“God, she’s so ignorant. So, what did you tell her?”
“I told her that there was no way I’d have someone like her working for my company. And she pretty much went pale. It looked like she was going to piss herself over the fact that I owned the place.”
“Oh, to be a fly on that wall.” Presley shakes her head.
It was rather satisfying.
“She stomped out, telling me that she was going to get a job with my biggest rival and steal all of our clients.” I smile at her idiocy. She has no clue the power I have. “I told her ‘good luck,’ then I made a few calls as soon as she left. She’ll be hard pressed to find a job in the industry now. No one wants someone like that representing their clients.”
Sarah should’ve thought about the consequences of her actions, but she never thought they’d come back to bite her in the butt. But she just got served her sentence. And I was the lucky one who got to deliver it.
“God, she’s such a bitch. And go you!” Presley gives me a high five. “So, what did she look like? Please tell me she’s frumpy and fat now.”
“She is,” I state the facts. For all the times the girl made fun of my weight, Karma decided to pay her a visit. “She hasn’t weathered well with age.”
She bursts out laughing right as Kyler comes in from out back. “What’d I miss?”
Presley turns and repeats the story, while I work to finish up the platters. I open the soda, taking a sip to quench my thirst, but immediately rush to the sink to spit it out. The thing tastes like flowers with an after taste of dirt. Gross.
“Are you okay?” They both turn to me, looking concerned.
“The baby doesn’t like it.” I blame it on my morning sickness, but the drink is putrid. And as soon as everyone is distracted, I’m going to take all the frilly drinks out to the garage and toss them in the trash. There’s no way I’m serving those to our guests. Travis was right. But he’ll never let me live it down if I tell him so.
“Guess I stand corrected.” Travis follows me into the garage to grab another case of beer. The guys have been pounding them back. Thank goodness we got double the amount this time. “All your frilly sodas are gone already. Guess we’ll be switching to those from now on.”
God no! Those drinks are disgusting.
“I threw them out,” I reluctantly admit, but if I don’t say something, he’ll make sure our fridge is always stocked, and just looking at those cans will make me queasy. “They tasted like flowers and dirt.”
He drops his head back, busting out in laughter, and I can’t even help but giggle. But to my credit, the packaging had me thinking they’d be delicious which is why I bought them. So, the marketing worked. They just didn’t have a good product to back up the packaging.
“So, are you telling me I was right, Mrs. Hunt?”
“Maybe.” I smirk as he wraps me in his arms.
“I think you owe your TA an apology.”
The warmth runs right down to my toes, tingles breaking out across my skin. I already know what’s coming.
“We have guests, Mr. Hunt.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be quick.” He drops to his knees, tucking his head up under my dress, and then it’s all a blur. His lips. His tongue. His huge fingers pumping into me. My body being hit with pleasure. Winding tighter and tighter. And I come. I come so hard he has to hold up my weight, so I don’t topple over. I swear I’m more sensitive now that I’m pregnant. But then again, Travis’s mouth is magic.
“That’s five points for being a good girl and coming fast for me.” He pulls my dress back in place and looks up with his glistening lips, smiling broadly. He’s still the sexiest guy I’ve ever met. And the most loving. Not a day goes by that I don’t pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
“And what about the other five points, Mr. Hunt?”
He stands back up, forcing me to crook my neck to look at him. And he’s still the tallest guy I know too.
“You’ll earn those later once our guests have left. I don’t want them hearing you scream as I make this little ass of yours come on my cock.” He squeezes my backside, and my body trembles. I cling to his shirt to steady myself. The anticipation is already trying to take me down. I wish the party was over now and that our guests would leave. I’m ready to be alone with my husband.
“Just give them each one of those sodas and they’ll all be running home to puke.”
He chuckles, and then leans in, nipping at my lip. Teasing me with a kiss that gets me riled again.
“I’m never going to regret giving you that B, pretty girl.” I don’t regret it either. “Now, where are the sodas? It’s time for our friends to go.”