Chapter 29 #2
Nolan closed the door to their room. He loved how Helena kicked off her shoes and stripped out of her bra as soon as she could.
She tugged on his KFD sweatshirt, which dropped to her knees, before heading to the bathroom and washing off her makeup.
It didn’t take long for her to come back all fresh-faced with her hair in a messy bun. He found her the sexiest like that.
Nolan wrapped her up in a hug and kissed her. “This is my favorite version of you.”
“You don’t like the socialite side of me who can get us a private plane and reservations at sold-out restaurants?”
“I like all sides of you because they all mix together to give me you. However, this is the real you and thus my favorite. You know I don’t care about that other stuff.
I only care about it if you do. My goal is to make you happy.
If eating at an exclusive restaurant makes you happy, then that’s what we’ll do when we’re in New York. ”
“I wanted to talk to you about that. Let’s sit down.”
Nolan sat on the edge of the bed and instead of her sitting next to him, she crawled into his lap so that her legs dangled over his knees. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t think you’d be happy in New York,” Helena admitted. Nolan felt her holding her breath as if she were waiting for his reaction and didn’t want to miss it.
“You clearly have something on your mind. Let’s talk it out. What’s going on?” Nolan asked. “You know I put in my application for the NYFD. I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t want to.”
“Yes,” Helena replied, “but you only wanted to because of me. If I weren’t in New York, you would’ve never applied.”
“True. But what’s wrong with that?”
“This is your home, Nolan. This is your community. They need you here. They want you here. And you want to be here.”
Nolan reached forward to lift Helena up so instead of sitting across his lap she was straddling his lap.
Now he could cup her face in his hands and look her in the eyes so she could see the truth of what he was about to say.
“I always knew if I was lucky enough to fall in love the way I’ve seen my friends fall in love, my home would be wherever the woman I loved was.
Location doesn’t matter—the only thing that matters is us.
We can make a new home wherever we need to and it will be our home, because we’ll have each other. ”
He saw the tears well up in her eyes and he kissed her slowly. “There’s nothing to be sad about. We somehow found each other and fell madly in love. All of that is happy news. And I love you, Helena. In New York or anywhere else. I won’t stop loving you because of the location.”
“I know,” she said with a watery smile. “That’s what makes you so special.
You’re willing to give up so much for me.
You don’t care about my money. You actually want to meet my family because they’re my family and I love them, not for what they can do for you.
You would uproot everything for me and I never had to ask you to do so.
You, Nolan Flynn, are the best man I could ever know. However, you’re wrong about something.”
“About what? Do you need to move to the Netherlands or something?” Nolan asked, knowing she spent a lot of time at The Hague.
“I asked my boss about a promotion. I haven’t talked about the firm politics much because I’m usually too busy to care.
However, Quinn and the girls really made me think about it.
See, all the men I started with several years ago have been promoted to senior associate.
I’m still a junior associate. I make half of what they make and do three to four times the work.
Plus, my client portfolio is one of the best in the firm. ”
“That's not right,” Nolan said, feeling pretty damn mad at her firm for not valuing her.
“It’s not. So, I put in a request for both a promotion and a raise, which I have absolutely earned.
This morning I received an email back from my boss saying they’re not promoting anyone at this time.
Then I found out from my paralegal that the boss’s nephew came in as a senior associate last week.
Two days after passing the bar exam. This morning I tendered my resignation,” Helena told him.
“There’s my hellion. You’ll get a new job immediately. Anyone would be stupid not to snap you up.”
“Oh, I’ve gotten eight offers so far, but I don’t need them.”
“You need some time off. I get it. I’ll support us while you take time off for however long you need. I don’t have the income you do, but I have savings. I also found out I got an interview with the NYFD this afternoon.”
Helena shook her head. “I don’t need to take time off and you don’t need to interview. I’m starting my own firm. Here. In Keeneston.”
Nolan blinked at her as the words computed. “Wait, you’re starting your own firm? Oh, sweet one, I’m so proud of you! But, why here? Don’t you need to be in New York?”
“I need to be in New York once a year for the United Nations meetings. Then I will need to be at The Hague a couple of times a year. But that doesn’t mean I need to be based in New York.
I’ve talked about this with Sebastian and Ariana.
I learned how they’re based out of Keeneston yet still work in New York and globally.
I did all of that before I got the email this morning about the promotion that won’t ever happen because I knew .
. . I just knew they were going to do that.
I’ve proven to myself that I have what it takes to make it on my own.
“I’ve proven it to my family, even when they didn’t ask me to do so.
My father did the same thing I did. He wanted to make his own mark in the world, so he left Greece to do just that.
I called him and talked it over with him the other night.
This morning I called to tell him I didn’t get the promotion and well, he told me he bought the building next to Sebastian’s new headquarters in downtown Keeneston as an investment property.
He said he heard it in my voice when we talked the other night.
I have found my own home. He knew before I did. ”
“I can’t wait to meet your father!” Nolan said with a laugh as he kissed her hard and deep.
That news was so unexpected that he was still processing it.
“Helena, you know you’re it for me, right?
I knew the second I saw you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.
The light you bring into my life is pure joy and love. ”
Tears spilled over Helena’s eyes as she looked up at him.
“I love how we’re opposites. Short, tall.
Hard, soft. City, small town. But those are all superficial.
You’re my perfect match, Nolan. In our hearts, all we both want to do is help people and be a part of a community.
We can both do that, together, here in Keeneston. ”
Helena leaned down and kissed him. The heat from it—the love from it—sent them both spinning.
No more words were needed as she reached down to pull off his shirt.
They kissed as they stripped and then Nolan’s large hands, rough from use, grabbed her bare ass and easily lifted her up and placed her back onto his lap.
Helena wrapped her legs around his trim, muscled waist as his fingers flexed into the muscles of her ass, bringing them together on a shout of pleasure.
Nothing felt better than knowing they were together, one, right now both in and out of bed.
Nolan clenched his jaw, delaying his satisfaction as he lifted Helena faster and faster until she shuddered, crying out his name as she tossed back her head.
Only then did Nolan let go. As he breathed heavily into her neck while they clung to each other, he still couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
One thing was for sure: someone was going to win that bet because he didn’t want to wait a moment longer to make her his wife.