Several Weeks Later
RAFE
“You’re not playing?” West asks me. James and Alex just headed inside to play pool, but he stayed. He’s sitting across from me with his arm around my sister.
She’s in her second wedding dress, the one without the train, that she changed into before the party. But all the dancing is done. Most guests have long since left.
“No. I should go to bed,” I say, and twist the wedding ring around my finger. “But I’m not sure what kind of reception I’ll get.”
Nora laughs. Her cheeks are flushed from champagne and happiness. “You wound her up earlier.”
“Yes. But that’s what we do.”
It’s late, and the gardens of Fairhaven are just shy of chilly. Past us on the green lawn are the sprawled remnants of the lawn games West and Nora’s wedding planner had prepared.
After the guests left, we’d all played with slightly higher stakes. Alex had insisted on adding a marriage trivia component.
Paige and I had been neck and neck… until she got a question about me she didn’t know the answer to. She didn’t enjoy losing on the best of days, and I think this one stung.
She’d headed to bed and told me to wait to follow.
I twist my ring another turn. My patience is wearing thin, like it always does, where she’s concerned.
“You two are too competitive for your own good,” Nora says. She is playing with West’s free hand, interlacing their fingers.
“Isn’t that one of the love languages?” I drain the last of my drink. “I’m out. How are you two still up? It’s your wedding. You should be exhausted.”
“Adrenaline,” Nora says.
“It’s called happiness,” West says.
“I hate you both.” I grab my dinner jacket from where I’d thrown it over a chair, and leave the happy couple behind. I almost make it into the house before I hear Nora’s little shriek.
I shouldn’t look back, but a lifetime of looking after her is a hard instinct to shake. West is carrying her over his shoulder with a broad grin.
Nope, I don’t need to see that.
Fairhaven is quiet in the way a house can only be after a noisy party. I can’t even make out the sound of James and Alex playing pool in the library. Maybe they’ve given up, too.
I head to the guest room that Paige and I share. I open the door quietly and find the room mostly dark aside from a single bedside lamp.
She’s lying on her side, eyes closed.
I shut the door firmly behind me and start undressing. “I know you’re not sleeping,” I say.
Paige huffs and turns onto her back. “How do you always know?”
“I know you.”
“That’s scary, you know.” Her face is an oval circle above the cover, and her hair is wild on the pillow. She hadn’t bothered braiding it tonight.
“You find it charming.” I undo my belt buckle and tug the pants off. “Are you still annoyed?”
“A little.”
“Have you cooled off enough for me to come and hold you?” I ask and pull back the covers on my side.
She gives me a pensive look that I can tell is all bluster. But I wait, playing along.
“Yes,” she finally says.
“Good.” I head into the bathroom and brush my teeth. When I return, she’s on her side facing me, and there’s a little furrow between her brows.
I get in beside her and reach for her. She comes immediately, sliding into my hold and resting her head on my bare chest. It feels like I can finally take a deep breath again.
She always does that. Makes me feel like the world is right.
“What happened?” I press my lips to her forehead. It had been a silly question that she hadn’t known the answer to. One Alex had thrown out. She’d pretended to be a sore loser with a wide smile and had stalked off to bed.
But not all of it had been an act.
Paige sighs. Her hair tickles my skin. “It’s silly, maybe. But I didn’t like not knowing that about you.”
My lips tug. “That my nickname as a kid was Rafou?”
“Yes. There are so many little facts I don’t know yet, and I want to know all of them.”
“Most are objectively boring.”
“Still. I want to know it all.” She turns, resting her chin against her hand, and looks at me. “Even though they know more about you than I do, I still love your friends. And your family.”
I brush her hair back and let the smile take over my face completely. “You do?”
“Yes. I feel accepted, and welcomed, and…” She blinks a few times. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had this. I guess this just reminded me of how much there’s still to discover.”
“You don’t have to be an expert on me,” I say softly, “to belong.”
“I want to be, though.”
“Then you only have to ask, and I’ll answer anything.” I pull her closer. Her lips are warm, and she tastes minty. I kiss her slowly and thoroughly.
Because we’re not in a rush.
When I release her, she’s breathing hard, and nestles against me with another soft sigh.
“We’ll figure it all out in time.” I run my hand over her back. “I want to know all there is about you, too. Going to Gloucester last week was only the beginning.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” she said. “I would have had your head if you didn’t.”
I chuckle. “I know. It’s been a fun change, living on my toes like this.”
“Good. Because you’re not getting rid of me.”
Her hometown had been exactly like she’d described it. Rustic and charming, with ocean winds that constantly reminded you of the Atlantic at it’s doorstep. We’d walked around the Mather & Wilde factory, and I’d asked her to introduce me to every single employee.
I could see why she loved them so much and why she’d fought to protect them with everything she had.
I’ll do the same.
Even if I’m planning on giving all my shares to her. I’m happy to continue working with Mather & Wilde as a Maison Valmont brand… if that’s what she wants. But I won’t have the shares be leverage between us. They’re hers, and that’s where they’ll belong.
“Darling, I never want to. You’re stuck with me. Even if you discover a new terrible fact about my past.” I tighten my arm around her waist. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she murmurs. Her breathing is evening out with each inhale. “And I want… a rematch tomorrow.”
“Always,” I say.