Epilogue
MEGAN
One month later
We were going to be late to the office. Over the past couple weeks, Luke and I worked from home on Monday mornings. Typically, we only went to the office in the afternoon if it was required, like today.
I’d finished dressing, but Luke was still in the bedroom we’d converted into a work area.
I loved working from home, though my man was quite a distraction.
Right now, he was very focused on his computer and didn't hear me come in.
I tiptoed, sneaking up behind him, wanting to startle him.
He must have heard me at the last second because he looked over his shoulder and abruptly turned the computer screen away, then stood up from the leather armchair.
Huh? What was that? Is my Luke keeping something from me?
"What are you doing?" I asked.
He turned around. "Working." I tried to peek past him, but he moved in the same direction as I did.
"What are you hiding from me?" I asked, deciding to take the bull by its horns.
"Nothing."
"And you think I'm going to buy that explanation, huh?"
He looked at me playfully, but his eyes were intense. "Fine. You can look." He turned the computer around and sat down on his chair, patting his legs. I sat in his lap, intentionally squirming a bit, trying to get a reaction from him. It worked. He groaned.
Then I glanced at the screen. He was working on a house.
"Oh, this is beautiful," I said. It had five bedrooms and a huge living room. Oh, it even had the kitchen in a nook, like I loved. “Wow, it’s even got two terraces. One on the west, one on the east. Who is it for?”
“Us. Couldn’t find your dream house, so I’ll build it for you.”
I looked straight at him. His eyes were full of happiness.
"What?" My voice was uneven.
"I've been working on it for a while. I wanted to surprise you. The plan was always to finish it together, but I wanted to lay the groundwork."
I looked at the screen, barely believing my eyes. "You've incorporated everything I ever told you about my dream house."
"Yeah, they were good ideas," he said with a lazy smile.
"Oh my goodness, I have so many more ideas," I said, excitement coursing through me.
"I was banking on that, because I was just putting the final touches on it before I showed it to you."
"You even planned the five bedrooms, and you wrote 'home office' on two of them."
"As I said, you have great ideas, babe. Although, we could just share one of the huge rooms as an office."
I glanced at him, rolling my eyes. "Then we'll never get anything done."
"Yes, we will."
I closed my eyes, smiling. "I can just picture it, each of us working from home, going out and taking turns snuggling our kids." I could so effortlessly visualize our future and see us together and our life. I wasn't afraid anymore, not one bit.
He kissed the side of my neck, pulling my back flat against his chest. "We'd better start building the house soon because I want to start working on those kids too."
I laughed. "Do you have land somewhere in mind?"
"No, still searching for it."
"It has to be close to Chicago and your family."
"That was the plan. I don't want us to go too far away. But there aren't any teardowns for sale in the city, so it’s going to take a while."
"We can finalize this later. We've got to go to the office, remember?" I asked.
"I was thinking we could make our whole day at the home office."
"Is that code for corrupting me into not doing any more work? It’s only one o’clock.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe.”
“No can do. I promised Klaus I’d go over some details with him in person. We could also use your input.”
He sighed. “Determined as always. Fine, let’s go.”
My God, the man knew how to make me swoon. He was always doing things for me, wanting to please me, and it made my heart swell. I was so in love that I would do anything for him too.
Half an hour later, we arrived at the office. I was still swooning, sneaking peeks at Luke every now and again. He wanted to build my dream house. How did I get so lucky?
Klaus said he was waiting for us in the meeting room. We passed Travis’s office on the way, and to our surprise, Sam came to the door. He’d arrived Friday, and I couldn’t remember how long he’d be here.
“Hey, you two. Want to come in? Travis is inside too,” Sam asked.
“Sure,” Luke replied. Travis was coming here almost daily to use his old office while working on his hotel business.
He’d already put a team together, and he’d gone to great lengths to bring the best people on board.
Last month, he’d flown to the coast to convince a renowned resort manager to come work for him, and he’d succeeded.
Travis was nothing if not relentless and determined.
"Brother, what are you doing here?" Luke asked Sam as we stepped into Travis’s office. It looked exactly like Luke’s. Travis was sitting behind his desk, glancing over the edge of his laptop from time to time.
“I was searching for someone to corrupt to take the afternoon off," Sam said.
"No can do," Luke said.
"Oh, I can cover for you," I offered. “I can go through the details today with Klaus and streamline them, and you can give us your input tomorrow morning.”
Sam winked at me. "I like you.” Turning to Luke, he added, “You always talk my ear off about not staying around enough."
Luke folded his arms over his chest. "That's because you never stay around long, and when you do, you spend all your time with your lady friend and only occasionally remember you have brothers."
"Geez, dramatic much?" Sam asked.
"Yep, drama, that's his middle name," I said.
“Well, at least I corrupted Travis. Ready to go, bro?”
“Yeah, just a sec. Let me reply to this email and—fuck, I deleted it.”
“You can find deleted emails in Trash,” I suggested.
“I know. I’ve just never worked with this email software before. I found it. Damn, there are a lot of deleted mails here. And—” He stopped abruptly, his eyes glued to the screen.
"Bad news?" Sam said.
Travis didn't answer.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Wait a second, let me make a call." He grabbed his phone, putting it to his ear. After a few seconds, he pushed it away, groaning. "She's not answering."
"Who?" Luke asked.
"Bonnie.”
The name rang a bell. At the party celebrating my promotion, he’d shared that his trip to the coast had been a highlight in more ways than one.
Not only had he convinced the hotel manager to quit his current job and come manage his hotel, but he’d also met a woman, who I was pretty sure was named Bonnie, and they’d hit it off.
But he hadn’t mentioned her since. Interesting.
“Bonnie from your trip?” Sam asked, raising his eyebrows. So, I wasn’t the only one paying attention.
Travis nodded. “She sent me an email on the company address, saying I should call her back, that she ‘has to talk to me.’"
“A woman who you were with a month ago is writing that she has to talk to you?” Sam asked.
“Maybe she’s in town, and this is a booty call,” Luke said.
“Or she’s pregnant,” Sam said nonchalantly.
Of course the doctor would go there.
I gasped. Luke scoffed.
Travis looked too stunned to answer for a few seconds. Then he vehemently shook his head. “Impossible. We were careful.” He looked around the office, determination invading his features. “Quit giving me a heart attack. I know that’s not it.”
Sam waved his hand. “You don’t want to know how often I’ve heard ‘We were careful’ from pregnant patients of mine.”
Luke stared at Sam. “Dude, you’re giving off Declan vibes. Quit scaring the man. What’s wrong with you?” Turning to Travis, he said, “I’m sure it’s nothing important. Just a booty call.”
I wasn’t sure. Why would a woman who'd met a man a month ago send an email to his company address? She really wanted to get in touch with Travis. Maybe Sam’s theory wasn’t too far off.
I nudged Luke with my elbow, nodding at Travis.
"On second thought, we could go up for a drink," he said, getting my drift.
"Oh, so when Travis needs you, you're up for some drinks, but not when I do?" Sam teased.
"My God, the drama streak runs deep in this family, doesn't it?" I joked, making Sam laugh. "Come on, out you go. I'll take care of everything here." I began to prod them all.
“You two go to the bar upstairs,” Luke said. “I’ll catch up with you.”
Travis and Sam immediately left the room.
“I’ll deal with everything. I’ve got a printed list of what Klaus and I have to finalize.”
“So thoroughly prepared,” he mused.
“Always.” We’d been working on this project for a while, so I wasn’t the least bit worried.
“What are you thinking about?” Luke asked. I must have still had concern written on my face.
“Hmm… I’m not saying.”
He narrowed his eyes, glancing at the door, then back at me. “I see. Do I have to do my best to lure it out of you?”
I shook my head. His best was code for shameless kissing. Over the past few months, he’d figured out I couldn’t quite resist spilling all my secrets if he kissed me just so.
“Or my very best.”
That was code for shameless touching.
“You can’t. We’re at the office,” I said triumphantly.
“Try me.” His eyes were hot. He lifted one corner of his mouth.
I licked my lips, laughing. “Do we need to have another conversation about what is and is not allowed at the office? We agreed—”
“No, we didn’t. You suggested, and I pretended to go along with it.”
“Go join your brothers. Klaus and I will be fine,” I said.
“Okay. Can’t wait to take you back home. Then we’ll revisit the conversation about what is and isn’t off-limits at the office.”
I grinned. “Can’t wait.”
He kissed my forehead, winking before he left the office. “Love you, babe.”
“Love you more.”
I left the office after he was gone and headed to see Klaus. Travis, Sam, and Luke hadn’t made it too far. I heard their voices coming from the elevator area. I couldn’t suppress the feeling that sooner rather than later, Travis's life would be totally turned upside down.