Epilogue
EPILOGUE
TOBIAS
Seven-ish Months Later
“Who was the first person you told outside of your family and close friends circle that you were a romance writer?”
Natalie reads out loud a question from the interview I did at the end of last summer.
She’s leaning back in her chair, the sun shining down on her barely covered body as we soak up the sun on a beach in the Maldives.
The same trip I planned and gave to the girls for her bachelorette party. One way or the other, I was sending her on her dream trip.
Little did I know that it would be the trip where I propose to her.
But shhh, she doesn’t know that fun fact quite yet.
“Are you listening?” she asks, turning to me.
I grin, waiting for her to go on.
“Yep. You’ve got my full attention.”
As she should and always does.
“Do you remember your answer?”
“I do.”
“Hmm, well, let's see what it is.”
Her voice turns deep as she imitates me. “The first person I told I was a romance writer outside of my friends and family was a girl I’d met at a party.” She stops talking, and when she goes on, her voice is normal again. “I’d known her for maybe thirty minutes but knew she was different. She was the kind of girl you meet and then work your ass off to keep in your life.”
“Does this girl have a name?” she reads the next question. “Nat—” She pauses to take a breath. “Natalie Miller.”
“And is this woman still in your life?” she keeps reading. “She is, and I’ll make it my goal to see that she’s there for the rest of my life.”
She has tears in her eyes. “I was still with Griffin when you did this interview, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“But you knew. Even if you didn’t know know, you knew.”
“You’re starting to sound like Beck.”
She laughs. “He’s starting to sound a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.”
“Shhh, we might be thousands of miles away, but he will hear you.”
“This is amazing, Tobias, and perfect timing since we just announced the release date of our book.”
“Impeccable timing,” I say.
“Truly,” she teases me.
“Do you know what would make it even better?”
“Better?” she asks with a laugh. “You’ve got the cover and center of L-Mag, your first book in years comes out in two months, and you’re on a beach drinking fruity drinks with your best friend who doubles as your girlfriend.” She turns to me with a giant smile. “What more could you want?”
“Well,” I start, reaching into the only zipped compartment of our beach bag. I grab the small black box and slide off my lounger to my knee. “If that best-friend-turned-girlfriend wants to turn into my wife, that would be better.”
Her eyes grow wider, and her hand covers her heart.
“Tobias,” she whispers.
“I meant what I said. I will fight to keep you in my life until my dying day, but it would be a lot easier if you were my wife.”
She bites her lip, and I let out a small groan.
“My life is not a life I want to live unless you are in it, Natalie Miller. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she shouts and then tackles me to the sand. I barely snap the ring box closed before I fall backward, and she smothers me with kisses.
The faint clapping of an audience behind us steals her attention.
“Oh, people are—OH MY GOD!”
I chuckle as she smacks my chest. “You invited everyone!”
I glance back at the group: Hero and Nora, Zane and Willa, Beck and Calla, Graham and Paige, and finally, Simon and Greer.
“I love everything about this,” she says, kissing me again.
“Good. Now, let’s put this ring on your finger and make it official.”
She sits back on her heels and holds her left hand out for me. I slide the ring on just as everyone reaches us on the sand.
“Let me see!” The girls huddle around her as all the guys pat my back or shake my hand.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Stunning.”
“It’s so shiny!”
“He did a great job.”
“Yeah.” Nat looks over at me, and my eyes meet hers. “He did real nice .”
I let out a throaty laugh and then swoop her into my arms.
“What did I tell you about calling me nice?”
She shrugs playfully in the way she always does.
“I guess you better remind me.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
And later that night, I did.
Twice.
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