43. Epilogue
Itightened the last screw just as the front door opened and closed. Excitement bubbled through my veins, and I hurried out of the room to intercept Snow before she stumbled upon my little project.
“How was brunch?” I asked with a kiss to her lips. “You girls have fun?”
She shrugged out of her coat and pulled her boots from her feet. Stepping up to me, she wrapped her arms around my waist. Her head rested against my chest, and she blew out a long breath.
I fucking loved when she did that.
“It was nice,” she said. “Cece still hasn’t landed her dream role, but she’s not done auditioning, so that’s good. Natalie is working on another line, and get this…” Snow glanced up at me.
As always, those green eyes pierced me right down to the bottom of my soul.
“They’re moving to Spain.”
That must have been hard for her to hear. Natalie was like a sister to her.
Gazing down at her, I tucked my fingers under her chin. “I guess all our vacations will be in Spain from now on.”
She smiled, and holy hell, even after six months of marriage, it still took my breath away. “I guess so.” Snow’s head went back to my chest, and her arms tightened around my waist. “What did you get up to today?”
I wanted to keep my surprise, well, a surprise, until much later, when everything was in place. But after hearing her best friend was moving away, I figured my wife could use some cheering up.
“Tristan and Rafe stopped by to help with a project I’ve been working on,” I said, resting my chin atop her head.
Again, she drew back to look at me. “Oh yeah? What project?”
Instead of answering her, I took her hand and led her down the hall to my study. It was the one place she usually avoided, which made it the perfect place for what I had in mind. Never taking my eyes off her, I opened the door and motioned for her to go inside.
“What’s this?” she asked, gaze frantically flicking over the mess.
I pointed toward the items. “That’s a wall-to-wall bookshelf, and that’s a reading chair with a holder for your Kindle and clicker attached. I still have to put your books on the shelves, but I wasn’t sure in what order you like them. Plus, I only just finished with the shelf.”
Moving in behind her, I wrapped my arms around her and held her body flush against my chest. I bent down and spoke next to her ear, “I want you to have a place you can escape to after a crazy day, but selfishly, I want that place to be close to me.”
That was why I’d set everything up in the study. I could easily work while she read, or I could just sit with her, be with her.
“Oh, Liam.” Snow twisted in my arms and stared up at me.
I swear, I’d never get used to the way this woman looked at me.
“You didn’t have to do all this. I already have an escape.”
She pushed onto her toes, and because I wasn’t about to miss out on a kiss from my wife, I bent down to meet her mouth.
When we drew apart a while later, the smile on her lips stopped my heart in the best way possible.
“You’re all I need to drown out a crappy day,” she told me. “You’re my escape.”
I pushed my fingers into her silky tresses. “So, you’re saying I can pack everything up?”
“Don’t you dare. It’s here now; I might as well use it.” Her smile widened, and that familiar warmth spread behind my breastbone. “Wouldn’t want that hard work to go to waste.”
“Good,” I said, tugging her toward her books. “I peeked inside this one book, and there’s a scene I definitely want to recreate.”
Snow threw her head back and laughed, and shit, I still didn’t know how the fuck a guy like me had got so damn lucky. This woman found me at my worst and gave me life when I needed it most.
And for the rest of mine, I’d make sure she never had to wonder how incredibly loved she was.
Not ready to say goodbye to Liam and Everlee? Yeah, I wasn”t either, that”s why you can read this swoony little bonus chapterhere
Here”s a little sneak peek of what you can expect in Tristan and Kate”s book. The way this man falls for these two ladies has my whole chest in a vice.
My steps were slow and quiet as I tried to imagine what I’d find when I got to Millie’s room. Nothing my mind had conjured up came close to what I saw when I peeked inside.
In the corner, perched on the edge of the chair, sat my boss and husband—fake husband, I sternly corrected myself—and on a stool between his wide-spread legs, the little girl who, for all intent and purposes, was my daughter.
Millie had her book in her lap while Tristan had his fingers in her hair. Tongue poking out of the corner of his way-too-damn-luscious mouth, his expression was so serious as he concentrated on wrapping one strand of my little girl’s dark hair over the other.
Wrap, wrap, wrap, he went until he finally tied a hairband around the ends.
“All done, princess.” He sat back, brows pulled tight while he admired his work.
Millie’s little fingers immediately flew to the back of her head. She felt her way up and down the braid, then jumped up and inspected it in the mirror. The braid was messy and skewed, but judging by the gigantic smile on her face, she didn’t care one bit.
“It’s not quite as pretty as Kate’s, but with a few more practices, we’ll get there.”
The moment he’d said it, Millie whipped around and hurried back to him. Standing between his legs, she took his face in her small, small hands. “It’s perfect,” she whispered. “Thank you, Tristan.”
Then, without preamble, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. And Tristan? Well, he hugged her right back. Splaying his big hand across her back, he pulled her close. And when he squeezed his eyes shut, my poor heart just about jumped out of my chest.
Oh, my.
Slumping against the wall, I took a few much-needed breaths—and then a few more for good measure—because, holy hell, I really should not be feeling all kinds of hot and bothered by what I’d just witnessed.
Not at all.
This was Tristan, for goodness’ sake. The man who never slept with the same woman twice because he was afraid he’d get bored.
I had to remember that.
Taking a few more moments to compose myself, I straightened and headed into Millie’s room… just as Tristan walked out. Before my brain could even command my feet to stop, my nose connected with Tristan’s chest.
It wasn’t nearly enough to send me falling backward, and yet Tristan’s big hands wrapped around the back of my arms just above my elbows.
Those pesky little butterflies were back. They weren’t fluttering like the graceful animals they were supposed to be. Whatever they were doing inside my belly rivaled the biggest acrobatic act on the planet.
“Millie’s hair bothered her while she was reading. I braided it for her.”
His words were low and raspy and oh-so-sensual. He might as well have whispered how badly he wanted me out of my clothes. It had the same damn effect.
Stop it, Kate. Stop it right now. You’re better off giving your battery-operated friend a helluva workout tonight.
Pulling myself together as much as possible, I finally met his gaze. Whatever hold I’d formed on the craziness inside my brain all went to shit the instant those impossibly dark eyes seared into me.
Oh, holy hell. Why was Tristan Blake looking at me like that?
“I..uh…I thought you couldn’t…uh…braid.”
Great. I’d turned into a mumbling idiot.
“He watched videos on YouTube.” Millie’s soft voice pulled my attention to her. Sitting against her headboard, she was ready for me to read her bedtime story and tuck her in. My heart squeezed a whole lot more.
I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it.
“That was supposed to be our secret,” Tristan said. There was a hint of amusement in his tone I hadn’t heard before.
“You’re not supposed to keep secrets from the people you love. Good or bad.”
Emotion lodged inside my throat. “That’s right, baby.” Then, her words from earlier finally registered. My attention snapped back to Tristan. “Wait. You watched tutorials on how to braid hair?”
I was fully aware he was still very much holding onto me. The heat from his palms seeped into my skin, and my blood ran hot through my veins.
“Yeah.” Tristan licked his lips, color high in his cheeks. “I felt bad when I couldn’t do it the first time she asked. So…” He pulled his broad shoulders to his ears and let them drop in a shrug.
Who are you?
The words were there on the tip of my tongue. I didn’t voice it, though. Because whatever version of Tristan I was dealing with was dangerous. Dangerous to my ridiculously expensive underwear, dangerous to the careful life I’d built for Millie and me.
But mostly, he was dangerous to my heart.
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