CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT #2
I let my gaze wander over the exposed lines of his tattoos, his broad, powerful shoulders, the sharp jawline I’d traced with my fingers so many times.
“There were some disappointments,” I said quietly.
“But maybe there can be some pleasures, now.” His gaze searched my face. “Some fulfilling moments. To balance out those disappointments.”
“This better not be about my booty,” I teased.
“Your booty can be involved,” Nash said with a grin. “But I want to make it up to you. No matter how long it takes.”
I contemplated the apricot petals of the peonies as I mulled over his words. “I’m scared.”
"So am I. But I'm more scared of losing what we have.
" He wet his bottom lip, his gaze so intense I thought I might wilt. “A little discomfort is a fair price for growing into a better version of myself. At your side. I might have been an idiot before, but I’m not dumb enough to fuck this up again.”
I dabbed at the corner of my eye, where some tears were trying to escape. Nash leaned in closer.
“I’m not good at being vulnerable. But I’m going to get better, because of you. I saw how much you put on the line for us. For me. You loved me, even when it was risky. The least I can do is return that. You are an inspiration to me, Clara. In every fucking way.”
The tears weren’t so easy to keep back now. “Stop it. I’m nobody. You’re the one who’s an inspiration.”
“Don’t you talk that way about my inspiration,” he chided with a smile. “Or you know where I’ll have to put my proof.”
I dissolved into laughter. He was so close now, the scent of him wrapping around me, that heady mix of pure man and expensive cologne. My eyes fluttered shut.
“You’re everything, Clara. To Mia. To me. I want you two in my life for the long run.”
“I’ve been telling myself that I…shouldn’t want you in my life. Because I can do it alone.” I swallowed hard, smoothing my palms over his chest. “I don’t want to do this alone. I can, but I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have to. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere. Because I intend to remind you of the truth as often as I can.”
“Which is what?”
“That we’re husband and wife,” he murmured, one of his hands smoothing its way up the side of my neck. “Totally in love with each other and unable to stop saying it.”
I laughed, tipping my head into the palm of his hand. “It’s okay. I like to hear it.”
“I think you should know what I did,” he said, “in Queens. All the properties are in a non-profit trust to better protect them from fucking Sebastian. And, well, this land trust needed a name, you know. So I named it after you and Mia. So there’s no doubt about how important you both are to me. For as long as I breathe.”
The meaningfulness of that move made tears spring to my eyes. I could barely see him now through the blur of my collected tears.
"Can we try again?" His voice was low, intense. "Not because of an inheritance or a business deal. This is me asking you to build a real life with me. No contracts or conditions. Just love."
The tears were slipping out now. "Nash…"
"We’ll shred the contract. We can…make a statement about what happened, if you want. Have a second wedding. Whatever feels right, we can do it. Because what matters now is you choosing me. And me choosing you. Every day. For real this time."
I looked at this man I'd fallen for four years ago in a penthouse hotel room. The man who'd proposed a fake marriage that became the most real thing in my life. The man who'd broken my heart and was now sitting here, putting it back together piece by piece.
"Yes," I whispered. "I want that so much."
His face broke into the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.
“May I kiss my wife?” he murmured, his lips mere inches from mine.
“Please.”
Nash captured my lips against his and everything else disappeared. Heat and desire flooded my body. This man felt like coming home. When our kiss ended, he pressed his forehead against mine.
“Since day one, babe.”
I smiled up at him, never wanting this moment to end. The moment when our real future began. A re-do inside Black & Brewtiful, just like it had started back in April.
“Can I pick Mia up from school with you today? I’ve missed my little dragon so much.”
“She’ll be beside herself with excitement, so yes. You’ll make her year.”
He squeezed his strong arms around me, picking me up slightly. “Will you come get in line with me so I don’t have to be apart from you for even five minutes?”
We got into line like lovebirds, his arms around me, not letting go even while paying for his iced coffee. I felt like a teenager again—sipping our drinks, making eyes at each other, playing footsie under the table.
“You’re serious about me coming to pick up Mia with you?” he asked as I gathered my things, ready to leave.
“If you’re serious, yes.”
He slung his arms around my shoulder as we headed for the door, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I love you. I’ll call the car.”
In the backseat of his car, he didn’t let go of my hand for even a second as we crossed town.
“I love you,” he said again. “I’ll be telling you this for the rest of our lives. And I’ll regret what I said to you in my penthouse the day we broke up for the rest of my life.”
Emotion welled inside me. It felt so good to hear these words. And for once, I didn’t feel like a fool for believing him. Because now the contract was a thing of the past. There was nothing keeping us here except for us wanting to be together. “I love you too, Nash.”
When we pulled up to Mia’s daycare, I could already feel the tears pressing at my eyes just imagining how happy Mia would be to see her Naff. We walked into the school, hand in hand, my heart swelling as the front desk clerk called back for Mia.
“I’ll never walk away from you or Mia again,” Nash whispered into my ear. “I can’t promise to be perfect or to have it all figured out, but I can promise that I’ll be here at your side, every day.”
I squeezed his hand, getting lost in those icy blues. That was more than enough for me. Because we could figure it out. Together.
“Naff!” Mia’s excited squeal echoed through the preschool hallway. She bolted toward us from the door of her classroom, her little backpack flopping on her back as she ran.
“There’s my little dragon!” Nash knelt down on one knee, his arms extended. She ran straight for him, leaping into his arms like it had been years instead of weeks.
“Naff is here!” she shouted, circling her little arms around his neck.
“I missed you so much, Mia.” His voice broke as he smoothed her hair down. When he stood up, hoisting her higher, his eyes were glistening. “I missed both of you more than I can even explain.”
“Let’s go home,” I suggested, rubbing Mia’s back. I could tell, from her death grip around Nash’s neck, that she wouldn’t be letting go of her Naff anytime soon.
“I hope that someday we can call the penthouse our home again,” Nash said as we stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the school. “Even I don’t call it home right now. Not when it’s missing you two and all your plants.”
“Where have you been staying?”
“Hotels or my office couch. Archer doesn’t like it when I do that.”
“Yeah, he told me you’d been spiraling.” My throat went tight and I squeezed his hand. “I think we all just work a little bit better together.”
“Move back into the penthouse with me, Clara.”
I laughed. “You just go straight for what you want.”
He pressed my knuckles to his lips, the look in his eye one that had the power to completely unravel me. “There’s no time to waste, babe. We already lost the last four years. And now these past three weeks. I’m not willing to sacrifice any more time with you.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” I said with a giggle. He pulled me into his embrace, Mia in his other arm, and that’s when it hit me.
This. Right here.
My family.
The ease, the familiarity, the fun and the excitement. Nash in my life, at my side, just made everything better.
I’d found my person. My home. And this time, we’d do things right. We’d do them our way.
And we had the rest of our lives to get it right.