Epilogue
A yearafter our weddings
“What did you call this design?”Luca scoops up Gia. She’s excited, too. We’ve waited a long time for this.
“I call it ‘Beach Chic meets Fancy Greek,’” I tease him because he’s been patient.
Luca bought me our beachfront “shack,” ahem, mansion, for our first wedding gift in Charleston. Then, for our second wedding gift in Paris, he declared that I had to remodel and redecorate it.
“Make it ours,” he said, and boy, did I ever.
It took a year.
HIF #It’s Been A Minute, I’ve Lost Count: This bitch likes to decorate. Thank god, I married a billionaire who put me on all of his accounts.
But Luca trusts me, and he should. You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but I can still pinch a penny so tight, I give ol’ Abe Lincoln a migraine.
What challenged his patience? I forbade Luca to see it. I know the sneaky, sexy fucker drove by all the time. Zar’s home is three houses down. But Luca was forbidden to enter.
Only me, Gia, and our friends-turned-decorating assistants, have been allowed inside, working with crews and teams to get this right.
It’s our forever home.
Well, one of them.
For our honeymoon, Luca gave me a little “villa,” ahem, ocean view mansion in Mykonos, too.
I swear, my husband went on a spending spree when we married. For years, he spent little. He changed nothing.
But now?
He’s changed. I’ve changed. His wallet’s changed…
“Baba,” Gia insists, “let me show you my bedroom first.”
Luca sets her down in our new front yard, a carpet of Bermuda grass lined with sago and windmill palms, azaleas, and boxwoods.
“We have a whole house to show him, kiddo.” I take Gia’s hand. Luca takes her other as we climb the steps to the front porch.
“I like the Grecian blue front doors,” he admires. “The gold hardware, too.”
“Hmm,” I wonder aloud, tapping in the security code to enter. “Wonder where I got that inspiration? Now close your eyes.”
“Let me! Let me!” Gia bounces at his feet. So, Luca scoops her up again and puts her on his shoulders.
Her little hands cover his eyes before he grumbles, “Don’t poke them out, my kóri. I need them to see what you’ve done with the place.”
“It’s pretty,” Gia assures. “Scarlett spent millions!”
“Shhh!” I cut her a look with a smile. “That was our little secret.”
“It’s not a secret.” Luca laughs. “My CFO kept me appraised of the damage.”
“Shut up,” I mutter, laughing, too. Guiding him by the elbow, he stoops through the front doors with Gia on his shoulders as I lead him inside.
The front doors automatically close and lock behind us. It’s part of the sophisticated security system I installed, along with the guard stationed outside by the beach, twenty-four-seven.
What’d you expect from the Chief of Security for The Mercier Hotels?
Luca still has his obsessed fans.
But now, he has his badass wife, too.
“Okay.” I take a breath, excited for him to see this. It’s an open-concept design with floor-to-ceiling windows to the dunes and ocean. It’s all warm white walls, plush Grecian blue furniture, gold hardware, glass fixtures, and reclaimed wood floors. God, I hope he loves it. I can’t return this shit. “Open his eyes!”
Gia lifts her hands. “Opa!” She shouts.
He blinks and looks around.
“This is the foyer.” I’m nervous.
“Oh,” he’s not smiling, “is that what they call entryways?”
His accent sounds strained. His handsome face scowls. His dark brows pinch.
Shit, that’s the look he and Gia get when they’re mad.
I huff, “You hate it, don’t you?”
This was my fear. I went more casual than Luca’s five-star luxury style. But it’s the beach. It’s South Carolina. It’s our family home. And I guess all my taste is in my country mouth because he hates my interior design.
“I don’t hate it,” he grumbles.
But tears threaten. I’ve worked so hard on this. And I’m so emotional lately. Hell, I cried when I got a damn papercut the other day when I used to take bullets with no tears.
“My belle,” he sees me getting upset and cracks his stunning smile. “I don’t hate it. I LOVE it. It’s perfect.”
I swipe away my little tear. “You…” I want to curse, but I’m a mama bear now. I have to watch my salty tongue. “You poopy head! Don’t mess with me.”
He leans, chuckling before he plants a big kiss on my lips. “I’m a Harvard-educated man. I know better than to piss off Mrs. Scarlett Mercier. I value my balls too much.”
“Baba,” Gia chirps from his shoulders, “what balls?”
“Testicles,” he answers.
“Remember?” I wink at her. “I showed you how to punch them to defend yourself.”
Gia nods. “Yeah. But Zar didn’t like it too much.”
“Yeah, well,” I shrug, grinning from ear to ear at that memory, “that’s what he gets for being my sparring partner.”
“Show me around.” Luca pats Gia’s leg. “Where’s your room?”
“Hang on.” I tug his arm. “Before we go and tour six bedrooms, seven baths, a home office, a home gym, a roof-top gazebo and spa pool, a?—”
“Cha-ching! Cha-ching!” Luca teases, following me through our new living room with sofas and seating galore—perfect for Friday night movies and more Disney hell.
“Quit pitching a fit,” I warn. “You told me to fix this place up. No more beige walls and carpet.”
“Speaking of walls.” He pauses while I slide open one of the glass doors to the deck, pool, patio, fire pit, and ocean outside. “Where did they go?”
“You told me to make it ours.” I point to the open chef’s kitchen on the far side of the first floor. It sprawls into a window-wrapped breakfast nook and sunroom.
“Cha-ching!” He admires the new wing of our home.
“Luca!” I stomp my foot.
He starts laughing even harder, and that makes Gia giggle, too. “I’m teasing you, my belle.” He beams. “Spend all our money. That’s what it’s for. I can make more.”
Securing Gia’s legs under his arm, he reaches down to slap my ass. Of course, I let him. Lucky for him, our girl is around, or he’d be in for a real fight-turned-hot-fuck-fest.
“I want to show y’all something.” I soften my tone, and he takes the hint.
Winking, he carries Gia outside.
I lead us across the new elevated sun deck and down the stairs to the ground level. The pool has been replastered. The patio has been re-tiled. The entire yard is discreetly fenced and lined with a screen of beach grass and low palms for privacy and security. Still, there’s the long boardwalk to the public beach, so HGR will keep a guard outside at all hours.
We no longer have active threats, but protecting my family’s more than my job.
At the yard’s edge, I lead us to the special garden I had designed. Luca pauses, setting Gia down. He recognizes the gesture immediately. It makes him speechless, gazing at me.
“Gia,” I take her hand, “these are irises.” I point to the enormous bed of rare, heirloom colors I planted. Purples, periwinkles, reds, pinks, oranges, yellows and whites. It’s every breath-taking variety I could find.
I squat beside her and share, “These were your mommy’s favorite flowers. Your Baba gave her some on their first date. Like these pretty pink ones. He said he gave her white ones like this to hold for their wedding. And when you were born…”
I trail off, watching Luca swipe away a quick tear.
“And when you were born,” I choke up, too, but I keep going because this is love and family and life, “he brought her a huge bouquet of these rare lavender and pink ones. They’re called ‘Mother Earth Irises.’”
“They’re pretty,” Gia says. “Like my mommy.”
“Yes, they are.” I peck her cheek. “And they’ll come back every summer, and we can plant more if you like.”
“Can I put one on in my new bedroom? In a cup with some water?”
“Sure.” I rise, taking her hand. “I bought us a bunch of vases for them.”
Gia picks a pink one, and I snap its thick stem. Proudly, she carries it up the deck stairs while Luca pulls me into a hug.
“Thank you.” His voice is gruff, but his words are tender. “It’s beautiful like she was. Like you always are, ma flamme. I don’t know how I got so lucky. Twice.”
“Maybe because under all this sexy, bossy Dom exterior,” I mutter into his linen-covered chest, “is a heart of Grecian gold.”
“Maybe it’s because I met this beautiful, fiery woman who fought for me.”
“Did I win?”
“You have my ring and my heart,” he says, keeping his arm over my shoulder. “And my billions. Come on. Show me how else you bankrupt me.”
“Luca Andreas…” I warn.
“Oh no,” he mocks as we trod up the deck stairs, “she’s getting feisty again. She’s using my middle name and accent, too.”
But I know he loves it.
He loves the new kitchen’s white marble countertops. He eyes them, teasing, “Perfect place to make Baklava and babies.”
I don’t comment.
He loves our new dining room and the custom table for fourteen I had made. But he jokes, “Are we going to be one of the uptight families who always leaves it set like that?”
He mocks the centerpiece and table laden with plates, glasses, and flatware.
“No, Mr. Harvard. We’re having a housewarming party tomorrow. Remember? Everyone’s coming, and I’ll be too busy to fuss with this.”
When I say everyone, I mean only the friends we like and the family we love. I refuse to suffer the “polite” company of Charleston’s elite any more than I have to.
We wander upstairs, where Gia disappeared a while ago. She’s obsessed with her new bedroom. I let her decorate it, and it looks like a Disney Princess Theme Park…with a bunk bed.
When we find her in there, she’s playing with her mermaid dolls, splashing them in the full sink of her ensuite bathroom.
“My, my.” But Luca spots them first on her bathroom vanity, choking down his laughter. “What do we have here?”
Then I spot them, too.
“These are their beach towels,” Gia answers. “They’re playing on the beach today.”
“Gia,” I speak, then snort, then speak again. “Those are my maxi pads.”
But tell that to her. She’s got four mermaid dolls cocooned in my Always with Wings.
Luca falls back against the wall, crying because he’s laughing so hard, and I don’t want to embarrass her, but I laugh, too.
“But I found them in you and Baba’s new bathroom.” Gia’s confused. “They’re little sticky towels.”
“Kiddo,” I smooth her ponytail, “you can play pretend with them, but they’re not for dolls. They’re for big girls and women.”
“But I’m a big girl.”
“Oh god, no,” Luca mutters. “I’m not ready.”
“Yes,” I answer her. “You’re getting older, and you’ll need them one day, too.”
“When?” she asks.
I cut a glance at Luca, and he shrugs, grinning with a this-is-your-fish-to-fry look.
“I’ll tell you tonight,” I promise.
We leave her content to play with dolls and maxi pads in her bathroom while I show him the rest of the guest rooms.
“This one’s ready for my dad.” I show it to Luca next. It has its own deck and a great ocean view.
“What time is his flight?” Luca asks because he can’t remember anything if I don’t put it in his busy calendar.
“We’re picking him up at nine.”
I’ve seen my dad several times this year. The first visit was tough, I can’t lie. I had a lot of anger and tears and questions. Me and my sisters did. But he stuck with us. Dad understood, and now he’s loving having his family back.
He sends dolls to Gia and chew toys to Crimson every month.
I take Luca’s hand and show him our owner’s suite. It’s serene with its own deck, too. The ensuite we have has all the luxuries Luca requires. Of course, he also checks the bed, pressing on the mattress, taunting me. “You sure this can handle us?”
“That’s what this room is for.”
I enter the code and unlock the white door off the side of our bedroom. Vivian and Eily helped me decorate most of the house. Eily’s indigo art is everywhere, featured in our home and Luca’s hotels. Vivian’s touch is on the furniture and lighting. She can find great deals. But Stacey helped me with our private sex room.
It’s not like the suite we still use at the hotel. Our friends coming to tomorrow’s party often come there, too. Yes, I meant that pun.
But this is a smaller room with a sex bench and chaise and a few toys, too. The walls and ceiling are papered in dark blue damask. It’s cozy and all we need since we have the hotel suite, Delta’s, and we’ve also enjoyed Silas’s superyacht.
Luca admires the room, gazing around. I glance down, and his faded jeans reveal his rising approval.
“Pace yourself, Mr. Mercier,” I warn. “I have one more room to show you.”
I take his hand and lead us back into the wide hallway.
Sunlight spills in from the skylights above, and Gia’s chatter with her dolls can be heard from her room on the other end of the long corridor.
Resting my hand on the brass door handle, I say, “Close your eyes.”
“Why?” Luca obeys. “Is this Crimson’s doggy palace? Barks-and-Bling themed that cost us a billion, too?”
“God made you sexy because you ain’t funny,” I lie. “No, Crimson will be happy in his doggy bed in Gia’s room. We’ll bring him here tomorrow, but I wanted you to see this first.”
I open the door and gently nudge him to step inside.
My waterworks start before Luca even opens his eyes to see the white crib. He blinks at it before a sexy smile blooms across his face. “Belle?” He turns and clasps my face. “Are we…?”
“Yes,” I answer. “Twelve weeks.”
“Why…?” he stammers. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because,” my lips tremble, “I wanted to surprise you. And honestly, I’m worried I might lose it.”
His kiss is tender. He understands me. “You won’t lose. You have me. You have Gia. You have your family and dog, Zar and Nick, and all our friends. No matter what happens, you’re not losing us. We won’t leave you.”
“I know.” I nuzzle my nose against his. “It’s just that we’re so happy, I worry something will happen.”
“Things will always happen.” His thumb brushes my cheek. “But that’s what our love is for. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“So,” he won’t let go of my cheeks, “when you said you were bloated from too much Moussaka and that your breasts hurt from my bites, you were lying.” He won’t stop smiling.
“Yes, Master,” I confess, “I was lying.”
“And we’ve been to the suite several times these past few months and Zar’s private parties, too, but you were pregnant the whole time?”
Zar’s parties are epic, not for what happens, but for who’s there. It seems a tight group of NFL players have to be closeted as gay or bi, but they’re not at Zar’s place. He and Nick make sure of it.
And there was that hot night, long before I was pregnant when Zar finally gave himself to Luca fully. God, I’ll never forget it. Nick and I were there. We joined them. It was one of the most erotic nights we’ve shared, and it bonded the four of us even more.
“Yes,” I answer him, “I didn’t want to say anything. I wanted to surprise you like this, in our new home. And besides, our sex life doesn’t end because I’m pregnant or whatever.”
“But it will change.” His tone drops. “I’ll always want you, my belle. We’ll always be who we are together, with no shame or secrets. But I also vowed to care for you, to protect you, too. You and…”
He pauses, glancing down at my little bloated belly. You can’t tell. It’s June, and I’m wearing a flowy sundress.
“I know what we’re having,” I tell him. “The technician was pretty sure. Do you want to know?”
“No.” He caresses my belly. “I just want you to be okay. You and our little gift.”
“Oh, come on.” I laugh. “Don’t make me keep this secret for six months.”
He kisses me. And maybe it’s because he made us wait for so long, but Luca’s kiss still takes my breath away. I smile across our lips, “Come on, Daddy Dom. I know you wanna know.”
“Fine.” He pulls back, his fingertip grazing the gold jeweled collar around my neck. “Tell me another way you’ll make me love you.”
“Make you?”
He just cocks his dark eyebrow…and smiles.
“Okay, fine. You can pick the first name, and of course, we’ll share your last name, but his middle name is ‘Pyrrhus.’”
He pauses. Tears suddenly well in his crystal eyes. “We’re having a boy?” He kisses me. “And you want his middle name to be Greek, to mean red like a flame, like your name?”
He makes me cry, too. “It’s perfect, right?”
“No,” Luca kisses me again, “Scarlett Mercier, you are.”
And again. And again. And…
Sometimes a fuck is worth it.
The joy you feel is incredible—how it heals your heart so much.
Because you can fall in love with someone after just one night and love them for the rest of your life.