Epilogue
OLIVIA
Life is short, so love your life.
—Olivia’s Secret Thoughts
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything hotter than my husband holding our baby,” I whisper to my sister as she hands me another margarita.
Guess I’ll be pumping and dumping tonight.
In the three months since our son was born, I’ve had exactly one glass of wine, and that went straight to my head.
This is my second margarita. ’Nuff said.
“I swear there really is just something biological about it. I can remember wanting to jump Deacon’s bones every time he had Knight on his naked chest.”
“You want to jump Deacon’s bones every time he breathes, Brynnie,” I murmur and sip the salty-sweet goodness that’s going down just a little too easy.
“And you don’t?” she asks, then blinks. “I mean Logan’s bones, obviously.”
“I want to find someone’s bones to jump,” Waverly groans, and Brynn and I just laugh.
“It will happen, little sister,” I tease, and Waves laughs as I steady myself against her arm to stand. “I’ll be back, ladies.”
“There are children on this beach, Olivia . . .” Brynlee teases.
“Your children,” Waverly adds with a laugh. “Keep it PG.”
“PG is overrated,” I murmur and make my way down the hot sand to the ocean’s edge, where my husband stands in navy-blue board shorts that hang low on his lean hips.
His gloriously golden chest is bare, and his favorite Nobles hat shields his eyes while he cradles a sleeping Jasper against him as our daughter builds dribble castles next to him.
“Mommy,” she squeals when she sees me, and truly hearing that from my daughter will never get old. “Will you build a castle with us?”
“I sure will,” I tell her and adjust the sun hat shading her face. But first . . . I lift up on my toes and brush my lips over Logan’s. “Have I told you lately just how unbelievably sexy I find watching you holding our son to be?”
He captures my lips with his and brushes his tongue along mine before running a hand down my back and grabbing my ass. “Have I told you how unbelievably sexy I find everything about you to be, Olive?”
“I’d love it if you’d show me, Adler . . .” I whisper, my tongue dragging along his ear.
“You realize it’s considered cruel and unusual punishment to wear this bikini and say those words when we’re stuck on this beach for at least another hour. Not to mention your entire family is around here somewhere, and at least one of them is always watching.”
“You’re not scared of my family, are you, Logan?” Okay, maybe I’m playing dirty and rub my breasts against his arm a little before taking Jasper from him and dropping a kiss on his tiny button nose.
“You’re going to pay for that tonight, Liv.”
“You promise?” I ask and smile.
Not a day goes by where I don’t thank God for bringing Logan Adler into my life.
For the love he’s given me.
The peace he’s given me.
“Pretty sure I told you if you went an entire twenty-four hours without working, I’d find a creative way to reward you, Liv.” Logan’s dimple pops deep in his beautiful cheek, and my heart fucking melts.
Of course, I’m holding the spitting image of this man in my arms. And when my husband’s mini smiles while he sleeps, he doesn’t just have one of his daddy’s dimples, he’s got two.
“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I haven’t so much as checked an email or answered a single call since the minute we boarded the jet, isn’t it?
” Having the freedom to do what I love and build my own agency to reflect my values and my strategies has been everything I’d hoped it would be and more.
More difficult. More rewarding. More flexible.
Just more than I ever hoped it could be.
“It’s killing you?” he teases me, and I break.
“It really is.” St. James and Associates is as much my baby as Jasper and Magnolia are. “I feel like a junkie desperate for her next fix. But I promised I wouldn’t, so I won’t. Because the same thing I promised you that weekend in Vegas still holds true. I never lose.”
“So.” He lowers his lips to my neck as Jasper begins fussing in my arms. This boy can’t be anywhere near my boobs without waking up and immediately wanting to eat. Guess it’s a shame he’s going to have to get it from the bottle today. “Do you want shoes or sexual favors, Olive?”
“How about shoes I can wear during sexual favors?” I giggle—yes, giggle—because thanks to this man, I’m officially that girl.
“I think we can manage that,” he whispers. “Now, do you think we can get Brynn and Waves to watch the kids?”
“So we can have sex?” I ask and drop my eyes to the delicious bulge in his board shorts. “Oh yeah. I think they’ll help a sister out.”
“Mommy . . .” Maggie laughs as she dribbles soft sand over my feet. “Look at my castle.”
“But first, my love,”—I hand Jasper back to Logan—“I have a castle to build.”
“Love you, Liv,” he whispers as he takes the baby back.
“Always, Adler. Always.”
The End.