Making It, #2

by Christina Ross

  “I want to be you when I grow up,” I said.

  “Start reaching for the stars now, Julia, because it’s been one hell of a climb to get where I am today.”

  “Did I just hear you correctly? And did Andrew agree?”

  “He did. You are now officially an associate agent at CAA. Your office will be moved next to mine, if only because I can’t bear the idea of being too far away from you. And together, onward we’ll go to bigger deals, bigger clients—and a closer relationship. I might be a lesbian, darling, but if I ever was to have a daughter, I would have prayed in my heart that she would have turned out to be you. I love you, Julia. Welcome aboard . . .”

  Stunned, I just sat there, looking at Harper in disbelief as my throat constricted with a groundswell of emotion.

  “I made it?” I asked her. “I’m a full agent now?”

  “You are. And you’ve earned it. Your office will be next to mine. And if you agree to a yearly salary of $500,000, the job is yours.”

  Five hundred thousand dollars . . . ? Oh, my God . . .

  “Harper, I don’t know what to say. This is one of the happiest days of my life. I’ve wanted this for so long. There were times when I never thought it would happen, but now it has, and I couldn’t have done it without you. How can I ever thank you?”

  “Oh!” she said with a wicked smile. “Well, my goodness. Let me think about that for a moment. Let’s see. Oh, I know. I believe that Cartier is just around the corner from here and they have this lovely diamond bracelet I’ve been eyeing for the past month or so . . .”

  “Harper, whatever you—”

  “Julia, while I’d love something new and sparkly, that was a joke. So, how about if you just come and give me a hug? Because I’m proud of you. I knew you had this in you when I first hired you. Yes, it took time and a hell of a lot of hard work to achieve what you’ve accomplished here at CAA—every agent here, including me, has felt that pain. But you made it. You did it. You believed in yourself, you stuck it out, you won with Pepper Winters in a major way, and you’ve also scored some hugely impressive deals with many of your new clients. I might have encouraged you and given you a bit of guidance here and there, but what your success comes down to is you, Julia. You did this. So, own this moment. Revel in it. And be as proud of yourself as I am of you right now. Now get over here and give me that damned hug.”

  When I went over to hug her, tears misted my eyes, I tried to blink them away, but I couldn’t. All of these years at CAA had finally led me to this moment, and it was too much, so when I started to cry happy tears, Harper leaned away from me, looked kindly at me, handed me a tissue from her desk to dab the tears from my eyes, and when she did that?

  It struck me that she did see me as the daughter she’d never had, because for the first time in our years-long relationship, I could see that reflected back to me in her own eyes, which were sparkling with a host of their own emotions. How lucky was I to have this woman in my life? To have this opportunity to finally be an associate agent at CAA?

  I’m goddamned lucky, I thought. And I’ll never take any of it for granted . . .

  ON MY WAY BACK TO MY office, I removed my cell from my handbag and immediately called Hunter to tell him everything that had just happened.

  “Babe, you did it,” he said to me.

  “I did, Hunter. I can’t believe it. After I sealed the deal with Seed Beauty, Harper just launched into action and sealed a couple of deals of her own—and each of them was for me. I’m practically speechless. I feel like I’m about to walk into walls.”

  “Try not to do that . . .”

  “Trying my best!”

  “Julia, I’m as proud of you as I am happy for you. You’ve worked your ass off for this. If you saw the smile on my face right now, you might want to kiss it . . .”

  “I love kissing your face, Hunter. And your lips. And other parts of you . . .”

  “Are you coming home now?”

  “I wish I could, but I have to draw up some paperwork and make a few phone calls for other clients.”

  “When can I expect you?”

  “Six?”

  “Perfect,” he said. “So, tonight has officially turned into a celebration.”

  “I’m not going to lie—it has. I plan on having two martinis tonight . . .”

  “Good, because after your day? You deserve them. And just so you know, I plan on spoiling you tonight. And not just when it comes to dinner. Because after that? You and I are going to go all night long.”

  “I love you, Hunter.”

  “I love you too, Julia. Are you going to call Sienna with the good news?”

  “No, I’m going to leave it for dinner and tell her and Austin then. Then we can really party. I’ll see you when I get home, OK?”

  “I’ll be here waiting for you. In the meantime, I’m going to run over to my place and grab my suit.”

  “Wear the black one I like so well . . .”

  “Will do. And congrats again, babe. Tonight, we’re going to make a night of it—I can promise you that. In fact, I plan on making it a night you’ll never forget.”

  WHEN I RETURNED HOME at the end of the day, I unlocked my apartment door, swung it open, hung my coat in the hallway closet, and was about to call out to Hunter when I entered the living room and stopped cold as my mouth dropped when I saw what Hunter had done.

  Everywhere I looked were glimmering glass vases filled with gorgeous, long-stemmed red roses.

  They were on the tables in the living room, eight vases lined the island in the kitchen, and on the side tables in the hallway that divided the space were at least a dozen more.

  “Oh, my God . . .” I said aloud as I pressed my nose against one of the bouquets and breathed in its sweet scent. “Hunter, what have you done? All of this for a promotion? I can’t believe it—where are you? I need to give you a kiss.”

  At the far end of the hall, where my bedroom door was closed, Hunter opened it and appeared with a smile on his face. Even though dinner wasn’t for another two hours, he was already dressed in his black suit, which was tailored so perfectly, it showed off his tall, muscular frame in ways I found irresistible.

  As he came toward me, his preternaturally blue eyes met mine, and in them I could feel his love for me, which made my heart swell in my chest. While I’d been busy at work, he’d gone back to his apartment to retrieve his suit. And in the meantime? He must have called a florist to have all of these flowers delivered before I returned home. Earlier on the phone, he’d said that tonight would be a celebration. Clearly, he’d meant it, because as I looked around at what had to be over a hundred roses, this was so far off the charts, it was ridiculous.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I said as he swept me into his arms and twirled me around the wide hallway. “This day just keeps getting better and better . . .”

  “I know what you can say,” he said in my ear.

  “What’s that . . . ?”

  “That you love me . . .”

  “I do,” I said. “I never thought I’d find love again after what Michael did to me, but I have it with you now, it’s profound, and I’m grateful for it, Hunter.”

  “Dance with me?” he asked.

  “Dance with you? Here?”

  He turned his head toward the living room. “Alexa, play ‘Moon River’ by Andy Williams,” he called out.

  That was my grandparents’ favorite song. We’d danced to it at Tootie Staunton-Miller’s party for his father. He’d remembered.

  As the familiar music began to play, he took me into his arms, kissed me full on the lips, and as we started to waltz, he sang one of the lyrics to me: “Wherever you’re going, I’m going your way . . .”

  “Now, you’re going to make me cry . . .”

  “How about if we just hold one another and dance instead?”

  We did. With his left hand wrapped around my waist and his right hand holding my hand above my shoulder, we waltzed to one of my favorite love son
gs. And as we moved from side to side—slowly turning, truly burning, my world whirling—I could feel his heart beating against my chest as my own heart beat against his. And then, as the song came to an end, he fanned me out in front of him before he let go of my hand, took a step toward me, and then got down on one knee in front of me.

  Stunned and speechless, all I could do was look down at him as he reached inside his jacket pocket and removed a black velvet box. He opened it, I saw the massive diamond solitaire ring winking and blinking inside it, and then, feeling completely surprised, lightheaded, and overwhelmed, I turned my attention to him.

  “Just so you know,” he said quietly to me, “your eyes are starting to cross . . .”

  “You think?” I said to him. “Of course they are! Hunter, what are you—?”

  “I’m asking you to marry me,” he said as he looked up at me. “I’m asking you to be my wife. I’m asking you to look back at the past ten months we’ve shared together—just as I did when I bought this ring for you—and deny that we are meant to be together for the rest of our lives. I love you, Julia. I want you to be my wife, I want us to raise a family, I want to live in our own place sooner rather than later, and I hope you say yes to all of it. This is right. We are meant for one another. We are meant to be with one another. Earlier this morning, I meant it when I said that you are the love of my life. So, let me ask you again—will you marry me? Will you be the wife I never thought I’d be lucky enough to have?”

  “Of course I’ll marry you,” I said as I covered my mouth with one hand as tears stung my eyes. “Hunter, I love you so much, I can’t even tell you. But I can tell you this—I would be proud to be your wife, to have you by my side as my husband, to live with one another sooner rather than later, and one day soon, to start a family of our own.”

  When I said that, Hunter closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them to take the ring out of the velvet box, I saw that his eyes were bright with emotion, and a clear sense of relief. He took my left hand in his, he placed the ring on my ring finger, and then he stood in front of me and kissed me so passionately, I almost didn’t hear the distinct sound of a bottle popping somewhere in the back of the apartment.

  “What the hell . . . ?” I said to him.

  “We might have guests . . .” he said as he continued to kiss me.

  “Guests?”

  “Yeah, something like that. Guests.”

  “As in me and Austin,” Sienna said as she burst out of my bedroom with Austin at her side. In her hand was a bottle of champagne. In Austin’s hands were four gleaming champagne flutes. On their faces were two enormous smiles. “Because as if we were going to miss this!”

  “I can’t believe this . . .” I said as my best friend rushed over to me and gave me a hug. “Sienna, what if I had said no?”

  “Then Austin and I would have had to slink out of your apartment while you were using—I don’t know—something like the ladies’ room. You know, because that shit would have been awkward otherwise.”

  She leaned back and winked at me as her face softened.

  “But I knew that wasn’t going to be the case, Julia,” she said. “Because when Hunter came to us and said that he was going to ask you to marry him, Austin and I urged him to. We knew it was right. You two are meant for each other. Spending time with you over these past nine months has proved that to us. And we couldn’t be happier for you both.” She placed her hand on my arm and tilted her head to the side. “Now let me see the damned ring, because Hunter refused to show it to me!”

  As Sienna and I marveled at it, I was aware of Austin putting the champagne flutes down onto a table brimming with roses. I saw him give Hunter a fist bump and then a big clap on the back. And after he congratulated Hunter, who was smiling from ear to ear, he took the bottle of champagne from Sienna’s hand, poured its bubbly contents into four glasses, and handed one to each of us.

  It was Hunter who raised his glass first, and when he did so, he raised it to me.

  “The roses are a symbol of my love for you, Julia,” he said. “They also acknowledge how proud I am of what you accomplished today at CAA. And now? Now, they stand in celebration that you’ve agreed to be my wife. I can’t tell you how happy you’ve just made me, but I plan on showing you for the rest of our lives. So, get ready for that, because you and I? Julia, you and I are going to be epic.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” I said to him.

  As we touched glasses and kissed, we turned to Sienna and Austin, clinked glasses with them, and as they cheered us on, I looked at Hunter—my Hunter—and couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling in my heart that he and I had made it. In our careers. As a couple. And now soon to be husband and wife.

  We made it, I thought as a rush of warmth washed over me. And nothing is going to stop us now . . .

  Thank you for reading Making It! I hope you enjoyed it. Look for A Very Blackwell Christmas to appear wherever e-books are sold in 2019.

  CAN’T WAIT FOR MY NEXT book? More are on the way, and finding out when is easy! Join me on Facebook here, and especially join my SPAM-free email blast here. By joining my email blast, you’ll never miss another book—or the opportunity to receive a free ARC to review a book before it goes live to the public.

  I love to hear from my readers! If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at mailto:christinarossauthor@gmail.com. I hope to hear from you soon!

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  XO,

  Christina

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