Her breath caught. Could it be? Could he really be joining her in Geneva?
“What do you mean?” she demanded. “Spell it out.”
He flashed a smile. “My boss is letting me work remotely for five months as long as I fly back once a month for a few days to check in.”
“Can you afford all that travel?”
“I’ve got frequent flier miles from traveling so much from my old job. And now that my boss is on board…we’re a go.”
She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Omigod, I can’t believe it!”
She threw her arms around him, crying happy tears this time. He held her for a long time. Finally, she lifted her head and looked up at him. “Did I make a mistake proposing to you too soon?”
He tapped the end of her nose. “It was early, wasn’t it? After only three months of dating.”
She deflated. “I guess.”
He smiled warmly. “But if you hadn’t proposed, we wouldn’t have had a chance to see how good we were together before you went away. So I’d say if it was a mistake, it was a good mistake.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe it! I thought I was going to be so sad when I had to say goodbye and miss you so much, but it’s really happening. This is our happy ever after!”
“I never doubted for a moment.”
“Really?”
He kissed her. “Well, maybe for a tiny chimp-size moment.”
“I love you so much,” she said.
“I love you too,” he said against her mouth, and then they were kissing.
And she didn’t have to think of goodbye. She thought of nothing, her brain blissfully quiet, lost in the moment.
Epilogue
Kate had her fairy-tale wedding. She was truly Cinderella for the day from her tiara to her poufy white gown to her silver slippers decorated with crystals. They married at Ludbury House, the same mansion where her sister married, and it was glorious. Ian even wore a top hat and tails and had arranged for a horse-drawn carriage to carry them off afterward through Main Street in Clover Park back to Barry and Amber’s house, where they spent their honeymoon night before flying back to Geneva together on New Year’s Day.
The five months in Geneva flew by with Ian at her side. They were squashed together in a studio apartment, which made for frequent territorial flare-ups (from both of them) and frequent makeup sex. A thoroughly enjoyable experience. They had fun sightseeing on weekends and even made it over to Paris for a week for a romantic honeymoon.
Now it was July, she was happy to be Dr. Lewis-Furnukle (such a mouthful, ha-ha) and had begun her new assistant professor job at her alma mater MIT. She hadn’t gotten a Nobel Prize for her work; she wasn’t even in the running because her research had proven inconclusive. Nonetheless, she’d published her results that opened up some new fields of inquiry. That was enough for her to field multiple job offers. MIT came out on top, not just because Ian worked there, but because her former physics professor knew her work well and offered her a very sweet deal. They would be funding her research and sponsoring her to travel on a short-term basis to whatever facility she needed anywhere in the world. She couldn’t have predicted a more perfect fit between her career and her personal life.
They lived in Ian’s apartment and were still scouting the area for a house, made possible in large part from her parents’ generous wedding gift. She hoped their future children were of an analytical bent because they could save considerably on college tuition if the children attended MIT. It was an alternative scenario in her financial spreadsheet. Ian left all that planning up to her. He liked to go with the flow, and she made sure the flow went in the right direction. They were happy, gloriously so. And because she loved how well her first surprise for him had worked out, she had another surprise to pop on him in about six months.
Of course, she was too excited to wait that long. So she’d been giving him subtle hints, waiting for him to notice her small but gratifying baby bump. He’d been shockingly obtuse. She kept turning sideways next to him, yet he hadn’t said a word about her newly pooching stomach. Considerate beast. She’d have to be more obvious. For crying out loud, she was twelve weeks already!
Tonight she stood sideways next to their bed, completely naked. She really couldn’t have been more obvious than that. Ian was already in bed. She launched into a detailed description of her day.
“Get over here,” Ian growled.
He reached for her, and she dodged out of his grasp.
She resumed her sideways stance. His boxer briefs flew right past her head where they landed near the hamper just inside the open closet. He was a terrible basketball laundry player, but she never complained because laundry was his job, and he did it well.
“Have you made any progress on the companion robot?” she asked politely, jutting out her hip to make her belly more pronounced.
His voice dropped to a low scraping register that made her pulse thrum. “Don’t make me come get you.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and pushed her stomach out even more. “Notice anything different?”
“Did you get a haircut?”
She stood up straight and slammed her hands on her hips. “No,” she huffed.
Geez! She couldn’t believe Ian hadn’t noticed this huge baby bump. Okay, not huge. But it was something! She glanced down to be sure. Her stomach was not flat like it used to be.
She met his eyes to find him smiling rather deviously. “Why are you smiling?”
“Because I’m about to do dirty things to you.”
She held up a hand and resumed her sideways pose. “You’re ruining the surprise. If you don’t catch on soon, I’m going to have to tell you, and where’s the surprise in that?” She ran her hand over her belly in the most obvious of gestures. Sometimes the male needed a direct clue.
“Hmm…” he drawled and rubbed his chin like he was thinking really hard.
“Yes?”
He shook his head. “Oh, no. I know better than to say anything about that growing belly. That’s just my good cooking. A compliment to the chef.”
She narrowed her eyes and made one last-ditch obvious effort. “Something is cooking, and it’s all your doing.”
He leaned back on his elbows, giving her a thorough once-over. “Sorry. I don’t do subtle. Spell it out.”
She put her hands on her hips and faced him. “You do so do subtle! I’m the one who doesn’t do subtle!”
He sat up and reached for her again. She darted out of reach and resumed her sideways hip-jutting, huge-belly-protruding pose. She lifted her chin and looked off in the distance so her expression wouldn’t give it away.
“Are you practicing to be a model?” he asked.
She bit back a laugh. “Yes, I’m practicing to be a nude model.”
“I knew it.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
She turned to him, met his warm brown eyes, and melted. “You know.”
He grinned. “Congratulations to me. And you. Now get over here, you tempting seductress.”
She crawled over the mattress to him, and he grabbed her and rolled her under him. He stroked her cheek, gazing at her tenderly, then stroked down her throat, leaving a tingling trail.
“How long have you known?” she whispered.
He kissed her. “Since I planted my seed, little monkey.”
“You did not know then! I didn’t know then.”
He gave her his crooked adorable smile.
“For real, when did you know?” she asked.
He started kissing his way down her body. Her limbs got heavy, and her eyes fluttered closed. Short-circuited and loving it.
He spoke again when he reached her belly and kissed it reverently. “I knew when you started decorating the apartment with curtains and throw blankets and framed pictures of our family. I knew when your equations turned into hearts and stars. I knew when you started polling random women with strollers for the pain level of labor on a scale of one to ten. I knew
—”
“Okay! So I’m not so great at surprises.”
He dropped a kiss on her sex, making her jolt, before levering back up to kiss her on the mouth. “I’m just great at you.”
“Am I great at you?”
He kissed the corner of her mouth, then the other corner, and when her lips parted on a sigh, he claimed her mouth. The kiss went on and on, and then something changed and it turned harder, rougher, deeper.
He tore his mouth away. “Let’s see how great you are at me. What am I thinking right now?”
“You want a hard screw, but you’re worried about the baby, so you’re thinking of going down on me instead,” she suggested.
He kissed her and bit her lower lip. “Brilliant, she’s brilliant. And so subtle too.” He was onto her with her subtle suggestions. She didn’t care because he obliged, kissing his way down her body until he reached her favorite spot. The spot he owned like a stud.
He sucked hard, and she saw stars. He lifted his head, arranging her legs over his shoulders. “Tell me everything you’ve learned so far about pregnancy and labor in great detail,” he said, which got her excited because, boy, did she know a lot.
“The first trimester can be…” Her brain shut down as he lapped at her. “Ohgod, ohgod, ohgod.”
“Keep talking,” he said and resumed the sweet torture.
“Please. Oh god.” She tensed, already so close. He stopped, and she grabbed his head, trying to push him back down. It didn’t work.
“Fascinating,” he said. “What else, darling? I love hearing you talk.”
“Please,” she begged. He lowered his head again. She was lost. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop,” she chanted as she climbed and climbed and climbed.
He stopped. “Call me stud.”
“Stud,” she said immediately, and that mouth returned, firm and hungry on her. “Oh, oh.” She lost the power of speech and then she flew. The entire galaxy appeared behind her eyes, and she was soaring among the stars. She was vaguely aware of Ian shifting, and then he lifted her, settling her on top of him. His hands on her hips guided her down on him really, really slow. She realized with a start that he’d been doing this the past several times they made love, and now she knew why. He was being careful of the baby. Her heart filled with mushy overwhelming love.
She leaned down and kissed him. “I love you so much.”
“Love you too. Lean back, darling, I’m gonna make you see stars again.”
“How did you know I see stars?”
“You talk about it after you come.”
She did? She was in such a weird out-of-her-mind place she didn’t realize. “What do I say?”
“Stars, just one word, in a reverent grateful tone.”
“Grateful!”
And then he was moving her, guiding her to his rhythm. She ran her hand through her hair, relaxed and filled with pleasure.
“So we’re twelve weeks,” he said, startling her. She hadn’t told him how far along she was. She kept track of it on a very informative website with week-by-week ultrasound pictures showing the development of the baby.
She leaned her hands on his shoulders to get a good look at him. “Are you spying on me?”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “You put a square around the date you start your period on the kitchen calendar. I can do math.”
“Yes, we’re twelve weeks.” She liked the way he said “we,” though she wished “we” could share the pain of mo-fo labor her sister had told her about in great gory detail recently. Though Amber declared it all worth it when she held her newborn son, Wyatt, in her arms. Kate had to agree. Wyatt was a little over three months and adorable.
Ian’s hand slid down her spine, bringing a hot tingle. He cupped her ass. “Notice how I didn’t pass out at this baby news.”
She grinned, remembering when he’d passed out over her fake baby news back when she’d first proposed to him. She kissed him and sucked his lower lip into her mouth. He thrust, taking her deep and holding her there, joined tightly together.
“You must be ready for a permanent commitment with me,” she said, her breath coming a little faster now.
He pressed his hand with the wedding band on it against hers. “I guess so.”
“You guess so!” And then she rode him wicked fast and hard, short-circuiting his teasing ways and reminding him he was hers.
Afterwards, she collapsed on top of him, her cheek to his chest, listening to his wildly thumping heart.
Ian finally spoke. “Damn, woman. I didn’t think you could get any hornier. This pregnancy thing is really working for me.”
She giggled and then sighed in contentment. “Me too.”
~ ~ ~
Don’t miss my new standalone series about the irresistibly sexy Campbell brothers (and a tomboy sister) who find love with the help of the matchmaking leader of The Happy Endings Book Club. Join the club and get your happy ending! Hidden Hollywood (Happy Endings Book Club #1) is available now. Read on for an excerpt!
Hidden Hollywood
She’s on top…
When superstar actress Claire Jordan researched her role for the Fierce Trilogy movies, she never expected the bond she feels with the author and her romance book club aka The Happy Endings Book Club. Soon Claire finds herself confessing her secret longing for a regular guy—no more egocentric wealthy players—and the book club is all too ready to help. In disguise as a regular girl, she’s all set for a date with book-club-approved Josh Campbell.
He’s on top…
Billionaire tech CEO Jake Campbell is weary of gold-digging women, especially the glamorous superficial types. So when his identical twin, Josh, calls in a favor, asking Jake to step in as him on a date, Jake figures one of Josh’s cute girl-next-door types might be just what he needs. One night of passion with the sweet girl next door leaves Jake wanting more, except she seems to have vanished.
Sometimes a Happy Ending is just the beginning.
Claire bit her lower lip. “This is why I can’t have real relationships. I can’t trust anyone.”
“You can trust me,” Jake said.
She sighed. “I don’t even know you.”
“Get to know me.”
“Jake…” She looked away.
“One date, the real deal. Jake and Claire.”
He could tell she was tempted. She didn’t give him a no right away and now she was searching his face, looking for the truth. He leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers, coaxing. He pulled back and met her eyes, fully prepared to do this all night if he had to. Coaxing, charming, easing his way in. He’d thought coaxing would be too difficult with the way he wanted her, but having her pull away was much harder.
She spoke quietly. “You don’t want that kind of spotlight on you. It’s not pretty.”
It wasn’t a no.
“I want you, and whatever comes with it, I don’t care.” He cradled her face with both hands. “I want Claire.”
She closed her eyes, and he dropped his hands to her shoulders, sliding them down the satiny smooth skin of her arms to her hands. He took her hands from behind her and pulled them forward, just holding them. She didn’t pull away. He sensed she was leaning toward letting him in.
Finally she spoke, the words filling him with elation. “We’d have to keep it quiet.”
Not that he wanted to keep it quiet. He just wanted to be with her so much he was willing to play the game her way. For now. He kissed her softly and spoke against her lips. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes.” She shoved him away. “Now stop kissing me. One date. Jake and Claire.”
“Why do I have to stop kissing you?”
“Because you want to get to know me, remember?”
“I can get to know your body first. Get reacquainted.”
She laughed. “Yeah. I’ve heard that one before.”
He figured she probably did. Everyone wanted the sexiest woman alive. He’d seen the magazine giving her that honor and
her bikini body splashed everywhere. He knew that kind of attention didn’t always bring out the best in people, and he realized he had to stand out from the pack.
He stepped back and helped her off the table.
“Such a gentleman,” she teased.
“It’s all an illusion,” he replied, not bothering to hide the edge of unsatisfied lust in his voice.
“Story of my life,” she said breezily. “I’ll text Hailey to let you know when I’m free.”
“At least give me your number now that we’ve established how much you lust for me.” She laughed, and he grinned. “I’d like to stop going through other people.” He pulled his cell from his pocket, punched in the code, and handed it over.
She typed her number in while saying, “I never give this number to anyone. Only a handful of people have it on a need-to-know basis. Can you handle that kind of responsibility?”
“What do you think?” It was an honor and, hell, he’d earned it with all his restraint.
She met his eyes, fire back in hers. “I hope so. I swear I will hunt you down—”
He cut her off with a kiss. Not a gentle one. The kind that said he’d be taking what he wanted and she’d damn well like it. She sagged against him.
When he was good and ready, he broke the kiss and snagged his cell from her limp hand. “Later, Claire Jordan.”
She fought back a smile and then beamed a big one at him, stunningly beautiful in her well-kissed, hot-for-him state. “Later, Jake Campbell.”
He grinned and headed out the door. Now that was more like it.
Want to read more? Hidden Hollywood is out now!
You’ve just read book #5 in the Clover Park STUDS series. The books in the series are Almost in Love (Barry & Amber), Almost Married (Dave & Steph), Almost Over It (Will & Jasmine), Almost Romance (Ian & Kate), and Almost Hitched (more Ian & Kate). I hope you enjoy them all!
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Almost Hitched Page 19