Forbidden: A Student Teacher Romance
Page 27
She nodded, eyes moist once more. “I’d be honored to start my own company where you started Miami Models, Carla.”
“Good,” I said, handing her the second, amended file folder instead of the original lease agreement. “Then I’d be honored to sell it to you.”
Selena started, a look of concern on her young face. “But I can’t afford—”
“Same terms as the lease agreement,” I interrupted, opening the folder so she could see for herself. “1,200 a month, but I’ve put you on the deed as co-owners so at least you’ll be building up equity. If you decide to stay after the first year, I’ll sign it over completely and the mortgage will be yours. Fair?”
“Fair?” she squealed, embracing me in a bear hug. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before, Carla.” Then she let me go and looked at me more thoughtfully. “No,” she said. “I take that back. You gave me a chance when no one else would, with Miami Models. And look how that turned out.”
I patted her on the shoulder. “I think we’re both a little older and wiser now, aren’t we?”
She nodded, sighing with relief as we both signed the paperwork. Afterward, sliding out the bottle of champagne he’d hidden in the crisper drawer, Kellan joined us, opening it and pouring bubbly into three plastic cups he’d brought along as well.
“To new beginnings,” he said, and we all toasted—each of us beginning something new in our own right.
“You guys look so great together,” Selena said after finishing her champagne. “And you’re really enjoying it down in Siesta Key?”
We looked at each other, nodding quietly, even proudly, before turning back to her and saying, in unison, “We really are.”
We laughed at the pat response, but there was nothing “pat” about it. We were enjoying it in Siesta Key, and selling the condo to Selena was the final step in distancing ourselves from South Beach completely. Though only a few hours from our new home, it seemed a world away as we said our goodbyes—and congratulations—to Selena, standing proudly in her new, and very own, doorway.
“That was really sweet of you,” Kellan said, holding my hand almost chastely in the elevator as we descended to the lobby level.
I shrugged, walking out onto the street and toward our car. “She did me a favor, taking the condo off my hands,” I confessed. “Now I can go home with no strings attached, you know?”
Kellan nodded, opening my door for me. Peering around the sunny streets of South Beach, at once so familiar and now so distant, he winked and said, “I like that word, ‘home’.”
“Good,” I told him, sealing the moment with a long, tender kiss that held the promise of more – so much more. “Then let’s go home, Kellan, and start the rest of our life together…”
He nodded, then shook his head. “I don’t need to take you anywhere for that, Carla,” he assured me, leaning in for another long, slow, steamy kiss. “Wherever we go, from here on out, I’ll be home as long as we’re together.” I smiled at his ability to always find just the right thing to say but knew, as he raced around the hood of the car to leap into the driver’s seat, this time, Kellan wasn’t just saying something pretty to be pretty. He meant it, as much as I did, and I knew as we headed home, no matter how long we stayed in Siesta Key, it was just a temporary stop on our lifelong adventure together…
Our home.
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Amanda Heartley is an American author who grew up in Oklahoma. She’s best known for writing heartwarming billionaire, military and sports erotic romance, featuring strong, sexy bad boys with a heart, and feisty, sensual women. Amanda’s stories take you on an emotional ride of enduring love and erotic sex that always end with a happily-ever-after and her evocative characters will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book.
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Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank all of you, my lovely readers, incredible Facebook fans, newsletter subscribers, beta readers and my street team for all that you do. I so appreciate all your love and support from the bottom of my heart. Y’all rock!
A big thanks also to my P.A., Silla. Without her taking care of things, I’d never get much writing done! And last but not least, my editor and cover designer who somehow make my words and ideas sparkle.