I may be a sucker but Jenny was right, you have to take a chance in life or you’ll miss out on the best things. Like Love. Jay’s love. And now I was totally happy to be loving Jay.
Epilogue
I perched on the back of a Vespa scooter, clinging on to Jay the way Audrey Hepburn had clung to Gregory Peck. We zipped past the Colosseum in Rome.
We’d put off our honeymoon while I’d taken control of CQ Francis. I didn’t think I could leave it until the mess I’d taken over had been sorted out and was under control.
Now we were puttering around Rome, taking our time. Enjoying the beautiful spring weather. Enjoying each other.
“Your turn,” Jay said. He pulled the scooter to the side of the road, flanked by Roman ruins on each side of the road.
I looked at him, my eyebrow raised. This was the first time I’d ever been on any kind of motorcycle or scooter, and he wanted me to drive it?
“I don’t know how!”
“Neither did Princess Ann, but she managed okay.” He’d already stepped off and was waiting for me to shuffle forward on the seat.
Still unsure, I moved forward on the old Vespa and took hold of the handles.
“It’s easy.” Jay showed me how the controls worked and we were off.
It didn’t take long for me to feel comfortable with the scooter, and I zipped us all around the streets of Rome.
I took a narrow road, having to go slow because of all the tourists walking around. The road opened up into a square, revealing the beautiful Trevi Fountain.
“Another Roman Holiday site for our list,” I said.
“You have to lie on the edge, pretending you’re asleep.”
I did as he said, trying not to laugh as I posed. We’d been spending the day recreating scenes from the movie. Jay had rented the scooter to fully immerse us in our film re-creation.
We parked our scooter and ate gelato on the Spanish Steps. I licked the pistachio ice cream, thinking it was about the best thing I had ever tasted.
“Try this espresso flavor,” Jay said putting his ice cream to my lips. I opened my mouth and licked, grunted, and sucked more into my mouth. I was wrong, the espresso was the best thing I’d ever tasted.
“Hey,” he said, pulling his cone from my mouth.
“You know what I wish more than anything?”
“What?”
“That you hadn’t waited so many years to make a move on me.”
“So do I.” He leaned over and kissed me, the icy gelato melting fast between us.
We returned to our suite at the Villa La Cupola. About the most absurd hotel room I could imagine. The ceilings were frescoed. The massive roof terrace gave stunning views over the eternal city. And as the name indicated, the living room was beneath a massive frescoed blue dome that must have reached two stories above.
But none of that was the most remarkable feature. The suite came with its very own cinema.
“It’s the only reason I booked it,” Jay had told me when we’d arrived and I’d run gawking from room to room in the amazing suite.
As soon as we got back, I put on Roman Holiday to see everywhere we’d been that day. I’m so glad Jay had made me have a turn on the scooter, so glad he always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.
The air was warm, and I went out on the massive roof terrace to enjoy the view of the sun setting over the Roman roof tops.
True to the luxury of the rest of the suite, the wooden lounge chairs were covered in cushions thicker and more comfortable than the bed in my old condo.
“Thirsty?” Jay asked carrying out two glasses of Prosecco.
“Definitely.” I took the flute of bubbles from him. Jay sat in the lounger beside me, kicking his feet up to relax.
We sat side by side, our fingers laced together between the two lounge chairs. Neither of us said anything as the sun went down, we didn’t need to.
THE END
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Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to my totally awesome advisory team, Emma, Dawn and Rachel.
Billionaire's Secret: Exposing Jay: A Chicago Suits Romance (Loving Jay Book 2) Page 16