“I picked it up when you were getting fitted for clothes… for your wedding dress,” he says with a grin. “That’s what I told Maria before we left. To get to work on the most beautiful wedding dress she could make… for you,” he confesses as I hold my arm out, letting the light dance around the room from my finger.
I can’t believe it, but at the same time, it’s so Maddox. It’s just so like him to spend so much, to surprise me, and to be so sweet and caring about everything, always thinking of himself last and me first.
“I figured I’d have to make an honest woman of you too, seeing as we’re gonna have a family. We have to be married, just how I feel about that sort of thing,” he says firmly.
“All I know is I love you Maddox, and I’ll never take this off, not as long as I live. I’m yours forever.”
“I love you too Jasmine, today and every other day. Now and forever.”
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
Maddox
Finding a new partner for the firm was easy, she was right in front of me at the altar.
“But I’m not a lawyer, Maddox,” she says, looking uncomfortable.
“So? Look at the last guy, he was a god damned criminal! You can become a lawyer if you want, but you don’t need to be one to be my business partner as well as my wife,” I scold her gently, kissing her after lifting the veil.
The priest cleared his throat, staring daggers at me with his eyes before raising both brows.
“I do,” I finally remember to add. Always thinking about three or four things at once, I figured why not ask Jasmine to be my partner in business as well as in everything else as we tie the knot.
“Can I really be a lawyer though?” she asks, looking thoughtful now.
“Sure, it’s a lot of work, but if you want.”
She makes a face, taking my arm as we walk back down the aisle, flowers and confetti under our feet, but from the wedding a half hour before.
“Maybe you can just chase me around the desk and I can look brainy with my glasses on, biting the end of a pencil,” she adds, making me growl at the very thought.
“And anything else I can find to put in your mouth,” I caution her.
Not wanting to spend money and with nobody either of us really had in mind to join our celebration of marriage, we decided to have a shotgun wedding in Vegas, baby bump and all.
Maria’s dress was, and still is beautiful. A modern take on a classic design. I don’t know if it shows, but I think she actually gave Jasmine her old wedding dress that she’d kept her whole life, having no children of her own, she modernized it and gifted it to Jasmine and me for our special day.
I made a sizable donation to an animal shelter Jasmine supports instead of hosting a huge reception for a bunch of people none of us liked let alone knew and we spent our honeymoon in our Vegas hotel in bed. On the balcony, in the shower… you get the idea.
Steak dinners, burgers and real milkshakes at the roadhouses on the road trip back home and stopping where and when we felt like for the remainder of our honeymoon, which I swear will never end, not if I can help it, just what Jasmine and I want.
About a thousand miles from nowhere we both spot a ‘for sale’ sign along the highway. An arrow pointing to a vast expanse of nothing beyond. Before the mountains start.
Shrugging in unison after slowing to take a closer look at the sign and open gate, I turn up the long dirt road and drive for about five miles until we see it.
A sort of cough, mixed with a gasp escapes me. It’s the house I saw in my mind the first night I was with Jasmine.
“I feel like I’ve been here before,” Jasmine murmurs, reaching out to clutch my hand as we take a closer look.
The old farmhouse has been lovingly restored, a few bits and pieces of farm equipment and antiques litter the wide porch, which stretches all the way around the house.
“This, we’ll have to keep,” Jasmine says, pulling out a faded but very fixable white wicker bassinet from behind some old boxes by the front door.
I try to open the screen door to knock, but notice a bunch of cards stuffed in there instead.
“Land agents,” I observe, creasing my mouth as I watch Jasmine squatting over the bassinet.
“We can’t just take it,” I tease her, holding back the undeniable sense of already living here as well as having been here before. Already having our family and having Jasmine and me, right here on the porch with iced tea and thunderstorms. With sunshine and hot days, with winter frosts and everything else that comes with living close to the land.
“Then we’ll leave it here, you can clean it up when we come back, once we move in,” she says knowingly and right there, right at that moment I know that’s why she’s the one. I know it’s why she’ll be the mother of our children, the brains of our business and the best friend I’ll ever have.
What little I know of real estate, I figure there’s one tucked away around here someplace, just like the business cards… and sure enough I find it.
On our way out, before I call the agent, I stop long enough at the sign out front to peel the backing off the ‘sold’ sticker and smooth it across the sign by the gate.
“It’s a long way to go to work,” Jasmine says, pecking my cheek.
“I think we can work something out. Working from home is a thing nowadays, apparently,” I tell her.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Jasmine
It was a bold move, but I know Maddox wanted a change in his life and my life is his life, so here we all are.
He could’ve given up law altogether, but Maddox wanted to personally help with the prosecution case against his former business partner, and my ex-boss.
Not to be vindictive or anything, just to make sure he recovered everything he almost lost and to understand how he’d been set up in the first place.
We heard the sentence and it was as Maddox had expected, most of the money was returned and a new board was established. A new era for Maddox and Maddox was born, and all run remotely from our ranch in the middle of nowhere. After that it was like he could finally relax again, be at home with me and little baby Marianne.
I’ve had my own video conference call today, and it confirms my recent suspicions.
“Shall we tell daddy yet?” I ask Marianne, who is bubbling and gurgling up at me from the changing table for the fourth, or is it the fifth time today?
“You’re right. I think we should tell him,” I agree, dressing her in a fresh jumpsuit and wrapping her back up in the sling I think we both prefer when I have things to do around the house.
Maddox is hard at work, putting the finishing touches on the little wicker bassinet we found that first day we came home. The day we found our place in the world.
“Almost done,” he says, dusting his hands off and keeping them separate from us, he kisses my head and then little Marianne’s.
“Something up?” he asks me, always knowing when I have something on my mind.
“I know it’s been a year… but I promise, after this. It’ll be finished, we can move it into Marianne’s room once it’s dried.
I feel our baby bouncing against me as I chuckle softly to myself. I’m not in a hurry for the bassinet, and I know how hard Maddox has worked on it, along with his cases, along with the whole damned place over the past year.
The man’s a machine.
“What is it?” he asks again, a little urgency in his voice, but not worried because he can see I’m smiling still.
“Nothing, baby. I just love watching you work,” I tell him, and he quickly washes his hands in a basin before drying them off and coming over again to hug us both.
“And I love you,” he reminds me, reminds us both as he whispers the same to Marianne.
“Jasmine,” he says firmly, looking at me with his dark, intense stare. “I know when something’s up so out with it please. You know I don’t like to guess.”
“Because you’re usu
ally wrong?” I tease him, but his concerned look breaks me. I can’t keep this from him, not for a moment longer.
“We’ll need another one of those,” I tell him, jutting my chin towards the little bassinet.
“Another one?” he asks, confused. “But I’ve been working on it for so long… it’s practically finished, why would I need…”
My eyes widen and I feel my head dancing in a nod as I absently rub my belly while my other hand strokes Marianne.
“You mean we’re…” Maddox asks, his smile widening in time with mine.
“That’s right,” I tell him. “You’re gonna be a daddy for a second time.”
Maddox stands stunned for a moment, and I can read all the questions flashing through his mind on his face.
“I only heard just now, confirmed the results with the doctor, about three months,” I tell him.
In two steps, he’s holding us both again and I feel the warmth of his strong arms around us as the heavy, dull sound of huge raindrops starts to land on the tin roof of our porch above us.
Marianne loves the sound of rain and she drifts off to sleep while Maddox and I hold each other under the porch. Even the deep rumbling of not too far thunder wakes the baby and we stand together, husband and wife, best friends and lovers, watching as the swift moving clouds eventually part.
A rainbow shines through thin fingers of lightning as it arcs across a huge plain that stretches out to the horizon as we both gasp aloud, sharing a memory from a dream sometime, some place that’s long forgotten until just now.
“A good thing I took up basket weaving,” Maddox murmurs, and I look at him askew.
“What do you think I’ve been doing all year? I’ve got six of those bassinets to fill. We’d better get busy.”
“No way,” I exclaim, my mouth gaping as I punch his arm softly.
“Yes way,” he promises. “I’ll show you in the basement later.”
“You amaze me every single day Maddox Mapleton,” I tell him truthfully.
And clutching my waist, bringing both me and his children closer to him, he tells me his secret.
“It’s because I’ve surrounded myself with amazing things… things I love more than they’ll ever know,” he tells me, and I feel the warmth of a single tear on my cheek which he kisses.
“Oh, we know alright,” I promise him.
“We know.”
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A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor
Book 86: Possessive Portuguese
Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop
Book 88: Russian’s Obsession
Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas
Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot
Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day
Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker
Book 93: Italian Mountain Man
Book 94: Aggressive Russian
Book 95: Possessive Valentine
Book 96: Possessive Hunter
Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend
Book 98: Russian Teacher
Book 99: Australian Obsession
Book 100: Russian Next Door
Book 101: Dad’s Irish Friend
Book 102: Nanny for the Russian Mafia
Book 103: Best Friend’s Dad
Book 104: Basketball Babymaker
Book 105: Possessive Veterinarian
Book 106: Brother’s Fireman Friend
Book 107: Brother’s Canadian Cowboy Friend
Book 108: Summer Vacation with Dad’s Best Friend
Book 109: Dad’s Italian Mafia Friend
Book 110: Dad’s Irish Mafia Friend
Book 111: Dad’s Football Friend
Book 112: Possessing His Dancing Queen
Book 113: Brother’s Cop Friend
Book 114: Halloween With Dad’s Best Friend
Book 115: Claimed By Her Boss
Book 116: Possessive Rider
Book 117: Dad’s Ex-Biker Buddy
Book 118: Possessive Undercover Cop
Book 119: Falling For Her Boss
Book 120: Claiming His Fashionista
Book 121: More Than Dad’s Best Friend
Book 122: Thanksgiving With Dad’s Best Friend
Book 123: Bossy Italian
Book 124: Christmas With Dad’s Mafia Fr
iend
Book 125: Maid For The Italian Mafia
Book 126: Nutcracker
Book 127: Cowboy Cerrone
Book 128: Chef’s Kiss
Book 129: Claimed By The Russian
Book 130: Bought By The Italian Mafia
Book 131: Hot Nerd
Book 132: Dad’s Italian Mafia Boss
Book 133: Mine
Book 134: Taken By The Thief
Book 135: Curves Ahead
Book 136: Her Mafia Valentine
Book 137: Doctor Valentine
Book 138: Maid For The Irish Mafia
Book 139: Winning Her Curves
Book 140: Dad’s Cartel Best Friend
Book 141: Dad’s Greek Mafia Friend
Book 142: Lawyer’s Obsession
Book 143: Attending Her Curves
Book 144: Maid for the Russian Mafia
Book 145: Priest
Book 146: Claimed By Dad’s Best Friend
Book 147: His Curvy Office Obsession
Book 148: Easter with Dad's Best Friend
Book 149: Veterinarian's Obsession
Book 150: Curves For Her Older Boss
Book 151: Mob Lawyer's Curves
Book 152: Maid For The Doctor Next Door
Book 153: Possessive Forest Ranger
Book 154: Nurse For The Russian Mafia
Book 155: Dad’s Fireman Friend
Book 156: Russian Mountain Man
Book 157: Possessive Italian Doctor
Book 158: Dad's EMT Best Friend
Book 159: Claimed By The Publisher
Book 160: Mr. CEO
Book 161: His Curvy Castaway Obsession
Book 162: Claiming His Reunion Obsession
Book 163: Claimed By Dad’s College Friend
Book 164: Dad’s Detective Best Friend
Book 165: Attending The Russian Mafia
Book 166: Dad's Biker Best Friend
Book 167: My Dad's Russian Mafia Friend
Book 168: Possessive Landlord
Book 169: Gardener For The Mafia
Book 170: Possessive Fighter
Book 171: Claiming Her Sweet Curves
Bool 172: Possessive Camp Counselor
Book 173: Claimed By Dad's Italian Best Friend
Book 174: Possessive Neighbor
Book 175: 4th of July With Dad's Best Friend
Book 176: Claimed By Her Enemy
Book 177: Bodyguard’s Obsession
Her Innocent CEO: An Instalove Possessive Male Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 191) Page 8