by Poppy Drake
Ren’s mouth drops wide open. I know she wasn’t expecting this. What I don’t know is how she’ll take it. It’s what I want more than anything. For her to work by my side each day and to be my lover each night. Our passions aren’t mutually exclusive. Hopefully, she’ll see it, too.
As for Walter, he’s…less shocked. If I’m not mistaken, he’s smiling. “Glad to see the pair of you finally worked things out,” he says.
Ren swivels around to stare at him. If I’m honest, so do I.
“I knew from the second I saw the pair of you interact the other morning, you were meant to be together. When you’ve been in love as long as me, you just know. When I left you that night at the restaurant to call Melly, the two of you are all we talked about. ‘How can they ever get together, if they’re in competition with each other?’ I asked her. And she reassured me. ‘If it’s meant to be,’ she said, ‘it will be. Love always figures things out.’ She also said she wants the two of you to come and visit her. I’m going to leave you to it, now. I figure the pair of you will sort everything out just fine on your own, including the design of my office space, without my interference.”
Walter shakes our hands and gives Ren a light peck on the cheek. She stares after him in wonder as he walks out the door. Looks at me after he’s gone. Shakes her head in bewilderment.
“Who knew, huh? A matchmaker lies behind those bow ties,” I say.
“I haven’t given you an answer yet,” she says. She’s so quiet, so composed, I’m afraid it’s an answer I’m not going to want to hear.
“I’ve worked so hard to build my business on my own,” she continues. “Now I have everything I ever wanted to make it a success handed to me. The prime office location. Not just one assistant, but as many as I want. And with your name behind me, a leg up on building my client list. It doesn’t seem right. It will feel like I didn’t accomplish it myself.”
Invisible hands are squeezing my heart. Why does this woman have to be so stubborn? It’s part of the reason I love her, but enough is enough. “You could look at it that way,” I concede. “Or, you could view it the way I do. Love is behind all of it. We’re not just passionate for each other. We’re passionate for our business. It only makes sense to develop it and grow it together. The success of the interior design department will mean so much more if you’re a part of it. If you’re there to share it all with me.”
She sighs. “You know just how to win me over. Wait, is that why you were being so weird earlier? Because you were cooking this scheme up in your head?” she asks.
“I bet if your Nonna was here, she’d say, ‘Strike while the iron’s hot.’ That’s what I’m doing. Wait, you didn’t think I’d just suddenly decided to be done with you, did you?”
“I didn’t know what to think. And my Nonna would say that. How the hell did you know that?”
“Because it’s exactly what she said when I called her to explain she has an amazing granddaughter, who’s the love of my life.”
“Oh, Lucas.”
I bend down and nibble at her ear. “I want you to say that again, and keep saying it, upstairs in my room.”
“My cat!”
“Fine. We’ll go to your place. But we’re not taking the train. I’ll call my driver.”
“Your driver?” She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe I fell in love with a rich dude.”
I still. It’s the first time she’s admitted she loves me. “Say it again.”
“What? That you’re obnoxiously rich?”
“No, that you love me.”
She colors. She doesn’t realize she let it slip. But then she takes my hands in her smaller ones and kisses me lightly on the lips. “I love you, Lucas Fields, and I always will.”
Epilogue
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Poppy Drake writes steamy, sweet and short romances featuring strong Alpha heroes and the women they love!
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