EPILOGUE
“You know, I think we need to lift the ban on showering together,” Caine grumbled as he sauntered down the stairs and into the kitchen.
I snorted and held out his mug of coffee before returning my attention to the notes I had spread all over the kitchen counter. “There was a reason we banned it. It was called being late for work,” I murmured absentmindedly.
The mug was removed from my hand and I narrowed my eyes on the list of boutiques Nadia had mentioned, wondering how on earth I was going to get around them all in a day.
“I didn’t mind.”
“You didn’t mind what?” I pulled out the map of Boston I’d printed off. I’d used the computer to place the boutiques on the map so I could work out the most efficient route for visiting them all.
“Being late.”
“You’re the boss,” I reminded him. “You can do what you like. I have a boss who wasn’t happy at my excuse for lateness.”
“That’s because Bree needs to get laid.”
“Caine.” I looked up at him in admonishment.
He gestured to my face. “Ah, there she is.”
Confused, I wrinkled my nose.
“I was wondering if you were ever going to look up from that thing.” He tapped the huge folder in front of me. “A ‘good morning’ would be nice.”
I winced. “Sorry. I’m just feeling the pressure with this one.” I cocked my head to the side and gave him a soft, flirtatious smile. “And was my good morning this morning in bed not satisfying enough?” I referred to the fact that I’d woken him up with my mouth.
Caine leaned across the counter so our noses were practically touching. “This morning was very nice, but I’d quite like it when I come down to get my coffee in the morning if my wife would look at me. Maybe even throw in a kiss or two.”
I smiled and lifted my left hand to cup his face, the three diamonds on my engagement ring sparkling in the light next to my wedding band. “I don’t mean to neglect you.” I brushed my lips over his apologetically. “And I promise when Nadia returns from the land of Bridezilla you will get me back.”
Caine pressed his mouth to mine, his kiss harder, searching. I moaned and melted into him, wishing with all my heart that Nadia’s wedding was over already.
Nadia had gone up in the world and was now a cohost on Boston’s most-watched breakfast show. In fact, a lot had changed in the thirty months since my whole world turned upside down and Caine finally admitted he loved me.
Not long after I started looking for a new job, I was approached by Henry’s friend Bree Stanton, a socialite turned professional career woman who had worked her ass off to create the most elite events management company in Boston. She offered me a job as an events planner and I’d fallen in love with the position almost instantly. We managed many of the biggest events on the social calendar, including weddings. And Nadia Ray’s wedding was a huge event, not only because of her celebrity status but because she’d managed to tame the untameable and wring a proposal out of Henry. A Lexington getting married was a big deal. A Lexington getting married to Boston’s favorite TV show host was an even bigger deal.
I can’t say I was surprised that Henry proposed to Nadia. I’d seen a difference in the way he interacted with her from the beginning. Despite her local fame, Nadia was down-to-earth, fun, and a real friend. I was over-the-moon for Henry and I was delighted for me because it meant I got to keep Nadia in my life too.
It also meant Nadia came to me to organize the wedding. Bree was ecstatic, and I had the promise of a very nice bonus if I pulled the wedding off without a hitch. So I had my friends’ happiness and a lovely bonus motivating me to get this day exactly the way Nadia wanted. Ever since Henry had proposed to her, she’d transformed into this crazy woman I barely recognized. I could forgive her for the crazy. My experience in wedding planning in the last two and a half years had shown that most brides (not all, though) transformed into hyper versions of themselves. I had every confidence Nadia would return to normal upon her departure for her honeymoon.
Thankfully I didn’t have the opportunity to become one of those brides, because Caine and I didn’t have a huge wedding. We invited our closest friends and family—Effie, Henry, Nadia, Rachel, and Jeff—to witness our very small, very private wedding at Caine’s (now our) summerhouse in Nantucket. I didn’t invite my grandfather, even though I wanted him there, because it was unfair to Caine. So I was shocked to discover Grandpa there on the morning of the wedding, ready to walk me down the aisle. Caine had surprised me by inviting him for me, and that just made me love my husband a million times more than I already did.
Three months after my attack Caine asked me to move in with him. Actually it was only a few weeks after. It took three months for me to agree. It was more about finally giving up my beautiful cozy apartment than not wanting to live with Caine. We were living together anyway. If I didn’t spend the night at his, he was at mine. Finally he got fed up of the back-and-forth and lack of permanency. A month after that he proposed, and two months after that we were married.
His apartment was now our apartment—it was also barely recognizable. Gone were the white leather kitchen stools and the stark black color scheme. In their place was comfortable and gender-neutral furniture with not-so-gender-neutral cushions and throws strewn on them to emulate the coziness of my old apartment.
Caine didn’t even say a word.
To be honest, I think he barely noticed.
He was used to my style now, and wasn’t a guy who was interested in soft furnishings.
“I don’t remember you being this crazy when it was our wedding.” Caine scowled down at the massive folder filled with Nadia’s wedding arrangements.
“That’s because I wasn’t. Moreover, Henry and Nadia’s wedding is for a hundred and fifty guests. We had six.”
“I liked ours better,” he murmured, sipping his coffee.
“Me too.” I laughed at his petulance, but I really couldn’t blame him. Nadia and Henry’s wedding seemed to be taking over my life at the moment.
“If they weren’t our friends.” He eyed the folder again.
“You can’t burn it,” I said.
Caine grinned at me. “Get out of my head.”
“I don’t want to.” It was my turn to grumble. “I want to dive into your head and take you to bed and have my wicked way with you.” I pushed the map away from me. “Instead I’m spending today hopping from one bridal boutique to the next trying to find the perfect bridesmaid dresses because Nadia has become obsessed with using homegrown designs.” I bugged my eyes out in frustration. “She’s not even from Boston.”
His lips twitched. “This is why you shouldn’t work with friends.”
“We did okay.”
“We were lovers. We were never friends.” To make his point he got up to put his mug in the sink and as he passed me he pressed a kiss to the side of my neck.
Three years on and he still made my toes tingle. “That’s not true. You’re my best friend.”
In answer Caine wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me back against his chest. “You’re mine too, baby. That’s why I’m asking you to put the folder of doom aside tonight so we can go out for a nice meal and spend some time together.”