He swallowed. “There’s something I realized I didn’t say in there.” He took a step closer to her. “I love you.”
She let herself smile just as big as she wanted to. “I love you, too,” she said.
She’d barely gotten the words out when she was in his arms. He crushed her against him, and she held on to him, just as hard. She felt his warm chest, his breath on her ear, his lips in her hair. The fragrance of the roses, still clutched in one of his hands, surrounded them.
“I wanted to tell you, before you left,” he said. “But I kept putting it off. I was scared, I think. But my God, Izzy. I love you so much.”
Then it wasn’t enough to just hold him, be held by him, and she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. She felt him smile against his lips as he kissed her back. They stood there kissing for a long time, with the sounds of New York around them, her hands in his hair, his arms holding her tight against him.
When they finally stopped kissing, Izzy laughed against his chest.
“I really hate to say this, but I have got to go back to work,” she said.
He looked down at her and smiled. “I’ll be here waiting, when you get off. I’m staying at some hotel nearby.” He started to let go of her, then stopped. “Oh! I turned in my book today, did you know?”
She pulled him down to her and kissed him again. “I know. I’m so happy. I’m so proud of you.” She made herself pull away, and they turned back toward the building. “Marta told me she started reading it on the subway on the way to work and that it’s great.”
He beamed at her. “Really? Oh wow. Oh! How was the interview? I should have texted, I’m sorry, I was just—”
She grinned. “That’s okay. I have so much to tell you. The interview was good, really good. Wait, but did you—”
Izzy heard a commotion behind her and turned.
It was Gavin.
“She’s going to regret this!” he shouted as he walked out of the building, with a security guard on either side of him.
What was going on?
Then he saw Izzy staring at him.
“You. It was you who told her it was me, wasn’t it? I bet you’re happy now, aren’t you? Well, you’re going to regret this, too.”
Izzy narrowed her eyes at him. “What the hell are you talking about, Gavin?”
He moved closer to her. “Oh, you’re going to do your little innocent smiley girl act here again, hmm? Just rainbows and sunshine over there, aren’t you? Someone apparently told Marta that they overheard me on the phone with that reporter. I can’t believe she fired me over that. But then, I can believe you did this to me.”
Gavin. Of course.
“But how could I have told her that? I wasn’t even—”
Gavin took another step toward Izzy. “I know it was you. I’ve never been fooled by you. You’ve been gunning for my job since the first moment, I knew.”
Beau turned to her with a grin.
“This guy has great timing.” He handed her the bouquet of roses. “This is going to be fun.”
Beau stepped in front of Gavin. “Hi, Gavin,” he said, in a very cheerful voice. It was very…gratifying to see how Beau loomed over Gavin. “I’m Beau. So nice to meet you. Just FYI, if you ever talk to Isabelle like that again…actually, no, let me restate that—if you ever talk to Isabelle ever again, at any time, in any context, I will make it my life’s work to destroy you. And I just turned in my book, so I have a lot of free time on my hands.”
Gavin stared up at Beau, open-mouthed. The security guards grinned.
“Now.” Beau pointed down the street. “Go.” Gavin hesitated. “Go. NOW.” Gavin turned and ran, his messenger bag bumping against his hip as he stumbled away.
“There.” Beau wiped his hands as he walked back to her side. “I found that very satisfying. Didn’t you?”
Izzy grinned up at him. “My hero.” She threw her arms around his neck.
He grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her in for a kiss. “You’d better believe it.”
Izzy opened her eyes, and smiled as she looked out the window.
It had been a busy, exhausting, wonderful year. Marta had offered her the assistant editor job at TAOAT, after Gavin’s departure had left an opening, but the offer from Maurice had been too good for her to turn down, especially after she’d flexed some negotiation skills of her own. Plus, even though it was incredible to discover Marta actually had faith in her, she was happy to get a fresh start, and to have a boss who was willing to give her positive feedback on a regular basis. Priya—who, as it turned out, had been the one who told her boss, and then Marta, that she’d overheard Gavin talking to that reporter—had been promoted, which thrilled both Priya and Izzy.
She and Beau had managed to see each other a lot—Maurice was very liberal with remote work, and Beau had been spending a lot of time with her in New York these days, too, at the apartment that she and Priya now shared. But it so good to be back in Santa Barbara now, actually on vacation and with a whole week to just be together.
She turned over to smile at him, but he wasn’t there. Why was she alone in his bed?
Then she heard his footsteps.
He pushed the bedroom door open with his bare shoulder and walked in the room, holding a very laden tray.
“What’s all this?” Izzy asked as she looked at all the food on the tray, along with a bottle of champagne and a badly wrapped present. “It’s your book release day. I was going to do this for you.”
He set the tray on the bed and picked up the bottle of champagne. “I know you were, that’s why I got up early, so I could do it for you instead.” He grinned at her. “Plus, I’m a better cook than you are.”
Izzy picked up a piece of bacon. “Okay, you have a point there, but I strategized with Michaela about this.”
He laughed as he twisted the cage from around the top of the champagne bottle. “I know,” he said. “Fun fact: Michaela works for me.”
Izzy laughed. “You and I both know that Michaela does whatever she wants around here.”
Beau grinned at her. “That’s definitely true.”
Izzy thought about what Michaela had told her when she’d arrived the day before.
“I think it’s safe to tell you this now,” Michaela had whispered in her ear. “That first day you were here: I didn’t really sprain my ankle.”
Izzy pulled away. “What?”
“You heard me.” Michaela grinned at her. “I had a feeling about you.”
Izzy still couldn’t believe it.
So fine, she’d forgive Michaela for this one.
“You can cook for me on the day your book comes out next year,” Beau said. “That’ll give you some time to learn how to cook.”
She laughed and looked down at the tray. “What’s that?” she said, pointing to the gift there.
Beau’s smile got wider. “Open it,” he said.
She picked it up. It was shaped like a book, but why would Beau get her a book? Not that she didn’t constantly come home with new books for herself, but he knew she did it so often that he’d have no idea which books she actually owned. Was it rare? Or maybe something from the library that he wanted her to keep?
“You know,” he said as she turned over the present in her hands, “it’s easier to figure out what it is if you open it.”
She rolled her eyes at him and finally tore at the wrapping paper.
It was his book. His picture was on the cover, one the photographer had taken one day last summer, when she’d come for a long weekend. The photographer had snapped the shot of Beau looking at Izzy on the beach, though only the three of them knew who Beau was looking at.
Izzy loved that picture. But why was Beau giving her his book?
She looked up at him.
“The Post-it,” he said.
She looked down at the book. There was another Read me Post-it note. There must be tickets inside. Her favorite play was coming to LA in a few months; she kept meaning to tell him they should go together. She smiled and flipped to the page.
But there were no tickets. She read the page and then looked up at him, her eyes full of tears.
To Isabelle. I never would have been able to write this book if it wasn’t for you. I love you.
She’d assumed he’d dedicate it to his mom. She’d been sure of that, for months now. She’d never even thought this might happen.
“You didn’t know?” he asked. She couldn’t say anything; she just shook her head. Her heart was so full.
He let out a sigh of relief.
“I wanted to be the one to tell you, but I was so nervous that somehow you’d find out first. Marta said she’d keep it a secret, but everyone over there knows you, so I was worried.”
“I had no idea,” she said. She should say more, but she didn’t even know how to say what she felt right now. Shock, joy, pride, amazement, all at once. But mostly, love.
“I love you so much,” she said.
He handed her a glass of champagne.
“I love you, too,” he said. He sat down next to her and touched his glass to hers. “To you, Isabelle Marlowe, the woman who walked into my house one day and changed my life.”
And then she kissed him.