The club back home, Loose Cannons, had been shut down and revamped, giving way to an upscale restaurant that was now called Cannon’s. Colt had redone the whole place, exchanging the crushed red velvet curtains for black tablecloths and clean lines, adding in wide planked oak floors and a wood fire grill that cooked steak and seafood. Now that his uncle was in jail and awaiting trial, Colt was beholden to no one.
At first people had said an upscale restaurant couldn’t exist in such a rundown neighborhood, but word of how good the food was had gotten around, and business had been booming. There had even been talk about the entire neighborhood turning around because of Cannon’s.
Colt was running the entire place himself. Well, with help from me, as much as I could. We had enough money that I didn’t have to work. Hell, he didn’t have to work if he didn’t want to. The money he’d made when his uncle had bought him out, combined with how well the restaurant was doing, had made him even richer than he already was.
But I liked being at work with him, liked watching him as he interacted with customers and worked with vendors. He was always so strong, so in control, so in charge of everything he’d built. At some point, though, I wanted to start school, maybe go for a business degree or maybe major in psychology, so that I could help other foster kids like me.
The restaurant was doing so well that Colt had decided to open one in Miami, and we were meeting with a realtor tonight to check out a potential location that sounded perfect, and I was crossing my fingers that it would work out. I wanted to spend my winters in Florida, the two of us splashing in the ocean, swimming and wearing flip flops all day, coming home with sand in our toes and sunburn on our noses.
Colt pulled the car up in front of our hotel, and then unloaded our bags and checked us in.
“I’m going to shower,” I said once we got up to our room. “What time are we supposed to meet the realtor?”
“Seven.”
“Sound perfect.”
I walked into the bathroom and took my clothes off, turning the water all the way to hot and stepping into the aqua-tiled shower, letting the water sluice over my skin.
A second later, the bathroom door opened, and Colt stripped off his clothes and slipped into the shower with me.
“Hey,” I protested, giggling as his hands found me from behind and pulled me toward him. “We’re going to be late.”
“Like I give a fuck.” His hands were on my hips and he pushed into me and began to fuck me and I leaned back into him, letting his hands slide over my breasts as he moved faster, pushing his cock into me, over and over, thrusting inside of me until he came and my orgasm ripped through me, leaving my limbs relaxed and my body satisfied.
I sighed as he turned me around and shampooed my hair, his hands working through the strands, before running over my stomach, my hips, my breasts, my back as he cleaned me.
When he was done, he rinsed me off, then wrapped me in a fluffy robe.
This is it, I thought, as he kissed me. This is happiness.
When we were dressed and ready, we took the Escalade to the potential restaurant space.
As soon as we walked in, I knew it was perfect.
The ocean was spread before us through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the sun dipping down behind the horizon and sparkling off the rippling waves, the white sand laid out like a runway.
The inside was already beautifully decorated, beachy and modern, in shades of teal and chestnut, classy and understated and perfect for the steak and seafood crowd. Colt and I talked to the realtor briefly, a nice woman named Marjorie who gave us an informational sheet and then left us to look around by ourselves.
“What do you think?” Colt asked.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, running my hand over one of the high top tables. The surface was smooth and dark oak.
“I’ll have to buy a house down here,” Colt said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. “Something on the water, with an ocean view.”
“That sounds nice,” I said, inhaling the faint woodsy scent of his cologne. “That sounds amazing, actually.”
“It will be ours,” he said.
I nodded. “I know.” He’d been very clear with me this whole time that everything that was his was mine, that both the apartment and the restaurant belonged to me, too. And yet I still wanted to build my own thing, wanted to have my own life, which was why I was planning on starting school.
“No, I mean, it will be half yours,” Colt said, tilting my chin up so that I was looking into his dark eyes. “Legally.”
I frowned. “You’re going to put me on the deed?”
He laughed, a deep laugh, and I loved the sound of it, loved that I could make him laugh. “Sure,” he said. And then he was serious, his tone turning husky. Even after six months, he still had a bit of a hard time showing emotion, but he was getting better. And I was getting better too, the two of us learning how to feel things. I hadn’t cut myself since I’d been with him. And then he was pulling away from me and the next thing I knew he was down on one knee and he was reaching into his pocket and pulling out the biggest diamond ring I’d ever seen.