“This isn’t because we just had amazing sex, is it?” I asked with a nervous laugh. I was stalling, and he knew it. I never imagined Sean would offer me the company. Ray left it to Sean, and I thought that was an amazing decision. I knew Sean didn’t have the mind for business, but I did. I would help him in any way he needed.
“Tara,” Sean said. “You deserve this.”
“What about you?” I asked weakly.
“I’ll keep my stocks,” Sean shrugged. “And I’ll be fine. That’s more than I ever thought I would have anyway. Tara, you were born to run this company. You know that.”
“I can do that job,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I should.”
“You deserve this,” he said again. “Just let yourself have it.”
I stared at him and tried to think of another argument, but I couldn’t. Deep down, I knew Sean was right. This is what I’d always wanted. I hoped that Ray would leave the company to me, but I never thought he actually would, and I was right. When he left it to Sean, I thought that was the best-case scenario.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
“As sure as I am that I love you,” Sean said simply.
I blinked. It was like he was on a mission to keep surprising me. First, offering me the company and now this. We hadn’t said those three words yet, and now that he had, he could never take them back.
I grinned and kissed him softly, letting all my emotions come out in that one kiss.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
“You will?” Sean asked brightly.
“I will,” I said. “And one more thing. I love you, too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Sean
Two months later, I still wasn’t used to the new house. We moved in quickly. Everything I owned fit easily into the house, but many of the rooms were still empty. I’d never had a formal dining room before, so Tara helped me pick out a nice dining room table and chairs. She even found me a china cabinet that matched and looked amazing in the room. I never imagined myself in such a grandiose house, but I loved it.
Paisley’s room was decorated to her exact specifications, and she raved about how much she loved it. When she started back at school, she couldn’t wait to tell her friends all about her new house. She even asked if she could invite them all over for a pool party one weekend. I was so surprised by her excitement that I said yes without thinking about it. Having twenty eight-year-olds over wasn’t an easy task, but Paisley had so much fun.
Tara helped with the party and with everything else. She helped us unpack everything and get the house organized. She even went shopping with us whenever we needed a woman’s opinion. Paisley was great at decorating, but she was still just a little girl, and I couldn’t get behind polka dot everything. By the time we’d been there for a while, the place was starting to look more like a home. Paisley had taken over the library and made it her own, and the garage was covered in my mechanic gear. We were happy.
Still, as I woke up one Saturday morning, I had to remind myself where I was. After so many years of living in the same house and doing the same things every day, it was taking me a long time to fully settle in to my new life. I went back to work at the mechanic shop part-time to give myself a sense of purpose again. I stayed on at Yates’ as the face of the company whenever Tara needed me, but that took up so little time that I soon felt useless. Working as a mechanic again made me feel like myself. It was fun. It was me.
Plus, I knew I wasn’t the kind of man to live off someone else’s money. Despite what my father wanted to do for me, I still didn’t feel like modeling was a real job. At least, not for me. I needed to give myself a chance to feel like I was doing something worthwhile. Giving Yates’ Motorcycles to Tara was the best decision I could have made. I could stay in the life I loved, and she was finally playing the role she always wanted to play. Tara thrived as the boss, and everyone saw it.
As we woke up together that morning, I kissed her shoulder softly and pushed myself up. I leaned back against the headboard and watched her while her eyes flickered open. She rolled over to face me with a sleepy smile on her face. Her hair was ruffled, the way I loved, and her eyes were barely open. No matter how many times I woke up next to her, Tara always made my heart skip a beat. She looked her best in the mornings: simple, gorgeous, and natural. She never had to try to look beautiful, which was just one of the things I loved about her.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
“Morning,” she said back. “How’d you sleep?
“Good,” I said. “It’s still a little strange waking up here.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Tara said. She sat up beside me and rested her head on my shoulder. “This is your home now.”
“And I love it,” I said. “I really do.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m sorry I was so late last night. I didn’t mean to wake you when I came in.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m glad you did.”
“I still think I should just stay at my place when I work late,” Tara said.
“Not a chance in hell,” I said firmly. “I love you being here.”
“If you insist.” Tara laughed.
“I do,” I said. “Now tell me, what was so important that it kept you at the office so late?”
“New ad campaign.” Tara yawned. “We want to launch it at the end of the month, and to do that, we’ll have to pull all-nighters.”
“Sounds insane,” I said.
“But worth it,” Tara promised. “This campaign is projected to increased our profits by another twelve percent. I can’t believe how fast things have turned around. Having Zach out of the way has really helped. I never realized just how much trouble he caused until he left. There was so much none of us knew.”
“He was poisonous,” I said through gritted teeth. I still didn’t like talking about my brother, and I wasn’t sure that would ever change.
“He really was,” Tara said. “Did I tell you he was embezzling from the company?”
“What?” I asked. Tara lifted her head off my shoulder and turned to face me with a somber nod.
“Yup,” she said. “Not large amounts, but it was enough. He was incredibly clever about it. I never would have found it on my own. The accounting department did a complete sweep after he left and found the evidence. It’s insane. We were all busting our asses to bring in more money, and Zach was stealing it.”
“I’m glad my dad wasn’t around to find that out,” I said sadly. “It would have broken his heart.”
“I know,” Tara said. “I thought the same thing. Anyway, I’m just glad we’re rid of him. Now, we can really begin to move forward. I have so many plans and ideas. I can’t wait to put them all into effect.”
“You’re doing an amazing job.” I smiled. “My dad would have been so proud of you.”
“Thank you.” Tara blushed. “I really hope so. I learned so much from him. I’m just trying to do things the way he would have wanted.”
“You are,” I said confidently. “I promise.”
As our conversation came to a close, Paisley burst through the door and jumped on the bed. She bounced around a little, grinning at us in her childlike way. I reached over and ruffled her hair gently, pulling her against me for a morning hug. She hugged me tightly before she continued her bouncing.