“I love you,” he whispered in my ear.
My smile was wide, as it always was when I was with Kade. I couldn’t believe how much I loved this man. When all those barriers we’d erected finally came down, love had flooded in, filling me with a happiness so profound, it had actually changed me. I had so much more confidence now. As hard as endings could be, I knew I’d be able to finish the book I was working on. And then the next one.
When I was with him, I could do anything.
“You want to hear a secret?” I whispered in Kade’s ear. “You’re the hero of all my stories. I’m living in a romance novel, and you’re my happily ever after.”
With his cheek against mine, I could feel him smile. “Okay. But can we still grind some meat?”
Epilogue
Kade
Mason and Carlotta held their wedding reception in the penthouse of Asher’s brand new apartment building. Or should I say, our new building, seeing as we all officially owned it. But Asher was the one who’d designed it and supervised every part of the build.
He’d outdone himself.
Though the place was filled with wedding guests, it still felt large and airy, with high ceilings and a large balcony overlooking the ocean. The living room had been converted into a big dance floor, with the band playing on a makeshift stage.
It was almost midnight when Nat and I took a break from dancing.
Hand-in-hand, we moved into what would be the master bedroom when the apartment’s new owners moved in.
Nat’s friend Willow ran an events business, and had converted the room into a sitting area for the reception, with plush couches. It was lit with twinkling party lights, and dozens of glowing paper lanterns. Seeing as Willow’s husband Luke was a good friend of Mason’s, Willow must have pulled out all the stops. The way the lanterns seemed to float could only be described as ethereal, and everyone had been exclaiming over them all evening.
With most of the guests still on the dance floor, I was pleased to see Nat and I had the sitting room to ourselves. We sank into one of the couches, Nat kicked her shoes off and I dragged her legs onto my lap to rub her calves.
She sighed with pleasure. “That feels so good. My legs ache from all that dancing.”
I pushed her dress up to her knees, enjoying the feel of her skin under my fingers. I never got enough of touching her, or talking to her. Of laughing with her.
And her legs were shapely and sexy. Too sexy to be hidden by a long dress, though I approved of the way its silky fabric clung to her curves. If I had my way, her dress would be a whole lot shorter, but as we could see the dance floor from where we were sitting, I resisted the urge to push the fabric any higher up her thighs.
Carlotta glanced down at her cleavage and frowned. “Hey! You didn’t tell me I had a cake stain on my dress.”
“I didn’t notice,” I said honestly, pretending to squint at the stain while admiring the curve of her breasts. “Don’t worry, it’s barely a smudge. And you’re still the most beautiful woman here.”
Nat smiled at me, then looked over to the dance floor, where Mason and Carlotta were swaying together. “What about the bride? Isn’t she radiant?”
“Sure, she looks happy.” I lowered my voice. “But you’re more beautiful.”
“Hush. You can’t say things like that on her special day. Besides, you’re not exactly an impartial judge.” In spite of her admonishing tone, her cheeks were flushed and her smile wide. “She’s gorgeous in white. If I were wearing a white dress, I’d be one giant stain by now.”
The slow song finished, and Mason and Carlotta pulled apart reluctantly, murmuring to each other with small smiles. Carlotta moved toward the direction of the bathroom, while Mason strolled toward us. A smile still lingered on his lips, and he looked so happy his eyes glowed.
I took a mental picture of the moment, wanting to capture it in my memory forever. After all, who cared about old, bad memories when I had so many great ones to replace them with? No matter how bad the past, if it had led me here, to this perfect place, with these people I loved with all my heart, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
Mason squeezed his big frame into an armchair next to us, then leaned over to talk to Nat.
“I read your romance book,” he said.
“You did?” She lifted her legs off my lap, sitting up straight. Her teeth clamped over her lower lip, and her eyes were suddenly worried. “Um. What did you think?”
A slight frown creased Mason’s brow. “Is the hero supposed to be me?”
She looked even more worried. “Um. Well, it’s the story of how you and Lottie fell in love. So the Mason in the book is based on you. Loosely, I mean. Maybe I didn’t do you justice?”
He grunted. “I’m smarter than the Mason in your book. And I’m not as grumpy.” He settled back in his chair, tugging at his bow tie to loosen it. “I really liked the Carlotta character, though. You almost captured how funny she is in real life.” His face settled back into a smile. “And I liked the sex scenes. Should have been a lot more of them.”
Nat let out a long breath, some of the tension easing from her body. “So you didn’t completely hate it?”
He shrugged. “Add more sex and it’ll be pretty good.”
“I thought I was going to be the hero of all your romance novels,” I grumbled into her ear.
She relaxed against me, leaning into me. “Be patient,” she murmured. “I’m going to write our love story last.”
“Why wait?”
“Because we’re still writing it, and I never want it to end.”
I put my
