Page 84 of Tease Me

He turned back around but covered his eyes again. “Man, I love you, bro, but I don't need to see all that.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of his crotch and Evangeline couldn’t help but laugh. Beau shook his head but dragged the towel over his hips.

“Is that better?”

John peered through his fingers. “Yeah.” He dropped his hands and smiled. “I take it by your various states of undress that you guys have made up?”

Evangeline looked at Beau, seeing the grin plastered onto his face. “Yeah, we did.”

“That’s great!” He walked into the kitchen, reappearing with three glasses and a bottle of whiskey. “We should celebrate.”

Epilogue

Six months later...

Beau trailedhis fingers down Evangeline’s bare side, skimming over her hip before making the return trip. They were in her bed—their bed—hiding away from responsibilities just for a little while longer. They both had to be at work in an hour, Evangeline atTemptationand him atThe Nightingale. His boss turned out to be the guy Vee had almost hooked up with before they got back together. He probably should hate the guy for laying a hand on her, but he was also grateful to him for so much. He’d been the one to talk sense into his girl when he thought everything was lost. He was also the guy who gave him a job only two days after arriving to live in West Hollywood with Vee.

She’d insisted that he didn’t have to find a job so soon, but he wanted to get his life back on track as soon as possible. It had been derailed for too long already. Looking down the line of her body, he stared at the tattoo on her ankle, then at the same design on his chest.

Like a phoenix from the ashes.

They’d both risen and become the people he truly believed they should be, and they’d done it together.

“What are you thinking about?” Vee murmured.

“Just life, I guess.”

“That sounds serious.”

He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Everything in my world is finally right. I’m just wondering why I let you go in the first place. My mom’s illness and death would’ve been easier to take with you by my side.”

“You have me now, Beau. Always.”

That’s what he wanted. He’d always toyed with the idea of marriage with her. Hell, he wanted it all—marriage, a house, the two-point-five kids and a dog—and he wanted it now, but every time he thought about bringing it up, he hesitated. What if she wasn’t ready for all that? She’d built her career from nothing and to ask her to give it all up for him would be incredibly selfish.

“What are you really thinking about?” she asked again, propping herself up on her elbow to look at him.

He focused on her face and drew in a breath. “Marriage,” he said, waiting for the fallout. He held on to her a little tighter just in case she tried to walk away and avoid talking about it at all.

Her brows rose. “Marriage?”

He turned his head, trying to brush his words away. “It’s a stupid idea.”

Forcing him to look at her, she said, “It’s not a stupid idea. I’ve been waiting for you to talk about this for months now.”

She had?“You have?”

“Of course I have. We’re not getting any younger, you know,” she told him with a gentle smile. “I’ve known I wanted to be with you and only you since we started dating all those years ago. Sure, things got a little rocky in the middle there, but we’re still here, aren’t we?”

He nodded. “Yes, we are. But what about your job?”

“What about it?”

“What if we have kids?”

She shrugged. “We just won’t think about starting a family yet. Let’s just get the first step out of the way, okay?”

“Evangeline Webster, are you asking to marry me?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Are you accepting my proposal?”

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