He pulled me into an embrace as tourists moved around us on the pier.
I sighed. “Thank you,” I said after a beat.
His brows pinched together. “For what?”
I lifted my shoulders. “For being you. For not taking life too seriously, like I do sometimes. For not wanting me to change.”
A look of pure disbelief marred his handsome face. “Why on earth would I want the most perfect woman to ever walk the planet to change?”
I rolled my eyes but leaned into his strong chest, breathing in his spicy, masculine scent. He hummed, and the rumble shot straight through me. I dropped my arms, allowing our bodies to separate so I could look him in the eyes when I finally told him that I had made my decision.
My nose scrunched. Vulnerability was still tricky for me, but I knew in my bones that Royal was a safe space for me. “I made a decision—about work ... and us.”
The muscles in his jaw twitched, and I watched him steel his nerves. Even after everything we’d been through, the poor guy was still nervous.
Putting him out of his misery, I smiled brightly. “I want to stay in Michigan.”
I watched his grin grow and I held up a finger. “This doesn’t mean I’m quitting my job and opening a bakery. I like my job and I am damn good at it. I have a feeling your brother is goingto need help dragging King Equities out of the hole your father put the business in. If not, I will find something else.”
Royal smiled and nodded. “Understood.”
Delight danced under my skin, and I rubbed his forearms to gather my courage to continue. “More importantly, you asked, but then so much happened that we didn’t talk about it again. Do you still want me to move into your house?”
My chest grew tight as he held me. “From the moment you first stepped through the door, it’s beenourhouse. Our home. I didn’t realize it but all that time, I’ve just been waiting for you to show up.”
Tears flooded my eyes, and I furiously wiped them away. “Okay.”
“Okay.” He chuckled and pulled me in for another hug.
Royal held me for a long time. Life in Outtatowner flowed around us, but we stayed still, locked in our embrace. “Well,” he finally said with a sigh. “Guess it’s time to tell my family how we really met ...”
I swallowedhard as Royal and I waited on his front porch. His siblings’ vehicles slowly made their way up his—our—driveway.
“This is quite possibly the worst idea you’ve ever had.”
Royal shrugged and his lower lip jutted upward. “Probably not theworstidea.”
I grinned, but unease still swirled in my gut.
After many discussions, I had encouraged Royal to continue his content creation on Pulse. He tried to gloss over the fact that he’d all but decided his participation on the platform was dead, but I could see right through him. The reality was, Pulse was another creative outlet for him. It was easy to see how much joyhelping other people had brought him, and he really was helping people in a unique way.
Though his content shifted a bit.
Instead of directly feeding into the fantasies of anonymous women online,Mr.Right.Nowbecame the best kind of teacher. Royal used his online presence to teach men how to please their women and teach women how to ask the men in their lives forexactlywhat they wanted.
It was wildly successful.
It didn’t take long for several of his videos to go mega-viral and gain even more attention. If we had thought his page was popular before, we had no idea it would grow to the millions of followers he now boasted.
Royal was afraid his sisters might accidentally stumble on it, so he thought it was time to finally come clean to his siblings.
JP slammed the door to his car and sauntered toward us. “Another family meeting?”
“Get used to it,” Abel chimed in, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
One by one his siblings congregated in our kitchen. I passed out lemonade as a way to keep busy as they arrived. I had no idea how he was planning to break the news. Neither of us was ashamed of his activity on Pulse, but it wasn’t every day you found out that your brother was a lucrative content creator.
“All right.” Royal clapped his hands together. “So, I’m a sex worker.”