Page 63 of The Southern Thirst Trap

“I love you so fucking much. Now and forever, Lowe.”

Epilogue

Harlowe

Six months later

“That’sawraponThe Foulmouthed Foodie at Home!” Renee, the director, says from the dining room where the monitors are set up. “Congratulations, Harlowe, that was perfect! We couldn’t have asked for a better final day of shooting.”

The crew begins moving and talking at once, noise and chaos erupting around us after the methodical quiet that had taken over during production. Each person here has become like family in the few weeks they have taken over our home, letting me cook for them, staying late around our long white oak dining table sharing stories, and generally working as a well-oiled machine during long days of shooting. I’ll be sad to see them go, but it will be nice to not have production equipment everywhere and gaffer tape stuck to my floors around cables.

I look around the kitchen of the gorgeous home Zander and I moved into four months ago. The lighting in here is beautiful and my food photography and videos have never looked better. My selfies and thirst traps, too. Zander often helps with those now, getting better angles than I can on occasion and always reaping the rewards of being the first to like the post and then fucking me right in the same spot to make sure I know he approves. It turns out he’s been my biggest admirer all along, and even if he wasn’t engaging with the posts, he was definitely seeing them.

“You were so good, my love. Now you get to play.” I set Hendricks down with a kiss and let him run off to his playroom, where he’s bound to make a huge mess and be entertained for hours now that he’s free from being a part of shooting. Zander rubs my lower back and grins as his eyes track how fast Hendricks escapes. The novelty of being in my cooking videos wore off quickly for our son, and he was itching to leave shortly after realizing that there was a lot of repeating shots and not a lot of action.

I wanted both of my guys to be in this episode, which will actually be the first to air on the Gourmet Network. It will introduce my family to the world, and ground my audience in who I am at my core, and what I believe in. The sexy, foulmouthed part of me is still very much the root of the show, but I want the world to see the softer, family-oriented side as well, and to know the two can coexist in this body and show.

Renee slings an arm around my waist, and I hug her back. “The execs have been so happy with the dailies we have been sending them. This is going to be such a great show. You’re a breath of fresh air and so different from anything we have had on the network before. The viewers are going to eat it up.”

I laugh at her food pun. “I fucking hope so. This is who I am. They can take it or leave it for all I care.”

She points at me. “That’s it right there. That’s what we need more of on this network and why you got this opportunity to be one of the new shows on the streaming platform. That way you could really let the foulmouthed thing flow.” She drops her arm and steps back as she pulls the headset off her neck. “We’ll break everything down and get out of your beautiful little family’s hair, and Bee will send over the details for the wrap party. We want to celebrate with you before we all leave Atlanta.”

“Celebrating with sparkling water and mocktails for me, of course,” I say, rubbing the small bump under the tight blue dress I’m wearing, my diamond rings sparkling as they catch the production lights with the movement. The dress highlights the bump, which is the point, as I’m just four months pregnant and only now starting to round out, so it was either put it on display or look bloated.

The house was actually a pregnancy present as soon as Zander and I found out. It was an entirely different experience this time around, with Zander buying the tests and anxiously pacing the bathroom tiles as the timer ticked down the minutes. It was pure joy for both of us when the tests shouted PREGNANT at us. Watching him drop to his knees at my feet, burying his face against my thighs as he cried happy tears, was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever experienced. My heart was so full of love, adoration, and happiness that I thought I would burst from it. Like with Hendricks, this pregnancy has been easy and I’ve loved every moment of it. Zander is even more ravenous for my body each day as it grows his baby. I have a feeling he’s going to want to keep me pregnant until I tell him I’m done having his beautiful children.

“Mocktails, of course,” Renee says, laughing. She reaches up and kisses my cheek. “I’m sure we’ll be back here next year filming another season and will get to see that gorgeous baby on the outside and I’ll spoil it rotten. If it’s a girl, you can name her after me.” Someone calls her name and she winks at me before walking off to speak with a production assistant wrapping up cables.

Zander laughs and shakes his head as she goes. We’ve been having this conversation nightly, dreaming up what our future child will be like and imagining her on the other side. We’re having a little girl, and we’ve decided to call her Hana. Zander picked her name, following the naming structure of Hendricks’s and my own starting with an H. I told him we don't have to name all of our babies like that, but I figured I could indulge him for this one, since I did get to pick the first all by myself. I won’t tell Renee any of this. We’re keeping the gender and name to ourselves for now.

“Are you ready for tonight?” Zander asks, his lips brushing the shell of my ear as his arms wrap around me from behind.

I sigh and lean into him. “I’m looking forward to seeing Paige and the baby. Your brother, not as much, but that’s always going to be the case.”

We’re going to his brother and sister-in-law’s house to meet their brand new baby girl, Madelyn James, who was born a few days ago. Well, I guess they’re my in-laws, now, too. Zander and I were married last month in a small ceremony in the back garden of our pretty home, and his whole family was invited. I begrudgingly forgave his asshole brother, Hayes, when Paige dragged him over to apologize. That little twenty-two-year-old Southern belle certainly has her man whipped, because he bent to her will as soon as she turned a disappointed look on him when she heard the story of our first encounter five years ago. I won’t be underestimating her anytime soon, and I think I’ll like having her as a sister-in-law and friend.

“Don’t worry, I rarely look forward to seeing Hayes, and I work with him. Payton will be there, too, and he’s a great buffer. Or he’ll stir the pot. You never know with him.”

I turn my head and give Zander a look when he brings up his middle brother. “We need to set him up with someone already. He can't be the only one of you not attached now. You’re married and a father with another on the way. Hayes is married and has a child now, too. Payton is single and practically lives at the office by the sound of things. What’s his deal?”

“Oh, no. I’m not getting mixed up in that. Wipe that scheming look off your face, wife. You don't have single friends now that Javi and Paloma are practically living together. Leave him alone. He’ll figure his shit out when he’s ready.” Zander kisses me, but I can't stop where my thoughts have gone. I love when he calls me wife and I want everyone to feel this way.

“Don’t you want him to experience how happy you are?” I smile wickedly, thinking I’ve trapped him.

Zander grins and spins me in his arms to kiss away the smile from my lips. “Payton is busy hunting down a hacker at the moment. He doesn't have time for dating or finding love. I think he’s more committed to Olympus than any of us.”

“Fine,” I pout. “I still think his single days are numbered. If evenyoucould end up married and a doting father, there’s hope for any confirmed bachelor.”

Zander chuckles and pulls me closer, tipping his forehead against mine. “That’s only because I needed to get out of my own way. It was always you, Lowe. We were meant for each other. I should have gone with my instincts and what I knew in my soul was right and never let you go, but I was stupid and wasted five good years. If Payton can find even half of what you and I have and not mess it up in the process, he’ll be so fucking lucky.”

“We’re so lucky.” I nuzzle against his neck and bite his earlobe.

“That we are, little Wildcat, and I’ll never forget that you gave me a second chance to experience this happiness. I love you, Lowe.”

“I love you, Zander.”

“Now, say your goodbyes. I’m taking you to bed while they finish tearing this all down and I'm stuffing your panties in your mouth to keep you quiet. You can’t bite my ear like that and not expect to get your ass marked and have me stretching that pussy as you take me deep.”

---