Page 32 of Sutton and the CEO Forever

He grinned. “You like the plug?”

I opened an eye and caught his smirk. “Don’t get too cocky on me.”

“I love you, woman.”

I leaned up and cupped his cheek. “I love you too. But um, Mark?”

“Yeah?”

“What do we do about it? It’s still in there.”

He laughed again. “We are just waiting for round two.”

I smiled up at him dreamily. “I love round two.”

Just as I was about to dive in, I remembered something. “Mark, wait. I promised myself I would tell you this.”

Concern etched his face. “What is it?”

“Do you regret giving up your life in New York to live here with the girls and me? I know I have been selfishly wanting to raise them here. I don’t want you to feel like that is the only option. I will move back to New York if you’d like me to. I would go anywhere you’d want me to.”

Mark looked truly surprised. “Sutton, I didn’t love my life in New York. Sure, I love the city, and I love our business. But that is nothing in comparison to how I feel about you, Evie, and Avery. You aren’t forcing us to live here. We live here because this is where our family is. We have Martha and Earl, Alice and Reena, Knox and Candice…”

“Candice’s mom is desperately trying to convince her to move back to New York,” I replied sullenly.

Mark tipped my chin up to meet his eyes. “I can guarantee you she won’t go. Those two are so in love with each other. There is no way on God’s green earth that she will go anywhere without him. Besides, in New York, she wouldn’t have her best friend and partner in crime.”

A smile broke across my face, and soon, I began giggling.

I could tell that Mark was surprised at my response, but I couldn’t help it.

“What?” he asked.

“You saidno way on God’s green earth. Before moving to Otterville Falls, had you even heard the expression before? I seriously doubt it. Like it or not, Mr. Williams, we are in your blood now. I claim you as ours, and I’ll never give you back.”

He fought a smile. “Really? Well, honestly, I never had a chance. Once I saw you, it was over.”

And then he kissed me, and we went for round two.

Part II

While the drama plaguing Mark and Sutton has been resolved, there are still many storylines that need wrapping up. The second half of our story is what happens next to everyone in Otterville Falls.

I hope you enjoy it.

16

Katie McCleary peered outside of her kitchen window, brushing back the curtains that Reena and Alice had helped her sew. The seams weren’t exactly straight, and the lengths were a little mismatched, but Katie told herself that it only gave them charm. After all, wasn’t shabby chic supposed to be all the rage?

Her neighbor, the enigmatic Brian Williams, was mowing the grass. The man obviously thrived on a schedule. He cut the grass every Thursday morning like clockwork. And every Thursday morning, Katie set her alarm for six am so that she wouldn’t miss the six-foot-four piece of man meat out in his low-slung basketball shorts and little else.

There were tattoos on his chest and shoulder that she guessed were from his time in the Marines. Katie wasn’t embarrassed to admit she had run a background check on the man. After all, he was her new neighbor, and the girls, Alice and Reena, seemed to dote on him.

It was her civic duty as the new deputy.

Guilt pricked at her veins. Her duties hadn’t consisted of swiping one of the pictures of Brian and bringing it home to drool over whenever she had a free moment.

The man was drop-dead gorgeous and about as friendly as a porcupine. Katie had taken him a plate of cookies when he moved into the bungalow next to hers. How was she to know that she misread the recipe and accidentally left out the sugar? It wasn’t like she baked often.

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