Page 57 of Final Cost

“Fuck yeah.”

Her smile is so ridiculously happy — so energizing and healing — that it feels like an infusion of strength directly into my bloodstream. I can almost feel my flesh knitting itself back together as my body recuperates.

That’s when a new urgency hits me. I grab her hands tighter, pulling her closer. “There’s nothing to stop us now. You know that, right? No reason to hold back. Nothing we can’t say to each other.”

“You’re the one who’s been holding yourself back,” she points out.

She’s got me there. “You’re right.” I plow ahead, my soaring heart firmly in charge for once. “You’re right. That’s all over. There’s a lot I want to tell you.”

“Like what?”

“Like I want to park my ass on the sofa with you every night after dinner and watch movies. Like I don’t care whether we live at Ackerley, my penthouse or Mrs. Hooper’s brownstone. None of that matters. I don’t give a fuck. As long as we’re together. And…” I trail off, all this overflowing emotion lodging in my throat and making it hard to get the words out. “We’re going to need some kids. When you’ve got your career up and running and the time is right.”

“Oh, we are definitely going to need some kids.”

“Yeah?” I figured she’d want kids, but this is our first time discussing it. “Good.”

“I love you, Lucien,” she says, eyes shining.

“I love you.”

“I can’t wait to get you back home,” she says with a frown at all my medical apparatus.

“Same.” I rest my head on the pillow, as tired as I am invigorated. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a vacation.”

Epilogue

One Week Later

Lucien

“I have a confession,”Tamsyn says when I join her.

I mirror her posture, leaning my arms on the railing and enjoying the view. The sparkling Mediterranean seems more turquoise than indigo today. No telling what color blue we’ll get tomorrow. Meanwhile, Monte Carlo looks serene and peaceful in the distance. “Do tell.”

She faces me, her sweeping gesture encompassing the yacht, the stewards ushering platters of food to the table for lunch and our teak deck chairs nearby. “I kind of prefer your method of seeing the Côte d’Azur to the whole cruise ship thing.”

I thought she might. I smother a smile. “You sure? We don’t have bingo. Or trivia night.”

“Well, there are drawbacks,” she says gravely. “Plus, I kinda miss Mrs. Hooper and her crew of old ladies.”

That gets a laugh out of me. “I’m happy to fly them in if you like.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely not.”

We laugh together, another of the fantastic moments between us that come so fast and furious these days. I can never resist touching her, so I reach out and smooth her hair back from where the breeze has blown it into her face, enjoying the way the sunlight hits the honeyed strands. “But if you miss her, I’m happy to have the whole gang out to Ackerley when we get back.”

“Oh, yeah? Juniper, too?”

“I’d never dream of excluding Juniper. He’s a VIP as I recall.”

More laughter.

“So, listen,” she says, looking shy all the sudden. Which is unusual, considering that we wake up most mornings with either my dick in her mouth or my head between her legs. Let’s just say we’re way past shyness with each other. So she’s got my interest. “I have a surprise for you.”

I feel a strange swoop inside. “A surprise? For me?”

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