Page 68 of Undercover Billionaire

‘Jesus.’ Kelsey stood, her entire body flooding with endorphins, pulsing at the sight of him.He hadn’t left. ‘Do you always answer the door in a goddamn towel?’

He stared at her incredulously, his gaze roving over her sodden clothes and her hair hanging in wet strips and plastered to her face beaded with raindrops. ‘Kelsey? You’re soaked. What are you doing here?’

She didn’t say anything for long moments, mostly because she was still out of breath. ‘I’m writing the ending to my own fairy tale.’

If her statement confused him, he didn’t show it. ‘Am I the prince in this fairy tale?’ When she nodded, he smiled a little. ‘That sounds good.’

It could be. God,it could be. But… love didn’t erase the practicalities and for better or for worse, life had made Kelsey pragmatic. ‘I just… don’t know how this works.’

‘This?’

‘Us.’ His smile got bigger at theus, but she shook her head. This was important. ‘Do we live here, do we live there? I can’t just abandon my mother, Ari. We just got set up here and she loves it and its?—’

‘Kelsey,’ he interrupted, ‘of course, you and your mum are a package deal. And I don’t care where we live. We can live here and I can travel when I need to or we can live in Greece or the UK and your mother can live with us if she wants or only part time if she wants, or we can all go back and forth and live all over the place. I know you’re a package deal, Kelsey. I’ll take the deal. Iloveyou. Iwantthe deal.’

Kelsey smiled. She was still out of breath but she didn’t feel like she was going to throw up any more.

‘I love you too,’ she said, andGod…it felt good to say those words. Like something had let go inside her and she was floating free from everything that had tethered her to a life of practicalities and pragmatism. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been so…’

‘Stubborn?’

She gave a half smile. ‘I was going for cowardly.’

‘It’s okay. Good things are always worth the wait.’

His slow grin warmed her all over and for a beat or two they just stood smiling at each other, Kelsey getting wetter and wetter as every little niggle and worry she had about Ari’s wealth and how it was going to work between them melted away.

‘So…’ He cocked an eyebrow. ‘I should stop packing?’

She laughed, feeling positivelygiddynow. ‘Yes. You should definitelystoppacking.’

‘And you should get out of the rain.’

He held out his hand to her and Kelsey moved on wobbly legs to stand in front of him – that towel knot at eye level. With his other hand, he reached for something on the bench near his hip and produced another cocktail umbrella, offering it to her. ‘You ever make love in a caravan?’

Kelsey lost her breath again.Make love. She’d never thought of sex asmaking love. But she knew without a doubt she was going to spend the rest of her life making love to Ari. She took the umbrella like it was a sacred offering, her heart practically floating out of her chest.

‘Nope,’ she said as she placed her hand in his.

‘Neither have I.’

And he dragged her inside, shut the door and kissed her.

EPILOGUE

SIX MONTHS LATER…

It was a day for blue, Theo Callisthenes thought. The sky an endless arc of wild blue yonder unblemished by cloud, the sea a cauldron of molten sapphire, the church dome atop its alabaster walls a stunning cobalt.

The colours of the Aegean that ran blue through his veins, that stained his very DNA, were the perfect backdrop for Ari and Kelsey’s wedding day.

He watched them now, posing for photographs on the smoothed white-plaster rooftop, the sea a 180-degree vista behind, their future burning brightly ahead. They were the picture of love and happiness, and Theo thanked God that his brother was whole again.

Kelsey had breathed new life into him and there wasn’t one Callisthenes here today who didn’t adore the ground she walked on. Who hadn’t welcomed her and her mother into their family with lifted spirits and grateful hearts.

But it was a different of kind of blue distracting Theo today. The electric blue of a bridesmaid dress that hugged and skimmed, that flowed like mercury over curves that should come with a flashing neon warning sign.

Tiffany. The bride’s best friend.

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