Page 74 of Hartley

Vail’s body relaxed into the bed and his breath evened out. He’d been through a lot and was no doubt exhausted. We’d lie with him a little while longer before we wiped him clean and made sure he was well taken care of.

Jordan’s hand lifted from Vail to seek me out. I took it in mine and entwined our fingers. We were together, whole, happy, sated, and so in love with one another that nothing and no one could stand in our way or take us from each other.

EPILOGUE

JORDAN

Two and a Half Months Later

For the second time in my life, I was getting married, and this one wasn’t going to turn out anything like the first one. Being with Vail and Hartley felt nothing like it did when I was with my wife. While I loved her, our marriage felt more like it was what we should do.

Get married.

Have a child.

Building an illegal empire wasn’t part of it, but I was who I was. Once I started down that road, I couldn’t stop.

This was different.Theywere different. And I couldn’t wait to pledge my life to them in front of our friends and family. Rather, their friends and my acquaintances. No matter how many times Vail and Hartley said I had friends, I didn’t think the same. Friends meant attachment. I was only attached to my men, my son, Romeo, and now Ava.

They could argue Dexen was a friend. He was there for me anytime I asked him to be.

Barry could be a friend and while he’d proven himself time and again, I tried not to get too attached.

Attachment meant hurt when shit went sideways. That was why I didn’t want to fall for Vail or Hartley.

And yet…

“Well, look at my handsome man,” Hartley said as he entered the room. He was in a pair of slacks that kind of reminded me of the color of grass. Not vibrant green but softer, muted. He had a white button-down under a vest of the same green. They were perfectly formed to his body since he designed them as he did all our suits. Ava and Tristan helped, which they were more than happy to do.

“I could say the same to you.”

He walked toward me, that confident gait of his on full display. If he’d been a peacock, he would have fluffed his feathers. Hartley hummed as he ran his fingers over my vest. I was in a similar look but mine was a light tan, the color of a beautiful beach, or so he’d said. “Fuck, I make you look good.”

My arm went around his waist to hold him close. “You being near me makes me look that way. The clothes have nothing to do with it.”

Hartley peered up at me with those brown eyes I loved getting lost in. “We both know you in a suit equals a powerful man.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

He pressed a chaste kiss to my lips.

“We have the rest of our lives to do that,” Vail said, joining us. “Especially tonight. We don’t want to wrinkle our clothes.”

“I don’t give a fuck if I’m wrinkled in front of everyone,” I told him. “You’re the only two who matter.”

“And as such, we’d like to have nice photos to remember today by. Stop wrinkling your clothes before Irene fusses overyou with the steamer again.” Shit, he was right. She’d already steamed the creases out of my clothes once. It wasn’t my fault they were more visible in this color than if I’d had black on. Hartley didn’t want that though. He wanted our suits to be vibrant like our lives. What was full of color had been my existence since they came into it.

Vail’s suit was a heathered light blue. The white button down stretched across his arms while the vest spanned his broad chest. Damn, my men were beautiful.

As if on cue, Irene hollered from downstairs, “You better not be wrinkling those suits.”

I sighed and reached for my jacket.

“I don’t think we should wear them,” Hartley said. “I like the look without them.”

“But you made them. They should be shown off.”

“Wear it another time. These suits aren’t going to waste when they look this good.”

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