Page 76 of Billionaire Romantic
Until the orgasm becomes the highest and most intense one yet. The pleasure isn’t just physical, but whole-souled. My emotions and my cravings wrap themselves just a little more tightly around this man who has swept me away in the truest sense of the word. He takes me again to the heights of what I can handle, filling me to the brim with his flooding heat until my body is squeezing and drawing as much of him inside as I can take. Until I’m overflowing with his seed and the pleasure overload he insists on.
And when we slowly start to come down from all that, he says, “Stay with me tonight. And tomorrow night. And the night after. We’ll figure everything else out. Just say yes, Irish.”
And so I do.
EPILOGUE
Four months later
“This dress is absolutely stunning,Lucky. Lila, you’ve totally outdone yourself,” Dusty gushes as she adjusts my veil. “Lucky, you’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. And the baby bump only adds to the whole effect.”
“So do all of yours.” I blot tears from my eyes so I don’t ruin my make-up. One thing about being pregnant, you feel like your emotions are on overdrive. My joy keeps overflowing. “Lila, I love it so much.” My wedding dress is one of Lila’s own designs. It has a gorgeous fitted white lace bodice and a full skirt made entirely of white feathers. “I don’t know how you did this.” I’ve just started showing, now that I’m four months along.
“I wanted you to have something special,” she says, helping Dusty make sure my veil sits just right. Embroidered into the lace are two linked hearts and a shamrock. “Noah’s going to lose his mind when he sees you.”
“He’s already lost his mind,” Grace laughs.
It’s true my gorgeous fiancé tends to be almost manically protective of me, especially since we found out that we did,in fact, conceive our magical baby that first weekend we spent together. I started getting morning sickness only a week or two later. I already love this baby so much I can hardly handle it. I’mhappyin a way I’ve never been.
I’m sure I didn’t intentionally set out to start working on thatparticular wildest dream the night I met Noah. But something in me leaned in. Something in him leaned in too. When I took the pregnancy test and we saw it was positive, we both cried. And if you don’t think it amps the hormones into hyperdrive when your hot, manly, beast-in-bed billionaire fiancé has tears in his eyes because he’s so overjoyed he’s going to be a Daddy, trust me, it does. We spent the entire day acting like we were trying to conceive that baby all over again.
The night before I took the pregnancy test, Noah had Tiffany’s open just for the two of us. He told me to pick the ring I liked best. Any one I wanted.For when you’re ready,he said. I said I was already ready so he got down on one knee and proposed to me right there in the middle of Tiffany’s. I said yes.
I didn’t know it was possible for love to compound itself like it does when I’m with him, but I fall deeper in love with my husband-to-be every day.
It’s still a little hard to believe that we justknew. We jumped straight into the deep end before we even knew each other’s real last names. Grace says I manifested Noah that night she created my dating profile and that the universe delivered. I’ve decided to believe her, because only the most potent kind of luck-dusted magic could have brought Noah Maddox into my life.
Noah came with me for my first scan. The doctor asked us if we wanted to know what we were having and we both said yes. It’s a girl. We could see her strong little heart beating. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. We’re going to name her Maeve. After my mother.
As an engagement present, Noah took me to Ireland and surprised me with a piece of land he bought for us in County Cork. It’s the most idyllic place. Just green fields as far as the eye can see. It’s on the coast with views of the ocean. We’re going to build a house there, designed just the way we want it. The day we were there, a double rainbow appeared over the fields and it was the brightest one I’ve ever seen. It was the kind of thing that makes you believe that pots of gold really do exist. I’ve found mine. He’s a sexy, living, breathing pot of gold and I’m keeping him.
Last week, Noah flew everyone to his—our—house in Italy to get ready for our wedding. Turns out he—we—have a lot of houses. I haven’t even seen half of them yet.
The Italian villa overlooks Lake Como, has twelve bedrooms and a large, ornate, covered patio with stunning views of the water and the mountains. Steps lead down to a boathouse and our own private beach.
We’re having a small wedding, since I don’t have family—aside from the cousins and second cousins in Ireland, who were absolutely thrilled we bought land there and had a party for us at one of the local pubs when we visited. It’s going to be fun getting to know them.
Alexander and Ivy are here, Colton and Lila, Cash and Dusty, Grace and Ethan, and Enid and Mabel.
Noah flew Enid and Mabel to Italy for an all-expenses-paid two week trip (we found a cat sitter for Nigel), since neither one of them had ever been out of the United States. After the wedding they’re going to visit Rome, Florence and Venice. They’re having the time of their lives. The two of them are a total hoot, like a comedy duo. We kept running into Enid on her walks and we invited her to dinner one night. She’s had the most fascinating life and she hands out snippets of wise advice that are genuinely sort of life-changing. She’s become a dear friend.
My sisters-in-law-to-be have become my best friends. I couldn’t love them more. Dusty is down-to-earth and so easy to talk to, we have long talks about everything under the sun. We talk on the phone every day, often several times a day. Lila is an absolute sweetheart and goes out of her way to be there for me. She’s an only child too and we click over so many things. She’s always gifting me with pieces of clothing I love and I value her friendship more than I can express. Ivy is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. She’s kind and soulful, beautiful inside and out, and I just adore her.
And my new brothers-in-law are so charming and fun, I love being around them.
Grace and I have become closer than ever. She moved in with Ethan the same weekend I moved in with Noah. He asked her to marry him at the top of the Empire State Building less than three months after they met. They plan to have a small ceremony next month and have booked Hopeless Romantic for their reception.
All four of my bridesmaids are also expecting babies. The Maddox brothers joke that there’s something in the water, but we all know it has nothing to do with water and everything to do with…well, all I know is thatmyMaddox brother has been very thorough about doing his best to make sure that particular wildest dream has come true.
Ivy’s due in less than a month, Lila has another two months before her due date, Dusty found out she was pregnant soon after I did, and Grace found out the day after she arrived in Italy.
I never did go back to my apartment. Not to sleep, anyway. Now I use it as my office.
With his encouragement, I started decorating Noah’s—our—apartment the day after I moved in. It took me a few months to get it done since it’s so big, but we’re both thrilled with the way it turned out. True to his word, Noah organized features in ten of the top home design magazines in New York.
Since then, I’ve had alotof requests from people wanting an interior designer. Noah doesn’t want me working too much and I agree. I would never do anything to make my pregnancy more risky than it needs to be. I’ve decided to take on three or four projects a year. I’ll choose only the projects I’m most passionate about—and, as Noah suggested—pay absolute top dollar.
Ashton Holdings has doubled in value over the past four months. Getting a very substantial cash injection, of course, helped. Having Noah as my “consultant” has also made a huge difference. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and he’s also good with people. We restructured the business, gave (very generous) redundancy packages to the older Board members who didn’t mesh with our new vision, and hired some young, smart analysts who have injected new life into the company culture. Noah told me about the “creative week” Invested Enterprises offers its staff and we’ve just started doing something similar, where people can travel, discover new opportunities and meet fresh talent. So far it’s going really well. The word’s gotten out and we’re now getting hundreds of new applicants each week.
