Page 50 of Last First Time
I kiss her again, more gently this time. She’s close enough to me to punch me right in the dick if she wants to. And she might want to after she hears the rest of what I’m about to say.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay. I don’t want to be where I’m not wanted. It’s time for me to give up the mayor’s office and try something different.” I take a deep breath. “Anyway, it looks like I’m going into the real estate business.”
Kar freezes, then looks at me carefully. “You. You bought the building and did the renovations.”
I shrug uncomfortably. “Well, technically, the trust bought the building and did the renovations.”
She stares at me until I start to feel itchy under her gaze. She’s either going to love or hate what I have to say next.
“Well, the trust bought most of it. The first floor actually belongs to a different company.”
She frowns again. “How exactly does that work? I don’t understand much about real estate, but isn’t that a pretty unusual set up?”
I nod. Crap, I am so nervous that I can feel my palms growing sweaty. “I’m hoping that I can come to an understanding with the first-floor company, that maybe we can even look into a merger of sorts.”
Kar nods slowly. “I guess that makes sense. But how well do you know the other business owner?”
“Better than anyone else,” I answer.
She flinches. She’s definitely not getting it. Not yet. Man, I am definitely bungling this entire thing up completely. Might as well go all in before I mess things up anymore.
I reach into my suit pocket, then slide down onto one knee, my heart pounding in my throat. I hold out the small velvet box, opened to show off the black gold ring, the dark red ruby cut like a rose on top. “This time, I’ve got a ring for you. This time, I’m doing the asking, and not for the press or for public appearances. I want you in my life every day forever. Will you marry me, Karisma?”
I wait and wait, until I finally hear her answer me. Thank heaven she says yes. Then the world clicks into place, and I kiss her deeply, with all the passion of a man enjoying his last first time kissing his fiancée.
And then we christen her new office furniture, and head back to Riddles disheveled but happy. It’s the new best day of my entire life.
Epilogue - Karisma
We hold a big, giant party at Riddles, the very last one we’ll have at the old location. This time, I pick the music and order the food—which is basically everything I like, even if it doesn’t go together even a little bit. And I wear an extra sexy dress that all but gives Reed a heart attack. He plasters himself against me all night long, but then swears it’s because he saw someone he knows eyeing my tits.
This man. He’s definitely the one eyeing me, but no complaints there. I love the way he looks at me, like I’m the answer to all of his questions. Of course, he looks at me like that even when I am in jeans and a t-shirt. Or wearing nothing at all. I sigh happily. I hope every single day of the rest of our lives are like this.
Delilah and Joe are there too. No matter how metal the music is, the two of them spend every dance together swaying, staring into one another’s eyes, and kissing like it’s the last dance at prom. They are absolutely sickening. No wonder Aunt Opal resorted to day drinking at my bar. They really need to get on with the whole wedding business, because otherwise everyone in town is going to get pregnant from watching the two of them together.
At least Kade and I aren’t that gross, kissy-face couple. Except for all those times that we completely are that gross and kissy-face together, and I don’t care what anybody has to say about it.
This entire party is going to be things that I love, even if it’s stuff that doesn’t necessarily seem to fit together. Kissy-face heart eyes and the sped-up guitar riffs of System of a Down. Eggrolls and petit fours. Everything tonight seems like it doesn’t work together, but somehow it’s absolutely perfect.
Like me and Reed.
The new building is ready, and it’s gorgeous. I don’t want to think about how much money Reed plunked down to get the renovations done so quickly, but it’s definitely more than I spent bailing his dumb ass out of jail. After I saw the final work, I begrudgingly told him that we were even.
“Hush,” he muttered. “I’ll make sure your safety fund gets replenished down to the penny. No wife of mine is going to have any sort of money stress in her life.”
“I haven’t exactly married you yet, Rich Boy. You don’t have to bankroll me. I’ve been giving you all this for free for months now.” I wriggled against him, then bit his shoulder a little. Every single piece of him was delicious and perfect, including the way he knew what I needed, even if it probably seemed a little bit crazy to everyone on the outside looking in.
“Doesn’t matter. I’d pay whatever price you name in order to lock it down with you, sweetheart.”
“Did you really offer to buy my love?” I faked horror at his ridiculous words. “Huh. I guess romance isn’t dead.”
It turns out that Reed Harrington IV is the living, breathing man of my dreams. I love how he’s the man who stands up for me at every opportunity.
A few weeks ago Trip, in all his glorious asshole-ery, made a very loud demand for a pre-nup. He’d even made a giant scene at the family’s sit-down engagement brunch, standing up in a huff and knocking down a few chairs. In fact, he’d threatened to cut off all of Reed’s money if he married me without a pre-nuptial agreement.
In response, Reed laughed in the man’s face. Turns out, the trust wasn’t under Trip’s control any more than Reed or I were. Thom Abernathy looked it over for us before the engagement brunch, in part because Reed knew his father was more likely than not going to make a giant scene.
Afterward, we crashed Abernathy’s office hours with a huge, expensive bottle of scotch. The three of us took turns making toasts to Reed Harrington II, the man who had put my Reed’s money safely out of Trip’s evil clutches forever.
