Page 70 of The Cowboy and the Bombshell
My heart took off at a gallop, racing toward a future with Penelope that I could never have even imagined for myself, but one that I was looking forward to starting right this minute.
“I love you, Blondie. So much.” I placed a chaste kiss to her full lips, savoring her taste.
“I love you, too, Cowboy,” she replied, threading our fingers together as she drew me back to the party. “Forever.”
Epilogue
Stone
Eighteen Months Later
The evening sun was still hot, making this suit feel like an oven, as I stood there trying not to panic. There were more flowers than I’d ever seen in one place, the deck of the pool atThe Alamolooking more like a tropical garden than the desert oasis it was designed as, but it was what Penelope wanted. There was no way I was gonna tell her no.
I looked around the pool deck, cleared out and emptied for the day’s big event, my eye never really able to turn work off as I scanned the hotel grounds for things that may need attending to. There was nothing, of course. We ran a tight ship with a great team. I still kept my eyes open whenever I was on sight, which wasn’t as often as I’d like these days.
Being CEO was great, more fulfilling than I could have ever thought. But I sure did travel a lot. When my dad suggested moving the base of operations here to Las Vegas, I thought it would be the perfect way to be able to spend time with Penelope in a location we both didn’t hate.
When he suggested we take over the Summerlin house together, I was elated. Penelope was not.
According to her, she didn’t want to just jump into living together. She was worried that it would put a strain on our new relationship. When I pointed out that we had lived together for months, strain and all, and still ended up falling in love, she gave a little. She moved in with me, but insisted she keep her stuff in the guest room like she had before, saying she wanted to ‘maintain some boundaries’.
That lasted all of two nights. Then I hauled her into my bed and kept her there, where I made her make those sexy noises that I loved so much, until she relented.
Was it bad of me to use sex as a weapon to get what I wanted? Maybe.
Did I care? Not one bit.
That woman was mine, and there was no way even something as simple as a hallway was ever gonna be between us again.
Unfortunately, life didn’t always work out the way you planned. I had to travel so much in the first several months of my new appointment as CEO that it seemed like I was hardly in Las Vegas at all. I’d hired an operations manager forThe Alamo, a woman named Alexis Vaughn, who was doing great work, but I sure missed this place when I was gone, and was always glad to be back in Sin City.
Back home.
Casting my eyes around the pool area again, I noticed that there are only a few dozen people here, which is more than I would have liked, but the choice wasn’t mine alone to make. The white chairs were laid out in neat rows, with the aisle in the middle, and the back of each chair was tied with some sort of gauzy navy-blue fabric. I wasn’t really sure what it was called, all I knew is Penelope and Daphne gushed over magazines and websites for months, choosing colors and flowers, and dresses. There was a lot of laughing and a lot of wine and I loved listening to them as they tossed out words like ‘tablescape’ and ‘décolletage’ and I just left them to it. The happiness and sheer joy that Penelope often exuded was still something I wasn’t used to, something I cherished every day. I never wanted to take her laughter for granted.
Music started playing softly, and I turned, seeing my friend Remington Ford sitting off to the side, one knee propped up on the rungs of his stool, as he strummed his acoustic guitar. I caught his eye and gave him a head nod. He tipped his chin up at me then returned his focus to his playing, something soft and instrumental that he wrote just for today. Penelope cried when he told her he was doing it. Over the last six months, they’ve gotten close. Not in a way that I am concerned about, but in a way that Rem really needed. The kid was so starved for family, he has become like a little brother to us both, and we loved watching him grow.
As I made my way to the make-shift alter that had been assembled next to the pool, Silas stepped up and took his place beside me, his face revealing nothing, but I knew this was going to be hard on him. This would be the first time he laid eyes on Daphne since she moved back to New York. Neither of them will discuss the other, and that alone tells me that they aren’t quite finished yet, but I have more than learned my lesson about meddling. Those two needed to figure it out on their own.
My attention was drawn to the end of the aisle, where my baby sister appeared, standing in a beautiful navy-blue dress, holding a bright bouquet of flowers with a huge smile on her face. They told me the dress was ‘tea length’ but hell if I knew what that meant. All I knew is she looked beautiful and I hope she knew it.
As she began to move toward the front of the aisle, I chanced a glance at Silas. If I didn't know him so well, I’d have never seen it, but the longing in his eyes kind of broke my heart.
Daphne neared the end of the aisle, but paused and leaned down to press a kiss to Harold’s cheek where he sat in the front row. I smiled, noticing he was wearing the gift I had given him last night. That damned Lorne GreenBonanzavest. He loved the thing, and seeing the camel colored leather peeking out from under his suit jacket made me proud that I had managed to find it for him.
Seated next to Harold was my mother, Eleanor, holding his hand as she beamed as smile my way.
When Harold said he was tired of New York winters, I expected him to join us in Las Vegas. But he declined, instead taking himself back to Austin, and he hasn’t left since.
I guess it was true what they say; it was never too late.
My attention was stolen from my parents when the guests, the people who were here today out of love for Penelope and me, all stood to attention, their heads turning to the far end of the aisle.
My throat was dry, my chest tight, as I stood there waiting for her. Waiting for the moment that I got to say before all our friends and family, how much she meant to me. How much I adored her, and cherished her, and would never, ever let her go.
My heart raced as I waited, but when Penelope rounded the corner, it stopped all together.
She was so damn beautiful it hurt.
