Page 70 of Nikolai
“Open.”He opened his eyes and stared at the small serving bowl.
“Ohmygod.”
Parker nodded.“I asked Dr.Crowley, and he gave me his okay.”
“Tiramisu,” Nick said reverently.
“It is.A promise is a promise.”
He dug his dessert spoon into the creamy, chocolatey mass and put the spoon in his mouth and closed his eyes.It tasted of heaven.The best tiramisu he’d ever had.He finished the bowl without talking and barely kept himself from scraping the bottom of the bowl for a few more molecules of the dessert.
He picked the bowl up and tilted it to her so she could see just how tragically empty it was.
“Sorry, slick.”Parker smiled.“The doctor said one small bowl.But the good news is I have more for tomorrow.”
Nick looked over at Parker.She was smiling at him, and he knew that she was doing her very best to please him and care for him.And she was doing a fantastic job.If he played his cards right, this could be forever.He could see her across the table for the rest of his life.
It was what he wanted more than anything in the world.
Nick picked up her hand.He wanted to smile, but it was too big a moment to smile.“Parker Donovan, I’ve never met anyone like you before.I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I know myself and I know I want to be with you forever.Will you marry me?”
She laughed.“For the tiramisu?”
But then she saw that he was serious and stopped smiling.Her hand trembled in his.“Maybe.I don’t know what to say.Not many marriages work out.”
“Yes.You say yes.”Nick startled babbling in a sweat of panic.“But you don’t have to say yes immediately.We could—we could live together first.You could get used to the idea.I could definitely relocate Go Solutions headquarters to Rome.Naples would be harder, but Rome could work quite well.You could live in Rome, right?Work in Rome?”
She nodded, eyes huge.
“So we’d live together, see how it works.I think it would work great, don’t you?”
Nick picked up her hand, soft and graceful.Everything about her was soft and graceful, and he was astounded at how much he wanted this, wanted it forever.Something of what he felt must have gotten through because she suddenly smiled.
“Probably.”
Epilogue
One year later
Villa Serena
Outside Rome
It took him a year to convince her, but he did it.It was finally their wedding day.Nick thought he’d be nervous.Marriage was a big deal.Unless things went really wrong, it was for the rest of your life.But he was fine.Calm.Very sure of what he was doing.
His life had changed beyond recognition anyway.It had been the happiest year of his life.He and Parker had been living together in Rome the past year, in a large apartment he’d bought after selling his flat in London.He’d sold his London flat at a market high and had been able to buy two floors in a palazzo in the center of Rome, one to live in and one as company headquarters.His commute to the office was two minutes.There’d even been money left over to buy his parents a small apartment in the same palazzo.
Parker had made their apartment, his office and his parents’ place incredibly elegant.Entering his home, closing the door behind him, Nick always felt better.Relaxed, happy, at peace.And clients were astounded when they entered his headquarters.Security companies weren’t known for their beauty.
And Dylan relocated to Rome and loved it.
He’d thought he’d sacrifice business to live with Parker in Rome, but nope.Business went up.Go Solutions was the preeminent security company in the Mediterranean now, where there’d be security work till the sun went nova.
Crazily, Go Solutions had very lucrative ongoing contracts with the Italian Defense Ministry.Parker had accompanied him to a big US Embassy thing they both thought would be boring.As it turned out, the Italian Defense Minister was there, and he was a fan of Roman history and was dazzled by Parker.He and Parker chatted in Latin all evening and the next day Nick was called in for a contract.So far, he’d had ten of them.
Things were going really well for Parker, too.Apocalypse Thenwas climbing the bestseller charts, and the documentary would air in the fall.She was happy and he was happy for her.It was an amazing book and had people buzzing.
“There she is!”someone shouted, and yep, there she was.They were in the villa’s garden with silk-covered chairs on the grass, and Parker was walking down the central aisle.Nick’s father had offered to walk her down the aisle—nobody even knew where Parker’s father was—but she chose to walk herself to him.
