The Dirty Series 1(65)

“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad,” Cate says, hugging them both. “This is my boyfriend, Jax.”

“We’ve met,” says her Dad, then guffaws loudly.

“What?”

“Just this morning.”

“Why—?”

I clear my throat, and Cate’s family steps back a couple of paces, all of them smiling almost freakishly large smiles, and she crosses her arms, looking at all of their faces, then back to me.

“Catherine Schaffer,” I begin. “From the moment I saw you, I knew you were someone I had to have in my life.” My throat tightens with emotion. “And I know we haven’t known each other a very long time, but—fuck,” I say, my love for her crashing into me again. Cate’s family bursts into laughter, and Bee covers the ears of the baby in her wrap.

“Language, language,” she scolds playfully.

I wipe a stray tear from my eyelashes and continue. “I didn’t need to know you for a long time to know that I wanted to be with you always. So…” I get down to my knee, and Cate clasps her hands in front of her, her face glowing with delight, her eyes shining with tears. “Cate, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she shrieks, barreling into me so fast I almost fall over.

“You haven’t seen the ring yet!”

“I don’t care about the ring!” she shouts into my ear, and her entire family roars with laughter. She kisses the side of my neck and hugs me so hard that I start to tip over again, and her Dad comes over, offering me a hand to get up.

Once we’re both standing, Cate still giddy with happiness, I pull the ring box from my pocket. I had my personal jeweler come to the penthouse at three in the morning the day before I was supposed to leave so I could select it. It’s not the most ostentatious diamond—I didn’t think she’d like that—but the band is intricate, the details stunning.

She gasps, then claps her hands when she sees it, her calm and collected self slipping away.

Once I’ve slipped the ring onto her finger, Cate throws her arms around my neck, kissing me hard, and her family looks away, giving us a moment to ourselves.

“You had this the entire time?” she whispers in my ear. “Even when you didn’t know what I would say?”

“I hoped you would still love me. I hoped you would say yes.”

“I’ll always say yes. Every single day. I love you, Mr. Hunter.”

The light in her eyes says it all.





Epilogue





Cate, three months later



I get to the office an hour early, coffee in hand, muscles loose and limber from a hell of a workout with Carl this morning. That guy is something else. It’s like he wants to punish me for making him get up early, even though I know for a fact that the early mornings with Jax and I are making him a fortune.

We laughed pretty hard when we found out we’d been using the same personal trainer the entire time we were getting to know each other. New York City is a sprawling metropolis, but it’s just like the rest of the world—it gets smaller every day.

The office is silent, dark, and it smells like fresh carpet and new furniture. As I walk through, flipping on the lights, I breathe it all in.

I’ve dressed for today—this very important day—in red. My top is a vivid color that can’t help but stand out, and it’s contained only by the neutral color of my skirt and jacket. No black for me.

Inside my office, I stand for a moment beside the window, looking at the city streets below. People are coming and going, hurrying down the sidewalk. It’s Monday morning in New York, and the workday is about to begin.

I can’t wait.

The sound of movement behind me catches my attention, and then two hands I know well slide around my waist, followed quickly by a kiss on the side of my neck.

I turn and press my lips into Jax’s cheek. My husband. My partner. My best friend.

“How does it look?”

“As perfect as it did last night,” I laugh. I made excuses to finalize this and that detail until 9:00 last night, when Jax finally dragged me home to the penthouse. He said he’d waited far too long that day to be with me, by which he meant “spend an hour in bed together.” I was only too happy to go along with that plan.

“You’re going to be amazing.”

I have butterflies in my stomach.

“I hope so. I hope everything goes smoothly today.”

“With Catherine Hunter running the operation, I don’t see how it could be any other way.”

I turn in his arms and clasp mine around his neck, kissing him long and slow and deep. When it’s over, he takes a big breath in and looks down into my eyes, a familiar glint in his.