The meaning of it breaks over me like the dawn.
Carolyn pulls away. “I’m such an asshole.”
“You are not,” I say, going back in for another kiss.
She puts her fingers to my lips while my hands go to her waist, pulling her in. “I never answered you.”
“Answered you about what?”
“I love you, too! So much! Do you hear that, Arnie?”
Arnie guffaws behind his podium and lifts up his newspaper, and I lose myself in another kiss that’s so deep and so strong, I never want to come back to the surface.
With Carolyn by my side, I’m invincible.
“I love you,” she whispers into my ear the next time we come up for air.
It’s the beginning to the world’s most beautiful eternity.
Epilogue
Carolyn
“Wake up!”
The playful whisper is close to my ear, and I roll over and try to pull the pillow back over my head. It’s swiftly pulled out of my grasp.
“Wake up, gorgeous.” This time the tone is sultry, and a strong hand slides down over the bare, smooth skin of my stomach, toward the space between my legs.
I giggle and push the hand away. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“It’s almost dawn.”
“Why are you waking me up before dawn?”
“Because we’re leaving.”
I push myself upright in the massive bed in the center of Ace’s penthouse bedroom. “Leaving?”
“Yes. We’re going on a vacation, and we’re leaving with the sunrise. The plane is ready to go. It’s just waiting on us.”
“Where are we going?” I rub the sleep from my eyes and run a hand through my hair.
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
Ace’s hand goes to the back of my head and he kisses me, lighting up my entire body with need for him. The tease blocks my hand when I reach for the front of his boxers.
“Come back to bed. We don’t have to leave yet.”
“If you want time to shower, you’ll have to get out of bed this very instant, love of mine.”
I fall dramatically back on the bed and sigh.
Ace scoops me up into his arms and carries me, laughing, to the master bathroom, where he deposits me before the shower and turns on the water. To the perfect temperature, as always.
I step into the shower and let the warm water cascade down over my skin, my heart picking up speed. A surprise vacation almost makes up for the fact that Ace has woken me up at this ungodly hour. Of course, he’d never dream of flying commercial, and his private jet is one of the best-outfitted I’ve ever seen.
Not that I’ve had many opportunities to fly on it, since we’ve been busy figuring out which of our combined properties to keep.
I finally sold my apartment, to Angie’s delight, and moved into the penthouse with him. Over the past few months, he’s shared many of his properties with me—one in Phoenix, another in Seattle, one on the Gulf Coast—and there are more. He’s far more invested in real estate than I ever have been, and he’s got the gorgeous homes to prove it.
While I shampoo my hair and soap up my body, running a razor over my legs as quickly as I can, Ace disappears from the bathroom, returning when I’ve stepped out with a complete outfit in his hands.
“You forgot panties,” I say as I towel off my hair.
“I didn’t.” He holds up a silky, yet comfortable pair.
That’s my man.
The rest of the outfit is standard travel fare—yoga pants, a tight-fitting hoodie, and a tank—only boosted several notches by the fact that Ace had it custom-made for me by his own tailor. As a result, all of it fits like a glove.
Ten minutes later, I’m dressed, my hair is dried and gathered into a loose bun on top of my head, and I’ve got traveling makeup on—which is to say, none.
When I come back into the bedroom, Ace grins at me. “Let’s go.”
“Packing?”
“Everything’s on the plane.”
“I just need my phone, then—”
He holds it up with a wink, and I break into a run, jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck at the last moment. He catches me as I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling me close, and kisses me hard.
When I finally bring myself to break away, he puts me gently back down on the floor and takes my hand.
“No time to waste.”
Thirty minutes later, I sink into my plush leather window seat and sigh, relishing the feeling of Ace’s arm wrapped around my shoulder.
Fifteen minutes after that, we’re soaring above New York City as day breaks over the skyscrapers.
“Gorgeous,” I whisper.
“Not half as gorgeous as you.”
I settle in.