The Dirty Series 2(93)

I want everyone to see.

I want everyone to know.

I don’t give a shit what news breaks in the coming days and weeks. I want the world to know I love Angelica Chandler.

I’d shout it out right now, but there’s something I need to do first. For her. For me.

When I break the kiss and lift her back up to standing, we’re both a little breathless. Giddy. Electricity arcs between our hands.

“Did you get us the same table?” Angelica jokes as we head into the lobby, but then she sees who’s standing inside and her jaw drops.

“Mom? Adam?”

Her mother and brother are both dressed to the nines, her mother beaming and radiant in something midnight blue, her brother in a suit I had sent over for him this morning. It only took a little dishonesty on my part, which I’m sure Angelica will forgive—their numbers were the very first ones saved in her phone.

“Honey,” her mother says, wrapping Angelica in her arms. I see instantly from whom she gets her good looks. Her mother pats her back, then steps back and sizes me up. “Jett Brandon,” she says, a little wonderingly. Then she laughs, deep and rich. “I can see why she fell for you.”

“Mom!”

Adam steps forward and shakes my hand. “Adam Chandler,” he says with a sheepish smile. I give him a firm shake and a nod.

“Are we ready?” I say, getting an enthusiastic nod from Angelica’s mother and a slightly more subdued one from Adam.

“Jett,” Angelica says, linking her arm through mine. “What are we—?”

“You’ll see, I promise.”

I lead them down one of the hallways off the lobby, taking us past the main dining rooms to one of the more opulent rooms for rent. There are about twenty tables inside, and when we come through the door, Angelica’s mother gasps.

Each of the tables is set with glittering centerpieces, candles, the works—and gathered near the door is a crowd. Connor is here, most of my best friends, and Angelica’s, too—even her boss couldn’t hide her excitement when I told her about the event. The woman might be cold-hearted, but inviting her will make things easier for Angelica in the long run, I hope.

Not that she’ll need to work, if she doesn’t want to.

That’s beside the point.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I say, and everyone applauds like we’re royalty. When they quiet down, I continue. “I want to introduce to you the love of my life, the woman who makes me better in every way, the woman I hope will never leave my side: Angelica Chandler.”

In the crescendo of their applause, Angelica turns to me, pulls my face down to hers, and kisses me like our forever is just beginning.





Epilogue





Angelica



It’s been six months with Jett.

Six gorgeous, beautiful months waking up next to his perfect body. I usually wake up first in the mornings, but he hears me stirring. The sight of his green eyes lighting up with joy to see me is one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

“How do you feel?” he says sleepily, rolling over onto his back and stretching his muscular arms over his head.

“I feel...so free!”

He rolls over and kisses me on the cheek, then leaps out of bed and heads for the bathroom to brush his teeth. I’m on his heels in an instant.

“Tell me you’re not going to the office.”

“I’m going to the office,” he says, then turns around with a grin and sweeps me off my feet, carrying me with him into the master bathroom.

“Are you really?”

“Hell no! It’s your first day without that job in, what, four years?”

Last Friday was my last day at Sisterspark. Hadley shed a single tear at my going-away party. Turns out her heart isn’t made of solid ice, after all. Although, maybe it is—she’s probably going to have to take on some of my workload until they find someone to replace me.

Doesn’t matter!

“It’s my first day without a job in thirteen years,” I say, picking up my own toothbrush. “I’ve been working since I was fourteen.”

“Thirteen years? That’s far too long, sweet thing.”

“I’m going to spend all day lying around,” I say decisively, knowing that Jett is never going to go for it. “I’m going to put on yoga pants and watch every single movie on Netflix that I’ve ever wanted to watch, and I’m not going to think about Sisterspark or Hadley even once....”

Jett spits into the sink and rinses his toothbrush, turning to me with a gleaming smile as he hands me mine. “Or we could do something else.”

“Like what?”

“A date.”

“A date to where? The Swan? Or, wait, that Italian place I took you to as a surprise?” I brush my teeth with a grin, my heart bursting with heat and light and excitement.