Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
But when they do come, I’m a mess.
Butterflies and full hearts don’t even begin to do it justice.
“Sam, I don’t…I don’t deserve you,” Beau whispers huskily above me. He’s kept himself upright this whole time, effortlessly supporting his own weight above me.
“Is that a sex thing to say, or is it an all-encompassing thing?”
“The latter,” he answers.
“In a good way or bad way?” I ask.
“What?”
“Never mind. Either way, you’re wrong on all counts,” I tell him before kissing him so hard, so brutally, so breathlessly. “You do deserve me, Beau.” I know I can’t take away his pain, but through the coming days, weeks, and months, I hope we can face it together. I have so many changes happening in my own life, and I know he’ll adapt with me. He’s here, I’m here, and that means everything. It means that even though I’m not sure about the how of it, I know there’s one inescapable truth.
Our bodies belong together.
Our souls belong together.
Our hearts belong together.
Speaking of hearts, I set my hand directly overtop his. Over the top and over-the-top. Yes, to both. All the yeses in the world. “Our lives are just starting to intertwine, but it’s going to be beautiful. That’s what you deserve. Do you believe me?” I say.
He kisses me until my breath turns into his breath, and he practically induces another orgasm just by kissing me. Until I’m certain that if he’s still undecided about everything working out, he’ll take my word for it. He’ll listen to me over his doubts, fears, and past hurts.
He believes me, and he believes in me believing in him.
Epilogue
Beau
One more night, for old times’ sake, definitely involves one more sit-up on the roof that kicked my ass straight into the ground. Literally. Except this time, I made a foolproof system. This time and every other time we come up here, we wear a safety harness in the form of rock climbing ropes secured to the wall inside the house and tightened firmly around our waists.
“One more, huh?” Sam always reads my thoughts with zero effort. “It’s not just for old times’ sake. It’s for our sake. It’s for the sake of this being the last night we spend in this house, at least as owners of it.”
“Are you having second thoughts?” I ask.
She snorts at me. Her hand finds mine on top of the shingles, and she squeezes my fingers before replying, “No, darling. You built me the most wonderful farmhouse slash mansion because you had to have a home theatre, a shower big enough to live in, all the closets, and state-of-the-art everything. And I adore it. We poured so much time into making everything perfect. I’m going to be working from home there, and you’re going to be running operations in your office, and…yeah. Life is going to be good.”
When Sam said she didn’t want to go back to the city, to any city, which included my sprawling penthouse or any house I could have bought anywhere else other than the country, I did the most sensible thing and bought the land right next to hers. I bought so much of it, in fact, that we now have over five hundred acres surrounding the house we built. And she’s right. It did get a little out of hand. I wanted to give Sam the best of everything, and she wanted an old farmhouse, whereas I wanted it to be safe, highly functional, eco-friendly, and sustainable. She wanted those things, too, and so we compromised the entire way. The result is that the house looks like an old farmhouse, with three stories, turrets, and a porch that wraps the entire width of the house, but it’s also six thousand square feet, and I built a shop in the back that could probably fit at least another whole house inside it.
Sam has her own workspace. She’s still sewing prairie dresses, and I know one day she’d like to get back into fashion, but she’s busy and happy right now doing what she’s doing. She loves making dresses, and people love what she makes, so it’s a great deal all around.
I’m officially retired from putting my body in front of bullets or people who may want to fire them, so I do much more of the management now. It’s a good project for the time being. After six months, I rented out my penthouse and officially moved here, where we started building our dream house. Even with a ton of money, things only move so fast. I also paid for crews to fix anything over here, including the barn and shop.
Katie made good on her promise to do her antiques, and she’s transformed the barn. I know that as excited as she was to live up there, she’s extra excited to move into the house as soon as we leave. We’ve been packed for weeks, but the movers officially come tomorrow.