“I can do that,” she said.
Taking both of her hands in his, he said, “I’m making a commitment, Bella. To you. To us. I even put recycling cans in the cubicles at the office.”
She laughed then, a delightful sound that rippled out around him and settled over Jesse like a blessing.
“Oh, Jesse, you really are crazy, aren’t you?”
“Crazy about you? Oh, yeah, baby. Count on it.”
Outside, flashing red-and-yellow lights lit up the darkness and Jesse grimaced. “That’ll be the police. Honey, would you mind coming out and explaining to the nice officers that this is just the beginning of our very interesting lives?”
Epilogue
Three months later, Bella burst from her office into Jesse’s, a wide grin on her face as she waved a sheet of paper in the air as if she were waving the winner’s flag at a car race.
“It’s here! And it’s wonderful! You’re wonderful!” She flung herself at him and Jesse jumped up from his chair to catch her, arms coming around her in a tight embrace.
His wife.
He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the sound of those two words. His wife. He and Bella had been married for a month now and the difference in his life was staggering. He felt more alive than he ever had and it was all because of her.
“What’s here and just how wonderful am I?” he asked, bending his head to nibble at her neck.
Since Bella’s office was right next to his now, there was a connecting door the two of them alone used. That way they could be together whenever they wanted and without the rest of the office giving them knowing winks and smiles.
Not that he minded.
Bella hummed low in her throat as his lips and tongue moved over her neck. He loved the way she was dressing these days. Jeans that clung to her amazing legs, shirts that were actually her size and usually with nicely scooped out necklines, giving him much easier access.
“That’s not fair,” she whispered. “You know I can’t think straight when you do that.”
“Good,” he murmured. “No thinking required.”
And with the new rules of the office—no one entered without knocking and receiving a response—they were free to do whatever they liked. Jesse smiled to himself. There were several things he could think of to occupy them both for at least an hour or two.
“Jesse…” she squirmed in his grasp. “I didn’t come in here for this. I just wanted to show you. To thank you…”
“Ooh, good. I love being thanked by my wife.”
She laughed and tossed the paper she’d been holding onto his desk so that she could wrap both arms around his neck. She kissed him then, long and deep, and then pulled back to look up at him. “You say that a lot, you know? My wife.”
He grinned at her. “Get used to it. My wife. Mine.”
“Just the way I like it,” she whispered, and kissed him again, giving him everything he could ever have wanted. Making every dream come true. Making his life just as it should be.
And when she stepped away from him, backing toward the office sofa with a secretive smile, he followed willingly. But first, he glanced at the paper she’d brought into the office and he smiled.
It was the new national ad for King Beach.
Good to know she approved.
The glossy paper carried their pictures, shots of their beachwear and the slogan Bella and the King. Together at Last.
It was perfect.