Sebastian crawls into my lap, smiling up at me.
“Who’s a funny boy, huh?” I tease.
“Not me, I hope.”
Kayden strides over to us, water glistening down his muscular hard body. His pectorals proud, seeming to shine even brighter as the setting sun caresses them.
He grins as he drops down on the blanket, sliding his hand through Sebastian’s hair.
“You did great today, Kyra.”
I laugh. “You weren’t even at the meeting.”
“But I could see how you were smiling when you left. It’s the same way you smiled when you got that A last semester. You thought you were going to fail, and you were so adorably surprised. You were smiling in the exact same way.”
“I hope you’re right. And thank you.”
He smiles at me, his green eyes shining. “That’s what husbands are for.”
“I’ll never get tired of hearing that. The big superstar Kayden Kater is the husband of little ol’ me.”
He chuckles at my light teasing, and then leans over and kisses me on the cheek. “I love you so much. I was thinking about it when I was in the water. Every time I looked over, I saw the two of you, and I thought to myself… that’s one lucky bastard who gets to call her his woman, and this little man his son.”
He stroked Sebastian’s hair again, smiling down at him.
“And then it hit me. I’m that lucky bastard. I’ll never stop being grateful for you.”
“We’ll never stop being grateful for you either. Although…”
“Although?” He arches his eyebrow.
I wave a hand at the beach, completely empty except for us. It’s a beautiful scene, with the sand untouched all around us, and the waves lapping at the shoreline, the water glistening and looking endless without anyone in it.
“You didn’t have to block off the whole beach for one day.”
He chuckles. “Are you saying you don’t like the privacy?”
I can’t help but smile. Ever since the show aired, I’ve been recognized in public countless times. The interactions have been mostly amazing, with women like me approaching and telling me they’re so happy I was able to find love… and some have even said it gives them hope.
But Kayden is right. Sometimes it’s nice for it to be just us.
“I think you’ve got me there.” I laugh.
He shifts closer and wraps his arm around me. I rest my head on his shoulder and together, as our son plays in the sand, we watch the sunset over the ocean.
Extended Epilogue
Ten Years Later
Kayden
“Nice choice.”
I laugh as I poke my head around the living room door of our six-bedroom home in the suburbs. On our large wall-mounted TV, the final episode of CEOs in Love plays, the one where I proposed to Kyra.
Every now and then, Kyra will show it to the children, and they’ll either love it or pretend to be grossed out.
Kyra smiles over at me. She’s sitting in the plush armchair with little Penny in her lap. Penny is our newest addition, only one month old, and easily the quietest of all our babies. Even so, the volume on the TV is turned down low, my voice rising gently around us.
Kyra looks incredible, the way she always does after she’s recently given birth. Her hair is tousled around her shoulders, her PJs showing her generous breasts, swollen with our child’s milk. I can’t look at those round milky tits for long, or I’ll go into feral mode. Eleven and a half years we’ve been together, and she still turns me into an animal every day.
Sebastian sits on the floor, half playing his handheld games console, half watching the screen. Since it’s a lazy Sunday morning, he’s sprawled out, his mop of black hair reminding me of mine when I was his age. Katy sits on the couch above him. She came so soon after Sebastian, so similar to him with her long black hair and her lean features, making some think they’re twins.
On the other chair, looking like they’re about to break into a fight over the cushions, our brown-haired rascals sit. Liam and Tommy are four and six respectively, and they’re by far the most rambunctious of our children, always wanting to wrestle and roughhouse. I’ve already enrolled them in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, so they can get the energy out of their system in a safe way, but they’re still a wonderful handful.
Liam grins at me. “Daddy, we saved you a seat.”
I smile as I walk across the room, meeting Kyra’s eyes as I sit between our sons. I give her one of our husband-wife looks. She likes to joke that, after a certain point, a husband and wife no longer need words to communicate. They can say everything they need through expression alone.
The look I give her says, I love you.
“Daddy, you look the same,” Tommy says. “On the TV and in real life.”