“Sweet, my ass. More like spicy.” I whip the towel over her head and use it as a makeshift lasso to draw her close. “And if you’re still innocent after all we’ve done, let’s engage in a little more debauching. The headlines can read “Thoroughly ruined wife rampages through the Valentine empire.’”
“Terrible headline,” she murmurs against my mouth. “Way too long.”
“Are we talking about my cock now or are we still on the fake newspaper chyrons?” I lift her up and carry her into the bedroom to prove to her that the only thing she needs to fear is how many times I’m going to want to fuck her from now until eternity.
EPILOGUE
MILA
5 YEARS LATER
“Damn it,” I mutter as I try to work the zipper on my dress up. It’s a bit snugger than when I tried it on a few weeks ago at the little boutique. I’m not a big shopper, but I made it a point to go out to find the perfect dress for tonight. Not only is it Valentine’s Day but our five-year wedding anniversary.
Yes, we ended up getting married on Valentine's Day. It’s a bit cliché, but I quickly learned that my husband is actually a giant romantic. Something I don’t think he even knew till I came along. I love that I bring out that side of him. I’ve noticed it’s like that with a lot of things over the years. That he’s different with me than with everyone else. It makes me feel as if I’m the only one that truly knows him. I love everything about that man. I was crazy for ever running from him from the start. But I look at it this way: It's good for a man to do a bit of chasing.
“Ember, can you help a girl out?” I call over to my sister. I never include the in-law part when I’m referencing Ember. I’ve pretty much stolen her from Archer and claimed her as my own.
She’s here to watch Lucas while I sneak out. Archer knows we have plans, but he doesn’t know what they are or that they’re going to be earlier than we discussed. He left to go to the office a little while ago to wrap a few things up. We actually stayed at the casino last night. We spend a few nights throughout the week here, and the rest are spent at our house right outside the city. It’s a blessing that we get to have both homes. It allows us to be here while Archer is working. He’s been slowly handing over more and more of his workload to other people.
It has been nice that the office is so close, but it’s time to move more permanently to our house. Especially with Lucas starting kindergarten soon. I still can’t believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like only yesterday that I walked into Archer’s office.
“Wow. Are you trying to get Archer and me into a fight?” Ember asks when she walks into my closet to help me and gets a full view of my dress. “Your boobs are bursting out of that thing. He’s going to lose it when he sees you in this.”
“I know. I swear it wasn’t this bad when I bought it.” I tug at the top, trying to get these suckers to go down some. “Zip me.” Maybe if I hold the top up when she zips the dress, it will stay up higher.
“It’s a beautiful dress. Shame he’s going to destroy it.” I snort a laugh because she’s right. I turn around so the zipper is facing her. “When did you try it on last?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And it fit?”
Crap. I don’t much care for where this line of questioning is going. “I mean it was a little snug, but—”
“You’re pregnant!” she half-shouts.
“Shh!” I hush her. “It’s a surprise. I haven’t told Archer yet.”
“Really? I’ve been getting baby fever. Lucas is getting so big,” Ember gushes.
She’s the best auntie a kid could ask for. She tends to be a bit like her brother, and all her focus is on work. She’s always said she doesn’t want kids. That she’s total aunt material. I can’t argue with her on that one. Lucas adores her.
“Yes, I only stopped taking my birth control a few months ago. I swear your brother has super sperm.”
“Oh gross.” Ember pretends to gag.
After we had Lucas, I told Archer I wanted to wait a little. I knew I wanted more kids, but I also knew I needed some time with just Archer and Lucas. Plus, once Archer realized how little of the world I’ve seen, he wanted to show all of it to me.
So over the past five years, that’s what he’s done. We always tried to go somewhere new every three months or so. It’s been incredible, but now with the more permanent move to the house and Archer really stepping back from work, I think it’s time to get back to growing our family. I want Lucas to have siblings. I never had any, and I love how Ember and Archer are together. I want him to have that.