He looked at her smile and smiled in return.
“So are you finally un-declaring your independence from me?” he asked.
She raked a fingernail down his abs and made him shudder. “I guess so. And that means you won the war after all.”
“I’ll need your complete and total surrender, you know,” he said, tugging up the hem of her shirt. “And I’ll require some war damages. Let’s start with you relinquishing all rights to your clothing. I think that’s fair.”
She took in a quick breath as he peeled the shirt over her head and hungrily eyed her bare breasts. “A little heavy-handed, but I accept.”
He flicked his tongue over her nipple, pleased when it hardened right away. “And you’ll have to serve some time under house arrest. In bed. Not allowed out of it … ever.”
She laughed. “Idiot. I have to work, you know. And eat. And have a life.”
“You don’t need to work. I’m rich, remember?”
“You’re not that rich, I’m sure.” She cupped his cock and balls and he thought his head might fly off his shoulders.
“The hell I’m not.” He pulled her hand away, flipped her onto her back and pinned both her hands over her head. “I’m a billionaire.”
She laughed and laughed. “That was a good one,” she said finally.
He gently bit her nipple and enjoyed her gasp. “I’m a billionaire, Phae. If you don’t believe it now, you’ll believe it when we’re married.”
“Who said anything about getting married?”
“I just did. Marry me, Phae, and help me figure out what to do with all this damned money.”
She struggled and tried to get free from his hold, but he held firm. “You know I can make you let me go, right? I mean, I have three years of training and all.”
He licked around the circumference of her high, round breast. “I know, but you won’t because you don’t want to hurt me. Besides, I’ll let you go if that’s what you really want.”
“It’s not what I want.”
“Thank God.”
She sighed and her chest rose and fell rapidly as he worked his hips against hers. “Are you really a billionaire?”
“Yep. The sale of Kenrik pushed my bottom line over the top.”
“Do you really want to marry me?”
“Damned straight. And you’re going to say yes because you know I’ll get my way in the end. Remember, Kent won’t relent.”
She groaned. “That’s so corny. But I love you anyway.”
“And you’ll marry me.” He kissed her neck and licked at her ear lobe making her tremble.
“Oh, yes. I’ll marry you … as long as you don’t tell anyone else that you’re a billionaire. We’d never hear the end of it.”
He grinned at the woman who had become the most dear thing to him in the world. “It’s a deal. You can’t back out now.”
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
Yep, he thought. Those were demands he could live with … for the rest of his life.
Epilogue
Three months later
PHAE WATCHED AS THE BURLY moving man hauled out the last piece of exercise equipment from her old home. The room seemed bigger now that it was empty. She walked slowly through the rest of the rooms, checking to be certain she hadn’t missed anything.
The only sad part about moving was that there hadn’t been all that much to move. She was leaving the old furniture, so the living room didn’t look much different from before, except for the absence of Grandma Jones’ china cabinet.
She fondly touched the worn-out sofa. She understood now why she’d never bothered to decorate this home: it had never actually been a home. It had been a way station, a place to rest until her real life began. Somewhere deep inside she’d known this all along.
She smiled at Kent when he stepped inside the apartment, sunlight streaming through the door, sparkling in his jet black hair.
“Is that everything?” he asked, surveying the room.
“That’s it.”
Kent yelled out to the worker to head over to Belleterre, then said to Phae, “Ready to go get incorporated?”
“Yeah, but let’s walk. It’s a beautiful day for November,” Phae said as she took his hand. “And the office is just on the square.”
“A stroll with my lovely wife? I think I can handle that. Do you want a few moments to say goodbye to the old place?”
She didn’t bother with a final glance. “No. I’m done here.”
She locked the front door then followed Kent into the beauty shop. Sylvie, loo
king dejected, sat in one of the hydraulic chairs.
“It’s so weird without you, Phae,” she said with a little sigh. “I’m going to miss you.”
“We’ll only be on our honeymoon for a month. That’s not so long,” Kent assured her.
“It’s not that,” Sylvie said. “I wouldn’t want Phae to give up a trip to Europe for anything. No, it’s that it’ll never be the same here, now that she’s not working here anymore.”
“Aw, Sylvie,” Phae said, patting her shoulder. “I’m going to miss you, too.”
“It sure will be lonely.” Sylvie looked around the small salon as if it were the size of a deserted football field. “All empty and lonely.”
Phae grinned at her dramatics. “You’re so full of it. Neesa told me that Aunt Meg’s gonna graduate beauty school soon and when she gets her license, she’ll be joining you here.”
“Neesa’s such a blabbermouth,” Sylvie said. “But yes, it’s true. Meg’s been on that toot all this time about not being so dependent on men, or some other such nonsense. She sounded like you, Phae.”
Phae and Kent gave one another a meaningful glance.
Sylvie fluffed her hair in front of the big mirror. “I don’t know why so many women have such a problem about men supporting them. Oh well, at least I’ll have some company before I go out of business from losing all of your regulars, Phae.”
“I looked at the books last week and you’re doing fine. It’s not like my part was ever that profitable anyway. I mostly worked on family and older ladies who couldn’t see well enough to know I sucked.”
“Don’t believe her, Kent,” Sylvie said. “She was pretty good, actually. Not everybody has a flair for it, but she did okay. It’s different with me. I get this sort of weird feeling when I’m working with hair. It’s kind of supernatural. By the way, Phae, I absolutely love what you’ve been doing with your hair these days. All kind of wild and curly. Big hair suits you.”
“Thanks. I think.”