Stripped Bare (Vegas Billionaire 1)

Finn taps her on the shoulder and points. The airport walls have the Disney characters everywhere, making her face light up.

“Let’s put this away while we’re on vacation, okay?” He takes her phone from her without any protest on her part and slips it into my purse for safekeeping. After we claim our bags we spot the driver holding a sign with our name and head toward him. “I’m Finn McCormick,” he says, shaking the driver’s hand.

“Welcome to Orlando,” he says, motioning for my bag. We follow him out to the waiting car and climb in.

“How come we couldn’t take the bus? Stacy’s family took the Disney bus.”

“I thought you’d want to get to the hotel faster,” Finn answers Morgan’s question. “Getting there quicker means we can go to a park tonight or go sit on the beach. At night the hotels play movies.”

Morgan doesn’t say anything as we pull away from the airport. It takes us about thirty minutes before we’re pulling into the hotel and the valet is immediately at the door helping us out.

“Whoa,” Morgan says when she sees a giraffe off in the distance. Finn went all out and booked us at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, securing the presidential suite. I told him it would be too much and that we didn’t need a lot and he blew me off, saying he was treating his girls to the experience of a lifetime. He doesn’t get it, though, because for Morgan and me, waking up to him every day is what makes us whole. He’s all we need for the experience of our lifetimes.

We’re escorted to our suite and once the door is open, Morgan is off exploring. I walk around slowly, taking in the massive space that could sleep eight. Looking out one of the many windows, we have a direct view overlooking the Arusha Savanna, where more giraffes are grazing.

Finn comes behind me, locking his arms around my waist. He kisses my neck, from my shoulder to my ear, showing me what will come later.

“This is beautiful, Finn, but it’s too much. You don’t need to lavish us with expensive gifts all the time, you’re enough.”

“Not nearly as beautiful as you,” he says against my skin. I melt into him and wrap my arms around his. Only once has he said something mean to me and it was the night he came over to ask about Morgan. I let him get away with it because I deserved it. I kept her from him when I could’ve easily told him that day in the casino. He’s apologized repeatedly and promises to never say anything harsh again, and I trust him.

“Besides, while you’ve been admiring the view I checked my email one last time before I shut my phone off and something caught my attention.”

“What’s that?” I ask, even though I know he’s going to share his news. That is one thing he’s done since we’ve been together, tell me everything about his business, hiding nothing from me, including the money he makes.

“I added three zeros.”

“Huh?” I question.

“As of this morning the numbers are in on MaMo.” The gleam in his eyes tells me he’s up to something. Much like when he named his third hotel the ridiculous name of MaMo, after Morgan and me.

“Spill, Mr. McCormick. I don’t like waiting.”

He laughs and shakes his head before getting serious again. “You’re looking at Finn McCormick, billionaire.”

My mouth drops open and his eyes widen with excitement. I squeal and jump into his arms. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re still cocky, though,” I point out. Only a man like Finn would be excited about reaching billionaire status.

“You have no idea how cocky,” he says, waggling his eyebrows. “Come on, I have something to show you.” He sets me down and takes my hand, leading me down the hall, pausing at what I assume is our bedroom door. He kisses me quickly before opening the door and stepping aside. The bed is covered with rose petals, along with a thick trail leading out to the balcony. I follow them out, catching sight of the giraffes as they eat from the trees outside our room.

The roses stop at a small table where a bottle of champagne rests on ice, with two flutes.

“What’s this?” I turn to ask, immediately covering my mouth. Finn is down on one knee with a black velvet box in his hand.

“Macey, we may have started out on the wrong foot so many years ago, but these past eight, almost nine months have been the best of my life and that is because of you. You’ve shown me what unconditional love is and how fucking good it feels to kiss you.”

I half laugh and half cry, causing him to stop.

“I love you, our life that we’re building and our daughter, and I honestly can’t think of another way that I want to spend the rest of my life except as your husband. Will you marry me?”