I don’t put Kayla down, not until we’re out on the rooftop. “Welcome to our new home,” I say.
She lifts her lips for a kiss. “You did this,” she murmurs. “You make impossible things possible.”
My chest grows tight and my eyes burn for a moment. I know she’s talking about the part, too, which she’s forgiven me for. She’s been filming for the show and finding her place in a new and exciting world at the studio.
“You,” is all I can say. I can hardly take how beautiful she looks with those eyes shining up at me, the California sun sparkling over the pool behind her.
Maxim pops the cork on the champagne, drawing us from our intimate moment. He pours four glasses and hands them around.
“To Pavel and Kayla,” Sasha says. “Keep her happy, or you’re a dead man.”
I clink glasses with Kayla, drinking in the gift of her adoring gaze. “She’s my reason for living,” I murmur.
Kayla’s lips part and she draws in a shaky breath. “He is my happiness,” she murmurs back, neither of us breaking our locked gaze.
“Aw,” Sasha says, and I hear the sound of her kissing Maxim.
I loop my arm around Kayla and draw her up against me. “To Maxim and Sasha. Thank you for believing in me enough to make this new venture possible.”
“Yes, to Maxim and Sasha,” Kayla repeats warmly.
All four of us clink glasses together and then drain them.
“Group hug,” Sasha calls.
I roll my eyes, because I’m the last guy who would ever join a group hug, but Kayla propels me forward and we join arms in a circle, the ladies laughing and jostling us around.
“I love you guys,” Sasha says as we break apart.
I can’t say it back, because my throat closes, but Kayla squeezes my waist. “We love you, too. Thank you so much for everything.”
We walk to the edge of the rooftop as a group and watch the sun lower in the sky until the giant ball paints the sky in red, pink and orange.
I press against Kayla’s back and breath in her spring meadow scent, humbled by how much beauty is in my life.