Epilogue

FOUR MONTHS LATER

“ What are you doing?”

A husky voice moved in at my back as warmth suffused me. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know who it was. Zach had been coming in and out of the conference room I’d commandeered for my forensic accounting project at regular intervals. For months. It helped that I was only two doors down from him. That made office nookie—that’s what he called it … and maybe I played the game a bit too—so much more convenient.

“I think I’m done,” I replied, taking a step back so I could look at each white board that had been erected—so many that there wasn’t much extra space to move around in the room—in turn.

“You’re done with what?” His arms moved around my waist, and he nuzzled his face in my neck. “You’d better not be talking about me.”

He might not have been able to see my eyeroll, but he was familiar enough with my mannerisms to know it was there. “Don’t start.”

“Don’t start what?” His lips grazed my neck.

“You know.” I extricated myself from him just enough that I could turn and face him. The love on his face was evident, and even months after we’d said it for the first time, I marveled that he was mine.

“What are you thinking?” he asked when I’d been quiet for several seconds.

“I’m thinking that I never knew you could be mine. I just … never thought it was possible.”

“And now that you have me?” His eyes twinkled with flirty intent. “Do you pinch yourself every morning?”

“That’s you.”

“Yes, well … you’re just so pinchable.” As if to prove it, he pinched my butt and caused me to give him a dirty look. “Ah, there’s that face I love so much.” He cupped my chin and gave me a lingering kiss that was only disturbed because someone decided to clear his throat in the open doorway.

“You guys are officially gross,” Rex complained as he walked into the room. He was used to finding us in random places on the executive floor at this point. We usually had our tongues down each other’s throats, our hands up skirts and down pants, and bras hanging from doorknobs. He was horrified each and every time.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Zach pulled me tight against his chest, not letting me escape, and fixed my brother with an annoyed look. “If you know we’re being gross—your word, not mine—why do you keep tracking us down? It’s as if you want to be grossed out.”

Rex shrugged. “It’s better to catch you before things get out of hand, right?”

“If you say so.”

“I know so.” Rex tugged on a hank of my hair, proving himself the ultimate older brother. “Your mom wants you in the executive office. She thinks she has a final plan for going forward.”

“Really?” I perked up. Cora had been working on “the plan” for what felt like forever at this point. She’d also managed to end the dancer strike the first week after Ryder was ousted. Once she’d publicly committed to their plan, the other casinos had fallen in line. The club owners had no choice but to acquiesce once that happened.

“Are you sure you’re okay with Opal being named Chief Executive Officer?” Rex asked.

Zach nodded without hesitation. “She’s more prepared. She’ll be good at it.”

Since Ryder had lost his position, the rest of the Stone family had banded together to form an immovable wall. They’d put their combined knowledge together, and Stone Group was running better than it ever had.

Ryder still complained of course. He had a position on the board, but he had so few shares now he had almost no voice in what happened with the company. I had no doubt he was trying to figure out a way to come back into power—that’s who he was after all—but right now, he was basically impotent. Even his mistress was squawking about leaving him. He was taking care of her and their child—barely—but neither of them were happy with their new living arrangements. They’d been moved to a regular room on the second floor of the casino … far, far away from where Zach and I lived.

Cora had filed for divorce—it seemed the prenuptial agreement Ryder had signed at the behest of her father was ironclad—and she was the one swimming in money. Since the house had been bought with Stone Group funds, he didn’t even get a chunk of that pie. He was well and truly screwed, only bringing in about twenty grand a month. By a normal person’s standards, that was a lot of money. By his standards, he was practically destitute.

I laughed about it whenever I saw him, which was fairly often now that I was working on the executive floor. I wasn’t technically a part of the accounting team. Currently, I was considered a consultant. Zach was insisting that I be brought on full time, though, and everybody with the last name Stone—except for Ryder of course—was backing the move. I’d found several other creative accounting “errors” in the books. Cora had paid the money back so that wouldn’t be an issue, but she was holding the money over Ryder’s head to get him to sign off on the divorce without fighting it.

He was not happy about any of it.

“Well, they’re all in there,” Rex said. “They want to hammer things out so they can get the PR team working on a press release. Once Opal takes charge, then it’s going to be a free-for-all with the press.”

“Don’t they already know something is going on?” I asked. “I mean … your father had to publicly resign. They must suspect that things aren’t exactly copacetic in the Stone family.”

“I’m sure they’ve been digging,” Zach confirmed. “That’s why we have to get ahead of them. I’m all for making the announcement this week.”

“Okay, well … I’ll go tell them you’re on your way.” Rex sent us a significant look. “Just for the record, you don’t have time to be gross before you’re expected to meet with them.”

Zach snickered. “There’s always time to be gross. It’s okay, though. My plans for your sister can wait until after the romantic dinner I will be taking her on later this evening.”

“So gross,” Rex muttered as he disappeared from sight. Then, because he was Rex, he yelled from the hallway. “So, so gross!”

Zach grinned as he looked down at my face, his arms still around me. “I have fun messing with your brother.”

“We have that in common,” I agreed. “I like messing with him, too.”

Zach dropped another kiss on my upturned mouth. It was chaste comparatively. When he pulled back, though, I could tell there was something on his mind.

“What is it?” I asked, instantly alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

“Why do you always assume something is wrong?” he complained, his gaze going dark.

“You have your serious face on. That means there’s something wrong.”

“Or I could just have a serious question for you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What sort of serious question?”

“You’re such a trusting soul.” He pinched my butt again just because he could. Then he reached into his pocket. I thought he was going for his phone, but he came back with a jewelry box. “So, I was thinking.” He licked his lips, looking suddenly nervous.

“What is that?” I was intrigued despite myself. “That looks like a Tiffany box.”

“It is.” Now he was smiling when he grabbed my left hand, his thumb going over the wedding band we’d bought at the chapel the day we embarked on a fake marriage that had turned into a real forever. “So, I wouldn’t trade our Batman marriage for anything.”

I nodded. “Me either. It was my dream … almost literally.”

“I thought maybe we could do it again, though.” He shifted from one foot to the other, telling me he was nervous.

“You want to get married by Batman again?”

“I want a real wedding.” He opened the box, revealing a huge—seriously, I didn’t even know they made diamonds that big—engagement ring. “You never got one of these. You just got the wedding band.”

I was taken aback. “I just needed the wedding band,” I assured him. “I don’t…” I was about to say I didn’t need a big diamond ring. The one in the box was gorgeous, though. My greedy eyes drank it in.

“Yeah, you do need it.” He took the ring out of the box and dropped to his knee, causing my breath to catch in my chest. “I love you. Four months ago, I didn’t think it was possible to love anybody more. Now I know that’s not true, because my love for you grows every single day.”

I was dumbfounded. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

“Do you mean proposing?”

“We’re already married,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, but your parents weren’t there. My mom and sisters weren’t there. I don’t want anything big,” he cautioned. “I want to do it right this time, though. I want a party … and I want you in a white dress…and this time our vows aren’t going to include the words ‘holy matrimony, Batman.’”

I pressed my lips together, caught between crying and laughing. “I … are you sure?”

“Am I sure I want to marry you? I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

“But … it’s not necessary. We’re already married.”

“Baby, it is necessary. I want the whole world—or, rather the thirty or so people we like the most—to know how much I love you.” He held up the ring. “I want to do everything right from here on out. That starts with this ring and two hearts.”

My fingers shook as I reached out to take the ring. “This is … the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Zach made a face. “You’re going to hurt my ego.”

I laughed, briefly shutting my eyes before speaking. “I want to marry you again. It will make my mother happy.”

“I care most about making you happy,” he said. “It couldn’t hurt to get your mother back on my side, though. She’s still bitter about missing the first wedding.”

“Are we really going to do this?”

“Yup. We’re having a big honeymoon, too. The sky is the limit. Wherever you want to go.”

“Glamping?”

“You mean fancy camping?”

I shrugged. “It kind of fits.”

He nodded, love filling every line of his face. “I’ll take you on the best glamping trip in the world. I’m ready.”

A sob caught in my throat. “What are you ready for?”

“To be the best husband I can be. To be a better son. To be the sort of brother who doesn’t screw over his sisters constantly.” He took a deep breath. “To be the man you deserve.”

“You’re already that man,” I assured him.

“And you’re already that woman for me. Let’s make it official. Again.”

I laughed as I slipped the ring in place. It matched my wedding band perfectly, as if they’d always been destined to find one another. “I think that sounds like the best offer I’ve had all day.”

Zach pulled me down to the floor with him and delivered another soul sucking kiss. His eyes were wild when we separated. “I want to celebrate, but it’s going to have to wait until after the meeting.”

“Are you going big tonight?”

“Baby, I go big every night.”

I gave him a “whatever” look.

“Tonight is when I start making all of your dreams come true,” he said.

“You started that the night we got married.”

“Yes, well, you haven’t seen anything yet, Shortypants. Stick with me. I’ll prove it to you every single day for the rest of my life.”

It wasn’t a hardship. It’s what I’d always wanted after all. “Always,” I murmured against his lips.

“Forever,” he said on a sigh.