Epilogue. Onetahi, Tahiti

Mira’s eyes were closed, but she felt the dappled sunlight dancing across her eyelids. In the distance, she could hear the gentle sound of the ocean surf. The warm breeze was scented with sea salt and some tropical flower that was blooming in the jungle ringing their private villa. Cool water lapped at her shoulders and chest as she reclined her head on the lip of the plunge pool. Perfection. This spot, right here, was the most perfect spot on earth. Well, it would be, except Will wasn’t there enjoying it with her.

“I’m serious, Jem. It’s you or I’m out … uh-huh … well, put him on, I’ll tell the old man myself …”

Mira cracked an eye open and twisted around in the water. Will was pacing back and forth just inside the open sliding door of their villa, phone to his ear, in just his board shorts. Actually, this was perfection.

“Ed agrees with me, Jem,” he continued. “You’re the brains here.”

With Will’s world championship win, the Velocity sponsorship deal had come together even better than before. Will had decided to sink a portion of the money into Hawley and Sons to keep the business afloat. But his money came with strings attached. Namely that his father let Jemima run the expansion and diversification necessary to stay competitive. Mira had recently spent a few evenings in London with Jemima. It was definitely a smart move.

Will wandered deeper inside the villa, his voice now muffled by the surf. Closing her eyes, she soaked up the glorious sensation of the sun on her shoulders. Finally she heard him saying goodbye to Jem.

“Are you coming out?” she called. “This water isn’t getting any more perfect.”

“Coming,” he called.

He emerged a moment later with a bottle of Mo?t and two champagne flutes.

“What’s this for?”

“I don’t know if it’s exactly something to celebrate, but after avoiding it my entire life, I’m officially a partner in Hawley and Sons.”

“That’s definitely something to celebrate, because you’re doing it on your terms.”

Will grinned as he popped the cork. “The old man is gnashing his teeth about it, but yes, I am.” He poured the champagne and passed her a glass.

They touched glasses. “Congratulations on your entry into international finance, Mr. Hawley. Now get in here with me so I can do wicked things to you.”

“I’m all yours.”

He settled into the water next to her, and she shifted over onto his lap, looping her arms behind his head.

He pushed his fingers through her wet hair. “Come here and kiss me. It’s been an hour since I’ve had my hands on you. I’m desperate.”

Leaning in, Mira kissed him, slow and luxurious, because they had four days in paradise to do nothing but enjoy each other. She planned on having sex with him here, and then maybe later down on their private beach, and again tonight in that gorgeous big four-poster bed, romantically draped with netting.

He shifted underneath her and she could feel him grow hard against her. He’d just slid a hand up her back and started tugging the ties to her bikini top when her phone started ringing from the foot of the chaise longue next to the pool.

He groaned, dropping his head to her shoulder.

“I’ll be quick,” she whispered in his ear.

The season might be over, but that just meant last season. Back at the Lennox factory, they’d been working on next year’s car since the midseason break. And now, with just four months left until testing, they were operating at a fever pitch to get it done. It wasn’t the best time to be away, but if they hadn’t taken a vacation now, they wouldn’t have been able to do it until next winter.

Reaching out of the pool, she snagged her phone off the edge of the cushion, answering without even looking at the screen.

“Now, I’m moving to my new office this week, but they’ll start repainting my old one right after the holidays, so you’ll have to work out of your father’s office until they finish up.”

“Hello, Pen.” She rolled her eyes at Will, who rolled his eyes and slipped under the surface of the water.

Once Pen’s baby had finally arrived, she’d decided she couldn’t handle being on the road for months at a time. She was transferring to another department, which allowed her to work full-time at the factory. Mira had been thrilled beyond words when her father had offered her a permanent position as his assistant.

By then, Natalia had brokered a dinner with them and Will, so her father could start acclimating himself to the idea of Will as Mira’s boyfriend. He’d been prickly to start, still afraid of Mira getting hurt, but once Will declared his love for her over the appetizers, Paul had thawed. Will’s world championship trophy sitting in a place of pride at the Lennox factory probably didn’t hurt.

She zoned out a little as Pen rattled on about everything else that had to happen in the transition. Then she felt Will slip up behind her underwater. She bit her lip as his hand moved up her rib cage to her breast.

His head emerged from the water and he leaned into her back. “Be very quiet,” he whispered in her ear. His other hand slipped below the edge of her bikini bottoms. “I’m going to make you—”

“Hey, Pen, I have to go!” she blurted into the phone. “Email me that list and I’ll call you tomorrow. Give Toby a kiss for me!”

She ended the call and gripped the edge of the pool with her free hand, gasping as Will stroked along her sex.

Her phone rang again.

“Give it to me. I’ll tell Pen you drowned.”

She glanced at her phone and swiped to answer. “Hi, Mom.”

In a flash, Will was on the other side of the plunge pool.

“Hi, baby girl!” her mother said. “Now, you guys are flying in on the twentieth, right?”

“Yep. We land at LAX at six.”

Will cupped his hands and splashed water on his face, then leaned back on the edge of the pool, staring at the blue sky overhead.

“Great. I’ll come pick you up.”

“No, you don’t need to. Will’s getting a rental car.”

“Make sure you let me know if there’s anything I can get for Will before you get here. Oh, hey, did you see?”

“See what?”

“Deloux finally dropped that piece of trash.”

After ignoring racing for over twenty years, her mother was now obsessively following racing news. Well, following one specific story in racing news—the destruction of Brody McKnight’s career. She hadn’t intended for her interview to be a weapon, but it seemed to have had that effect. In the weeks after it dropped, so did Brody’s sponsors, one by one. Without them, it wasn’t at all surprising that Deloux had pulled the plug. And without sponsors, it would be impossible for him to get a ride anywhere else in auto racing. He was toxic, and now everyone knew it. Violet had been hard at work making sure every shady thing Brody had ever done … and there was a lot … was getting maximum press attention.

“What happens to him isn’t my concern anymore.”

“That’s what mothers are for, baby girl. Now it’s my concern. I’m loving every minute of this.”

Mira laughed. “So is Violet. Give her a call and you guys can cackle about it together. Hey, Mom, can I call you later? We were about to head out for lunch.”

“Sure thing, baby. Love you!”

Mira tossed her phone back on the chaise and turned back to Will. “Now, where were we?”

When they left Tahiti, they were heading straight to LA for Christmas with her mother. Then she’d pack up the rest of her stuff for her permanent move to Chilton-on-Stour. Will had just signed a new contract with Lennox, so he was looking to buy a place there, too. On the flight to Tahiti, he kept showing her real estate listings, hinting not too subtly that he was hoping she’d be living there with him. She was hoping that, too.

Leaning in, she kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’m done,” she whispered.

His eyes slid closed and his hands came to her hips. “Good, because if your dad called next, I was going to walk into the sea.”

She kissed the side of his neck, then nipped at his earlobe. “No more phone calls. Just you and me.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Lifting her head, she looked into his face. His gaze met hers and she felt it all over again, an overwhelming rush of love for him—love for his patience, dealing with her past and all the complexities that came with her; love for his generosity, making the people who were important to her important to him as well; love for his passion, because it woke up the passion in her, too, the passion that had nearly been snuffed out. And she loved him for loving her, for holding her as tightly in his heart as he held her in his arms.

She took his face in her hands and looked into the blue eyes that had possessed her from the minute they met her own. “I love you, Will. I love you so much.”

The soft, wondrous smile that spread across his face was one only she ever saw. It was his smile when he looked at her. “I love you, too, Mira. I didn’t know I could love anyone this much until I met you.”

There were moments when it all seemed too good to be true, more happiness than she ever dared hope for. But perhaps she didn’t need to hope for it anymore. Maybe her happy future was already unfurling from this blissful present. All she had to do was to keep living it and see where it led her. Where it led them , because Will was going to be at her side for every moment of it.