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“For you then, let’s do it.” I laugh along with him as we head toward our future together.

CHAPTER 20

Knox

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

It’s both easier and harder to smile today. Same for laughing.

Not because I’m not happy. I am.

Everything feels a bit serious, even to me.

Profound.

I can’t stop staring at Poppy and the soft smile on her face as she cradles our daughter to her chest. The bone-melting gazes she shares with Aiden when he takes the baby to give her a rest and get his snuggles in. And the way Carter paces around the room, already trying to protect our daughter from so much as a hangnail.

The diamond in our beauty’s engagement ring shoots rainbows from her finger as she strokes our baby’s cheek while sitting in the sunlight that streams through the giant windows of our library. It’s one of her favorite rooms in the house, overlooking the garden full of dahlias.

She’s moved down here from the nursery because there are so many guests begging for a visit with Mom and her new baby.

There’s some of them now. Melody and Riley first, of course.

“Oh my gosh!” They completely ignore me, Knox, and Carter to quietly and carefully surround Poppy and our daughter. Their sighs and coos have me smiling again as they dote on the babyand pepper Poppy with all sorts of questions about how she’s doing and what it’s like to be a new mom.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they found out first-hand themselves pretty soon.

“Hey, Doc Poppy.” Gunner waves from a distance, letting the women do their fussing.

“I have a long way to go before I earn that title.” Our beauty blushes at her ex-boss’s nickname. Even now, she’s so sweet and gentle under her badass façade.

“You’ll get there. I know it.”

I think Gunner’s right.

After all, she’s already been accepted to a top-tier program, despite forbidding Carter to pull strings or drop donations. Now it’s just a matter of time and her dedication, which never wavers once she’s made up her mind.

Especially now that Aiden quit the business to be a stay-at-home dad. All our dreams are coming true.

“Come, meet Charlie.” He hasn’t left her side since she gave birth. He’s nearly as obsessed with our daughter as he is with her mother.

“That was your dad’s name, wasn’t it?” Melody and Rileyawwwwtogether.

“Congratulations, boys.” Ethan—Riley’s brother and one of Melody’s husbands—joins us, handing me a bottle of something that looks extravagant, even by billionaire standards.

Before long, the room is full.

As if I hadn’t realized how damn lucky we were already, I do by the time Rose, Clover, Willow, and all their men, who are our friends too, surround us in well-wishes and joy.

With all this—Poppy, our daughter, my best friends and partners, and a community of people who enjoy love however it finds them—I’m truly the richest bastard alive.

I’d do anything to keep them happy.

Even dress up as the comic-relief candlestick again next Halloween.

“You coming?” Carter asks hours later when he’s carrying Poppy upstairs and Aiden has Charlie a few steps behind.

“Not right now, but maybe later if you’ll help me, Daddy.”