Page 115 of Anyone But You

“Okay, purr!”

I yelped when Victoria jumped on me and started hitting me with a pillow. We wrestled for a few seconds before we called a truce because we were cramping with laughter. We lay side by side, staring into each other’s tear-filled eyes. I slipped my fingers between hers and brought her hand to my lips.

“I wanted you, and I got you,” I mumbled against her skin.

“And it only took a plane crash to get me.”

“Shhhh. The story we tell our child is that we had a passionate office romance—get with the picture.”

“I apologize. I forgot it was love at first sight, and I definitely never threatened to staple your lips together.”

I smiled.

“I like that version,” I agreed, kissing her luscious lips.

“You’ll never live to tell the story if you don’t feed me and take me to the beach.”

“Noted. Please dress inappropriately in one of those revealing bikinis you packed, return your friends’ calls, and join me on the balcony for breakfast.”

The mention of breakfast had her scurrying out of bed. I raised my hand up, stared at my wedding ring, and released a sigh of contentment.

I hadn’t lied when I said I wanted her and got her. My methods might have been a little unconventional, but the outcome was amazing. We wereofficiallymarried, had a child on the way, and we finally made it to Bali. I couldn’t ask for anything else.

35

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Monty

“Sock? Puppet? Where are you guys?” I hissed, dropping to my knees to check under the bed for the millionth time. They were nowhere in sight, and the last thing I wanted was for Mom to have a meltdown.

My ears are still ringing from the last time they went missing, when she found them swan diving into the rice bin.

“What are you doing down there, Monty?”

“Nothing!” I exclaimed, suspiciously yanking the comforter back down and climbing to my feet.

“Uh-huh,” my mother said as her critical eyes scanned my bedroom.

“Don’t you have to leave for your spa day soon?”

She glanced down at her watch and cursed.

“I’m canceling.”

“You can’t cancel. It’s your tenth wedding anniversary,” I said, easing her out of my bedroom and closing the door behind me. “Dad would be disappointed.”

“I can never relax when we go to the spa together because he talks too damn much.”

I rolled my eyes.

She’s one to talk. She talks just as much as him!

“It’ll be perfect, Mom. You guys will spend the day at the spa, have a little lunch, and go shopping on me,” I said, slipping her my prepaid debit card that my weekly allowance was kept on.

“Monty… how much you got on this little card?” Mom asked with a hand on her hip.