Page 145 of The Arrogant One

“I would love that.”

It wouldn’t just be any old walk on the sand of Egremni Beach on the island of Lefkada in Greece, where we were vacationing—a path I’d predetermined with the event coordinator of the Cole and Spade Hotel we were staying at. A path that would be covered in rose petals and candles. And at the very end of that path, I would be getting down on one knee and asking that all-important question.

So far, I’d gotten everything I wanted. Sadie living with me and using her condo as her office, traveling with me when I needed to hit the road to scout out new locations for restaurants or to view the properties that Jenner Dalton had found us. And watching my beautiful girlfriend live out her dream of being a successful food influencer.

But she wasn’t just successful. She was now the top influencer in the food space, and her career was on fire. She had a full-time assistant, got offered brand deals multiple times a day, and had recently accepted an offer from a large publishing house to release a cookbook, featuring all her unique desserts. Her preorder sales alone had already made her aNew York TimesBest Seller.

It was time to take things to the next level.

It was time for Sadie Spencer to become my wife.

I rested my forehead against hers, and as I was about to carry her out of the pool, I heard my phone ringing inside the villa.

“Fuck me. What do you think that call is about?”

“I don’t know. Your family? But you made it very clear thatunless something was burning to the ground, you didn’t want to be bothered.” She smiled. “You hard-ass.”

“That’s because they’ll call to talk about the fucking weather. Or to ask about the weather. And I love them, but no weather talk until we get back.”

She tightened her grip around me. “They miss you—that’s all.”

The ringing stopped and immediately started again.

“I suppose I need to get that, or they’re going to keep calling until I eventually pick up.” I was still inside her, and I easily slid out. “I’ll be right back.”

I climbed out of the pool and went in through the open glass door to the bedroom, my phone on the nightstand. I lifted it, our corporate office line showing on my screen, and I held the phone to my ear.

“What’s up?—”

“You’re not going to fucking believe this,” Walker said.

“Believe what?” I headed back outside and sat at the edge of the pool, dipping my legs in the water.

“Hart, we just got the best news ever,” Eden said.

There was excitement in her voice, something I didn’t hear often.

I put the phone on speaker mode and said, “All right, hit me with it. I’m ready.”

“Toro LA got Michelin-rated,” Colson said.

Sadie had her back to me, her arms looped through my legs, but she released me and turned around, her mouth hanging open, lips shaped in an O.

“Hold on a second,” I voiced. “We gotwhat?”

“And it gets even better,” Walker announced. “Hart, they gave us three fucking stars.”

“Three stars, Hart,” Eden sang. “Not one or two, but three!”

Sadie started jumping up and down in the pool. “Eden,” she said close enough to the phone so that everyone could hear, “I told you it was going to happen.”

“Sadie, not for a second did I believe you.” Eden laughed.

Sadie was smiling at Eden’s comment, and it reminded me of the time that Sadie had told me they were going to be besties. My sister was good at acquaintances. Letting someone new in? That wasn’t her style. But slowly, she had embraced Sadie, and they’d spent many nights at Eden’s house, sharing bottles of wine, talking until they fell asleep on her couch.

Sadie could be herself in front of Eden. She could show my sister both sides of her, and she didn’t have that luxury with just anyone. And Eden could let down that callous edge she’d built up over the years, finding comfort in Sadie because Sadie had proven to her that she could be trusted.

That was what mattered most to me—Sadie, my family, the way we were all together, working as one.