Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
As the train moved swiftly through the South African night, taking us closer to new adventures we could share together, I could honestly say I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.
EPILOGUE
JON - 1 YEAR LATER
“I don’t care if we’re not technically related. I still say you look like me,” the love of my life told his goddaughter, who was nestled in his arms as he sat beside me on a wrought iron bench in the autumn sunshine behind our cottage, our sheepdog at our feet. “Isn’t that right, gorgeous? Which is why you should have been called Iggianna. Who names an innocent child Penelope Henrietta Winnie Wilde Grimaldi, anyway?”
Penny clasped Iggy’s jumper in her chubby fists and chewed it, contemplating the question seriously. Then, without warning, the princess stiffened all four limbs simultaneously and let out a high-pitched shriek that echoed off the stone walls of the garden.
“See?” Iggy demanded, holding her out for someone else to take. “She’s horrified! And you two call yourselves parents. Don’t worry, love. You’ll always be Baby Iggie to me.”
Felix laughed. “I don’t know if Penny looks like you,” he said wryly, bending to claim his daughter, who immediately calmed in her daddy’s arms. “But I definitely see similarities. Stubbornness, for example.”
Iggy sputtered in disbelief. “I believe you mean decisiveness. Penny and I know what we want, and we make it happen.” He turned to me in appeal. “Isn’t that right?”
I thought about that morning. Our bed. His Ferragamo tie around my wrists and his cock in my mouth. My mouth tipped up in a smile I couldn’t have held back if I tried… so I didn’t. “You are very good at getting what you want.”
The look Iggy sent me was hot enough to melt glass—more than hot enough to melt a valet-turned-cottage-renovation-coordinator directly into his loving arms, especially when he slipped his finger into my belt loop, tugged me closer, and dropped his arm over my shoulder.
“I was thinking it was the late nights that they had in common,” Lio said, grinning at his husband. He paused the royal horsey ride he was giving his son to shoot Iggy a pointed smirk. “Or the periodically excessive drool.”
“Papa, go,” the toddler prince commanded, tugging on Lio’s hair, and with a grin at his royal consort, Lio obediently trotted off.
Felix gave the pair a besotted smile, reminding me of the bumpy road they’d had to their own happy ever after.
I’d once thought that kind of love was unattainable for me, but now I lived it every day.
Felix turned to Iggy and snorted. “Uncle Jon says no more late nights around here. Uncle Iggy’s boring now. Writing editorials about LGBTQ rights? Endowing a community center? Engaged?” He shot me a wink. As he danced Penelope away over the grass, he called over his shoulder, “Ladies and gentlemen, the notorious Ignatius Corbridge has settled down.”
“Pfft.” Iggy held me tighter. “That’s absurd.”
“Wellll.” I tucked my tongue in my cheek. “You did get an award for that editorial…”
“Yes, but—”
“And you did ask me to marry you.” I held up my hand to show off the gorgeous ring he’d commissioned for me. “Unless that was… someone else?”
“Definitely not,” he growled, grasping my hand possessively.
I grinned. “So maybe not ‘settled down.’ Maybe just… settled.”
“Maybe happier and more in love than I ever thought possible,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. Then, in a firmer voice, he added, “But definitely never boring.”
“Welll,” I said again, teasing this time.
“If you doubt me, Banks,” he warned, “I’ll simply have to prove it to you. Over and over again.”
The promise in his voice made me shiver. So I turned in his arms and whispered in his ear, “Yes, sir.”