Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
And then we kissed, slow and passionate and needy. His hands skimmed my waist. Our hips moved together. All felt right with the world.
Epilogue
Ten Weeks Later—English
It snowed the last day of Jane’s trial.
It felt like it’d snowed every day of her trial. Every day that we’d been dragged through that holiday season as we waited on bated breath to find out the verdict. And now, we were here. At this moment.
Guilty on three charges of grand larceny with ten years in prison.
Jane was going to appeal. That much was clear. She’d spent the trial completely self-absorbed, seemingly without a care in the world. She’d hired a stylist and a hairdresser. I had no clue how she could afford it, considering she owed millions of dollars.
And the entire time, she had acted like it was a forgone conclusion that she would be released. That everything would work out for her. As it always had.
Her face fell when she was sentenced. Like it had all finally come crumbling down.
Court looked away and then slowly slipped out of the courtroom. I followed. I didn’t want to see it either.
I stepped outside. Out of the courthouse and into the still-falling January snow. I’d thought it a marvel at first. Beautiful and white and cold. And now, it was mostly just an annoyance. They’d said it didn’t snow that much in New York City. They’d been wrong.
“Hey,” I said softly as I approached Court. The shoulders of his peacoat were already dusted with snow. I dragged gloves out of my pockets and stuffed my hands into them. “How are you doing?”
He breathed out heavily, the air fogging in front of him. “I’m glad it’s over.”
“She’s probably going to appeal. It could drag out for another year or more.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“But the worst is over, I think.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked gently.
He turned to me then and brushed a snowflake off the tip of my nose. “Yeah, I am. I don’t love Jane. I never loved Jane. I’m just sorry for her. For how delusional she is about everything… and how she used me in it.”
“It takes a great deal of sympathy to feel that way about someone who wronged you.”
He laughed and then sighed. “I just want to shake her and wake her up. Is that sympathy, too?”
“Probably,” I said with a grin. “Are you ready to go back?”
He nodded and reached for my hand. “I’m ready to go home.”
“Your place or mine?” I asked.
He tugged me a step closer in the snow, leaving tracks behind. “I was kind of thinking ours.”
“Oh?” I whispered, hardly breathing.
“Move in with me.”
“It’s a little soon.”
He brushed his nose against my own freezing one. “I’m tired of having a bachelor pad. I’m tired of sharing between our two places. I just want you with me all the time. So… move in with me, Anna.”
I bit my lip and then nodded. “I could do that. Should I sell my place?”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Keep it for work. Use it as your office for E&B. Do whatever you want. But be with me.”
“I like that,” I admitted.
“Good. Because I’m never letting you go.”
I giggled, a girlie thing that just bubbled up out of me. “And can I redecorate?”
“You can do whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Oh no, what is it that you do want, Anna English?”
I bounced on my toes with a grin. “A kitten.”
He huffed. “You want a cat?”
“I was thinking like the smallest little ginger kitten that is going to melt your heart.”
“You don’t want a dog?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Neither of us has time for a dog. I love dogs. Don’t get me wrong. But cats can kind of fend for themselves. Kind of like us. So… I think a kitten.”
He shrugged and pulled me toward the car. “A kitten then.”
We drove across town and pulled up in front of a shelter. I couldn’t hide the giddy feeling taking over my body. I’d always wanted a cat, growing up. There had been feral ones that I fed, but they never lasted long. Not in LA. And Josh was deathly allergic. We couldn’t have any pets whatsoever. This would be my first real pet.
We stepped through the doors and padded through the different cells. My heart wrenched, as I wished I could adopt them all. Big and small.
There were no ginger kittens, but a litter of calico kittens stole the show. One in particular kept scurrying all over as if she owned the place. She absolutely resisted being controlled but let me rub her belly for a full minute. And I knew she was the one.
“What should we name her?” I asked Court.
He stared down at the wild, unruly kitten I’d chosen. “Train Wreck.”
I snorted. “How about Muffin?”
“Muffin? That savage thing? It’d be better off with the name Trouble.”