EPILOGUE | ONE YEAR LATER
LIA
“Oh fuck,” I moaned before I could stop myself. I planted a hand on the grass cloth bathroom wall, steadying myself as Benjamin thrusted into me from behind. I felt his heavy hand clamp over my mouth, silencing me as I climaxed, and I knew it was for the best; we shouldn’t be doing this here, we shouldn’t be doing this now. But even after a year together, we still had an insatiable need for each other.
Benjamin grunted into my neck and we came together. His hand slid away from my mouth, gliding over my chest and squeezing through the thin fabric of my cocktail dress.
I braced myself against the bathroom wall for several seconds, panting for breath as my body recovered. Benjamin’s chest pressed against me, and my heart swelled in my chest.
“You’re incredible,” he whispered into my neck, his hot breath tickling my skin.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” I said. I pulled my panties up and roll my skin-tight dress back down over my hips, then I turned to inspect Benjamin as he readjusts his suit.
“Looking good,” I said, then add with a wink, “No one will guess you just had a quickie in the bathroom with your charity director.”
“That’s too bad,” Benjamin lamented. “If they did, maybe they’d stop flirting with the boss’s girl.”
“Jealous, Mr. Johnson?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Protective,” he corrected me. “I like guarding what’s mine.”
I smiled, letting him drop a kiss on my cheek before I twist the lock on the bathroom door.
I adjusted my skirt one last time, then I slipped through the door. Luckily the marble corridor of the Johnson Hotel is empty, and nobody was there to witness my post-quickie exit stroll.
Benjamin followed a few seconds later, and he catches up with me as I walked towards the ballroom of the Johnson Hotel.
Tonight was a big night for both of us, and for multiple reasons.
For a start, today marks the one-year anniversary of the day I handed in my official letter of resignation at Vivatin Day School. The decision to leave Vivatin was bittersweet, but Benjamin made it a bit easier to rip off the band aid when he offered me the position of Director of Operations at the Johnson Foundation, the hotel’s own in-house non-profit organization. I had spent so much time telling Benjamin how much I wanted to make a difference, and after a lot of listening (and giving it some careful consideration) he decided to give me the opportunity to change the world. One baby-step at a time.
In the year that followed, I poured my heart and soul into the position. With the help of Johnson Foundation’s staff (and the funding of a billion-dollar company to back me up), I forged ahead with plans for a new charity. The idea was simple: I wanted to create a safe space for kids to go. Any kids, rich, poor, shifter, human, and everything in between. I wanted everyone to feel welcome. I wanted every kid to feel like they had a home away from home, and somewhere they could turn when they needed help or security. Or just a PB&J at the end of a hard day.
We went back and forth about how to make this possible, and we kept hitting a snag on one logistical nightmare, where could we create these spaces? We had considered everything from leasing a vacant commercial property to setting up shop in an unused school classroom. When Harper heard us weighing pros and cons of our location options, she chimed in with a question of her own, why would we need to rent a space, when we already had so much of it?
We had the answer to our problems right under our noses the whole time, the Johnson Hotels! The hotels had an abundance of free space, and after making a few calls, Benjamin confirmed that a conference room and kitchen had been cordoned off for us to use at the Shyft West. We got a design team in to redesign the space and make it more kid-friendly.
To honor the inspiration behind this initiative, we decided to name the charity Harper’s Place. And tonight, we were celebrating the launch of our very first Harper’s Place location, right here in Charleston’s Syft West.
This was just the beginning. Next month we’ll cut the ribbon on ten more Harper’s Place locations in other Johnson Hotels, and there are already talks to continue spreading throughout the nation, and eventually, beyond that.
Harper has played a huge role in the charity, but she hasn’t let it all go to her head, in fact, she had managed to stay pretty humble. She will be graduating from kindergarten next week, and then she’ll be moving on to grade school. She couldn’t be more different from the shy little girl I first met at Vivatin Day, and I feel proud to be a part of her childhood.
Benjamin gets some of the credit, too. He stepped up to the plate and readily accepted the responsibility of caring for Harper, and he never looked back. Harper’s mom, Celeste, got herself back into a specialty shifter program a few months ago, and she’s due to graduate to a shifter community soon. She hopes to be involved in Harper’s life someday, but for the time being she thinks it’s best that Benjamin and I continue to give Harper a stable and loving home.
The three of us may have come together in an unconventional way, but we’re a family.
And after tonight, the whole world will know it.
Benjamin and I had kept our relationship under wraps for an entire year. This was largely due to office politics, we didn’t want to raise any red flags until Harper’s Place was up and off the ground. It was also an attempt to spare Harper and I both some of the tabloid scrutiny. Benjamin has kept a low profile for the last year, and we’re hoping that when we go public with our relationship tonight, the same night that we celebrate the opening of Harper’s Place, we’ll barely make a blip on the radar.
Now, as we made our way towards the gala, I felt Benjamin’s hand wrap around mine and give a supportive squeeze.
“Before we go in there,” he whispered, “There’s something I want to ask you.”
I stopped walking and turned to face him. We’re just a few paces away from the party, and I could hear the pulse of music and chatter of the crowd on the other side of the wall.
“I know this is a big night for you,” Benjamin said. “And I wanted to know… are you sure you want me to introduce you as my girlfriend tonight?”
“What?” I frowned. “Of course I do, Benjamin! I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. Why would you even ask me that?”
“Well,” Benjamin said slowly, “I thought I might introduce you as something else…”
“What?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped to one knee and immediately I understood what was happening. My hands rushed to my mouth and I felt my stomach do cartwheels.
“Lia Lewis,” he said, pulling a little black velvet box from his jacket pocket. “Can I please introduce you as my fiancée?”
The box popped open and I saw a giant diamond sparkling inside.
“Yes!” I squealed. He slid the ring onto my finger, and I threw my arms around his neck, and as much as I’d like to sneak back to the bathroom for round two, I know we have a gala to host first.
Our first gala as the future Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.
About the Author - Terra Wolf
I love to write about romance that isn’t your typical love story. My books allow my imagination to run free and explore every possible idea I have. That makes writing less like a job and more like a fantasy come to life.
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Turn the page to read Aiden, the first book in the complete Bradford Bears series.