EPILOGUE
Garrett
Who would have thought that having a serious relationship— and a child— would make me an even better lawyer? Now that I’m a co-managing senior partner, I am now thriving at the practice and have helped grow the place into an even more reputable firm than it had started out; we’ve since added twelve associates. It turns out that when I don’t have the distractions of being a player to slow me down, I make quite the lawyer.
My brother is happy for me. My mom couldn't care less, but what else is new? I had found an assisted living home willing to take her— which is quite the feat considering her temperament and resistance— and Bob had made peace with the decision.
She was getting too hard for even a saint such as him to handle, and he had confided in me that he trusted Carolina's opinion. So, if she thought that putting Mom into the home was the kind and loving thing to do, then that had to be true.
I guess that's another thing I should thank Carolina for. Not only was she not like my mother, which had always been my biggest fear about relationships, but she also knew how to help Bob manage his own guilt and obligations when it came to her.
And Bob apologized to me for initially being reluctant about Carolina. He was just trying to help me avoid problems, which I appreciated.
Even Asher, Ron and Damien apologized to me, telling me they should have known to trust my instincts about where I could find not only sexual but also emotional fulfillment— just as they had, at work. I know they had just been looking out for the good of the firm, but it sure felt good to hear those fuckers apologize to me. And now we could go on being friends as well as co-workers.
Once I finally figured out what was going on with Carolina, I had no choice but to confess my love for her. I had loved her since the day I saw her. I just never thought I'd be brave enough to tell her, but our baby changed that.
Our baby made Carolina and me possible. Sure, we'd already had a sexual relationship, which had created her, but she paved the way for us to have an emotional relationship as well.
That doesn't mean our sexual relationship went away, luckily. At first, I worried that with Carolina being in such a delicate way, sex would be impossible. But it turned out that Carolina was even hornier the more pregnant she got. She said that the pregnancy hormones gave her an amazing rush of blood flow to her clit that increased sexual sensations.
So, I play with that pussy every chance that I get. I lick it, bite it, rub it, tickle it. I can't even count how many times I’ve made Carolina come since we’ve gotten back together.
We had as much sex as we could while she was pregnant, until toward the end when she was so big it was uncomfortable. I always loved her baby bump and how big her breasts became with the pregnancy. I loved to give her a massage and then let my hands travel up and down over her large breasts, massaging them and then playing with her nipples.
I'd rub lotion on her belly and then down onto her clit, playing with her until she came. And then I'd put my cock in her and fuck her, naked and raw, since we no longer had to worry about condoms.
I loved how my cock filled up her perfect pussy without any barrier between us. I loved shooting my load of cum into her willing pussy hole and then putting it in her ass and fucking here there too.
I'm making it sound like it’s all about sex. Obviously, it isn’t, or I'd have moved onto the next girl by now, like the old Garrett. I have no interest in that anymore. I just want Carolina and our little family.
As a man of few words, I'm better at talking about the sex stuff and leaving Carolina to talk about the other aspects of our relationship. She's always liked talking more than I have. But I have a couple memories of her pregnancy, once I knew about it, that have nothing to do with sex, believe it or not.
One time, we were at a county fair outside the city limits— Carolina liked to do things like that to relive her country roots— and it started raining. We headed for the car, but we didn't have an umbrella, so we stopped for shelter under a big tin roof that housed some hogs. They were getting nice and comfy in their piles of hay, so we decided to do the same while waiting out the storm.
I threw my jacket over her and pulled her close to me. I hugged and kissed her while running my hands over her belly. Just then, our baby started kicking fast and furiously.
"Do you think she's scared?" Carolina asked, looking fearful herself.
"She's fine," I told her, my hands traveling the expanse of her stomach, telling my baby, "It's okay, little girl. Calm down. Your mommy and daddy are here."
"I think she wants you to sing to her," Carolina said with a smile.
Singing to a baby, or at all, isn't something I'd ever done. But I was doing a lot of things with Carolina, and now our baby, that I hadn't ever done before. So why not that?
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star," I started singing to the baby. "How I wonder what you are."
As I continued, Carolina lay her head on my chest and looked down as I rubbed her belly and sang to our baby. The baby stopped kicking, and I went back to kissing Carolina.
When we got home, she'd remembered what I'd done to help quiet our baby during the storm. If the baby ever started kicking a lot again and seemed distressed, she'd let me know and I'd start signing to her, no matter where I had been or what else I had been doing.
If I was at the office or we were otherwise apart, Carolina would put the phone up to her stomach, and I would sign to the baby that way. Otherwise, we'd go into the nursery and dance a little to the tune of the mobile. Our bodies would sway back and forth as the mobile turned, and I'd sing lullabies to both my girls, letting them know that everything would be okay.
I bet no one expected an asshole player like me to settle down to the point where I would be singing like that. I wouldn't have believed it myself, had someone told me previously. But, as Carolina says, life has a funny way of changing plans on you right when you least expect it.
I can't say I mind this change in plans one bit. It wasn't expected, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. Not my sweet, sexy Carolina. Not our beautiful little girl. But I'll let Carolina tell you about her, because Carolina is the happiest, proudest mother I've ever seen.
Carolina
A few months later, Garrett and I brought Calliope Grace Mack into the world. She weighed in at a tiny six pounds, four ounces, and she was perfect. She even had Garrett’s little dimple on her chin. Once she was old enough to travel, Garrett and I married at the church in the town where it had all started for me.
Martha Grecco catered it, and Erin was my maid of honor.
“I told you you were in for new beginnings,” Martha said, nipping Calliope’s cheeks as she kissed my own. “I’m so happy and excited for you, Cari.”
“Thank you for everything you’ve always done for me, Martha,” I told her, hugging her second in the receiving line, after only my own parents.
Madilyn, Katie and Ruby were my bridesmaids. (Claude stood up on Garrett’s side as a groomsman, along with my friends’ husbands.) Madilyn’s and Ruby’s children, who served along with Calliope as our pint sized ring bearers and flower girl, were pulled in a tiny wheelbarrow by Garrett’s cousin’s ten-year-old child. It was the cutest sight you’d ever seen.
Garrett's brother Bob came from Albuquerque to be his best man, and even though his mom didn't come— both of them said it was better off if she didn't— I think I've slowly helped them mend fences, to heal some of the hurt that was keeping Garrett back from being the best person he can be.
She did send a card from her new assisted living home, which Garrett smiled about before tossing into the trash. Hey, it's a start, and everything should start somewhere.
I’m glad that the law firm is going well and glad I don’t have to worry about him being a player anymore. It’s clear as day for everyone including me to see that he is more than a little smitten with only two women now— me and our daughter.
I’ve decided to go to law school. Ensconced in studying for the LSAT exams, it is all happening for me, even while nursing little Calliope. And I love it. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world, even though I hadn't planned for things to turn out this way.
As a young girl, I had always envisioned my life with Jake, our perfect town, and our perfect two kids. It didn’t turn out that way, however. A divorce, a move from my beloved home town to the big city… Nothing had turned out the way I’d planned, not even the perfect job or the perfectly harmless office romance.
Truly, I didn’t even have my child the way I’d planned. She was born via emergency C-section. I wasn't proposed to like I’d always dreamed. Nothing, nothing had gone exactly as planned. Life didn’t turn out as I had always visualized. Life happened on my terms, however, and I’d have it no other way.
I’m glad Jake and I didn’t work out, or else I’d never have Calliope— or Garrett. I never even would have gotten the job I enjoy. (I’m back working with Garrett again, and I love working with my friends at the firm. But I still help Karen out in a pinch, and I’m grateful for all she did for me).
I would have stayed an insecure shell of a person instead of branching out— with Garrett’s help, and Erin’s too, although she would laugh at me for telling her that— to become the woman I am today.
They say never mix business with pleasure. I was always warned by those women who had come before me, “When it comes to romance at the office, stay clear of it. It can only turn out badly.”
Except for Madilyn, Ruby and Katie. They knew that love can be found anywhere, even at the office.
And as for everyone else’s advice to steer clear of love at work, well, that may be true. I'm sure I'll be giving the same advice to my own daughter one day, and I'm sure she'll rightfully turn around and say, “Mom, no offense, but you're a huge hypocrite. What about you and Dad?”
Still, it's sound advice and worth doling out, even if some people— including myself— don't always listen to it, but Calliope wouldn't have been here if I had.
She just had a feeding with her amazing dad. I’m on my way to take the LSAT exam, and next week we close on a new house. We.
I have a beautiful family, an amazing sex life, and the most beautiful baby girl. Could it have been more perfect? Yes. But then it wouldn’t have been just like it is right now.
An unorthodox office romance led me right to where I am today. The perfect imperfection of that serendipity is not to be analyzed.
Besides, I gave up the internal long ago, the day I married Garrett Mack. Now, I just relax and enjoy life on its own terms. It’s a whole lot better that way than when I overanalyzed everything inside my head.
And Garrett makes it easy, with his amazing physique, his great bedroom skills, and his kind words and actions. I had wanted to tame the playboy boss, and that’s exactly what I did.
And even though it took an accidental pregnancy to get us here, I believe we were meant to be together. Thank goodness I had taken the job at Marks, Sanchez, Reed and Mack, or else my fate never would have changed for the better, and I wouldn’t be married to my boss, with whom I’ve found a very happy ever after.
Thank you for reading! The next book in the Boss series is Take Me, Boss.
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