If a year ago, someone would’ve told me I’d be walking into our new ad agency office in midtown, a block away from Saks 5^th Avenue, in the heart of New York City, I would’ve said, yeah sure. Keep dreaming. Like that’s ever going to happen. But here I am, after a whirlwind weekend of celebrating our little guy’s 2^nd birthday at the Museum of Natural History with friends, after opening up a multitude of dinosaur toy gifts (he’s obsessed), and juggling being a mom with being CFO of Blondie Square, an up-and-coming boutique ad agency.

I’m exhausted out of my mind, but that could be several other things.

The first trimester will do that to a woman.

And secondly, it’s been a hell of a year.

Kase and I had our wedding down in Miami Beach right on the sand with a few close friends, my family, and Liam, of course, wearing a tiny guayabera and shorts. So cute! Our honeymoon was in London, because I’d always wanted to go there, and the rest of our year has been spent opening this company from the ground up, basically building an empire.

My husband is the hardest working man in this business. I can see why the old man left him everything he did—because he deserves it. And I’m shocked that he somehow found time to spend time with Liam a year ago, too. But his rule is hard and fast—he leaves at 5 PM. Anything after that will have to wait until the next day, and he’s never lost a client yet. It’s because of this balance, this respect for home life, family life, that makes him a good man.

Maybe because he never had that life as a child, because his mother was always working three jobs to care for him, and he had to take care of himself much of the time, that Kase respects private time so much. But having personal time also ensures that he’s refreshed the next day, ready to take on the world.

And he has.

There are days, like today, when I can’t stop staring at him and think, Holy shit, that man is my husband. That man, right there in that sexy suit, working his ass off at that desk while our son thrives at home with Cassie (we offered her the chance to watch Liam after they became thick as thieves that day Kase proposed to me) is my future. He often tells me that I saved him, but I know I did nothing of the sort.

As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

He had to make the decision to love, and he did that all on his own. Because of his decision to put his past behind him and take on a new future, we are all in a better place. But my man is the smartest person in this building, and I will always be in awe of him. There’s a reason why New York Magazine just called him the Hottest Billionaire on 5^th Avenue.

Not only is he sexy, gorgeous, and more handsome now that he’s married to me (cha-ching!), he’s the hardest working man I know, the most loving and serious. Some women have to worry about their men around other women, but mine has never had eyes for anybody but me. Even now, even pregnant, he’s more obsessed with me than ever, adoring my body from every angle, as I walk into his office.

“Good morning, Mr. Hardwin,” I coo, sitting on his desk.

He spins from his file cabinet and his eyes rove over me like he’s never seen me before. Every day I’m the new girl who’s just walked in, commanded the floor, and taken his attention away from the world. Every day, I’m brand new to him, and every day, he woos me like I might slip away from him if he doesn’t do his job to keep me.

“Good morning, Mrs. Hardwin. How’s my woman and my little one doing?” Kase tugs me toward him and lays his head on my small baby bump. If a man could purr, this is how he’d sound.

“Much better. No more morning sickness. I think it’s finally going away.”

“Well, that is wonderful news, because I got us something I think you’ll enjoy.” Pulling up his phone, he shows me a barcode embedded in an email.

“What is it?”

“Tickets for Hamilton. Remember you used to whine about wanting to see it?”

“Whine? I think,” I lean down and kiss him gently, “it was more like longing, yearning…”

“Like the way I yearn for you every day? Or the way I long to see you naked tonight after the show? Cassie says she can stay all day. You game?”

At first, I think about our growing business. Our clientele is everything right now. Sometimes at the beginning of a new business, you need to stay after hours, put in the hard work, but that’s the thing about Kase—he hires people to handle the overage. He never stops taking care of things, and that includes me. Besides, how can I turn down a Broadway date with the Hottest Billionaire on 5^th Avenue?

“Hell, yes. That sounds perfect, baby.” I slide into his lap and kiss him.

My life is a dream come true now.

A dream I never would’ve imagined having grown up in a small, hardworking family. Having grown up in a mansion, always looking in from the outside, wishing I could live like that one day. And yet, we don’t live that way. Because we both came from humble beginnings. Doesn’t matter how much money’s in the bank, Kase and I live like a normal, married couple.

Despite the sadness and tragedy of his past, Kase has conquered all his demons and found his true calling—running his own company and taking care of his family. He’s a good man, after all. I might be the woman who saw the promise in him and waited for him to figure it out, and losing Liam might’ve been the nail in the coffin, the fire under his butt to get his life in order, but Kase made the right decisions. Because he’s Kase and he’s smart.

And he’s mine.

And New York City dreams really do come true.