Epilogue
I gazed down at my newborn baby girl sleeping so peacefully in her playpen under the shade tree in our backyard. How little Chloe managed to actually stay asleep with Austin, Lily, and Daniel making so much noise as they played nearby on the tree fort was beyond me.
I turned toward the group of my friends who had joined us for a family barbecue and smiled. It was nice having everyone over at once. Well, usually, anyway.
Emily kept refusing to tell everyone what her real name was, and all the boys were pissed about it. Jake was the only one who knew the answer to that question, but he was claiming that it was top secret information that he couldn’t divulge.
“Come on, Emily. Give up the goods already,” Ox told her.
Emily grinned. “Okay, fine. But only if you guys tell me your real name first.”
Ox shrugged. “Hell, mine’s not a secret. It’s James. But all of you already know why people starting calling me Ox.”
The whole group chimed in together, “Because you’re hung like an ox.”
“Damn straight,” he said proudly.
Emily laughed. “Okay, Cowboy, you’re up.”
“I ain’t telling you assholes my real name. I’d never live it down.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Emily said.
“Wanna bet,” Anna replied, giggling.
Emily sighed. “Oh, that’s it. Now you have to tell us, Cowboy.”
He shook his head. “Read my lips. Nope.”
Anna patted his hand. “They’re your friends. They aren’t going to make fun of you.”
His eyes widened. “Have you met these crazy-ass people?”
Emily tried to bargain with him. “Come on, Cowboy. I don’t want to say mine, either. But I will, if you will.”
He groaned. “Fine. My real name is…Ashley Davies.”
A hush fell over the group, and Jake squinted at him, trying not to laugh. “Did you say Ashley was your first name?”
Cowboy rolled his eyes. “Yeah. It’s stupid, I know.”
Everyone burst into hysterics.
“Great. Thanks a lot,” Cowboy grumbled. “Some friends y’all are.”
Emily tried to stifle her laughter. “Why Ashley?”
“Because my mom thought she was having a girl and didn’t bother picking out a boy’s name. She cursed me for life with that dumbass name. That’s why I started calling myself Cowboy. Anything sounded better than Ashley.” He breathed a hard breath and gazed over at Emily. “Your turn. Tell us what stupid name your parents put on your birth certificate.”
“Okay, fine,” Emily said. “My real name was Natalie. Natalie Marie Hart.”
Jake grinned, but everyone else looked around at each other in confusion until Cowboy finally said, “What the hell’s so stupid about that name?”
Emily shrugged. “Nothing. But Hank bet Jake fifty dollars that I could get you to give your real name up. Hank always bets on me and wins.”
Cowboy chuckled. “You do understand that your own husband loses money every time Hank wins one of those bets, right?”
“Well, yeah. But that’s what he gets for betting against his wife. You would think Jake would learn his lesson by now.”
I laughed. “That right there is why you two are perfect for each other.”
Seth stepped up behind me and slid his arms around my waist. “I know who else is perfect for each other.”
I sighed and leaned into him. “You better be talking about us.”
He kissed my neck. “Always.”
I turned in his arms and locked my hands around his neck. “Do you have a minute? I want to show you something. I have a couple of presents for you.”
He glanced down at my breasts pressing against his chest. “Does this involve you lifting your shirt for me?”
I grinned. “No, but I think you’ll still like my gifts.”
“Probably not as much as I like what’s under your shirt,” he said with a wink.
I rolled my eyes. “Come with me.”
I asked Anna to watch the kids and then led Seth around the side of the house where the nursery truck had unloaded fifty olive trees while my boys had kept him busy earlier in the day. The moment he glanced at them, he knew exactly what they were and grinned. “Were you afraid I was going to leave?”
I shrugged. “Well, you did say that you liked the idea of being stationary. But I figured if you haven’t left yet, then you’re probably not going anywhere.”
He locked his arms around my waist. “Sweetheart, you couldn’t get rid of me, if you tried.”
“Good. Then I’ll go ahead and give you this back, too,” I said, pulling an envelope out of my pocket and holding it out to him.
“What is it?” he asked, taking it from me.
“Open it.”
He did and eyed the money inside. “What’s this for?”
“I’m paying you back what you loaned me. It’s five thousand dollars.”
He grinned. “You might as well keep it.”
“No,” I told him, shaking my head adamantly. “Look, I know we’re married now and that we share everything. But when you loaned me this money, we weren’t. I told you I would pay you back and I meant it.”
“I don’t think you understood me. I want you to keep it. Not only because we’re married but because tonight, I’m expecting to see you in nothing but your heels.” He waggled his brows.
I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Are you kidding? I’d do that for free.”
“Oh really?” He smiled and pulled me closer, grinding his hips against mine. “So what do you think about sneaking off to the bathroom for old time’s sake while no one is looking?”
My brow arched. “Hmm. Okay. But only if we make a little bet of our own. First one to have an orgasm loses?”
A smug grin curved his mouth. “All right. But you know that’s going to be you, right?”
I kissed him and then shrugged. “Guess that means we both win.”
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