Court

Sunlight crept into the room, climbing across the bed in a slice, catching on her hand splayed across my chest.

Her head rested in the dip of my shoulder, her breath skating across my skin with the rise and fall of her bare back, the emerald on her finger sparkling. I’d been watching her since I woke, listing the moments we’d gone through to reach this one most perfect moment. I’d almost lost her, but by some miracle, my clumsy, bumbling hands had held on to her, brought her back to me.

She stirred, curling into me, and I closed my hand over hers, tightening my arm around her.

“Mmm,” she hummed, her lips smiling and eyes closed. “Hi.”

“Sleep well?”

She chuckled. “Will you order me back to sleep if I say no?”

I rolled into her, smiling. “Maybe.”

Her body met mine and tangled up with it. “I slept better than I have since Italy.” Her hands moved for my face but paused when she caught sight of her left hand, holding it out for assessment. “I cannot believe this.”

My hand trailed to her naked hip, pulling it flush with mine. “Change your mind already?” I asked, hoping she couldn’t hear the fear in my voice.

“Not at all. But everyone’s going to say we’re crazy.”

“Fuck them.”

She laughed.

“Seriously,” I said. “No one who’s ever met me would be surprised that I’d lock you down the second I realized I loved you. And fuck anybody who tries to tell us that’s wrong. They’ll be surprised, and then they’ll get over it. And if anyone says a word to you about it, you point them in my direction, and I’ll explain it to them.”

Her smile was touched with amusement, like she didn’t know for a fact that I’d separate any asshole’s head from his body who was stupid enough to insult her.

“I can’t believe you bought the Johanna ring,” she said. “What possessed you? You couldn’t have been planning on…well, on all this.”

“There was no intention. I just knew it would mean something to you, that I wanted to see it on your finger and know I put it there. I wanted to mark you as mine. I think…I think even then I knew I wanted to ask you. It’s been in my pocket every day—I think I was waiting for my heart to realize I loved you. It was just so ridiculous to admit. Plus, I was sure you’d say no. Which you did.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly romantic.”

“No, it really wasn’t. I just didn’t think you’d agree unless I had reasons beyond how I felt about you.”

“You thought I’d reject you.”

I nodded. “And you wouldn’t have, if I’d just told you the truth.”

“It’s a thing with you. A thing that had better be over.”

“I promise.”

“Good. Because you’re not getting this ring back. Ever.”

I laughed and kissed her. “Good. Because you’re not getting this back.” I squeezed her ass. “Ever.”

She sighed. “No, I don’t suppose I will. It’s a pretty fair trade, if you ask me.”

I shifted, bringing the hard length of my shaft to the flesh between her thighs as a plan on exactly how I would ravage her clicked into place.

And then my phone rang.

My face was buried in her neck, my tongue tasting her skin as she sighed next to my ear.

“Court—”

I nipped, eliciting a gasp, but I didn’t stop.

“Court, your phone—”

My hand flexed around her ass, my fingertips searching for her—

She pushed my chest gently, laughing. “Seriously, make it stop.”

I growled, turning to reach for my nightstand, grabbing my phone. But before I could turn it off, I saw my father’s name, and my heart skipped a beat.

I sent it to voice mail and tossed it back on my nightstand, descending on Rin with even more determination than before.

“Who was it?” she asked cautiously.

“Stop talking, Rin,” I hissed, my hand on her breast, a slow, rough squeeze that spilled her flesh from between my fingers.

And I didn’t give her a chance to speak again. I kissed her with force, with promise. She was mine. Nothing else mattered. Not my job, not the museum, not my father. I chose her, and I told her with every touch, every kiss, every flex of my hips as I claimed her with my body, giving myself to her with every thrust, the exchange of our hearts equal and matched. And she knew what I needed and let me take it, gave me the comfort of her body, of her love. I could endure anything as long as I had her.

When our bodies were spent and glistening with sweat, when our hearts had found an easy, matching rhythm again, when her fingers toyed idly with my hair, she spoke.

“Who was it, Court?”

“My father,” I answered against her chest.

A pause of her breath, of her heartbeat in my ear, of her fingers in my hair. “What do you think he wants?”

“I don’t care.”

“He’s your dad.”

“He’s a son of a bitch, and I don’t owe him one fucking thing.”

She sighed. “You should hear him out.”

I propped myself up so I could give her a look. “Why?”

“Because he’s your father and your boss.”

I huffed and sat up in bed, moving for the edge as my anger simmered. “We share DNA. And I quit my job. I’m not subjecting myself to his bullshit anymore, and I’m absolutely not subjecting you to it.”

She touched my back, leaning over to kiss the valley of my spine. “Court, hear him out. Let him say what he wants to say, and then you can say what you want to say. You can tell him to go to hell right there to his face. Don’t do it for him—do it for you.”

I took a breath. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to give him any more power than he already has over me.”

“He doesn’t have any power over you, Court.” I turned, looking down into her hopeful face as she continued, “You have taken all of his leverage, removed every pin he used to hold you down. And so, the only power he has left over you is what you give him.”

I held her face in my hands, savoring the weight of it, the warmth of it in my palms. “Why do you always make so much sense?” I asked gently.

She laughed, the sound sweet and easy. “Only compared to you.”

The kiss I laid on her lips was grateful, humbled, gentle. “So, I should go yell at him?”

“Yes, you should go yell at him. Tell him what a bastard he is and how wrong he is about everything. Just try not to hit him, if you can.”

I kissed her nose, then her cheek, then her lips. “No promises.”

* * *

I put on a suit, but I didn’t shave, hating every second of the preparation to face my father, the worst being when I put Rin in my car and sent her home with the promise to come over the second I was through.

I’d decided to walk down Fifth to The Met, giving myself time with nothing to do but breathe the fresh air, feel the sun on my face, and think about exactly how I could convince my father to reinstate Rin while also explaining the many ways he could fuck himself.

Because what I’d decided on that summer day with my past at my back and my future stretched out before me was that the only thing left that I truly wanted was to reinstate her future. And if not through her job at The Met, then I’d find another way to give her everything she desired. I’d call in every favor I had in the vault to ensure her place.

I would willingly give her all the things others had tried to take simply because I loved her. And I wasn’t afraid.

I was ready.

When I stepped into his office, I found him seated behind his magnificent desk, his eyes narrow and face hard. And I saw myself in him, the last man I wanted to be and the one I’d become without knowing. For the first time in memory, I was in his presence without feeling a surge of anger, the sting of betrayal, the wound caused by my loss. No, I stood before him, calm and cool, his power over me gone. And I’d been a fool for granting him that power in the first place.

“You got my message,” he said.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

He paused, assessing me. “What’s this?” He held up my resignation letter.

“It’s exactly what it says it is. Did you ask me here just so you could pose questions you already had the answers to?”

His jaw clenched.

“I told you I was quitting if she left. And she’s gone.”

“I heard you when you said it.”

“But you didn’t believe me,” I added.

“I have to commend you for following through, but don’t be obtuse, son. You’re not actually going to risk your career for an intern, are you? She doesn’t want you any more than Lydia did.”

The blow hit its mark, triggering a succession of painful, thudding heartbeats. “I hope you’re wrong. I asked her to marry me.”

Shock shot his face open. “You didn’t.”

“I did. And she accepted.”

“You’re serious,” he said half to himself.

“Hopefully she doesn’t come to her senses and leave me. God knows I don’t deserve her. It’s my fault—all of this—and if I had left her alone like I knew I should, she’d have her job and her credits for her doctorate. She’s earned that. She deserves it. She deserves everything, and I’ll do whatever I can to give it to her. Even if it means coming here to beg you to let her come back.”

He puzzled over me like a calculus equation.

“I’ll stay away, if that’s what you want—there are other jobs, other museums. And whether you like it or not, I’m giving her my name—your name. Give her the job. Let her get the credit. Everyone has a price. What’s yours?”

The muscles at the edges of his jaw bounced with his grinding teeth. “My price is simple. Come back to the museum. I’ll give the intern her job but only if you’re in your office. What I want is your success. For the legacy to continue. But I’m an asshole, same as you. For men who work with priceless art, we aren’t very careful, are we?”

I watched him suspiciously. “If I come back, you’ll let her back in?”

“If that’s how I get you back in the museum, then yes.”

The victory of fixing my mistake rang in my ears, in my mind, in my heart. The plan had worked.

Everybody wins.

“Fine. We’ll be in on Monday.”

He raised a dark brow at me.

“We have plans,” was the only explanation I offered before turning for the door.

“For the record—” he started.

I paused, turning to face him.

“I hope she’s different.”

“I don’t need hope. I know.” I gave him my back and walked out of the building, a slow smile climbing into a beaming grin with every step that brought me closer to her.

* * *

Rin

The second I floated through the door, I was accosted by my roommates.

They seemed to fly in from separate directions, all three of them asking questions at once.

“What the hell happened?” Val asked.

“Can I see it?” Amelia reached for my hand.

“Did he grovel? Tell me he groveled,” Katherine said with her arms folded.

I laughed, my hand no longer my own as they hushed, bending over it with eyes as big and round and glazed as donuts.

“God, it’s gorgeous,” Amelia breathed.

“I can’t believe he’d been carrying this around,” Val sighed.

“He’s crazy,” Katherine said in awe. “He’s actually crazy. And it works for him.”

Val looked up to meet my eyes. “I want to know why you’re here and not over there, riding his face like a hobby horse.”

That earned a full-blown cackle, and we all ended up laughing.

“He’s coming by later…after he talks to his dad.”

They paled in unison.

“Ew, why did he go back there?” Amelia asked.

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Court needs to get it all out of his system or he might implode.”

Val clutched my hand, still resting in hers, and dragged me into the kitchen. “Come. Now. Spill everything.”

So we sat in the kitchen, my best friends and me, for a solid hour, drinking coffee and talking and recounting everything that had happened and what I thought might happen next. And all the while, the reality of it sank in, warmed me up, filled my heart. Because they didn’t say we were crazy—at least not after they learned we’d be engaged forever—in fact, they were nothing but blissfully happy, tearfully accepting, and absolutely supportive.

Val’s face was propped in her hand, her cheeks rosy and eyes dreamy. “I can’t believe you’re engaged.”

“It was because of the lipstick,” Katherine said matter-of-factly.

We all frowned at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Not like that. But because you jumped. You took a leap of faith. You did the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and look at how it paid off—you have everything you dreamed of simply because you took a risk.”

“That’s it,” Val said, whirling around. “We’re making a pact. For real.”

She disappeared up the stairs, rummaged around noisily in the bathroom, and reappeared with three black-and-white-striped bags and my tube of Boss Bitch, which she plopped on the island in front of us. From each bag, she retrieved a tube of lipstick, setting them on their ends in front of herself and me, then Amelia, and Katherine, who wore matching looks of skepticism.

Val held up her tube like a champagne flute. “I hereby call the first meeting of the Red Lipstick Coalition to order. We do so solemnly swear to use this shiny little tube of power to inspire braveness, boldness, and courage. We promise to jump when it’s scary, to stand tall when we want to hide, to scream our truth instead of whisper our fears. May we be mistresses of our destinies, and to hell with anyone who tries to tell us otherwise.”

We lifted our lipstick tubes, and we all laughed, chanting, Hear, hear!

The doorbell rang, and I hopped off my stool, hurrying to the door with anticipation and worry over what kind of state Court would be in after a confrontation with his father.

But I opened the door to a brilliant smile, my tall, dark, and handsome filling up the doorframe with his long body, clad in jeans, a T-shirt, and that leather jacket that smelled like heaven. With donuts.

Before I could speak, he tossed the box onto the table next to the door and scooped me into his arms in a single motion. And then he kissed me deep, our bodies twisting together as he dipped me.

“Ow-ow!” Val howled, and all three of them laughed as Court pulled away, smiling too.

“What happened?” I asked, running my hand along the scruff of his jaw.

“Well, if you want it, I got your job back.”

I gaped, blinking up at him. “But how?”

One shoulder rolled in a shrug, his smile tilting. “I told him I loved you and that we were engaged.”

A single shocked laugh burst out of me. “So your plan was sound after all.”

“I know my father.”

I frowned. “I…I don’t want to go back there. Not without you.”

He tightened his arms, that one side of his lips climbing. “Well, I got my job back, too.”

I shook my head at him in wonder. “I cannot believe you did it. Do you want to go back?”

His smile softened. “That museum is my home, that art my dream. But all I want is you.”

It only took me a breath to decide. “Let’s go back.”

“Really?” The hope in that single word solidified my answer.

“Absolutely.”

And then he kissed me. He kissed me with elation and relief and a promise of our future. And when he broke away, he was still smirking, that bastard.

“We start again on Monday.”

“Next week?” I frowned.

“Go pack a bag. And make sure you only pack dresses.”

Hope sprang. “Florence?”

He nodded, his teeth flashing in a brilliant smile. “Florence.”

“Want to follow my legs around?”

Court pulled me close, his lips nearly against mine when he said, “I’ll follow you anywhere, Rin.”

And he was a man of his word.