Page 134 of Promise Me

“Third, the blueprint we use will be one we pick together. You like the windows in the bar. I like the windows in the bar. We will decide together.”

“Well, that’s why?—”

“I'm not done yet,” I cut him off, and he nods.

“And the fourth rule, themost importantrule is”—I move to stand right in front of him, reach up and stroke his cheek, and the breath he lets out relaxes his entire body—“that I love you too.”

Hudson cups my cheeks like I’m his and slams his mouth to mine. He kisses me as if we have time to make up for, and he’s right.

I wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me to wrap my legs around him. He starts moving toward the back of the room.

“Where are we going?” I ask. As excited as I am about what’s on his mind, I’m equally excited to see those blueprints.I’ve never been this close to my dream, and I have Hudson to thank for that.

“Upstairs, to what you think will be your apartment.”

I laugh. “To what I think?”

He sets me down at the back door.

“Yeah, you haven’t seen them yet, but none of those designs include two living spaces.”

“What? Why? What will you do with this one?”

“You mean, what will we do?”

I nod.

“We will knock out the wall that separates them and make one big apartment where we will live together.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Promise me,” I say, repeating the words he once said to me. “Promise me that no matter what life puts in our path, it will be you and me together.”

He smirks right before he kisses me.

“I promise.”

EPILOGUE

HUDSON - ONE YEAR LATER

Luca made space in his schedule to do the remodel in the winter. Now, we are coming up to the one-year anniversary of when Sadie showed up at my doorstep and demanded I let her move in with me, and our store has officially been open for two months.

It’s been a wild two months, and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon.

I spit out my mouthwash and turn off all the lights before I head down to the bar.

Even though the bar and Sips and Stories are now one big open space, they each have their own main entrance. Sadie and I went back and forth over whether we should give the entire place a new name, but in the end, we decided that Hudson’s and Sips and Stories both deserved their own names. Both represent a piece of what we fought to get back, so it didn’t feel right to take that from either one of us.

I pass through the kitchen, stopping outside the office to talk to Ian.

“Hey, is everything ready for tonight?” I ask.

“Yes, sir.”

“And she has no idea.”

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