Page 25 of Always Alchemy

My dress for this evening is long and silver. It goes perfectly with my new pale pink hair and is both supremely classy and outrageously sexy. I give myself one last appraising shimmy in the mirror before heading upstairs to the penthouse. Max claims he booked it because it had the biggest bed in the hotel, but we know he can’t help spoiling us. If he has an opportunity to indulge me and Dex, he always takes it.

I smile to myself as I get my key card out. I wonder if they’re ready for dinner yet, if they’re hanging out together on our private terrace, looking debonair and fuckable, or whether they’re still fucking each other in the shower.

My mind drifts back to sex with Dex this morning—sleepy and intense and so stunningly intimate. The memory of how he pinned my wrists above my head as he moved inside me assaults me. From the moment I opened my eyes, he was looking at me like he couldn’t believe I was real. Honestly, that man is too good to be true.

They both are.

I walk into the penthouse’s lobby and through to the main drawing room, my brain trying to compute what it sees as I do. My boys, both in black tie, both so beautiful ithurts my heart. They’re just standing there, waiting for me,smiling at me,their hands crossed over their crotch areas in a position that makes them look a bit like sexy Secret Service agents.

Behind them, around them, all I can see are white flowers. Masses of them, arranged in vases and spilling out of wine buckets and strewn on tabletops. Their incredible scent fills the air.

I put down the tote bag carrying all my stuff and gape at them. ‘What’s going on, guys?’ I ask in a shaky voice, because this is something big.

Max holds out his hand. ‘Come here, sweetheart.’

I drift over, and Dex’s smile gets wider while Max’s face grows more serious. Max snags my hand and squeezes it, his thumb rubbing my knuckles.

‘We have something to ask you.’

My heart stops. I look between them. I can’t explain the feeling I’m getting, except to say it’s like my heart is melting and oozing heavenly warmth throughout my veins. Thicker than blood—more like treacle.

‘Is that so?’ I ask, my voice shaky to my ears.

They glance at each other, and then Max releases my hand so they can both sink to one knee in front of me.

Oh my God.

Oh myGod.

They’re kneeling on the thick pile of the rug, their perfect, wonderful faces upturned and their eyes on me. The love is radiating out of them. It’s tangible.

I put my hands over my mouth and nose like I’m crafting an oxygen mask. I think I need a paper bag.

Dex reaches into the inner breast pocket of his jacket and pulls out a little black velvet box, and I burst into messy, preemptive tears.

‘Hey,’ Max says. ‘Here, sweetheart.’ He holds out his hand, and I wipe my cheek before taking it and letting him squeeze it. ‘Dex?’ he prompts.

Dex smiles at me, and it’s the smile of an angel. He opens the box single-handedly without breaking eye contact, and I spy a massive, dazzling mass inside. ‘We love you so much, Darce, and we want to ask you if you’ll marry us. Be our wife?’

I can’t give them the answer I want to give them because I’m too busy crying, and now the mascara I toiled over downstairs is streaking all over my hand, and I couldn’t give a shit, because I’m so happy.I’m so happy.My heart is filling, and fizzing, and that warmth is everywhere, and I didn’t know it was possible to feel so unbelievably, completely, radiantly happy.

‘Oh, angel,’ Dex says, getting to his feet and wrapping his arms around me as Max follows and tugs us both into a big, messy hug. ‘Please don’t cry. We love you so much.’

Max kisses the top of my head, and I tilt my face to look up at him. ‘We want it to be the three of us together, forever,’ he says, his expression still serious, his eyes scanning my face. ‘What do you say? It’ll be one hell of an adventure, but I can’t imagine living without you. Him either.’ He jerks his head at Dex. ‘It would be a fucking nightmare without you two.’

‘Of course I’ll marry you!’ I say. ‘Oh my God, how could Inotwant to marry you?’ My voice sounds snotty, but they don’t seem to care, because they’re tugging me tighter, and kissing me, and kissing each other, and then they’re both crying, too. We stand there in this giant soppy, weepy hug, and it feels like the best, most miraculous thing in the world.

I can’t believe we get to have this forever.

MAX

The lake is a rich cobalt blue at this time of night, the various villages that border it picked out in the pretty glow of their lights. I’d have us stay here forever if I could, sunbathing and taking scenic boat trips and eating pasta as if our lives depended on it.

I’d keep them here forever, in this bubble where there’s no work and no tabloids and no one who’s not Dex or Darcy.

But if I have to return to the real world at some point, I can only tolerate doing so with them.

We’re sitting at the edge of the hotel’s terrace, away from the other diners and next to the ancient stone balustrade, tucking into excellent seafood and chilled white wine. The evening is balmy, and the air is still, and my heart is so full I can scarcely bear it. Of all the deals I’ve closed throughout my life, this is the one that makes me the proudest—and the most relieved.

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