Page 137 of Scandalous Lover

I let her have it.

When my brain finally clicks back into gear, I pull her up until her back meets my chest and she’s wrapped tightly in both arms.

We’re both still breathing heavily and after a moment, our breathing syncs up and we’re like one set of lungs. Her heart pounds in time with mine and it’s one heart.

“I love you, too, Sammy.”

Epilogue

Naomi

Eight Months Later

“Keeping this bag or donating it?”

I turn to where Sam’s standing in the corner of the living room in my Austin apartment, holding up a white plastic bag.

I cock my head to the side, considering. I know what I shoved in there. All the beautiful wool scarves I’ve collected over the years.

Won’t have much use for those on Faraday Island.

“Donate,” I decide with a smile.

We’re finishing up the last of the packing and getting ready for the real estate agent to start staging for listing photos.

We talked about keeping the place as a getaway in the city, but I finally decided I wanted to let it go. I want this chapter of my life, the lonely, searching, empty chapter, officially closed. We can always buy a new place in Austin if we end up spending time here. Goodness knows we’ll be able to afford it.

The last eight months have been a whirlwindof emotions, introductions, and new beginnings. I’m officially settled into the homestead. I even have my own set of chores. Every day feels like a labor of love. Like I’m building something with my own two hands. Sam and I are building a life together.

After deciding not to reinvest my time back into my lifestyle channel, Reina, Fran and I had a ceremony on the beach where I got to say goodbye to an era of my life and invite in a new one.

I’m happy to say it’s going really well. I already have three clients, properties on Faraday and neighboring islands, that I’m doing content creation for. And then there’s Paradise Events, my main client, who keeps me busy with weddings at The Sands and all over the world.

It feels crazy being back in this apartment, where I spent so many years thinking my life could only be so big. That I only had so much room in my heart, and I needed to protect it.

Things could not be more different now. It’s like my heart, my life, my soul, have blown wide open and the amount of space I have to live and love is endless.

“Why don’t you pick your favorite one and keep it?” Sam says, walking over with the bag of scarves. “You never know.”

I grin at him and dig into the bag, pulling out a long, jewel blue and gold one that I bought on a trip to Amsterdam my senior year of high school. I toss it around the back of Sam’s shoulders, using it to pull him close. “I guess these can come in handy, huh?”

He allows me to take him in my arms, letting the bag fall to the side. “We’re pretty close to being done here,” he says, resting his forehead on mine as I hold him tightly with both arms.

“So, we deserve a break?” I tease back.

Sam’s eyebrows go up. “What did you have in mind?”

I start walking backwards, pulling him along with the scarfstill draped around his back. “I thought we could re-visit the room where this all started.”

“Oh, really?” he answers, clearly on board for whatever I have planned.

“Do you remember the night we first met?”

“Of course,” Sam says. “I remember.”

“Well, I thought that since we’re back at the scene of the crime, and you never got to do what you really wanted to do when we were here the first time…”

Sam’s lips graze down my cheek and tuck into the crook of my neck. I can feel his warm breath as he answers. “Now’s my chance?”

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