Page 100 of Game Change

“Of course I do.”

“Then let’s not waste time. Life is short.”

She closes her eyes and nods. She opens them again and presses her forehead to mine. “I know that better than anyone.”

“Then let’s live our lives to the fullest.” She bites her lip and nods. I put my finger under her chin and force her eyes back on me. “I want to marry you.”

Her breath hitches, and tears pool in her eyes. She doesn’t speak, but her eyes search mine. I nod at her unanswered question.

“I’m going to do it right. You deserve that. You deserve everything.” She puts her head back on my shoulder. “And I would be honored to be the man who gets to spend the rest of his life with you. Our children will inherit the house you worked so hard to get back.”

She climbs on top of me, and I wrap my arms around her. We don’t speak, but I stroke the curve of her spine and feel her heartbeat against my chest.

“I love you,” she whispers moments later.

“You should apologize to me now for all the weeks you spent being mean to me,” I say, and she cackles.

“Well, you did steal my job.” She swats my bare chest.

“Only I didn’t, so you should apologize.”

“I will not,” she says. “You were mean to me too.”

“How?”

“Tigerlily,” she says, doing a dramatic imaginary hair flip.

“I’ve never seen her flip her hair like that.”

“Oh? So, you were paying attention? I should—” I shut her up with a kiss, and she sighs into my mouth.

Chapter 51

Brynne

The move with Colin was uneventful. I donated whatever Oliver didn’t destroy to a women’s shelter. My condo has been on the market for three days, and I’ve rented all but the basement unit, though the tenants won’t move in for another month.

Work has been busy, but I’ve also completed my business plan and have a clear vision for how I want to run my own architecture firm. As it stands, I will have no living expenses while I stay with Colin. He has refused to take any money from me and assures me that a family trust covers all his living expenses.

He’s even bought me a new wardrobe for our trip. When I showed him what I had in my shopping cart, he went behind my back and bought everything. He also sent the links to his personal shopper, and she put together a wardrobe for me based on my shopping history.

I thought living and working together would be too much, but it’s not. It’s shockingly perfect, which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Oliver is still hiding out somewhere, but I have the sick suspicion that he’s at his mother’s house. Knowing what I know about them and their relationship, it won’t be long until she kicks him out again and the police catch him.

The most upsetting thing about what he did was desecrating my mother’s resting place. Everything else was replaceable. Now, my mother’s ashes are in a new urn and sit in my new home office.

Colin offered to turn one of the downstairs rooms into an office for me, but I said no. I vowed to conquer my fear of the second floor. Now, the biggest upstairs bedroom is my office. It’s a minimalist space with two monitors, a desk, and a table. Colin puts a bouquet of fresh flowers on my home office desk every few days, and today’s bouquet is tiger lilies.

I’ve never dated a wealthy man, and there are some perks. His housekeeper does all the cleaning, shopping, and laundry. The only thing she does not do is the cooking. We started taking turns, but now we do it together, and that’s brought us closer. My favorite thing to do is to wrap my arms around him from behind while he chops vegetables on the cutting board.

My stomach growls at the thought of food.

“Oh,” I say out loud in my office, realizing it’s after seven. My office door swings open as if he heard me, and he taps his watch.

Just as I stand and stretch, my phone vibrates, and the name of the detective handling my case flashes across the screen. I quickly accept the call and put it on speaker.

“This is Brynneka Barber,” I say. I hold my breath while he tells me that they apprehended Oliver at his mother’s house.

I exhale in relief and let Colin take me in his arms. After ending the call, I stay safe in his embrace. Despite my anger at Oliver, his actions brought Colin and me closer together.

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