Page 63 of Flirty Thirty

“When?”

“Right now.”

I look over my shoulder at Holland, my cheeks warming at the fact that she’s been listening to this entire exchange. Her eyes are so wide and her grin so full, put a bucket of popcorn in front of her and she’d be all set for the show we just gave her.

“I can’t,” I say, turning back to Cooper. “My friend needs me.”

“There you go, making me fall even more in love with you.” He shakes his head and plants a kiss to my knuckles. “After?”

“I suppose.”

“All right, you go take care of your friend.” His eyes flick over my head. “Nice to meet you by the way!” Then he leans into me as Holland and I both laugh. “Weird to have an audience when you rip your heart out and hand it over.”

“I’m pretty sure you just won her over, too.”

He grins and plants a kiss on my lips. “Now, take care of her, and resist every urge you have to text me all the time or call and talk to me from dusk until dawn.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“One more thing, because I can’t keep it in.”

“You never can.”

He takes a deep breath and sets his hands on my waist, pulling me up against him. “This is what I’m gonna do… When you get back, I take you to Cabo for a week of beautiful love-making intertwined with sweaty, dirty screwing. I ask you a million times to be my wife while you jokingly shrug it off. We get home and I live a painfully long month alone before finally breaking down and asking you to move in. I sign on that piece of crap house with potential, and you help me plan and renovate, and we’ll fight on every single decision, and you’ll stop me from trying to do everything myself and hire a contractor. We get it done, you move in with your demon cats, and because I know how much you like them and we have the room, I buy you another one and you name it something with three letters. I build a swing set in the backyard, then you get someone to fix it so it’s not a safety hazard, and we babysit your nieces and nephews because they love their aunt so much, and they love to drive her nuts. I wait six months to propose, and it’s so romantic and amazing that youdefinitelysay yes this time, because you can’t resist my charm. How does that all sound to you?”

“Crazy.”

“You like my crazy.”

“Lucky for you.”

He rests his forehead against mine. “I love you.”

My eyelids close, and I bask in the sweetness of his words. He’s said he’s fallen for me, he’s implied love, but he hasn’t flat-out stated it like he does with everything else… so I know just how important this moment is, and just how much he means it. Maybe “family” can mean a million different things. That giving up one version of it doesn’t mean I’m giving family up entirely. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, and I like the idea of that, and I can feel my feet rise slightly off the floor as I let myself dream of the possibilities.

“I love you, too.” And because I need a million reassurances, I ask, “Are yousureyou are okay with this?”

He squeezes me to him, chest to chest, heart to heart.

“You are my family, Maya. And I can’t wait to start it.”

Epilogue

From the desk of Robert Sterling, CEO

Hey, turns out the brains of the place is going on vacation with his girl, and I’ve gotta pick up the slack ;) Forward all his emails to me, will you?

-Robbie

I slide the Post-it across Coop’s assistant’s computer screen, cap my pen, and whistle my way to the parking garage. Good riddance; he’s been a party pooper for weeks on end, and I told him all he needed was to get a little action to snuff out the blow of getting dumped. (It’s worked for me so far.) Instead of taking my brilliant advice, he professed his love and hooked a ball and chain around his leg. If I’m as smart as I know I am, then I’d bet that he’s planning to put a ring on it before they get back.

I hop into my Maserati and head over to Coop’s for one last night before he jet-sets on outta here. He’s got a pile and a half of papers to approve, and I’m not letting him leave me to it. I’m good at running things, talking up clients, and making the money that we’re swimming in—I’m just not the one to call when that money needs to bemanaged.

Traffic isn’t too bad considering it’s six on a Friday. I take the main highway past a giant building that houses one of the fastest growing women’s magazine’s in the country. I’ve been dying to get some of our client’s ads in there, but I gotta schmooze the editor in chief over there first. I hear she’s single.

Coop is lodged up at a hotel with Maya until he gets a place of his own in her hometown. He said he finally locked down on something, but it’ll take another few months to get it up to code. I’d wonder if Maya was just in it for the monetary perks if I hadn’t met her. I’m an expert in spotting the gold diggers and knew Coop was safe the minute Maya picked the picture she did from the test shoot. She picked the one that Coop looked the best in, not her. She definitely had better shots—not that she had any unflattering ones—but I found it sorta interesting that she chose one that focused more on him. As much as I hate seeing my brother torn away from bachelorhood, he found someone worth giving it up for.

I drive past the garage gate and park next to Maya’s VW bug. A chuckle rises from my gut from just the image of my big brother trying to squeeze into that thing.

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