Page 64 of Love, Take Two

"Much better," I agree, turning to kiss her because I can, because she's here, because we're creating something beautiful together.

Some partnerships are about dividing responsibilities and managing boundaries. Others are about multiplication—taking what you each bring and creating something bigger than the sum of its parts.

As we finish dinner and start planning tomorrow's client calls, I realize we're definitely the multiplication kind.

24

VADA

I wake up to Emory's alarm going off and the immediate awareness that today is the day we're supposed to present three different business proposals to three different potential clients. What I don't expect is to find him already awake, staring at his phone with an expression I can't quite read.

"Morning," I say, rolling over to press a kiss to his shoulder. "You're up early even for you."

"Someone posted a TikTok about us," he says, turning the phone so I can see the screen. "It's got two million views."

"Two million?" I sit up, suddenly wide awake. "What kind of TikTok?"

"The good kind," he says with a grin that makes my heart skip. "Someone stitched together clips from our Paradise Cove content with the song from our first dance, and the comments are... well, see for yourself."

I scroll through hundreds of comments, and they're all variations of the same theme: people invested in our love story, asking when we're getting married, sharing their own reunionromance stories, calling us "relationship goals" and "proof that soulmates exist."

"This is crazy," I say, though I can't help smiling at how genuinely happy people seem to be for us. "Look at this one—'These two give me hope that my person is still out there somewhere.'"

"And this one," Emory adds, pointing to another comment. "'Can we please get an update on whether they're engaged yet? I'm emotionally invested in this love story.'"

"They're going to be so disappointed when we don't give them the fairy tale timeline they're expecting," I say, but something about the way Emory's looking at me suggests he's thinking about something.

"What if we did?" he asks quietly.

"Did what?"

"Give them a fairy tale," he says, setting down his phone to turn and face me fully. "What if we got married?"

My heart stops completely, then restarts at about triple speed. "Emory—"

"I know it's fast," he says quickly, like he's afraid I'll shoot down the idea before he can explain. "I know we've only been back in each other's lives for a month. But Vada, I've never been more sure of anything. This isn't just about what other people want to see—this is about what I want. What we want."

"What do we want?" I ask, though my pulse is racing in a way that suggests I already know the answer.

"Everything," he says simply. "The business, the life, the future, all of it. With you. Forever."

The certainty in his voice makes my chest tight with emotion that's bigger than excitement, bigger than love, bigger than anything I've felt before. Because he's right—I do want everything with him.

"Yes," I say, the word coming out before I can overthink it. "Yes to all of it. Yes to forever."

The smile that spreads across his face is so bright it could power the entire building. "Really?"

"Really," I confirm, and then he's kissing me with the kind of desperate joy that makes me forget we have client calls in three hours.

"We should probably talk about logistics," I say when we break apart, though I'm making no effort to move away from him.

"Probably," he agrees, his hands already sliding under my sleep shirt. "But maybe after we celebrate properly?"

"How long is properly?" I ask, even as I'm pulling his shirt over his head.

"However long it takes," he says against my neck, and honestly, client calls can wait.

Two hours later, we're lying in bed thoroughly satisfied and slightly panicked about how much time we need to make up for this morning.

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