Page 84 of Half Baked

We have been official business partners with a signed and notarized contract for exactly one week. Each step along the way, I expect to regret my decision. To have a moment of panic or feel like things are no longer in my control. But it hasn’t happened. Just like taking on Small Town Table together, this past week has beenfun.

Working together, planning together, bickering together, it feels like everything is more meaningful having him at my side. My twin flame. This feels like what Nana described as meant to be, the way she described her relationship with my grandfather. It feels right.

“I’m not allowed to link it to my account, but I’m allowed to use my status with the bank to cut corners and simply make a call?” he challenges, plucking the treat from my hand and taking a bite before I can.

“That is correct.”

With a kiss to my forehead, he withdraws his phone and pulls up the number. Every so often, he turns and asks me the necessary information such as my social security number and the business address, but that’s it. This feels too easy, opening an account and transferring the tens of thousands of dollars he paid me for his shares, all over the phone.

But I can hear the bank manager singing his praise, and I have a feeling that Hayden would have easily commanded a board room if he had decided to take an active role in his father’s business. He’s as confident on this call as he is in uniform, and it’s indecently alluring.

Setting down his phone, he turns to me and smiles. “We officially have joint banking.”

“You mean a joint business account, right?”

“Yes. For now,” he says, in a low, enticing voice. Heat runs through my core at the way he whispers the words in my ear, his lips skimming along the outer edge of it. He takes my jaw in his hand and kisses my temple.

I let him lift my chin upward, my eyes skimming over his handsome features. “You sound sure that it’s only a matter of time.”

“I am,” he replies simply. Pulling my face to his, he kisses me slowly. His mouth moves with that same confidence, causing a moan to escape me as I melt in his embrace.

“Any regrets?” he asks against my lips.

“With this business partnership? Not at all.”

“Do you have regrets with our relationship?” He leans back; his brow pinched in concern.

“Yes. I regret how long it took me to realize that I’m hopelessly in love with you.”

A slow smile fills his face, reaching his sparkling blue eyes. Trailing his thumb across my cheek, he says, “That’s okay. I’vealways known for the both of us. You’re the person I’m meant to be with forever.”

My mind flashes back to trivia night at the brewery, after we shot that first episode.Do you believe in lobsters, Poppy? The look in his eyes when he asked that said it all, even before the first time we kissed, and I didn’t see it for what it was.

“Forever,” I agree to my God of the Sea. Because only something as deep as the sea could sway a stubborn heart.

Epilogue

Poppy

One and a half years later

“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”

Hayden curls the blanket around my shoulder, pulling me in tighter as he murmurs the words softly in my ear. Despite the chill coming off the waves before us, every inch of me feels warmed from the inside out. He has that effect on me.

“How are we going to top last year?” I ask with a smile. Our first Valentine’s Day, we had taken the yacht he inherited down the coast and spent days wrapped up with one another on the sea. It had been an absolute dream, which was no surprise considering he is an absolute dream.

“I had an idea,” he replies, taking his arms from around me and reaching into a pocket.

“Hayden.” His name is barely more than a breath on my lips as he withdraws a ring box and cracks it open. Inside sits a stunning, oversized sapphire, encircled by tiny diamonds on a gold band. “Marry me, Poppy Seed?”

The gemstone is the same light blue as his eyes. My favorite color. And it glistens in the morning sun.

I nod enthusiastically as my smile threatens to overtake my face. “Yes, of course yes,” I exclaim, pulling him into a kiss. With his lips on mine, Hayden reaches out and slides the ring onto my finger. I pull back to examine it on its new home. “Perfect,” I whisper.

“We can have any wedding you want, baby. Whatever you dream up.”

“All I care about is marrying you. You’re still all I need; you always will be. So, tell me what you want for the wedding.”

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