Page 177 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 3
“No. She worked for an imprint in London. She wouldn’t have pitched the idea to anyone else because then another publishing house could have reached out to you to offer you a better deal and cut her out. Besides, she met with me, not you. She doesn’thave rights to your story. We didn’t sign any paperwork with her. And I never mentioned your pen name. That was for you to hash out with her on your own.”
“No one knows my pen name?”
“Or your story. She only read the first few chapters.”
“Ourstory. It’s our story, James. Not just mine.”
“Then let’s do this our way. On our own. Self-publish it, Penny.”
“I don’t know anything about self-publishing.”
“Me either. Isn’t that half the fun? Besides, a publisher will want to change it. And I don’t want you to change one word.”
“You really liked it?”
“I loved it.” He leaned down and kissed me. “You were meant to do this.”
He wasn’t trying to help me with his last name or money. He was offering to help me research how to be an indie author. How to create a new business. “I thought I could do this all on my own. But I don’t want to. I want to do it with you.” I wanted to do everything with him. “But don’t get any ideas on Hunter Publishing House or anything else like that. All of this has to be anonymous.”
“What, you think I can’t be a well behaved Mr. Smoak?” He backed away from me slowly with his eyebrow raised.
“Mr. Smoak. I scrunched my nose up. Stick with Professor Hunter.”
He laughed as he hopped up onto the statue. “Now let’s see if we can get this echo thing going.” He held out his hand for me.
I grabbed it and climbed back up on the statue with him. But we didn’t clap. Instead, he pulled me in for a kiss. Right in the middle of campus. And I savored the moment. It was something we’d never been able to do when we first met. Our relationship had been a secret. But he wasn’t a professor anymore. And I wasn’t a student. We had escaped to New York so we could be ourselves. But he was right, we could move here now and be happy. I just wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted.
I pulled away from his kiss. “Rehoboth.”
He smiled down at me. “What about it?”
“I want to stay in New York. But we should look into getting a beach house in Rehoboth. Where we can come whenever we need a break from the chaos of the city. It would be perfect with the kids. I loved going to the beach when I was little with my parents. Liam and Scarlett will love it too. And I know you’re relaxed at the beach, so if we get away more often…”
“Done. You don’t have to sell me on the idea. I think it’s great. We can look at properties as soon as you want.”
“And we can always stop here on the way down to the beach. Make sure our kids know how important this university is to our family. We can annoyingly point out all the silly changes they make. And talk about the good old days. It’ll be perfect.”
“Hmm. Perfect.” He stared at me like I was the perfect one. Like nothing else in the world mattered to him. We stood in the middle of the statue for a long time, just being happy. Being us. “Let’s take our son home,” he finally said, breaking the spell.
I felt tears welling in my eyes. Because it wasn’t just me who he thought was perfect anymore. He loved his children just as much as he loved me. Andthatwas perfect.
He jumped off the statue and pulled me down into his arms. My feet stayed suspended in air as he held me tightly in his embrace.
I had never felt so full. I had come to Newark scared of losing the two men in my life. But I was keeping both of them. Liam was healthy now. And James was too. There was no alternate ending to our story. It had to be a happily ever after.
