Page 65 of The Billionaire's Accidental Daddy Duty
“Agreed.” He chuckled, pulling up my top before he moved on to fix his trousers.
“Wait. You’re not going back to the UK?” I had been so happy to see him and everything else, I hadn’t really thought about what all of the arrangements he had made meant for him. He had said he’d never move to the States. His home, his business, his family were in London. “You’d do that?”
“My whole life is here now. You and Joey.” He pulled me toward him until our bodies were pressed together. “Synchronicity. Do you remember when we had that conversation? I’m done fighting it, thinking that I know better.”
Of course, I recalled our talk. The day after we had sex the first time, Declan had opened up to me and admitted that being a father terrified him. That he didn’t wants kids because he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to provide for them. Not financially, obviously. Declan was scared to die and leave a family behind—just like his dad had done. Leave it to Declan to try and make plans with death.
That morning, I reminded him that the universe was always listening. “When you ask the universe for something, be ready to receive what it sends you. It won’t always come in the way you’d expect.”
“That’s what you said. In the moment, I told myself that a broken condom and an ovulating woman didn’t mean anything.” He rubbed the side of his face.
“So grim.”
“I know.”
“So what did you wish for, Declan?” I cupped his face and brushed his lips softly. “Why would the universe send you a baby you didn’t want?”
“I asked for a home. Not a swanky flat in the city. But a real home.”
“And you got us—a baby and a drunk girl.”
“I did.” He swiped the pad of his thumb over my lips. “I’m sorry it took so long to figure it out. To see that my feelings for you were real.”
“Don’t be.” I threw my arms around his neck. “I didn’t see itcoming, either.”
“What did you wish for?” He furrowed his brows as if suddenly realizing I had something to do with how his future turned out, too. “Why would the universe send you a grumpy old man like me?”
“Thirty-two is not that old.” I laughed.
“Tell me.”
In the same week, I had found out I couldn’t have children, broke up with my boyfriend, and lost my dream job. I wanted it all, a career, a husband, children, a home, a family. I couldn’t believe it when in one fell swoop, every single one of those things had been taken away. Now I understood why. Declan and Joey were always meant for me.
“I asked for everything.”
24
EPILOGUE
Declan
Two years later…
“Yeah, it’s definitely growing on me.” Isla swallowed hard, then chased the kidney pie with a big gulp of Guinness.
“You look a little pale.” I tried not to be offended by Isla’s odd and totally uncalled for dislike of traditional British dishes.
“My brain still can’t process the idea of kidney in my mouth, but it does taste great.” She smiled. “I promise.”
“Right then. You do look a bit ill, though.”
“It’s nothing. Just tired from the quick trip home.” She cupped my face and brushed her lips to mine.
My chest expanded with glee. Isla and I had been married for almost two years. Every time she kissed me, I still felt the same excitement and raw desire as the first time. She was always meantto be with me.
In a handful of months, we had managed to get married twice—once in Bensonhurst, New York, and then again in London. Mums could be so pesky when it came to weddings. I didn’t mind it all. I wanted everyone on both sides of the pond to know Isla was mine, and I was hers.
The tabloids gave her a hard time at the beginning, of course. But once we agreed to give them exclusive access to our second wedding in the UK at Great St. Barts, they became more amiable in their writing. They even printed a story calling our union one of the most romantic to ever grace the church’s steps since the medieval ages. Wankers. They were trying to make up for all the awful things they wrote about her and her nanny status with me.
