Page 42 of The First Deal

“But…” He knew, hefucking knewwhat I was going to say.

I held my hand out. “Get that ring on my finger and kiss me, Shane Hudson. Kiss your future wife.”

“Wife,” he said under his breath, taking the ring from its box, sliding it up my finger, and then grabbing me by the waist, pulling my body flush against his, he kissed me like I had just made him the happiest man in the world.

And I was happy too.

Insane and happy.

10

“Ready to go, Mrs Hudson?” I asked, wrapping my arms around Hannah’s chest as I stood behind her and rested my chin on her head, inhaling her before planting kisses on her silky, smooth hair.

“I’m not Mrs Hudson yet,” she said with a laugh, her arms resting on top of mine, keeping me in place for a moment longer as we both stared at the tiny, empty flat.

“But you will be, soon.”

“Next year, we need to settle in first,” she said, then turned in my arms, gazing up at me. “Have a little patience.”

“I’m going to be fifty-one next month, I don’t have much time left,” I said earnestly.

She batted my chest. “You have plenty of good years in you.”

“We’ll see. You’ve come dangerously close to ending me, Cariño, especially when you put on those sexy dresses.” The red, satin one was a personal favourite.

She sucked air through her teeth. “Oh no. Maybe we should run to the courthouse right now then, because I think the dress that I have for the opening tonight might be the one to do it. And you know I’m only in this for the money.”

I laughed, then let her lead the way out of her old flat, swatting her ass as she went. “My little gold-digging whore.”

One of the many things that I loved about Hannah was her ability to laugh about things. The woman I had called my closest friend for decades had insulted my girl before I had cut her off, and it had now become an inside joke between us.

I was a dinosaur, only good for his cock and his cash, and she was my gold-digging whore.

A match made in heaven.

She locked the door behind us, then posted the spare key through the letterbox before we made our way, her arm linked through my elbow, down towards the seafront. We walked for some time, and eventually, our new home came into sight.

The huge house backed onto the beach. The outside was a combination of black tile and exposed brick, and outside, on the wide driveway that was hidden behind a low wall with a black iron fence, were two cars.

Boris was leaning against one, a shiny new Mercedes that matched mine. A gift for my future wife. I was also gifting her my driver, employing him full time to run her around wherever she pleased, while I would be using Harlow, the young guy who would usually fill in when Bo was taking a day off, as my personal driver from now on.

“Bo!” she exclaimed, flinging the gate open and running up to him.

She hugged him and then turned to me. “When did Bo get here? Why is Bo here actually? We don’t need him, the walk to the bar tonight will only take about fifteen minutes, and who is this guy?” She jerked her thumb towards Harlow who was standing beside my car. “And why do you now have two cars?”

“One is yours, as is Boris. And this is Harlow, my driver,” I explained.

“You… you bought me a car, and… and a Bo?” Her eyes darted between me, Bo, and the car, and her mouth hung wide open in surprise. It was like she still didn’t realise how much moneywehad.

“Of course I did. Call it an engagement present, not that I need any excuse to buy you things, and you can buy things for yourself too.” I had told her this before though.

For the last fortnight, I had been attempting to drill it into her. If I had money, so did she. What was mine was hers. We sold both of our homes and purchased the house we were standing outside of. I had taken a step back from Limelight, giving Lynda more control—she was over the moon—of our company as I moved down south with the intention to work from home and rarely have any involvement in the running of the label.

Hannah had still decided to keep her job though, even with everything that she had. I had asked her what her dream was, but she simply said, “A life where I am happy, loved, and satisfied daily.”

I could give her all of that.

“What’s your dream?” she asked. “What does happily ever after look like for my future husband?”

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