Page 60 of It's a Widow Thing

She rolled her eyes comically, then leaned in to kiss him. “You just have to force the issue, don’t you?”

“Is that a yes?” He couldn’t resist busting out that one. He was too damn happy.

“What are you thinking? Your apartment? Mine?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. I’ve had five seconds to ponder this.”

“If we move into your apartment, I’m redecorating. Too much black and gray. The library wall can stay. And maybe your bed.”

He knew he had the world’s goofiest grin on his face. He was proud of it. He wanted to walk around with it like it was a trophy. “Whatever you want. Gut the place. I do not care.”

“Careful. I might take you up on that.”

He reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her cheek. “Go ahead, Sabrina. Turn my whole world upside down. I’m ready for it.” It was the truth. He was ready for whatever was about to come their way. It was his turn to kiss her, but as soon as their lips met, he couldn’t resist the urge to palm her thigh and pull her closer with his other hand. He wanted to take off every inch of her clothes and stretch out on the guest bed with her. He was prepared to make his brother and sister-in-law regret the invitation to stay with them.

“Michael…” Sabrina slowly pulled away from him. “Too much excitement.”

He didn’t open his eyes right away. He was too busy soaking up the sensations. Yeah, he was disappointed they couldn’t have sex. But that was nothing compared to everything else he had. “I know. I know. I couldn’t help it. I got carried away. You do that to me.”

“Oh, I get it. You do that to me, too.”

EPILOGUE

Thirteen months later

Echo Beauty had not openedon schedule, but it was close. The original target was the day after Thanksgiving, one year after the ground-breaking party. Instead, they opened two weeks before Christmas.

Business surpassed any and all expectations. So much so that it left everyone scrambling to keep up. Inventory flew out the doors so quickly the first week that Sabrina and Lucy were not only working the counter at Echo Beauty; they were triple-checking end-of-day numbers, just to be sure it hadn’t all been shoplifted. It hadn’t. Now that it was seven days closer to Christmas, things were even busier.

“I still can’t believe how well this is going,” Sabrina said to Lucy as they ducked out from behind the counter they’d been manning together for the last few hours. They had plenty of staff on the floor, but it was fun to hawk their wares side-by-side. It was just like the old days.

“Don’t be. It was an impeccable idea, Echo Echo did an amazing job on the launch, and we sell kick-ass products. We would have to try really hard to fail.” Lucy wandered over to one of the eye shadow displays and started neatening the testers. “Plus, having our stuff in the Posh Post mailing for three months in a row before we opened? That was a genius move.”

Lucy was absolutely right about all of that, and she owed it all to Lela and Echo, who’d had the vision from the very start. They’d seen the potential in Chelsea Mayhem. They’d seen potential inher. Sabrina could admit now that she hadn’t always been confident in those two things. She’d always been searching for proof that every sacrifice she had made was worth it. Now, she was seeing that most of them had been.

Sabrina had been able to see one thing on the horizon, though—Echo Echo had made a bid to bring Chelsea Mayhem under their company umbrella. Sabrina was ready to go all-in, but Michael thought she should hold out for more money. His finance guy tendencies were firmly entrenched. He’d talked a big game about quitting his job, but so far, he hadn’t done it, which Sabrina didn’t entirely understand. His discontent with that world was one of the first things he’d ever complained to her about. And even though he’d said they could gut his apartment, they hadn’t, even though they had moved in together. Something was making him hold back, and she was determined to force him to make some leaps.

“What do you think about the sale?” Sabrina asked Lucy.

“I’ve told you several times, Sabrina. You should do what your heart is telling you to do. It’s your company. Your baby.”

She needed to resign herself to the fact that Lucy wasn’t going to offer more of an opinion than she felt empowered to give. It was Sabrina’s job to put her in that position. “Fair enough. I have one important stipulation I want to put into our counter-offer, but I have to ask you about it before I do.”

“Yeah. Shoot.”

“I want you to be CEO.”

Lucy’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. “You what?”

“It would mean a lot more responsibility. I would stay on as founder and head of product development. That’s the part I really love. But really, you’re much better at running things than I am.”

Lucy grasped Sabrina’s elbow. “You seriously trust me with this?”

“Implicitly.”

Lucy pressed her lips together tightly, nodding. The gears in her head were turning. That much was certain. “It would be pretty cool.”

“Did I also mention it would be a ton more money? I think I can get you double what you make now.”