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“Is that a bad thing?”
His head tilts side to side. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I wanted to think that I’ve been successful in business because I am who I am and not because of my family name. Now I wonder.”
“Can’t it be both?” I shift so I’m sitting right next to him, leaning against his chest. “There are a lot of people out there with good family names, but you’re the one with the string of successful clubs. You should be proud of that.”
“I am, which is why I hate the idea of giving them away.”
“You don’t have to, you know. We can find some other way.”
He wraps an arm around me. “No, we can’t, and it’s okay. I’ve made my peace with it.” He takes a deep breath. “Now, let me ask you something. Are you still jealous of Robin?”
I laugh, pushing him back, and he’s grinning. “Yes and no,” I admit. “In some ways, yes, because she really is the sort of girl you probably thought you’d end up with.”
He inclines his head. “I won’t deny it.”
“But in other ways, not at all. She’s clearly not interested and neither are you.”
“Also very true.”
“It’s just my insecurities. I wish I could be strong and not let any of this stuff get to me, but your family is impressive and it’s just—”
He touches my cheek. “I’ll keep saying it until you hear me, love. My family doesn’t matter.”
“But they do.” I put my hand over his. “That’s why we’re doing all this, right?”
“Throwing a birthday party for an old man, you mean? Yes, pretty much.”
I snort-laugh. “God, that’s what this is, right? An old man’s birthday party.”
“Complete with cake and sparkly hats. Damn, did you blow up the balloons?”
“No balloons. I don’t want anyone getting hurt trying to pop them.”
“Safety first. I respect that.” He leans forward and kisses me gently. “Can I tell you something?”
“Please do.”
“This last week has been one of the happiest weeks of my life.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously? You’ve been spending most your time planning this wreck of a party. How are you going to pretend like you’re happy about that?”
“The party planning has been miserable,” he admits, but he’s still staring at me. “It’s the other stuff I love. It’s coming home to you, kissing you, cooking for you, taking you to bed. You realize that we’ve been acting like…” He trails off, licking his lips.
“Like we’re together,” I finish for him. “Yeah, I noticed.”
“We haven’t talked about it.” He brushes a knuckle across my cheek. “Is it okay? Is it good?”
“I think it’s good,” I whisper, heart racing. “It feels good, doesn’t it? Kathryn keeps telling me that I can let myself enjoy this, you know, being with you, and I’ve been trying to take her advice.”
He laughs and kisses me. “Genna’s been telling me the same thing.”
I smile at the thought of our best friends giving us essentially the exact same advice. “We’re pretty obvious, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are. But I don’t give a damn. I like this too much to care about anything else right now.”
“I like this too,” I say, kissing him, running my fingers through his hair, feeling that buzzy little spike in my stomach when he gives me that deep, piercing look of his. “I still have, uh, concerns, but I’m not letting them rule me.”
“Concerns?”
