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I reached into my pocket for my cell and scanned through emails until I found what I was searching for. I handed my phone to Nora.
Her forehead creased, then smoothed when she read the message. “You already made a reservation?”
“Yep. A little place on the beach about a half hour from here. I figured we could have an argument on the way over as foreplay.” I winked.
EPILOGUE
Nora
Seven months later
“I HAVE Apresent for you.”
Beck put down the broom and flashed a dirty smile. “Oh yeah? I’ve been looking forward to unwrapping it all day.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but I have anactualpresent.”
He pouted, and I had to laugh. “Wait right here. I’ll bring it to you.”
Beck and I had been working at the new office every night for the last week, getting it ready for the big day tomorrow. But he didn’t know about the other project I’d been working on, for months now. What had started as a small idea had grown much larger than I’d expected, so my gift was resting on a dolly in the closet with a sheet over it, since I could no longer carry it. I tilted the steel carrier back and pushed the two-hundred-pound labor of love into the room next door.
Beck’s brows rose. “What the heck is that?”
“It’s your gift. Don’t get too excited. It’s homemade.”
“I’m intrigued...”
Settling the dolly in front of him, I was suddenly nervous. What if he was upset that I hadn’t asked him before using his things? I suppose it was too late to worry about that now. I pointed to the empty back wall. “I thought it could go there—that is, if you like it.”
Tomorrow was the grand opening of Louise’s List—a nonprofit, Make-A-Wish-type program that would offer funding and planning assistance to terminally ill adults who wanted to fulfill their bucket lists. Beck and I were hosting a fundraiser in the new office space tomorrow night. The following Monday, the website would go live and the office staff would start work.
“If you made it, I’m sure I’ll love it,” Beck said.
The funny thing was, there was a lot of truth to that statement. Beckham Cross loved me in a way I never knew was possible—selfless and with his whole heart. Sometimes it made me nervous, because while my health had been great since my surgery last year, I was already beating the odds.
I inhaled a deep breath before lifting off the sheet to reveal what I’d made. The sign stood up on its side, so it took a few seconds for Beck to read it and process everything. His eyes widened. “Are those the nails…?”
I nodded. “I hope you don’t mind that I used them.”
I’d taken the rusty nails from the Mason jar—the ones Louise had Beck hammer into a tree stump more than two decades ago to teach him a lesson—and used them to make a Louise’s List wooden box sign. The rim of the signage and the large words spelled out in the middle were made of the rusty nail heads. It had a rustic look, but I thought it had turned out pretty incredible, if I did say so myself.
Beck teared up as he stared. “It’s perfect. Her life lessons belong here on display. She would be so proud of you for everything you’ve done to open this place, sweetheart.”
“She’d be proud ofus. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Beck cupped my cheeks in his hands. “My grandmother gave me many gifts during her lifetime, but the best one she gave me wasyou.”
***
The following evening, we opened Louise’s List with a big party. Beck went to the office early with Jake to hang the sign before people started showing up. It took me forever to get an Uber a little later, so I wound up arriving at the same time as some of the guests. Since the grand-opening party was also a fundraiser, Beck had invited some of his clients. That must’ve been who he was talking to, holed up in a corner with two older men I’d never seen before when I arrived. I stole the moment to appreciate my man in a tux before he noticed me. Considering we’d been pretty much living together since my surgery, I would’ve thought checking him out would’ve grown old by now. But somehow it never did. Beckham Cross still took my breath away.
From the outside he was eye candy—sharp, angled jaw; full lips; tall, dark, and undeniably handsome. A true ten at first glance. But it was everything else that elevated him to a twelve—the way he stood so tall and confident, the refined way he spoke during the day at work, the dirty mouth he had only for me at night. And the way those two melded together in the bedroom—I had tingles thinking about it.
As if he felt eyes on him, Beck turned from the conversation he’d been engrossed in. He scanned the room until his gaze locked with mine. I watched his eyes dip down to my royal blue dress and caress their way back up. His lips turned up in a devilish grin, and I knew he was silently telling me I’d worn this dress for him. Of course, I had.
Beck excused himself from the conversation and strode across the room. The way he walked with such purpose, zeroing in on me like no one else existed, was always foreplay for me. Especially when he cupped his big hand around the back of my neck and brought my lips to meet his.
I was dizzy by the time our kiss broke.
