“Yeah, I did. So there. If you’ve got a problem with living here, then we have a problem.”

His face softened. “You love me.”

“You’re just figuring this out?”

“You’ve never said it before.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized he was right. I hadn’t. To me, it was a given, something that went without saying. An irrefutable fact that was simply accepted as being true. It never occurred to me that I had to put it into words for him.

“Neither have you.”

“I thought it was obvious.”

“Then I guess we’re even.”

He closed the distance between us and pulled me against him. “I fucking love you, Ariel Sampson.”

“I love you too.”

A voice came from the entryway. “Then I suspect you should probably marry the girl before she changes her mind.”

We both spun around. No alarms had sounded. The hinges hadn’t even squeaked, and yet somehow a man in a dark suit exuding power laced with menace stood there.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Mount?”

He barely gave me a lazy shrug before crossing the floor. “Came to give the place another look before I decide whether I want to let it go.”

So, this was the guy.

“You weren’t invited,” I said, pleased my voice was steady.

The smile that twisted his lips fell into the category of ruthless. “I don’t require an invitation.”

“It might be your house, but I’m the one with a valid lease, and therefore I say you do.”

His eyes narrowed on me before shifting his attention to Hennessy. “Good luck with this one. You’re going to need it.” And then he turned and strode away.

As soon as the door shut behind him, I spun to face Rhett.

“You sure you want this house?” he asked.

I gave him my most mulish expression. “I’m not going to let him scare us away.”

“Then I guess we better make him an offer. He did have one good idea, though.” Rhett winked at me, and my heart stuttered in my chest.

Is he talking about . . .

Before I could finish that thought, Rhett’s fingers tangled into my hair and his lips met mine.

Everything else fell away as I lost myself in his kiss.

Whatever else happened, as long as I could end every day like this, I would be just fine.

Epilogue

Rhett

“A couples baby shower. Really?”

Ariel sounded like she couldn’t quite get the concept through her brain. Probably because in the few months since she’d permanently moved her company to New Orleans, she’d met the rest of the guys and their women. Like I’d hoped, Valentina, Elle, Vanessa, Charlie, Yve, Delilah, and Eden had taken her into their fold and become the girl crew Ariel had never had before.

After everything that had gone down with Heath, she needed the support system. Ariel had hoped that Esme would move to New Orleans if for no other reason than to stay close, but she’d decided to stay in Vail and make her own mark.

The one silver lining was that Skip Sampson had regained all his normal cognitive function, and Ari spent as much time with him as possible. It had surprised us both when he’d invited us to dinner to meet his girlfriend. After being a devout bachelor for Ari’s entire life, he’d met someone at the retirement community.

Ari was thrilled.

Every day, we all felt the hole Heath had left in our lives. The shock of betrayal hadn’t faded completely, and I doubted it ever would. Instead of drawing into her shell because of it, or taking refuge in that big brain of hers and shutting me out, Ari had leaned on me more, and being there to support her had helped us both.

We’d never forget. I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive Heath—or myself for not seeing the signs. No one walked away from that mess without dragging some of the blame with them, including Ari. We were working on it.

But today wasn’t for regrets and recriminations. Today was for something completely different.

I turned to look at Ari from where I sat in the driver’s seat of her fancy Fisker electric car. “You’ve been to a baby shower, right?”

Her expression turned contemplative, and a couple of moments of silence followed. Considering. Processing. That’s how Ari worked.

“I actually don’t think so.” Her chin jerked toward me. “Oh God, how terrible is that? Does that make me a freak? The company held baby showers for employees, but Erik and Esme always handled it . . .”

When she trailed off, I reached over to grip her shoulder. Our losses stayed with us, no matter where we went.

“You’re not a freak.” I squeezed harder so she’d look at me.

“I’m not normal,” she countered.

“And thank God for that, because I wouldn’t want you any other way than exactly how you are.”

A quiet awww left her lips, and I rubbed my thumb across the engagement ring on her left hand.

Ari was going to be my wife. In less than two months, we were heading to a beach on a tropical island to start fresh. Rome was picking the most secure place, and I didn’t want to know what criteria he was using. Sometimes, I had to just trust my younger brother.

Mom was over the moon and kept asking when we were going to start a family. Neither Ari nor I were quite ready for another upheaval, so we’d agreed to wait a few years, unless life had other plans. I was hoping Rock would take one for the team and knock up some girl in Vail, but so far, that wasn’t the case.

I turned down the driveway of the massive lake house that belonged to Con and Vanessa Leahy, which was lined with blue balloons. A Shelby Mustang turned down the driveway behind us, and I took pride in knowing we weren’t the last to arrive. I pulled the Fisker onto the edge of the cement, and we climbed out as Elle parked.

“If you say one word about me running that light—” Elle’s voice came through the window as she pushed open the door.

“I ain’t saying shit about shit, sweet thing. I’m smarter than that.”

“It’s only because I wanted to make sure we weren’t late. That wouldn’t be fair to Valentina.”

“We’re here, and I’m damn sure she wouldn’t hold it against you even if you were.”