Bad Boss by Stella Rhys
Epilogue
SARA
Twelve Months Later
“What… is going on?” I asked, slowing down at the top of the steps when I spotted Julian at the bottom, looking dashing as ever in his black suit and grey tie.
It wasn’t unusual for him to wait for me there when I was taking too long to get ready for dinner, but tonight, he had music playing, and he wore a crooked little smile as he held what looked like a white rose in each hand. He didn’t answer my question, simply saying, “Come here, baby.”
It was hard to say no to that.
When I got to the bottom step, Julian stopped me, taking my hand and slipping what I thought was just a rose on my wrist. In reality, it was a small but intricate corsage. I was still a bit lost, but I broke into a huge grin when he pinned the other rose next to his lapel – his boutonniere.
“Julian Hoult. Are you taking me to prom?” I asked, giggling my ass off as he helped me down the last step.
“We covered the motorcycle ride on your wish list. We’ve been to your french fry spot about a dozen times now,” he said, his gorgeous lips curving up. “Figured we should cross off prom before we get to the rest.”
“Fair enough,” I smirked as he brought me to the floor between the open kitchen and living room, both of us laughing as “You Are The Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne played over the speakers. “But you realize you’ve set a bad precedent for yourself here, right?” I teased, my lips close to his as we danced.
“How so?”
“You remember that wish list right? Now you have to take me to Monaco and Tuscany.”
“Not a problem. Remind me what else is on that wish list? Because I’m actually going to get to another part of it tonight.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really, Mr. Hoult. That’s interesting, since the rest of that wish list is entirely up to me to complete.”
“Something about buying your parents a three-bedroom in London.”
“Yes. And trust me, I’m saving,” I said, giggling as I took a look at my corsage next to his boutonniere. From the white roses, I looked up at his beautiful face – at all those perfectly sculpted features that, once upon a time, rarely bothered to move. It was funny to think about now considering I got at least one of those crinkle-eyed laughs every day. The Miracle Worker. That was what Lukas and Emmett called me for bringing life to Julian in a way they’d never seen.
Since busting my ass to get my job with Una Magazine in the States, I’d achieved quite a lot. But being Julian’s miracle worker was perhaps still my proudest achievement thus far.
“So where are you taking me tonight? Monaco or Tuscany?” I murmured my question against Julian’s lips as he kissed me softly. “And do Lukas and Lia know about the trip?” I giggled. “Because they’re kind of expecting us at our reservation in thirty minutes.”
“I’m sorry, baby, but we’re not leaving the country tonight.”
“But you said we were covering another part of the wish list tonight, and I don’t see myself buying a house for my parents before midnight.”
Julian laughed, slipping the corsage off my wrist and unpinning his boutonniere as Ray LaMontagne faded out. I watched with amusement as he set the flowers onto the kitchen counter, returning to me with a hand reaching in his jacket pocket.
The grin dropped off my face as I watched him pull out a little velvet box.
“Julian…”
His blue eyes glimmered when they looked at me.
“You said you wanted to buy a three-bedroom for your parents, so you could visit with your kids. And I kind of imagined from the day you said it that they would be our kids,” Julian said softly, laughing at my instant tears. It was just a few at first, but the moment he went down on one knee, they poured. “Sara, you’ve been everything I’ve ever wanted from the moment I laid eyes on you, and every day I spend with you, I find myself wanting more. I want to bring you to Monaco and Tuscany. I want to see you walk down the aisle to me in a big white dress. I want to see the way your eyes light up around our children. I think you rubbed off on me,” he chuckled, “because all I do these days is fantasize about you, and us and the life we’re going to have together. You make me want to be a better man, and the best father in the world. For all the ways you’ve changed my life, and all the happiness you’ve brought me, you deserve nothing short of that.”
I could barely see through my tears, and my knees were weak enough that Julian read my mind and returned to his feet, laughing as he held me tight against his chest and kissed my forehead.
“Making you happy has been by far my proudest achievement, Sara. And I’ll never stop working to keep that smile on your face,” he murmured, his lips spreading in a grin as I let out one more sob. “So marry me. I’ve been waiting for awhile to call you my wife.”
“Of course I’ll marry you,” I whispered, bringing my wet eyes to our hands as he slid the most beautiful ring on my finger. His face lit up just as much as mine as we watched it slide perfectly in place. “Sara Hoult,” I breathed in pure awe as he feathered kisses along my cheek.
“Sounds perfect.”
“It does.”
Like a dream, actually.
I couldn’t have imagined it this well as a girl. I couldn’t have pictured someone as perfect as Julian, who could take away every ounce of my pain by simply wrapping me tight in his arms.
I lived for just the way he just looked at me – for the way he kissed me in the morning when I woke, and the way he said “I love you” as I drifted off to sleep every night. He was both my fantasy and my reality, my actual dream come true.
The only crazy part was that the best was yet to come.
The End
