Page 129 of Going All In

Epilogue

“I’m so proudof you, Pookie,” Jake said, tugging her into his arms after her graduation ceremony.

Darcy laughed. “Isn’t that your nickname?”

“Don’t remind me. Harty changed my name in his phone to Pookie and Baz always works it into our group texts. Every damn time.”

“You have no one to blame but yourself, Pookie,” Darcy said with a grin.

“You two are the cutest,” her mother said, her smile wide. “And I’m so proud of you, honey.”

“Thanks, Mom.” They were still working on their relationship. Darcy hadn’t told the rest of her family that dating Jake had started out as a ruse. There’d been no point after she and Jake had decided to go all in for real. And the last month had been amazing. They were going to Chicago for two weeks to meet Jake’s family, and then Jake was taking her on a surprise trip as a graduation present.

He refused to tell her where, just that she wouldn’t need a lot of clothes, which was fine by her.

“Next stop, doctorate,” her mother said, giving Darcy a tight hug.

Yes. They’d come a long way. Darcy had always thought she was more like her father, but recently she was seeing sides of her mother that she’d never seen before—or maybe hadn’t paid attention to because she was focused on escaping her mother’s matchmaking instead of learning why her mother was the way she was.

“Yes. After a nice summer break,” Darcy said.

“Darcy.” Dr. Maguire stopped in front of her. “I wanted to say congratulations. Your final work was strong and concise, and one of the best we’ve seen in years.”

“Thank you, Dr. Maguire. I hope you know how passionate I am about the subject and how important it is to me,” Darcy said.

“Yes, I can see that. I wish you the best. You are going to go far in your field, and good luck with your doctorate in the fall.”

Dr. Maguire gave her one last nod before she turned to speak with another graduate.

“Everything good?” Jake asked, his hand on the small of her back.

She was happier than she thought possible, and every day with Jake was more than she expected. She turned into his body and put her arms around his neck, tugging him close.

“Everything’s perfect,” she said before she tilted her head back and he lowered his head to press his lips to hers.

His arms tightened around her and she gave into the kiss.

“Get a room,” Lydia’s teased, breaking the moment.

“When are we leaving again?” Darcy whispered against Jake’s lips.

He chuckled. “In a few days.”

“And where are we going?”

“Chicago,” he said.

“I meant after Chicago.”

He tsked. “Not telling. It’s a surprise. Will you pack a lab coat?”

“What?”

“For role-playing. I need to start practicing calling you Dr. Darcy.”

She shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

His blue eyes shone with barely banked need. “And you wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“Absolutely not,” she said, and then tugged him back down into a kiss.