Page 27 of The Boss

He scans my features, the dent between his brows deepens. "Would you have said yes?"

"Ask me."

Matthew's Adam's apple bobs as he swallows hard. "Vivian, will you come with me to New York? Put some color in my otherwise boring, dreary existence? Stop me from making my employees cry and maybe even stop my mom from worrying I might die alone and at work?"

Tears threaten to slide down my cheeks, so I blink them back furiously. "Fine … since you asked so nicely."

Matthew slides an arm around my waist and hauls me flush to his body. His knuckles graze my jaw, thumb tracing the seam of my bottom lip. His eyes are darker than I've ever seen them. "Is that a yes?"

"To the job or to you?"

"Both."

"Yes to you. As for the job..." I grin up at him. "I'm going to need it in writing."

He laughs and crushes his lips to mine. When we break apart, I'm breathless and grinning and probably about to make the biggest leap of my life.

"I'd also like to negotiate a quarterly trip back home, all expenses paid by the company. Jaden and Lea would kill me if they found out I'm abandoning them, and this is the only way they'll let me go in one piece."

Matthew sucks my bottom lip between his teeth. "Deal. I love you, Vivian."

"I love you, too. Now when are we leaving?"

EPILOGUE

MATTHEW

"You bet against me lasting a month?"

Vivian breaks into laughter at something my mother said, the sound carrying across the terrace. Even after all this time, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that she chose me. This beautiful, brilliant woman who's always lurking around the perimeter of my mind … is now my wife.

"You are so obsessed with Vivian."

Levi appears beside me, loosening his tie and finishing his champagne in one gulp.

"It's my wedding, and she's my wife. Of course, I'm obsessed."

"Hmm." He follows my gaze to where Vivian and our mother are deep in conversation near the stone railing. "By the way, Mom's practically glowing because she just won her bet."

I swing my gaze to him. "What bet?"

"About when you'll get married." Levi grins. "I said one month. She said longer. Guess who was right."

"You bet against me lasting a month?"

"I bet for you not lasting a month. There's a difference, for Christ's sake. I thought you'd crack and propose within four weeks of bringing her to New York."

"Jesus, I hate you so much. I'm so glad Vivian no longer working for you stresses you so much that you now look older than me.”

"Oh, fuck you. Angela owes her fifty bucks too. Apparently the women in this family have more faith in your self-control than your brother does."

Vivian breaks away from my mother and heads our direction, Angela falling into step beside her. My bride, my wife. Vivian is really mine … officially.

"Levi has more lines on his forehead than when I left," Vivian says when she reaches us, sliding her hand into mine.

I smirk at Levi, giving him that I-told-you-so look he hates so much. Levi just flips me off.

"Those are stress lines," Angela adds helpfully. "From trying to manage the branch office without his favorite EA."