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“I AM the authorization, or you’re fired. We leave for Vegas in an hour.”
She’s done with school until the fall. I’ll spend the next couple of months proving to her I’ve been a fool, and the only place I need or want to be is next to her. I’ll build a new company wherever she wants. I don’t need Boston or the money. Or any of this shit. I only need her.
I sling my bag over my shoulder and rush to the door and stop in my tracks.
“Going somewhere?”
My whole body freezes then vibrates. It’s her. The most beautiful thing on the planet right here like I summoned her with my mind. That’s eerie.
“How the hell did you get up here?”
She waves her hands around in front of her. “It’s a whole thing. Do you want to hear it, or do you want to kiss me?”
I drop my bag near a chair and before it thuds on the ground, Mak’s in my arms.
Her lips yield to me instantly, and her hands find their rightful place around my neck. I tug her to me, and my body comes alive. She teases my lips with her tongue, and I deny her and kiss her neck while talking.
“How did you know the exact moment I pulled my head out of my privileged ass?”
“Same moment I remembered my forgotten stubborn wild streak. Finally, we’re in sync.”
I back up and take her face in my hands, and my eyes tear up. “I don’t know how this happens or what will happen, but I know I can’t do another second of this life without you by my side.” Tears fill her eyes as well, and she bites her lower lip.
“That sounds an awful lot like a proposal.”
“Not yet it is. I have to talk to some people first.”
She pulls something from her purse and hands it to me. “Taken care of. What else is standing in our way?”
I take the ripped-up papers and see that it’s my agreement with my dad. And unripped papers that dissolve Ladd Media from Ladd Enterprises.
“What did you do?”
“I’ve slain all the dragons and charmed all the problems.”
I cock my head. “Sir Makenzie, what else have you done?” She hands me her phone.
MAKENZIE: You don’t know me, but he trusts you. If he comes home before I find him, let me know so I can chase him there.
LAURA: Go rescue our damsel in distress. I’m glad it’s you.
MAK: And I’m glad it’s not you.
LAURA: And if the press takes him to task, I know the exact story to tell them to get the heat off of the two of you.
MAK: You’d do that?
LAURA: He makes us all braver. When you finish up finding him, come by his penthouse, and we’ll all have dinner.
My eyes are bugging out. “How did you get in touch with her?”
“Your mom.”
“What? And wait, Laura would come out, so we could be together?”
“Apparently. What else you got? I know you want me, but what the fuck else do you think is in our way? Bring it. All the lies, secrets, obstacles, roadblocks, whining about sheets ends right here.” She rolls her hands, and I back up and take in her magnificent soul.
“I love you so hard,” I say.
