by Casey Hagen
Epilogue
Jack knew Lathan was going to do it. He was going to give her an out. If that past year being married to the man had taught her anything, it was that he was a fair man, one who followed through with his word.
Now, all she needed to do was to make sure she didn’t take his head off when he offered her a divorce.
Deep breaths.
She found him in his office. His fingers flew over his keyboard as he glanced between two large monitors. Gina’s voice came over the speakerphone as they went over the schedule for the next few weeks. Jack took the opportunity to soak him in, something she did more often than she liked to admit.
They had bought a house in Fair Oaks, just a month after their wedding. Jack insisted that they rent, but Lathan wasn’t having it. He wanted a space they could make their own, and if they divorced, they would sell it.
With Everett’s help, he had built a loyal team around him allowing him to work from home most days. With all that extra time, he’d surprised her with his cooking skills and had dinner ready for her every night since they married.
As if she needed another reason to stay...
He had supported her and her business. He had become her best friend, her confidant, her happy place, and finally, she understood the kind of love her father had for her mother. She understood why he never managed to shake the hold her mother had on him, because Lathan had the same hold on Jack.
There was no way she was giving him up. In fact, the minute he handed her divorce papers, she would tear them in half, and then, she had some news of her own.
He ended the call and finally noticed her leaning against the door frame. He smiled, that larger than life smile of his, but when he glanced down at the papers in front of him, his smile slipped.
“We need to talk, you and I,” Lathan said.
She made her way into the room and took the seat across from him. If he was going to be professional, she would follow suit, for a moment. “Yes, I believe we do.”
He picked up the papers and paused before handing them to her. “Your freedom, if you’d like to take it.”
She scanned page by page, taking her time, torturing him a bit. She raised an eye brow at the settlement he offered her: the house and three-hundred-and-sixty-five-million dollars. One million for every day they had been married.
Seeing that figure gave her that much more satisfaction when she looked him square in the eye, and with a quick flick of her wrist, she tore the divorce papers in half.
His chest heaved with the breath he had been holding. “So, I take it you’re not completely sick of me yet?” he asked.
She stood and circled around to him. After spinning his chair toward her, she climbed into his lap, and tucked her face into her favorite spot, the curve of his neck, just below his ear. “Not sick of you, not even a little bit. Do me a favor…don’t ever think of the word divorce again.”
He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her forehead, and Jesus, her heart sighed with the sweetness of it. This was what it felt like to be completely loved.
“Anything you want, Jack. It’s yours.”
She kissed his cheek and brushed her lips over his ear. “You mean that?”
“With my whole heart, yes.”
“There’s something I want.”
“Name it.”
She pulled back and held his face in her hands. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and looked him in the eye. “You’ve amazed me with the way you’ve cared for your employees, your family, your friends…I want to see how you would care for a baby. Our baby.”
He cupped her face and held his forehead to hers. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I better be, I’m already pregnant.”
He straightened and searched her eyes. “You’re sure?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Three tests, three positives.”
“So you ripped up the papers because you’re already pregnant?”
“Lathan, I did so well to not bite your head off when you handed me those papers. Don’t be a moron by pushing me over the edge now.”
He grinned and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck. “You love me.”
She took his hand, kissed his hand, and laid it over her heart. “You’re in deep, in here. Love doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
So…you curious about Annabelle and that six foot dick she built out of car parts? Come on, you know you are…check out Cousin Annabelle’s story in One Sweet Summer, another novella as part of Melody Anne’s Billionaire Universe in Kindle Worlds by JA Coffey!
Smarturl.it/OneSweetSummer
Available on Kindle, Amazon, and Audible…
Falling in Fiji
A Falling in Paradise Novel
smarturl.it/FallingInFijiAmazon
Available on Kindle and Amazon…
Sunset at Lake Crane
A Livingston Valley Novel
smarturl.it/SunsetAmazon
Available on Kindle as part of Carly Phillips’ Dare to Love Kindle World…
Consumed by the Dare
Smarturl.it/ConsumedbytheDare
An author’s success depends on readers like you! Please, take a minute to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads!
For the latest news, release dates, and contests, sign up for my newsletter at
www.caseyhagenauthor.comj
And sign my guest book while you’re there…I would love to hear from you!
ABOUT CASEY HAGEN
Casey Hagen is a contemporary romance author with three books available, Falling in Fiji, Sunset at Lake Crane, and Consumed by the Dare, a novella, as part of Carly Phillips’ Dare to Love Kindle World. She writes her stories from the dense, green wilderness of the Delaware National Forest, Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. She’s a born and raised Vermont native with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.
Over the years, Casey has dabbled in a wide variety of professions. She worked in the States Attorney’s office, created beautiful works of art as a florist, slaved to the public in retail, taught preschool (and potty trained eleven two-year-olds at the same time), and finally, she owned and operated her own residential cleaning business for over a decade. She’s an active member of Romance Writers of America, New Jersey Romance Writers, and the Penn Jersey Women Writers Guild. She’s also the newly appointed Vice President of the Penn Jersey Women Writers Guild and the 2016 Conference Chair for New Jersey Romance Writers.
Casey is the proud mother of three girls, two of which are successful college students…yay! She resides with her youngest daughter, husband, and two cats. Her days are spent in her new office that she proudly admits they would need dynamite to blast her out of! When she’s not working she can be found chasing after her youngest with a camera (much to her youngest daughter’s embarrassment) or on the golf course with her real life hero!
