I grinned at Chloe.
"And that's why I'm never giving up on you, Chloe Carlyle. Because I am so fucking in love with you it hurts to even look at you without having my heart skip a beat. Because I'm so smitten I want to stare into those eyes of yours until you fall asleep. And then, I want to tuck you in and make sure you're safe. All because I love you. And I'll never stop."
I walked off the podium to a smattering of applause and headed straight to Chloe. She let out a surprised gasp when my arm snaked around her waist. I tipped her back and kissed her right there, in front of fucking everyone.
It took her a second until she melted into my embrace and kissed me back with all the love, fear and passion I knew she had in her body. Then we walked to our table to the sound of whoops and whistles, and as we sat down, James clapped me on the back with a big grin.
"'Bout time you grew some balls." He grinned at me while Victoria rolled her eyes, hiding her smile.
Chloe sat between her mother and myself, and I noticed her mom was holding her hand. So those were two mountains we'd already climbed.
I turned to face my dad. "I know you're mad," I said, and he flashed me an angry look to prove it. "I know, Dad. But give me a chance to prove to you how serious I am."
I looked at Chloe and grinned at her. She looked as stunning as ever.
"Let me prove to you how serious I am about this girl."
Thirty-Three
Asher
1 year later
I leaned against the facade of Briarwood, grinning widely at Chloe as she got out of her father's car.
"How was the dinner?" I called out in her direction.
She pushed her sunglasses off her face and grinned at me before rushing over and giving me a big hug. Her father got out of the car behind her and cleared his throat meaningfully when my hands wandered too far down Chloe's back.
"It was great," Chloe told me. "Carmen seems absolutely wonderful."
"Right back at you, sweetheart," a woman's voice told her.
A tall blonde got out of the car along with James, and Chloe's father wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Asher, meet Carmen," James said, and I shook hands with the blonde.
She was a bit older than Victoria and beautiful in a natural way, with tanned skin and long flowing blonde locks. She seemed like a good fit for James. He seemed more relaxed too, having forgone his usual tie along with leaving his top two buttons undone. I was going to remark on it but grinned at him instead. I was happy the old man was finally finding joy.
"We won't be too long," James said. "We don't want to bother you, and I don't want to disrespect your father by showing up here."
"That's all right," I said with an easy smile. By now, my dad and Chloe's mother were secure enough in their relationship to not care about James and his new girlfriend. I was sure it would be fine.
"Chloe, did you take my Gucci loafers?"
Victoria came out of the house, looking frazzled with a huge sunhat on her head. She stopped in her tracks when she saw James and his new catch in the driveway.
"Oh, hi," she said in a neutral voice. "I thought you'd already taken off."
"We were just leaving," James said. "This is Carmen, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you," Carmen said warmly, and the two women exchanged glances that were so predatory I almost laughed out loud.
Of course, they'd both laid claim on James, but now Victoria's reign was over. I was pleased to see a smile on her face when she pulled away from Carmen.
"Chloe, great meeting you." Carmen hugged Chloe, then got into the car. James repeated the motion and we waved them off as they drove down the driveway.
"Well, wasn't that something," Victoria muttered to herself.
"You okay?" I asked her, wanting to make sure she was all right.
"Yes," she replied. "I'm fine, but thank you, Asher."
A bright smile lit up her face, and in the next second, her attention was back on Chloe, trying to find the Gucci loafers she was looking for earlier.
Dad came out of the house followed by some assistants carrying their suitcases.
"Almost ready?" I asked.
"Yes." He grinned, leaning toward me conspiratorially. "And don't worry, everyone will be clearing out of here as soon as we're gone."
"Good." I laughed back. "You're away for a week, right?"
"Yes," Victoria said with an excited smile. "Aruba, here we come."
"You're going to have an amazing time," Chloe assured her, and the two women chattered as I helped my dad with the suitcases. We got everything in the trunk with the driver's help, and then the two were off.
They'd decided to go on an impromptu vacation. They hadn't really been on one in years now, since their honeymoon had been canceled last year due to the Mercedes debacle, and both Chloe and I had encouraged them to do it. Plus, since we were still living at Briarwood, it gave us an opportunity to be alone...
Victoria and Dad had accepted our relationship with time. The first few months were awful. There was a lot of fighting and a lot of screaming. But as time passed, they saw our relationship for what it really was—pure, true love. I was happy they finally realized we belonged together, and I'd made sure to talk to both of our parents before going through with what I had planned for tonight.
We waved them off, my hand around Chloe's waist as they left. The staff left quietly in their own cars, and Chloe gave me a surprised look.
"Where's everyone going?" she asked me.
"I thought it would be nice if it were just the two of us today." I winked at her. "We've both been so busy with school and our internships. I thought we could use the weekend off."
"That's really sweet, Asher." Chloe smiled wickedly. "Any special plans I should be aware of?"
"I have no idea." I grinned back at her. "Why don't we go inside and see?"
She gave me a suspicious look and I held her hand as we walked back inside the house. She gasped when we reached the lobby.
"What? Something out of the ordinary?" I asked, feigning surprise.
Chloe giggled and twirled in the lobby, which was now filled with huge bouquets of peonies, her favorite flowers. The fragrant aroma of the blooms filled the room.
"All this?" Chloe asked. "For me?"
"You deserve it," I told her. Everything, and then some. I wanted to show her just how fucking special she was to me, and I was going to make sure she knew tonight.
I held her hand and led her into the dining room. It was laid out beautifully—I'd set the table myself. But as soon as we walked into the room, I smelled something burning.
"Fucking shit!" I said, letting go of Chloe's hand and rnning into the kitchen.
A procession of curse words rolled off my tongue as I pulled the chicken out of the oven. It was burnt to a fucking crisp, and I gave Chloe a defeated look as she came into the kitchen.
"What on earth are you doing?" she asked, giggling at the sight.
"I was trying to make you a romantic dinner," I admitted defeatedly.
"Oh, Asher." She smiled. "You're so sweet... It's okay, I'm not hungry."
She poked the crispy chicken and grinned at me.
"Shit," I muttered. "I forgot you just went to dinner."
Chloe giggled as I shook my head.
"Bad planning on my part," I said. I couldn't believe I'd already managed to fuck everything up, and we'd barely gotten started. Thankfully, there was still champagne and Chloe's favorite chocolates I'd had flown in from France.
We settled on the sofa instead and drank straight from the bottle.
"This is so classy." I grinned over at Chloe.
"The fucking classiest," she replied with a serious look, taking another swig out of the bottle. "Möet straight out of the bottle and Charbonnel et Walker truffles. Yummy."
We laughed and she cuddled close to me. I held her in my arms and realized how fucking happy I was like that. Just us, curled up on the couch with a bottle of champagne and some
chocolates. It was exactly what I wanted, what I needed.
"You're amazing, Chloe," I said. "I hope you know how much I fucking love you."
She gave me a shy smile as I went on.
"I know the last few years have been difficult," I said. "Everything that's happened...we'll never be able to forget. But I hope I'll help you let go of it, if only for a second, dirty girl."
She giggled, running a hand through her dark mane of hair.
It was the perfect moment. I had to do it. Had to.
I got off the couch and Chloe's bright eyes widened in surprise as I kneeled in front of her on the floor.
"What...what are you doing?" she asked, her eyes as wide as saucers.
"Chloe," I began.
"Wait," she gasped. "What are you..."
I held up a hand, saying, "Let me talk, dirty girl. You get to use your mouth later."
She giggled nervously and held up her hand over her mouth, completely dumbfounded.
"Chloe Carlyle," I said. "I want to make you mine. I want the whole fucking world to know you belong to me. I want everyone to look at us and know we belong together. I want to marry you. I want to put a baby in your belly. I want to make you mine."
"Asher..." she whispered.
"Chloe, will you marry me?" I asked, my voice deep and confident.
I only hoped I'd still be confident after her answer.
"Oh, Asher," she sighed. "Yes, yes, of course I will!"
I slid the ring on her finger, the beautiful princess-cut diamond sparkling on her hand like it belonged there all along. I'd known the moment I saw it that it was the right one for her. It couldn't compare to my dirty girl's beauty, but I'd sure as fucking hell tried to find something that could.
I lifted her off the couch into my arms.
"I love you, Asher St Clair," she whispered into the shell of my ear as I twirled her across the room. I kissed her sweet lips, and she tasted like milk chocolate and expensive champagne.
"I'll never stop loving you," I said.
That was a promise I'd never break.
Epilogue – Chloe
Two years later
“You’re going to feel a little cold while I spread this gel on your belly, but it won’t hurt a bit.”
My doctor smiled down at me as she prepared me for my ultrasound. It wasn’t the first one I’d had since the discovery that I was pregnant four and a half months earlier, but I was incredibly nervous anyway, because this was the day we found out what we were having—boy or girl?
“Are you hoping for one in particular?” the doctor went on as she prepared the ultrasound wand.
“Might be a cliché, but as long as he or she is healthy, I don’t care about the sex,” Asher said, squeezing my hand tightly in his.
I gave him a warm smile. God, he was wonderful. So sweet and so caring. It was clear to anyone within fifty miles why I’d married him. I was still young—too young to be married and pregnant according to some people—but I knew I’d made the right decision. We had each other, and we had everything we wanted in life. Why would we need to wait?
And so we hadn’t.
Our engagement had lasted just one year while our family went crazy helping to plan the perfect Claremont Bay wedding. Despite their efforts, our special day had been disastrous by any average person’s standards. Firstly, it rained all day despite the weather forecast predicting a warm, sunny day, and secondly, someone tripped and spilled red wine all over me at the reception, staining my beautiful ivory beaded gown. Not long after that, a literal fire started in the kitchen where the reception food was being prepared, filling half the hotel with the acrid scent of smoke.
But you know what? It was amazing. Screw the rain, screw the dress, and screw the fire—it was our wedding, and the wine stains on my gown only brought back the fondest memories of our special day whenever I went and looked back at my dress or any of our photos. I remembered walking up the aisle, Asher gazing adoringly at me, our first kiss as husband and wife.
All of it, clear as day.
Besides, you know what they say—the worse the wedding, the better the marriage. That was proving to be entirely true, and I’d never been so blissfully happy until I missed my period and found out that I was pregnant. After that, I was even happier. Asher was, too. Seeing him prepare the nursery for our future babies last week had literally brought a tear to my eye, and I still found it hard to believe that I’d gotten so lucky. Then again, we’d both been through a lot in our lives already. I guess we deserved good luck and smooth sailing from now on.
“Wow. I can’t say I was expecting this,” the doctor said, frowning and looking at the monitor as she pressed the wand over my belly.
All thoughts of good luck and smooth sailing promptly flew out the window.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked anxiously.
“Not at all. Sorry, this was just unexpected. During your last ultrasound, we only detected one sac with one baby. But there’s two.”
She pointed, and Asher’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, you mean we’re having twins?” he asked.
The doctor nodded. “Yes. Looks like a boy and a girl.”
My heart began to race at the news. Twins did seem to run on Asher’s side of the family—after all, Catalina had once been pregnant with a set. That wasn’t the issue, however. Being told that I was pregnant with twins brought awful memories flooding back, filling me with nervous energy until my hands trembled.
“Why don’t I leave you two alone for a moment to talk about this?” the doctor said, before quietly exiting the examination room.
Asher gazed with wonder at the monitor. The image of our babies was still frozen on there. “A boy and a girl,” he said softly. “We get the best of both worlds. Christ, when did we get so lucky?”
“Asher…” My voice quickly trailed off, and I bit my lower lip.
His eyebrows furrowed with concern. “I know it’ll be more work than just having one,” he said, misinterpreting my concern. “But you know I’ll help as much as I can. So will our parents. It’ll be so good, Chloe. I can’t fucking wait, to be honest.”
“It’s not that,” I murmured. “I’m just worried about…”
My sentence trailed off again, and he leaned closer. “About what?”
I sighed. “There’s another certain set of twins we know—related to you, no less—and one of them isn’t exactly….normal.”
“Chloe, our babies aren’t going to turn out like Mercedes,” Asher said with a frown. “Look at Alex. He’s a great guy. And look at us. That’s how our babies are going to turn out. Good people. We’re gonna make damn sure of that. All right?”
I nodded and sighed. “I know. I don’t even know why I’m freaking out,” I said. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. It’s totally natural that you’d worry after all the shit we’ve both gone through with Mercedes,” he replied. “But like I said, there’s nothing to worry about. You’ll be an amazing mom, and I’m gonna try my best to be an amazing dad. Our little babies are gonna be the happiest kids in Claremont Bay. Seriously, we’re all gonna be fine from now on.”
He moved to be even closer, leaning down against me. “No more bullshit, no more drama, no more hurt,” he went on, nuzzling my ear. “No more scandals.”
My shoulders relaxed. He was right. Of course he was. This was a joyous moment, not one to be feared. This was our happily ever after, and nothing could spoil that. My little freak-out was just the result of all these damn hormones flooding my body.
I squeezed his hand and gave him a devious smile. “Asher,” I replied. “This is Claremont Bay. There’s always going to be some sort of scandal happening.”
He laughed. “That’s true. But at least we’ll never be involved in one again. Not unless you leave me for our pool boy.”
“Hmm…he has been looking quite cute lately,” I joked.
Asher laughed again and gently tickled me, making me giggle and squirm. At that moment, the ba
bies seemed to squirm with laughter too, because I felt the strange pressure of them kicking against me. “Oh!” I said with a gasp, grabbing Asher’s hand again. “Feel it!”
He did, and his face lit up with the happiest grin I’d ever seen. “That’s amazing,” he murmured. “Our little family, right here under my fingers. All three of you.”
I smiled back at him. We weren’t exactly the most conventional family—our parents were still married to each other, making us stepsiblings, which a lot of people considered downright scandalous—but that didn’t matter anymore. Families didn’t have to be normal, and they didn’t have to be perfect in everyone’s eyes. All they needed to survive was love, and that was what I had with Asher. Blissful, wonderful, heart-stopping love.
To me, that was pretty damn perfect.
THE END
Piper Hart
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Isabella Starling
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