“Move in?” I ask, confused.
“Yes, move in.”
“With my stuff?”
He nods, grinning. “You’re moving in with me.”
“Am I now?” I ask, biting back a smile because the idea of living with him excites me. “And when were you planning on telling me?”
“Right after I told you I loved you. But you wound me, baby. I came all this way―”
I launch myself at him, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing him, pouring all my love into it.
We moan, clinging to each other as he steps backwards, sitting on the couch. I straddle him, not wanting to break the kiss for a second.
But I do.
To tell him the one thing I wish I had told him all along.
“I love you, Drake. I love you so goddamn much. I’m sorr―”
“I love you too, Pagan. And I understand why you left. I wasn’t happy, but I understood. And it worked out in the end. Alison filled me in two weeks ago on why you weren’t returning my calls.”
“Alison,” I growl.
She’s no longer on best friend status.
For real this time.
He chuckles, pecking my lips before pulling back. “Don’t be mad. She helped me understand better.”
“How did you do all of this in two weeks though?” He looks sheepish as he turns away, not meeting my gaze. “What?” I ask, wishing I didn’t when he answers.
“Grams. It seems she planned this all along.”
“Elaborate,” I order, wondering how she could’ve foreseen this coming in the three weeks I was living with the Donovans.
He holds his hands up, his eyes twinkling. “Easy.” He grins. “It seems she knew you before you knew her.”
That’s all I’m going to get, really?
“Are you trying to annoy me?”
He shakes his head. “No, but you won’t believe me anyway.”
“Try me.”
“Okay,” he says, giving me a warning look. “She met you at a charity fundraiser last Christmas. It was a masquerade ball.”
My eyes widen because that ball was here, on my father’s property. We were raising money for a children’s hospital.
I try to think back, wondering if I met her, but I don’t recall ever bumping into anyone who remotely resembled Ada.
“I don’t remember seeing her there,” I tell him, still wary about the whole thing.
“She said she spoke to you for about an hour about the kind of work you do and what you liked to do in your free time. And she helped you spike your brother’s drink.”
Now I remember.
“Oh my God, that was Ada? I didn’t even know. She was talking to me for ages, following me around everywhere I went and asking questions, not just about the event but my personal life. I don’t understand though. What does this mean?”
I’m trying not to freak out, but how can I not?
She knew me this whole time and never said a thing.
Then I remember.
Drake opens his mouth to answer but I interrupt, wriggling on his lap and making him groan. “Oh my God. She made a comment one day down at the pool. She said, ‘It’s why I picked you.’ I never understood until it now. Well, I kind of do. I think. It still doesn’t really make sense.”
He shakes his head, not seeming surprised. “She planned for us to get together. She was going to set us up, but we set ourselves up. She didn’t need to lift a finger.”
I shake my head.
Devious woman.
“But how did she know I would leave?”
“She didn’t see that coming, so expect a telling off when you see her next. But she planned everything. It wasn’t until Alison called two weeks ago that we made a different plan.”
I smile, no longer mad at my best friend. How could I be when he’s here, beneath me? “What were the plans?”
“The first plan was to force you to love me back,” he chuckles.
“You never would’ve needed to force me. I thought you didn’t love me, and the thought of you rejecting me scared me.”
“Pagan, I fell in love with you the second you fell to your knees and touched my cock.”
My face heats as I giggle. “Typical man.”
He laughs, shrugging. “I didn’t realise what I felt for you until the moment we first kissed. I knew then that I’d never be able to live without you.”
“But you said you wanted three weeks with me, then agreed to walk away when it was over.”
He looks disappointed. “No, baby. You agreed to those terms. I just stood there and listened to you ramble on. I never agreed to anything. I knew I’d never let you go. I let you do what you needed to do to protect yourself.”
Shocked is an understatement. It also makes me love him more.
“And now you’re here? Really here? For good?”
“I’m not going anywhere. Grams had everything sorted but the house. She purchased the building for the clinic, even had investors lined up with other doctors ready to start work. She thought we’d want to invest in our own home, so she left that to me. With Alison’s help, we found the perfect home fifteen minutes from here.”
“Fifteen minutes?”
He smiles knowingly. “Yeah, there’s a house just on the outskirts of the bridge leading onto your parents’ property.”
I gasp, nearly falling backwards. “You bought Old Weller McDonald’s home? The big white one with pillars?”
“Jesus, is that his name?”
“Yes. He would never sell that property.”
Even as a girl, I pictured myself living in that home. It has decking at the front, with pillars at the top of the stairs leading to the front door that look amazing in the winter with decorations and lights on. The garden is massive, big enough to play five-a-side football and the kitchen… the kitchen is beautiful.
But he would never sell.
I should know. I tried asking on more than one occasion.
“He has. He’s signed the papers and everything. It wasn’t easy, but the second I told him who I was buying it for, he agreed. He told me you were the only person he’d ever consider selling it to. He’s moved to a retiring home where he can get around easier, said the stairs were doing his back in. He’s been there for a few months, just never had the heart to put the house on the market.”
My eyes water as I take his face in my hands. “This is really happening?”
I’m in awe, completely lost to the emotions swirling around inside me. Nothing feels real. Nothing but Drake beneath me.
“Yeah, baby. It took me three weeks but I’m finally here. With you. Where I belong.”
“A lot can happen in three weeks.” I nod, my double meaning subtle.
“Yeah, it can,” he replies softly.
“I love you,” I breathe against his lips. “So much.”
“Show me,” he says huskily, his eyes darkening.
I know that look.
It’s the one he gives me every time our clothes are about to come off.
I smile, running my finger down his chest before moving in and kissing below his ear. “Gladly,” I whisper, earning a deep growl from him.
I’m ready to tease, but the minute he sees the gleam in my eyes, his hands are at my waist and he’s lifting me over his shoulder.
I squeal, laughing when he takes me to my room.
My old room.
Because now we’ll have our room, and I’ll get to spend every night making love to my man.
He pulls me down his body as we stand at the end of my bed. I sway towards him, not wanting to be apart for even a second.
“I’m going to love you for always, Pagan.”
“And I’ll love you forever, Drake.”
EPILOGUE
TEN YEARS LATER
Hearing my husband walk through the door, I smile wide and turn to greet him.
“Hey, baby. Sorry I’m late. I had a few emergencies at the practice. Is everyone here?”
&n
bsp; Every month we have a get-together with the whole family, alternating between London and here.
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. He’s been working a lot more lately, ever since he lost one of his doctors. We miss him dearly when he’s gone but understand his practice means a lot to him.
It’s very rare I get to have a minute to devour my husband without being interrupted, so I take pleasure in our moment of peace, kissing him like there’s no tomorrow.
He pulls away, a smirk on his gorgeous lips as he looks down at me, his eyes soft. “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.”
I shrug, pressing against him. “I just missed you.”
His eyes sadden. “I’ve missed you guys too. I’ve finally got interviews lined up, so the late days shouldn’t continue for much longer.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“Are we alone?” He smirks, looking around the kitchen for one of our monkeys.
I inwardly roll my eyes. “They’re in the garden with everyone else.”
“They won’t miss us for five minutes,” he tells me, running his hands down to my ass, squeezing me. I grin and press harder against him. “Maybe we could―”
“Aunt Pagan, I think you should come outside,” Cece says, biting her bottom lip. At fourteen, she’s grown into a beautiful woman, very much like her mum with her head always stuck in a book. And her putting one down to come get me can only mean one thing.
My twin boys have done something—again.
“What did they do?” Drake and I say simultaneously. At six years old, they’re little terrors.
She grins, looking at both of us before shrugging. “They changed Granddad’s password, spent a fortune with Uncle Sid’s bank card and are in the middle of tricking Daddy into eating one of their cupcakes.” She scrunches her face adorably. “He really should learn.”
I glance at Drake, both of us wearing ‘oh fuck’ expressions before we race for the back door.
We both make it outside in time to see Dean open his mouth to take a bite.
“No!” I scream, while Drake just starts laughing.
Dean pauses but doesn’t heed my warning. He takes a bite before choking and then gagging when worms start falling out.
Disgusting.
And now I know why they were so quiet when I was baking them.
I gag, looking away as he spits the bite on the floor.
My twins, Calvin and Reece, are mini Adas. Before she sadly passed away last year, she taught the monkeys everything she knew. Literally. They’re terrors in their own right, but once they were old enough to get technical, and learn more stuff, they became destructible.
“Boys!” Dean yells, throwing the cupcake across the garden. “Why would you do that? It had sprinkles on it.”
Lola laughs, shaking her head at her husband. I don’t blame her. He really should’ve learned after they made him drink laxative―a stash Ada left with them, amongst other things―to not take anything from them, especially if they’re willingly giving it to you.
“Calvin and Reece Donovan, get your behinds here right now,” I snap, using my best firm mum voice.
“But Mum,” they whine.
“Nope, I’m not having any of it. I’ve told you not to play jokes on people.”
“No you didn’t,” Calvin says.
“You said to not play pranks on the girls,” Reece finishes, saying ‘girls’ like he swallowed something sour.
“What?” the men in my family shout at once, looking like they want to throttle me.
I step back, shrugging sheepishly. “It didn’t seem fair. Plus, they cut their sister’s hair while she was asleep.”
“Baby,” Drake murmurs, stepping up behind me.
“I can’t believe you’d do this to your own twin,” Sid snaps. “And you owe me three hundred pounds. I don’t even know what they’ve subscribed to or spent it on either. I just know my bank is missing freaking money and that it was them.”
I turn to my boys, scowling. “What did you do?”
They look at each other before nodding and turning back to me. “We bought you a Mother’s Day present.”
My heart melts at my sweet boys, and I have to stop myself from smiling. “And what did you get me?”
“With my money?” Sid growls.
“It’s a surprise,” Reece says, the most confident of the two, so I turn to Calvin and stare him down. “Don’t do it, Cal.”
“I won’t buy you any more Smarties if you don’t tell me. Like ever. Not even after school.” I keep my face firm, but all I want to do is laugh at the sweat dripping off his forehead and the anxious look he keeps sending his brother.
“She’s bluffing. She wouldn’t do that to us. Remember, she thinks we’re cute,” Reece says, holding his brother’s arm.
“And I’ll remove your telly,” Drake butts in, probably annoyed he has to give money back—again.
They really are too clever for their own good.
“But—”
“No buts. Tell us now. You have three seconds,” I warn them. “One, two―”
“We bought you the new Xbox,” Calvin blurts out.
Reece groans, throwing his hands up. “Way to go, loser.”
An Xbox, really?
Drake chuckles behind me, but I don’t find it amusing. The boys asked for one for Christmas. We said no after they downloaded a virus onto Brooke’s computer. Then they asked again for their birthday, and once again we said no. They sank my dad’s boat in the lake after we told them not to go on it. Thank God they were wearing life jackets. I was going out of my mind, along with everyone else.
“You two are grounded for two weeks. No park after school, and no treats for a week. And you’ll be sending the Xbox back whenever it arrives.”
“But it’s already paid for,” Calvin argues, and I give him a look that shuts him up. “Okay, whatever.”
“I’m sorry, Sid.”
His lips twitch, looking to the boys. “Is it the Xbox five?”
They nod, grinning madly. “Yeah, it has these 3D features and you can―”
“That’s cool,” Sid interrupts before looking at me. “When it gets here, let me know. I’ve been wanting one for a while.”
“Can we go on it?” two extremely excited boys ask in unison.
Sid pretends to think about it for a second. “Um, no.”
“But―”
“Just give up, boys,” Drake chuckles.
I look around the garden, noting Adaline isn’t with everyone or with Cece, who she usually shadows.
“Where’s your sister?” I ask my boys, who look so much like their father. They’re going to be heartbreakers when they’re older. Either that or they’re going to be imprisoned for disrupting the peace. But Adaline, she’s all me: blonde hair and ocean-coloured eyes.
Reece scrunches his face up but mumbles, “She’s in her stupid den.”
“Yeah, she wouldn’t let us in,” Calvin grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.
I roll my eyes and tell everyone I’ll be back in a minute so I can go look for her.
Adaline, who we named after Ada, is seven. When Drake asked me to marry him after not even a year of living together, we started trying for a baby. But sadly, it didn’t happen. We tried everything the doctors told us to, but the disappointment each month was gut-wrenching. We decided to wait a year so we could adopt, but then a miracle happened. The minute we stopped trying, I fell pregnant with my darling daughter. The day we found out was the happiest of our lives. She’s our baby miracle.
She’s also the best behaved, an angel to have around with two boisterous boys wreaking havoc.
Looking up at her tree house, I don’t see her. “Adaline?” I call, shielding my eyes.
She doesn’t answer and I begin to panic, hoping she hasn’t run off. The girl follows butterflies without watching where she’s going. She could be anywhere.
“Mummy, Mummy!” her sweet, soothing voice calls out for me and I rel
ax.
I see her running from the back of the garden where all the overgrown bushes and trees are. We’re saving up to let the boys have their fort there. They would’ve had it by now if it weren’t for all the damages they cause to other people’s property and our own.
“Hey, sweetheart. Where have you been?” Her hair, hands, and clothes are covered in dirt, yet she still looks adorably beautiful. “And what is that you’ve got?”
“Isn’t she beautiful?”
“Oh my, is that a kitten?” I ask when she gets closer.
She nods, running a hand over the dirt-caked animal. “Yes. I found her in a bush, stuck in one of the holes the boys dug.” Her eyes narrow when she mentions her brothers, no doubt willing to give them an earful over them digging holes.
“Oh no. Let’s have a look.” I take the kitten from her and check her over. Apart from being a little underweight, she doesn’t seem to be hurt. It’s hard to tell if she’s grey or white with the amount of dirt on her, but she does have the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s beautiful.
“Can we keep her?”
Oh no!
“Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea. She could belong to someone else.”
“They don’t deserve her. I’ll look after her and protect her. Not like them,” she pouts, still stroking the kitten.
I really should talk to Drake about this, but the look on my daughter’s face has me giving in. She never asks for anything, never complains, and always goes with the flow where the boys are concerned.
“Okay, but―”
She squeals loudly, startling me and the kitten, then jumps at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Thank you, thank you! I love you. I promise to take good care of her. I can’t wait to show Nanny and Cece.”
“Baby, you’re getting dirt all over Mummy,” Drake chuckles. I rise from my kneeling position and paste on my best smile. He shakes his head. “I heard. I guess we have our first pet.”
“We really should’ve gotten one before we had the boys,” I remind him, something we were talking about before I fell pregnant.
He shakes his head and walks over to his daughter, picking her up. “How are you, love bug?”
Wishing For A Happily Ever After (I Wish Book 2) Page 25
