Charlotte leans her head against his cheek. “You forgot to mention that you were a total playboy too.”
He drops a kiss to her forehead. “I forgot to mention it because I’ve completely forgotten any part of my life that existed before you.”
Herb laughs. “Good answer, man.” He turns to me. “Our story is simpler. We dug each other from the start, and we didn’t let anything stand in the way.”
Olivia points at me. “Maybe that’s what you should be doing.”
But that’s easy for them to say when they’re here on the other side of their love stories. Whereas I bet there’s a bar somewhere in this city, full of guys and gals who could tell tales just like mine.
The ones that don’t have such happy endings.
43
Sloane Elizabeth’s Texts
Sloane: I’m miserable.
Piper: I know, hon.
Sloane: What do I do? What would you tell one of your
clients in my situation?
Piper: Well, I’m a wedding planner, not a couples counselor. And usually my brides have already resolved their issues.
Sloane: I know that! Back it up to before they resolve it. Pretend you’re giving advice, since I KNOW they ask you for it. :)
Piper: I would tell them what I’m about to tell you.
Sloane: And that is?
Piper: Go get your happily ever after, bitch!
Sloane: Enough said.
44
A few days later, I finish jujitsu, exhausted, muscles aching, but at the top of my form.
Jason glances at my sister as the three of us leave, heading down the block. “Should we tell him?”
I arch an eyebrow. “Tell me what?”
“We had the tournament this weekend. We talked about you,” Truly says.
I stop to face them. “How was the tournament?”
“I won,” they both say in unison.
“Congrats.”
“But listen, here’s the thing,” Jason says, patting me on the chest. “We need you to get your shit together.”
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know,” I say drily.
He shakes his head. “You don’t get it. The problem is, you’re too good.”
Truly chimes in. “You sing better now than you did before things ended with Sloane.”
Jason takes his turn. “You play softball better than anyone now.”
Truly swings once more. “And you’re better at jujitsu than you’ve ever been. It’s just not fair. You were already great at all those things beforehand, and you aren’t allowed to be astronomically better now that you’ve been pummeled by love.”
Jason waves in the general direction of the rest of Manhattan. “We need you to become human again. You’re making all of us look bad with your excellence, even if it benefits us as your teammates. We don’t care. Because it’s not benefiting you. Go resolve your stuff with your woman.”
I sigh, wishing it were that simple. “How do you want me to do that?”
Truly parks her hands on her hips. “That’s up to you, but do it, and do it soon. I need to kick your ass in class again.”
But I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to be “ass-kickable” again. I don’t have any answers.
I head to the place where I feel most myself, where I know how to solve problems. Maybe that’ll give me a flash of clarity. I go to the clinic, making calls to clients, inquiring how their little four-legged family members are doing after surgeries and procedures. I check on paperwork. I answer emails.
But none of that makes me any happier.
None of that soothes the ache in my heart.
I turn and talk to the photo of my dad. “So there’s this girl. I work with her. In the same damn space. I’m madly in love with her. What would you do, Dad?”
I close my eyes, wishing to hear him, longing for his advice. It’s been eighteen years, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting it. I try to listen to what he might tell me.
A throat clears. “Tell her father you’re in love with her.”
In a flash, I sit up straight, open my eyes, and stare at Jonathan, who’s standing in the doorway of my office.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sam left her phone, and I came to pick it up for her.”
“That was nice of you.”
“That’s what men and women do for each other when they like each other. They help each other. They tell each other things. They do things for each other. You could do that for Sloane, too, if you would actually take the next step and make things happen.”
Up is down. Right is left. Everything is inside out. “Jonathan, are you seriously giving me relationship advice?”
He nods vigorously. “Just tell Doug. Go for it. I swear, your generation makes such a big deal of everything.”
I scoff. “You do realize I’m only nine years older than you? That’s hardly a generation.”
“Feels like a lifetime.”
“And you do realize you want me to pay your vet school bills?”
He smiles, a big, cheesy grin. “I do. I do want you to pay my vet school bills. But I also want you to be happy. I saw how you were with Sloane. I don’t know what the big deal is. Just go figure it out.” He gives a quick wave. “I need to jet. The woman wants me.”
He leaves, and I’m all alone.
I stare at the photo once more, but this time I don’t need to ask. I know what my dad would tell me. He put my mother first. He put us first. He put love first.
He prioritized that over his practice. Maybe that’s why he was never able to open his own clinic.
Because work wasn’t his first love.
He was excellent at his job, but he ended each day at five and came home to be with us and my mom. He savored every moment of the years they had together.
Funny—that’s what Doug is doing now too. Savoring.
I’m the one who’s been obsessed with work. Driven mad by a dream my dad never asked me to fulfill.
Maybe he had his biggest dreams—his wife and his family—and having his own clinic wasn’t worth sacrificing those things.
He wouldn’t want me to chase a dream if it made me feel so damn empty.
Right now, that’s how I feel without her. Like a part of me is missing. A part she irrevocably owns.
A part I need back desperately, and I need her to bring it back to me, and to say it when she does.
Because she’s the dream.
I grab my phone and dial Doug’s number, but it goes to voicemail. I bet he’s already left for his trip.
I can’t do anything to fix this here, so I get the hell out of the office.
45
I go in the direction of my dreams.
I have to earn the right to tell Sloane I love her. To do that, I need to clear a big hurdle. Even though it’s late, I call a Lyft and head uptown to Doug’s place, stopping in the lobby at the concierge desk, hoping he’s not taxiing at the airport, ready for takeoff. The man rings Doug’s apartment, and I cross my fingers, sending a tense prayer out to the universe that my business partner is still in town.
I wait.
Then I pump a fist when the concierge says into the phone, “There’s a Malone Goodman here to see you, sir.”
I wait an interminable amount of time for the concierge to nod and tell me to head to the elevator.
When I press the button, it takes a decade till the elevator arrives. I step inside, just as the other elevator shows up too. The door closes and I will it to shoot up seven stories, lightning fast, to make up the time.
I haven’t planned a speech or mapped out a detailed presentation. I march down the hallway and arrive at Doug’s door unrehearsed. I take a deep breath, letting it fill me with strength and courage.
I don’t know how Sloane is going to react when I finally tell her how I feel. But I know that you can’t fix a problem if you don’t start at the beginning. There’s a process. A way to do things. You don’t get to the e
nd of the song if you haven’t sung the beginning. You don’t finish the surgery if you haven’t begun it. You have to do your job in the right order.
Maybe this is the order I should’ve followed years ago.
But I’m going to follow it now—my relationship with Doug came first, so I have to tell him before I tell her.
I knock on the door. He opens it, shooting me a quizzical look then smiling. “Hey, Malone. Come on in.”
I step inside and jump off the cliff. “I’m glad you haven’t left yet because I need to tell you I’m madly in love with your daughter. I have been for some time. I’m not asking your permission to pursue a relationship with her, because I’m going to pursue it anyway. I know you once told me not to get any ideas, but I’m crazy in love with her, so that ship has sailed.”
Wow. That felt good. That felt freeing, like I’m ten pounds lighter.
Doug’s lips twitch. Someone else chuckles. A feminine voice calls out from the living room: “I told you so.”
Doug opens the door farther, and Helena strides over and wraps me in a hug. “I’ve been telling him for the longest time that I thought you and Sloane would make a great couple.”
Doug points at her proudly. “She’s always right.”
Helena drops a kiss on his cheek. “I’m always right.”
Doug parks his hands on his hips, staring at me. “What are you going to do about it, Malone? Are you going to go find her and tell her?”
I part my lips but no words come. I’m flabbergasted. I didn’t expect this response. Reflexively, I rub my jaw. I expected he’d slam a fist into my face or tell me not over his dead body.
I try again to speak, managing only a strangled “But . . .”
Doug laughs. “Cat got your tongue?”
I sputter, “Sir, I just . . . I didn’t think.”
He claps me on the shoulder. “You thought I didn’t know. You thought I’d have a problem with it.”
“Well, you did tell me not to get any ideas when you hired me.”
“Exactly. But that was seven years ago. Of course I didn’t want you going after her then. You were just starting with me.”
I wisely keep my mouth shut about when my feelings started, as Doug keeps talking.
“But over the years, I’ve gotten to know you. I’ve seen you change. You seemed like something of a Casanova at first, but then I came to know other sides of you. I saw how you cared not just for the animals, but for the employees, for the business. I saw how you look out for your mom. How you spend time with your sister. You care deeply for the people in your life. You’re a good man, Malone.”
“Thank you sir,” I say, still shocked that he’s giving me his blessing when I never thought I’d have it offered so willingly.
“Truth be told, once Sloane started working in the practice, I kept thinking you two might be a good fit.”
I shake my head in surprise. “You did?”
He nods, pleased with his matchmaker instincts, it seems. “But as for you, you just thought you should stuff your feelings deep down inside and ignore them. Right?”
Nailed it. “I suppose that’s what I thought.”
Helena laughs. “And how’s that working out for you?”
I shake my head. “Not very well.”
“I appreciate you telling me,” Doug says. “I think it’s fantastic. The young vet and the animal rescuer. I can’t think of a more perfect combination. You’ll be good to my daughter. I’m just glad you had the common sense to figure it out quickly.”
I chuckle silently.
“And to tell me,” Doug adds.
If he only knew how long it’s truly taken.
“Me too,” I say. “Thank you, Doug. I can’t thank you enough.”
He clears his throat. “Listen, I owe you an apology. I know I’ve been all over the place—retiring, not retiring, cutting back, taking off for my trip tomorrow. It’s probably been frustrating from time to time.” He tugs Helena in closer. “But that’s because I’ve been trying to decide what to do next—work or spend more time with this lovely woman. It took me a long damn time to find the right one. I have her now, and there’s nothing that matters more to me than her happiness. I finally know that’s what I should be prioritizing.” He stares at me, import in his eyes. “And there’s nothing that should matter more to you. I have a feeling that’s what your dad would tell you too.”
I smile. That rings so true with my instincts about my Dad. I’m confident in that truth when I say, “I’m pretty sure he would.”
Helena sets her hands on my shoulders, spins me around, and pushes me out the door. “Go get your girl.”
I head toward the door, ready to call Sloane and jet to her place, when I hear Helena on the phone. “Oh good. Glad I caught you. Just tell the cabbie to turn around and then wait in the lobby, hon. He’s coming right down.”
I swivel around. “She was here?”
Doug smiles. “Yeah. She came by a few minutes ago. Left right before you arrived. But I’m going to let her tell you what she said.”
“Good thing she didn’t get too far away,” Helena adds.
“It sure is.”
I run down the hallway, stab the elevator button, and fly downstairs, where I find her in the lobby walking toward me. Perfect timing with the cab.
Her lips are curved in a wild grin. Her flats click against the marble with purpose. Her eyes brim with anticipation and hope.
I don’t waste any time.
I march up to her, cup her cheeks, and make a declaration. “Sloane, I am madly in love with you, and I want us to go to Tahiti every single night.”
46
“Take me there.”
My God, are there any better words?
She kisses me back, tender and loving, making my head spin, my bones hum.
She breaks the kiss, and words spill out like she’s desperate to set them free. “I’m so in love with you, Malone. I came here tonight to tell my dad.”
My grin can’t be contained. “I did the same. I couldn’t take it anymore. I need you. I need you every night. I love you so damn much, and I can’t let you get away a second time.”
She throws her arms around my neck and threads her fingers in my hair, tugging me in for another soft kiss that quickly turns rough.
My tiger.
She is indeed.
“It’s the same for me,” she says, her voice nearly breaking. “I wanted to tell you I was in love with you. I wanted to say I didn’t want us to end. But then . . .”
“I was an idiot. I thought I couldn’t juggle it all. I thought I had to focus only on work.”
“I love what I do too . . . but I’ve been miserable without you. When we were together, it was never just about the sex for me. It was you, it was us—it was everything.”
My heart thunders in my chest, beating furiously, just for her. “It was never just sex for me either. Since the night I bumped into you on the street, I think I’ve been falling in love with you.”
“Not to one-up you, but I was falling in love with you seven years ago,” she says, her voice as soft as a feather, her gorgeous words rushing through my body.
“Show off,” I whisper.
“I’m just saying . . . you’re kind of the perfect man for me. I think I was always supposed to be yours.”
“You’re mine now. All mine. I’m not letting you get away ever again.”
She curls her hand tighter around the back of my head. “What are we going to do about your work concerns though? We do spend our days in the same space.”
I lean back against her hand. “A lot of people enjoy working together. I’ve loved every second of working with you. We fit. And it makes sense.” I laugh at my own pigheadedness. “It makes perfect sense to work together.”
She smiles from the inside of her soul. “You know what else makes perfect sense?” She tiptoes her fingers through my hair, dirty question marks in her eyes.
I uncurl her hand from my neck and
tip my forehead to the door. “Finishing the rest of our unfinished business.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re at my place, the door slamming shut as we grab at each other.
Hands, lips, arms.
We tangle together, shedding clothes, keys, her purse in a flurry as we make our way to the bed. I tug her down on top of me, reaching for a condom on the nightstand when she clasps her hand over mine. “I’m on the pill, and I’m clean.”
I groan. “Same here.”
I claim her mouth, kissing her, consuming her, touching her, stroking her decadent body everywhere till she’s so damn wet and ready.
She moves beneath me, opening her legs, and I nearly combust. The sight of her, ready to have me again, is spectacular.
I settle between her thighs, gliding the head of my cock through her slick heat, making her tremble, making her beg.
She arches her back and pleads, “Please. Now. I need you.”
If I’ve learned anything, it’s to listen to the woman. I sink inside her.
It’s heady and intense, and we fit together so damn well. Lifting her knees up higher, she opens herself more. I rock into her, swiveling my hips, thrusting deeper. Taking her hands in mine, I slide them above her head.
She arches her back. “Yes, like that. I love it like that.”
And we find our rhythm, find our pace. We discover each other as we lose ourselves in the pleasure, in the motion, in the sheer ecstasy of finally coming together like this.
She grabs my ass, pulling me deeper, breathing harder, louder.
I listen to her cues. They tell me to pick up the pace the slightest bit. To fuck her hard. To send her over the edge. That’s what she needs.
She cries out.
Yes.
So good.
I’m there.
Satisfaction Guaranteed Page 16
