“It was the coward’s way out,” I tell him, and Damien gently agrees.
“It was.”
“It ruined my life,” I add with tearful anger.
“I know.”
“It broke my heart,” I whisper shakily.
Damien swallows. “I know. And I hate myself for it. I hate that I hurt you. I hate that I hurt Luca. And I want to fix it.”
“How?” I ask, blinking back the tears to keep them at bay.
Damien reaches for my hand. “By asking you to take me back. By giving you the job you deserved in the first place.”
I pull my hand away. “A job. That’s your answer to all of this, Damien? Offering me a job. I already have a job. Where people don’t take advantage of me. If that’s your answer, then I am going to have to respectfully decline.”
“That’s not my answer,” Damien says, shoving up from the stool. Then he hops over the bar, landing next to me. I look around, my mouth agape, but Abby pretends she saw nothing. “I will treat you right. No more assistant. No more talking down or telling you what to do. You are a lady, and I will be a gentleman. I will spend every day proving to you, and to Luca, what you mean to me.”
“Luca?” I ask. Because I need to hear him say it. Because Luca’s heart is even more important than my own.
“Yes. My son,” he says, his words thick in his mouth. “I love you, Ellie. I was afraid because I never let myself love anyone, but I can’t deny it anymore, and I won’t. I love you, and I want to be with you. With both of you.”
Tears stream down my face as he takes my hands in his. “I love you too, Damien.”
With that, his mouth covers mine. There may be cheering. Possibly some whistles. I couldn’t really tell you. Because as the kiss goes deeper, all the walls come crashing down. And everything around us fades away.
When we finally pull away, Abby smiles at us. “Well shit. Does this mean I’m going to have to start looking for new bartenders again?”
“I’m afraid so,” Damien says, smiling down at me. “This one belongs to me.”
Epilogue
Ellie
“Nobody warns you that you are going to be late literally everywhere you go once you have a baby. It’s insanity. Half the time, I don’t know why we even bother.”
Rachel is talking before she and Chance are even all the way in the door. It’s been a year since she started IVF. A year since the first try, Rachel finally saw two pink lines instead of one. A year since her wedding gown had to be taken out as her belly slowly began to grow. And a year since Damien hopped behind the Luxurelle grotto bar and promised me that he would love me forever. Needless to say, he delivered on that promise. And the ring on my finger–excuse me, the rock on my finger–is proof.
Now, Rachel has a baby, and Luca and I have a home with Damien. With Luca’s father. With my husband. And as our friends pour into the house bearing gifts and food and drinks, I am able to lean fully into that promise.
“Actually, I think everyone talks about it,” I tell Rachel as I take Jacob from her, relieving her of her motherly dutieswhile she heads to the kitchen for a drink. In the passing year, more has happened. As we all gather on the patio for Hawaiian chicken kabobs, a buffet of salads and drinks, everyone does what they do best. They talk.
“The signage is up, boss,” Diego says, popping a pepper in his mouth. “Decker’s hotel is officially Bates Tower for all to see.”
“The fact he practically just handed it to you is wild,” Chance says as he pours everyone a glass of wine. Everyone but me, as I politely decline.
“He was…persuaded,” Damien says with a smirk as he takes a glass of wine and then raises an eyebrow at my glass of water.
“You mean blackmailed,” Diego says.
“I simply told the truth about what would happen if he didn’t turn himself in,” Damien goes on.
“And in turn, you have a new hotel,” I smile up at him.
“Wehave a new hotel,” he corrects me.
“And I have a new gentlemen’s club,” Diego chimes in.
