“I already feel so much happier, and I haven’t even resigned or signed on the dotted line. This just feels right.”
“I’m glad, honey.” I sip my champagne as I snuggle into his side. “I have some news of my own.”
He looks down at me. “You found a manager?”
I nod. “I did. At long last.” I have been trying to hire someone to manage my studio because it’s all become too much for me and I’m working crazy hours. It’s been hectic trying to juggle work and family life, and I needed to make changes. I hired a new photographer three months ago, and she’s working out great, but I couldn’t find the right person to help me to manage the business. I was despairing of hiring anyone. “I should’ve asked Faye to handle the recruitment from the outset,” I admit, running my fingers back and forth across Kev’s leg through his pants. “She had a shortlist of suitably qualified people for me within two weeks. She personally headhunted them, so they fit my requirements. In the end, I could have had my pick.”
“When does your new hire start?”
“John has to work two weeks’ notice at his current job, but he’ll start after that. I will need to train him, but I reckon two months from now I can officially cut my hours and be home more.”
“I have great flexibility with my new job too,” Kev says, taking my almost empty flute and putting it down on the coffee table alongside his. His eyes sparkle with happiness. “You know what this means?”
I crawl into his lap and straddle his thighs. “We can prioritize getting pregnant again.” We are both aching for more kids, and we don’t want to leave it any longer because our kids are getting older and we’re not getting any younger. We have had to put it off because we knew, practically, that we couldn’t expand our family until we reworked our job situation. Now that we have, there is nothing holding us back.
“Want to start working on that now?” my sexy husband says, sliding his hands underneath my dress and palming the bare cheeks of my ass.
“Do you even have to ask?” I pin him with a sultry grin as I pop the button on his pants and drag the zipper down. “We have more reasons to celebrate now, and I can’t wait to expand our family.”
Those are the last words spoken for a very long time.
17
ALEX
“We’d better get showered and dressed before everyone arrives and we gross them out,” I say, giggling as I peel myself off my husband’s sweat-slickened chest.
“Remind me again why we thought it was a good idea to invite all the kids and grandkids when we could’ve stayed in bed all weekend making love?” James asks, his eyes darkening with renewed lust as I slide off his naked body and push to my feet.
“Because our family is finally properly reunited, and that is a cause to celebrate.” I lean down and kiss him. “Besides, the kids return to school next week, and it’s our last opportunity for a summer party. We still have tomorrow to fornicate to our hearts’ desire.”
James barks out a laugh, playfully swatting my ass. “Fornicate? I think you’re showing your age, darling,” he teases.
“Don’t remind me,” I murmur, heading toward the door that leads to our en suite bathroom.
“Hey.” The bed squeaks as James climbs out. His arms encircle my waist from behind. “You are still every bit as beautiful as the day I met you. I can’t believe you will be sixty next year. You don’t look a day over twenty.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. I angle my head and look back at my husband smiling. “You are so full of shit, but I love you.”
“I love you too.” He bends down and kisses my lips, and I melt against him. I never thought we would have this again. I thought James was lost to me forever, and I had made my peace, of sorts, with it.
In hindsight, separating was the best thing to happen to us. It allowed us time to heal from the pain we had caused one another, develop a deep friendship and coparent relationship, learn to enjoy each other’s company, and rediscover our love. It helped to put things into perspective. To realize what we had and stood to lose if we divorced. Now, things are better than ever between us, and we have the type of relationship I have always craved.
“You know what?” I swivel in my husband’s arms. “I am going to embrace turning sixty. I don’t believe I have ever been happier or more content than I am now.” I slide my hands up his impressive chest. My husband takes pride in his appearance, and he still looks hot for his age. He plays golf regularly, works out every day in the gym, and we go for an early morning jog together each day, weather permitting. He is lean and toned, with a body men half his age would kill for. The thick gray streaks in his dark hair make him look distinguished, and I am as attracted to him as I was when I first set eyes on him.
“We are rock solid. Our kids and grandkids are all happy and healthy. We got to retire early, and we have the money to travel and do whatever we want. We are so fortunate, and life doesn’t get much better than this.”
“Doesn’t it?” James scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder as I shriek. “Because I have it on good authority that shower sex is the bomb.”
* * *
JAMES
“It’s a great day for a barbecue,” Kade says, coming up to the grill.
“That it is,” I agree, squinting through my sunglasses as I look up at the radiant sun casting rays of warm golden sunshine on the ground below.
Laughter rings out behind me, and I turn around, smiling as I watch all my grandkids splashing about in the pool. Thankfully, we have a new Olympic-sized outdoor pool to house the myriad of colorful floats and plastic balls and toys the little ones come with. Their parents and my stunning wife are draped across loungers around the pool, sipping cocktails that Presley, Cheryl, Rachel, and Faye made.
