But I could only shake my head. "I don't understand. What do you want from me? I'm moving to New York next week to finally live my life—pursuemydreams."
"Okay, okay, move to New York," Cole agreed with a decisive nod. "I'm fine with that as long as I can move there, too."
“What?” My righteous anger started to wobble into confusion.
“I don’t have to be here to run Benton Worldwide. I can work out of New York. It’ll make things a little more difficult, but I don’t care. Because you know what I hate the absolute most, Sunny? That I hurt you because I didn't do this right the first time. Sunny, please..."
Cole went down on one knee, reached into the pocket of his dog costume, and retrieved a ring box, which he opened to reveal a stunning ruby ring encircled by sparkling diamonds. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
My heart leaped forward, slammed into my chest wall, then exploded into fireworks that sounded an awful lot like little girls screaming at glass-shattering decibels.
Oh, wait, that was because there were twenty-six eight to eleven year olds screaming so loudly I could barely hear what Cole said next.
"No more contracts," Cole declared with the new ring held high, somehow managing to project over the girls losing their prepubescent minds. "All I need is your word that you'll let me spend the rest of my life proving I deserve your love."
I stood there, frozen to the spot, unable to process what Cole was doing. What he’d promised. What he was asking me to promise.
"Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod!" Lucia screamed over all the commotion, flapping her hands next to her face like a Jonah Hill meme—like she really was watchingthe end of a Philippine Drama. “Say yes, Miss Sunny!Pleeezzze, say yes!”
Epilogue
MAX
Sunny said yes.
The following December, as she and my older brother walked into the Benton Grand's largest ballroom as Mr. and Mrs. Benton for the first time,I told Grandma as we clapped along with the rest of the guests,"I'm still havinga hard time believing it."
"That my plan worked out?" Grandma asked.
"No, that Cole actually knew how to smile all this time. I thought those muscles had maybe atrophied, he hadn't used them in so long." I grinned down at Grandma. "Never had a doubt everything would work the way you wanted, you fucking monster. Everybody knows that Nora Benton always gets what she wants."
"Oh, Maxie." Grandma swatted my arm. "You always know exactly how to sweet talk me."
COLE
"You're probably feeling like one smug bastard right now," Max leaned over to say halfway through the reception as wewatched Sunny getting dragged onto the ballroom floor by her mother and her two bridal attendants, Pru and Tony.
A sasha x kasha song played overhead, and a crowd of showgirls and young Vegas heiresses gathered to see who would catch Sunny’s bouquet now that she was officially taken.
Max was trying to needle me, but all I could do was grin as I told him, "In my entire time as the CEO of Benton Worldwide, I can confidently say The House has never won bigger."
On the other side of me, Lobo muttered something in Spanish. While his eyes relentlessly tracked Carly Reyes, who was also being tugged onto the floor by her sisters, Stella and Lucia, who'd served as our flower girl.
Lobo and I had never been one to discuss personal business, but I felt compelled to ask, "You okay over there, Lo?"
Lobo's dark-brown eyes glittered with rage, even as he said, "Everything's fine."
I might have believed him if he wasn't gripping his glass of tequila so tight. Or if he'd taken his eyes off Carly while answering me.
"What's this tall tale Grandma was telling me about you taking three weeks off work?" Max asked, drawing my attention back to him.
And suddenly, my smile returned. "Yeah, Sunny and I booked a little honeymoon bungalow on a small island in Tahiti during her winter break from Manhattan University."
She'd taken out her IUD as an early Christmas present, and I'd already thought of several creative ways to punish her for daring to make me so happy. I had a feeling my grandmother would definitely have her wish for a great-grandbaby fulfilled soon.
“Sounds boring as fuck. Three weeks on an island with no party scene?” Max threw back a shot of some trendy Chinese baijiu he'd been trying to convince me to sell in Room B, the Benton's onsite nightclub. "Me and Andy are meeting up at my club in Greece."
"Andy? You mean the A.M Volcano, that soccer player with the anger management issues?"
