I kept staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah. Originally, that was the plan.”
She paused, then started laughing and gave my chest a playful smack. “You jealous asshole.”
I turned my head toward her, rolling onto my side so we were nose to nose. “Maybe, but it doesn’t matter now, does it? I won. You can’t have Will anymore.”
“I neverhadWill.”
“You flirted with him.”
She groaned. “I was being polite.”
My eyes widened. “You batted your eyelashes.”
“I do not bat my eyelashes.” She scoffed, laughter sparkling in her eyes. “Are you really still bent out of shape because I wasniceto yourbrother?One time?”
“Emma would never,” I teased.
Kate snorted. “Emma was too afraid to be mean to CB because he seemed so sensitive.”
I recoiled slightly. “Sensitive?”
She grinned and stroked her fingers through my hair. “Slightly.”
“I was being mysterious.”
She leaned forward and kissed me, effectively ending the argument, and it worked. It always fucking work. The moment her soft lips molded around mine, I was gone, but a few seconds later, she pulled back, and I rested my forehead against hers.
“See?” I murmured. “I chose you from the beginning, Kate. I was never going to choose Emma once I knew I could have you.”
Her fingers curled lightly into my shirt, her eyes resting sleepily on mine. “So what do we do now?”
It was the same question she’d asked before, but it felt different this time. Not so much like standing on the edge of something unknown but like we were already on a journey to someplace right. I reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear.
“Anything we want, Katie,” I said. “Absolutely anything we want.”
CHAPTER 48
KATE
After a carefully laid out PR firestorm handled by W&S East Coast with the help of Callum on the West Coast, Nate’s name and reputation were cleared. All was finally well.
Busy but well.
The story had burned hot and fast. Then it had fizzled out the way scandals always did when richer, louder ones came along. The truth had been packaged neatly, with Callum preparing a statement explaining that it’d been nothing more than a misunderstanding.
He’d kept it short and sweet, highlighting that it had been an anonymous friendship and a case of mistaken identity. Swiftly delivering it through the right channels with the right tone, Callum had ensured that the statement was apologetic where we needed it to be but firm where it counted.
It was impressive how good the Westwoods were at this kind of thing. They’d closed ranks with surprising efficiency and precision, absolutely no one speaking out of turn or making a comment that could be misconstrued.
Trusting Callum to captain the ship, they’d all stuck to his plan, and by the time the dust had settled, Nate wasn’t a cheater. He was just either unlucky or a hopeless romantic—dependingon which outlet you read—and just about every comment online was about how sweet of a story it was.
Either way, the contract was safe, our families were happy, and life was marching on at a pace that made my head spin. I’d briefly met Callum, Maisie, and their kids—who were too freaking adorable for words, although Brody would probably take offense at being thought of as adorable—and I was happier than ever to be part of their family.
They really were as close as all the rumors I’d grown up hearing had suggested, and after growing up as an only child, I was loving being part of such a truly massive extended family. And I really was part of the family now.
I’d even been given my own office at Westwood and Sons, which felt faintly ridiculous considering I was still splitting my time between my father’s firm and covering some of Nate’s old responsibilities while he handled the business as a whole. But my name was already on the door in professional, block lettering, even if most days I barely used the space.
I still preferred to sit in Nate’s office instead, and since he didn’t seem to mind having me there, I stayed. Sitting on the corner of his desk, I swung one foot idly while scrolling through emails on my phone.
