“Oh, dear boy.” Aunt Hilda gets annoyed. “I wanted Amy to get her inheritance. He did not. Because we were deadlocked, the will said his judgement should be considered the final decision because he wasn’t the parent. So, your brother Colin found a friend he knew, some brother of a guy who he went to law school with, who would write a brief clinical report claiming that the baby was, without a doubt, a large preemie. That’s the only way I could get your father to agree to give Amy her inheritance. Colin has asked me to return the favor. So, I will.”
“You will?”
“I don’t need a fake doctor’s note or any kind of trickery,” Hilda announces, her lips, still painted a perfect subtle coral color even though it’s the middle of the night and she likely got out of bed to come here. “I think the whole clause was just your grandfather’s way of continuing to be a bigoted asshole even in death. So your dad may say no, but I’ll veto it. You’ll get your inheritance.”
“Aunt Hilda… I don’t know what to say.” Never in a million years did I expect this to happen. I was resigned. I’d made peace. But now I feel like I just won the lottery and I’m at a loss.
“Thank you usually works,” Bowen whispers against my ear and I remember he’s right behind me.
Hilda smiles at him. I clear my throat. “Thank you, Aunt Hilda. I would hug you if we were the type of family that did that.”
“Maybe we should try it out,” she replies, and I not only hug her but lift her off her feet.
“Enough!” she bellows but it’s mixed with laughter.
I delicately deposit her back on her pristine Chanel slingbacks. She smooths invisible wrinkles out of her blouse, her blue eyes move to Bowen again. “Congratulation to your brother on his successful mayoral campaign.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“I’m not a fan of ma’am,” she snaps and digs her keys out of her purse. “I’ll have you two over for dinner some night soon and you can call me Hilda then.”
“Okay. Sure.” Bowen smiles, but his eyes are dazed. Yeah, my family is a trip he isn’t used to taking. I get it. But I think we’ll be okay navigating it together now that the familial topography seems to be changing.
I lace my fingers through his and Aunt Hilda walks away waving over her shoulder. “Ta ta for now! And remember, glassware does not go in an ice machine.”
I laugh. Some things will never change.
We watch her until she’s safely inside at the end of the block and her taillights disappear around the corner. And that’s when it sinks in. I can sell Dauntless to Grant. I can go back to school and study music. I can start that music camp I want to start. I can…
“Are you okay?” Bowen asks.
“I love you,” I say but it’s garbled. I’m choking on the emotion of it all.
I crash my mouth onto his and kiss him like he’s all that matters, because in the end he is. I press him into the front door, my tongue dancing with his, our bodies rubbing and grinding. Finally, he gives me a gentle shove and pulls in a ragged breath, his thumb glancing across his bottom lip and he pulls his mouth into a smile. “Can we take this inside? I really want to fuck you.”
I laugh and he punches the code on the keypad to make the door buzz open. We almost run down the hall and Bowen stabs at the elevator keypad, putting in the code that allows access to my floor with the impatience of a toddler. “You’re in a rush.”
The doors swish open and we tumble inside. I laugh because by the time the elevator lands on my floor, he’s already got both our shirts unbuttoned. “You’re excited.”
As if to prove my point I palm his length through his dress pants. He grins and pushes his hips forward into my hand. “I’ve never fucked a millionaire before.”
“Ha!” I bark and shove my hands into the hair I’ve been dying to mess up all damn night. “You’re cute.”
“Just cute?’ he questions, brushing our lips together, the same way that very first kiss started.
“More than cute,” I reply, tugging on the hand laced through my fingers. He likes that. “You’re everything. That’s why I’m so calm about this, I think. Because that inheritance. It’s just icing on the cake. You’re the cake.”
He blinks. “I love you.”
“I know.” I kiss him slowly and gently but I end it with a teasing tug of his bottom lip between my teeth. “Now let’s go upstairs so I can have my cake… and eat it too.”
“How did you manage to make my dick harder with baking innuendo?” He chuckles and I chase him up the stairs.
After he fucks me so long and so hard I see stars, he collapses onto my chest, and my legs unhook from his back and we lay there, his dick still inside me, because we don’t have to worry about disposing of a condom since our tests came back four days ago. I brush his tangled golden hair back from his face so I can see his amber eyes and I say, “You know, Aunt Hilda’s support might be all I need, but it might not be. This isn’t a done deal.”
“I know. I don’t care. Do you?” he whispers back. And I shake my head.
“Nah. Like I said, icing.” I drink in his lazy smile, because it’s the only thing that can soothe my parched soul. “But if it happens, I would love it if you came with me to complete everything. Sign the papers and face my dad and everything.”
