“Marvelous,” he replies with a grin.
I can’t stop giggling.
Even Rhys is chuckling.
It’s one of my favorite sounds in the world. I’ve made a point to try to make him laugh at least once a day, which I’m always rewarded for, one way or another.
Hearing him happy is reward enough, but I love the extra rewards that tend to start with him throwing me over his shoulder and pulling me into the nearest private place.
We eat, we drink, we laugh, and we all get to know each other a little better until it’s too cold, and then everyone slowly packs up to leave.
Simon and Bea are headed to Denver so that he can catch an early flight back to LA tomorrow.
Daphne and Oliver are staying in a supposedly haunted hotel in a nearby town. “We’re doing your research for you in case you decide to add haunted hotels to your new portfolio,” Daphne tells me as she hugs me goodbye.
Oliver lingers a little longer, making one of his exaggeratedyou people made me do something I don’t want to do anymorefaces.
“Archie’s such an asshole,” he says.
“Who’s Archie?” Rhys asks.
“Other brother from another mother,” Oliver replies, which honestly cracks me up.
“Do I need to punch him for you?” Rhys asks.
“No, Daphne’s got it when the time comes.”
This is not where I saw my life taking me, but I don’t hate it. “So what’s Archie done this time?” I ask.
Oliver heaves another of his exaggerated sighs that Daphne finds charming. “He went and had some security company investigated, and now they’re being charged with tax fraud. What a fucknugget.”
Rhys grabs my hand and sucks in a loud breath.
“Fascinating,” I murmur.
“Who cares?” Oliver adds with a twinkle in his eye. “Not like anyone we know has ever been in private security working for a company run by dickweeds.”
The next thing I know, Rhys is gripping Oliver in a massive hug.
Oliver looks at me over Rhys’s shoulder.
I give him a thumbs-up instead of coming to his rescue.
I’m good with my boyfriend getting along with my ex.
Especially when my ex makes my sister so happy and this mountain of a man who holds my heart has shown me that Daphne was right all along.
Ididneed someone like Rhys.
Or rather, exactly Rhys.
“What’s going on?” Daph sticks her head back out of their rental car. “What did I miss?”
Rhys sets Oliver down—seriously, he was dangling a little—and swipes his eyes as I slip an arm around his waist and hug him.
“Boring business stuff,” I tell her.
“I fucking hate business stuff,” Oliver says. “Especially when people hug me because of it.”
