“I know.”
The certainty in his voice tells me that I’m not alone in this.
And the way things are looking now, I’ll never be alone again.
When the jettouches down back in London, I catch Noah giving me a curious once-over.
“What’s that look for?” I ask, wanting to add it to my encyclopedia of facts about Noah.
“How about you stay withmetonight?” he asks, a teasing glint in his eyes.
“All right.”
His face shifts into shock comically fast.
“What? You know we’ll have to cook for ourselves, right? There’s no one waiting to clean up after us in my flat.”
I snort and shake my head.
“I know, of course, and I don’t care because if we cook or clean we’ll be doing it together. That will make it at least bearable,” I tease him right back.
Noah laughs, and when the plane finally stops moving and we walk down to the tarmac, he throws me yet another of those smiles.
“You’re eating beans on toast tonight, Mr. Knightly.”
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
EPILOGUE
Noah
One YearLater
The popof the champagne cork heralds a chorus of cheers and camera flashes. Chase expertly pours the champagne and hands me a glass.
“Well done, Mr. Knightly. Your first book,Starting from Zero: How I Would Build a Fortune Today, is going to be a great success.” I don’t lie. The publishers have made predictions based on preorders. Chase has already appeared on several TV shows and done a round of interviews for papers and radio. Next week we fly to the States for a book tour and interviews over there.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he says, standing close enough so only I can hear him in the throng of people at his launch party.
“Nonsense. Whatever you published would have been something people wanted to read.” I brush off his praise, even though it never fails to make my body respond to him, and I edge a little closer.
“But I didn’t want to tell my story, so without your genius nothing would’ve been written.” His voice lowers and sends sparks down my spine. I shouldn’t be getting horny in the middle of a group of people, but I can’t help it and I don’t care. We’re in the offices of Knight-in, and if he carries on I might have to drag him downstairs to my office where we won’t be disturbed.
“But for the record,” he continues. “There is no ‘first book.’ This will be the only one.”
“Oh no,” I say, disagreeing with him. “Zerois going to make a lot of money for Ellington Literary. Someone I know has taught me how to see potential and go after it. I think book two in a couple of years, something about investing wisely, would be very well received.” I knew my words would amuse him and I’m rewarded with a smile. It’s true, though. I’ve learned a lot from him in the last year, and the agency has grown a lot more than anticipated. I now have two other agents working for me, and between us we’ve managed to secure three major publishing deals aside from Chase’s.
“Still no,” he growls.
“I think you’ll find I can be very persuasive.” I smile sweetly at him and his pupils darken. Maybe we could sneak away to my office after all.
“I knew you were dangerous the moment I set eyes on you,” he murmurs and his lips meet mine. A flash goes off to the side of us and his head snaps up. His expression changes to fury as he spies theRenownphotographer who took thephoto. He marches over and gets in the face of the guy who is now holding his camera like a shield.
“I allowed you here to cover the launch party, not photograph my private life. I need you to delete that photo now. IfRenownwants an exposé on me, they can ask for it.”
I’m pulled away by Nate, so I don’t get to hear the rest of the exchange, but I know Chase will win. It’s also uncharacteristic ofRenown. They are known for being discreet, it’s why they’re so popular. No doubt the photographer is a freelancer and thought he could sell the photo to a gossip column. But it won’t work. Chase would have his legal team down on them like a ton of bricks. He’s never hidden his sexuality, as far as I’ve known him, but since he told me about his family last year, I’ve come to understand why he doesn’t flaunt it and why he was never going to write a direct biography of his life.
“I knew introducing you two was a great idea,” Nate says proudly.