Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,264

that this was actually happening. “I always want to tell each other how we’re feeling from now on,” I said. “Promise?”

“Promise,” he replied, stroking my hair. “As long as we both shall live.”

Epilogue

“You’re wrong,” I said. “She would never say that.”

“Sure she would,” Leo said.

“Why? What’s her motivation?” I asked.

Leo stood for a moment in our living room, his blue eyes fixed on the rolling hills outside the large window.

“See?” I said when he didn’t answer. I smiled and shook my head. “She wouldn’t say that. Let’s go back to earlier in the script.”

Leo walked over to me. I tilted my head up toward him, offering up my lips, which he kissed. “I taught you everything you know and now I’ve created a monster,” he teased, running a hand over my growing belly.

“I learned some things for myself,” I said, putting my hand on top of his.

After the premiere, my life became just plain ridiculous. Leo and I eloped and then he took me to Mexico, just like he’d wanted to all that time ago. We stayed in a secluded area with our own beachside bungalow, big enough for a large family but all for us and complete with full staff and a chef. We stayed there for three perfect weeks, watching the gossip blogs go nuts over what happened at the screening and reading the reviews for All For You. Critics said the movie had signaled a new reign for Epix Studios, proving that the studio wunderkind could be passionate and thoughtful in his moviemaking and not just loud and explosive. Of course, I knew that already. And now, a year later, here we were, together in our new home working on a script—that old script he’d first had me work on during my dark days at Crush magazine. I’d finally gotten him to agree to change the ending to something more hopeful instead of the dark cautionary tale he wanted.

With his hand still on my belly, Leo said, “I hope our baby grows up to be as strong as you are.”

“And as willful as you are,” I added, kissing his lips again.

Leo had sold his Wilshire Boulevard apartment and his Malibu home soon after we were married; now we were nesting in the Hollywood Hills, a place that was ours—and our soon-to-be bundle of joy.

Even though it was a Saturday, we were working because we loved to work. When our minds went toe-to-toe it was as satisfying as when we rocked the bedroom—in a totally different way, of course.

Delaney came out to visit so often that she practically had her own bedroom, and Leo was trying to convince her to open a shop out in L.A. She was considering it, especially since the New Hampshire location was doing better than expected. And I still kept in touch with Ava Marie, who was on the short list of dancers in the Epix offices, so she was working steadily and had even upgraded to a decent apartment in Santa Monica proper.

Life was good. I still couldn’t believe it.

“Hey, I’m getting burnt out with this rewrite,” Leo said, breaking me from my reverie as he yawned and stretched his muscular arms upwards. “Want to take a drive and get a smoothie?”

I made a face. “That’s all I ever drink anymore.”

Leo just chuckled, grabbed my hand. “You have it so rough,” he said.

I missed drinking coffee like it was going out of style, but Leo had graciously gone without in a show of marital support. So I couldn’t complain too much, anyhow.

We got in his car and drove to a nearby restaurant that made great smoothies, and had nice outdoor seating. It normally wasn’t very crowded and we could easily avoid the photographers that hounded us at the more typical Hollywood hangouts.

The day was beautiful and I felt like nothing could possibly make it better. As we held hands and crossed the street to get inside the restaurant, I glanced over at Leo and found myself smiling, as I often did lately.

He looked back at me and smirked. “I thought you were sick of smoothies, but you’re smiling like you’d rather be here than anywhere else.”

“I’m sick of smoothies, but I’ll never be sick of spending time with you,” I told him, and we kissed one another. It was just as magical as our first kiss, probably more so, because now I knew that he was mine and I was his.

I knew that he truly was the good, kind, loving man that