Loverboy (The Company #2) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,113
all,” I gush. And I mean both the ring and the man. “Nothing is the same. I’d be honored to be your wife.”
“Lucky me,” he says, standing up, leaning over the table and kissing me.
I lean in and kiss him right back. And when we break apart a moment later, the whole restaurant is watching. When Gunnar sits back down, there’s some polite applause.
“Thank you, thank you!” Gunnar gives everyone a wave. “We’re here all week.”
“Stop,” I giggle, admiring my hand. “This dinner is even more exciting than I thought it would be.”
“That’s every day with you, sweetheart,” he says. “Especially the days when you bring home pie.”
And I kick his good leg under the table.
The food is probably wonderful. I’m not sure I even bother to taste it. I’m too happy.
Gunnar asks me what kind of wedding I want, and I tell him a small one. “Planning a wedding is a drag. Planning a honeymoon, though? That’s something I can get behind.”
“Fair enough. Then that’s what I want, too.”
It takes me all the way to the dessert course to remember that Gunnar had three things to discuss.
“Okay, yes,” he says when I prompt him. “I really don’t want to kill the mood. But I also don’t want any secrets between us. So I have to tell you that I learned a few new things about Saroya.”
“Oh,” I say softly. She disappeared the morning after Gunnar’s injury, which was also the morning after she and Spalding had a huge fight. Nobody has seen her since, and there were no more strange incidents at the pie shop. But a few months ago, Gunnar asked me if he could look into her some more, and I’d said yes.
“Posy, you’re not going to like what I found. It has to do with your dad.”
“Oh.” I gulp. My dad and I have been getting along better lately, too. “All right. What is it?”
“Saroya’s mother didn’t come to work at Paxton’s until 1998. But in 1996, your father started paying her a monthly check. It came out of an account your father has in Grand Cayman.”
“A secret bank account?” I roll my eyes. “Was he hiding money from my mother?”
“Probably.”
“Okay. That’s not that surprising. But why was he paying …” I think about it for a second. “Oh hell. How old is Saroya?”
“She was born in 1996.”
My stomach drops. “Oh my God. You think—” I can’t even say it out loud. “She’s his ...”
Nope. Still can’t say it.
“She might be his child,” Gunnar says gently. “Though DNA tests weren’t as common back then. It isn’t a certainty.”
“But he paid her,” I repeat. “So he thinks she is.”
“Yeah, probably,” Gunnar says quietly. “The checks stopped after Saroya turned eighteen.”
“But she wanted more.” My head is spinning. “My dad is rich. She thinks she got a bad deal. And she came after me?”
Is there any other way to explain this?
“She’s angry. She wants what other people have,” Gunnar says simply. “We all do, right? She just hasn’t handled it very well.”
“I’ll say,” I snort. “She might be my—” I can’t say it.
“Half-sister,” Gunnar supplies for me.
“But she didn’t tell me that. She still tried to ruin me. It’s like a Greek tragedy.”
“Euripides would be impressed,” he agrees.
“I mean, I feel for the girl on some level. But she got someone to throw a brick through my window.”
“Allegedly,” Gunnar says with a sad smile.
“No wonder the break-in makes no sense. We never considered revenge or jealousy as a motive. What is her motive, anyway?”
“She might need some professional help,” he says. “But you’d have to feel very alone in the world to do what she did.”
I take in a deep breath and blow it out. “Wow, Gunn. Just wow.”
He gets up from his seat, carries his chair around the table, and deposits it next to mine. Then he sits down and pulls me into his arms. We both look out at the city lights, twinkling against the dark sky.
I lean into him and sigh. Saroya may be my half-sister. That’s … startling. And confusing.
But everything is a little less confusing with his arm around me. “I love you,” I whisper.
“And I love you,” he whispers back. “Sorry to blow up your brain twice in one night.”
“I really enjoyed the first one.”
He laughs. “I’ll always be here to pick up the pieces.”
I lift his hand to mine and kiss the back of it. “Thank you, Gunn.”
We lapse into a comfortable silence, both of us admiring the night sky, until Gunnar says, “is that a shooting star?”
“No. That’s the flight path for JFK.”
He kisses me on the temple. “I just had a fun idea.”
“What?” I’m not sure I can handle any more surprises tonight.
“Let’s get married at Paxton’s.”
I let out a bark of laughter. “Oh God. Let’s! Back to the scene of the crime. I wonder if my dad is still in touch with the management.”
“Oh, I’ll convince them. Don’t you worry, Posy Paxton. I’ll show you how it’s done. Can I be in charge of the cocktail menu?”
“Hell no,” I say before we both crack up with laughter.
THE END
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Moonlighter
THE BROOKLYN BRUISERS
Rookie Move
Hard Hitter
Pipe Dreams
Brooklynaire
Overnight Sensation
Superfan
Sure Shot
TRUE NORTH
Bittersweet
Steadfast
Keepsake
Bountiful
Speakeasy
Fireworks
Heartland
THE IVY YEARS
The Year We Fell Down #1
The Year We Hid Away #2
The Understatement of the Year #3
The Shameless Hour #4
The Fifteenth Minute #5
Extra Credit #6
GRAVITY
Coming In From the Cold #1
Falling From the Sky #2
Shooting for the Stars #3
HELLO GOODBYE
Goodbye Paradise
Hello Forever
With Tanya Eby
Man Hands
Man Card
Boy Toy
Man Cuffed
With Elle Kennedy
GOOD BOY by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
STAY by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
US by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
Top Secret by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy