sidekick. She was more like the superhero who made everything happen at Sky’s The Limit. She’d been on her own for years after leaving her father’s company and being cut off financially, but something had still been holding her back. It turned out to be leftover issues about her father. She’d shed that cloak since starting therapy, and Gigi was thrilled to see it.
Gigi was about to go for another glass of champagne when she spotted Grace, Hope, and Joy coming for her. She grinned at them and held her arms out for a hug. They fell into her and the four of them wrapped their arms around each other as her coven mates congratulated her on her skin care success.
“Thanks,” Gigi said. “But I couldn’t have done it without you three talking it up all night.”
Grace waved a dismissive hand. “Please, that stuff is genius. We were thrilled to help.”
The four of them chatted for a few minutes and planned their next coven meeting on the bluff.
“I was thinking about inviting Carly,” Joy said. “What do you think?”
“Yes,” the other three chimed in immediately.
“Perfect. We’ll initiate her next week,” Joy said. “After we’re done with our shoot.”
“Shoot?” Gigi asked. “Did you get another role?”
Joy nodded vigorously. “It’s a weekly drama that Carly is starring in for one of the streaming channels, and when one of the actresses dropped out, Carly recommended me. I got the call today. I start Monday!”
There was a collective shout of delight, and they all had far too many rounds of champagne. Gigi was certain she’d pay for that in the morning, but it was worth it. By the time Sebastian was driving Gigi home, she was exhausted and happier than she’d ever been.
“It was a great night,” Sebastian said as he pulled into the driveway.
“The best,” she agreed.
As they walked to the door, he pulled her in close and said, “It’s about to get even better.”
“Promise?” She smiled up at him, her heart fuller than she could ever remember.
“Always.” He kissed her tenderly, and then as it always did, their kiss quickly turned heated.
Gigi pulled back and said, “I love you, Sebastian Knight.”
His dark eyes, so full of love, searched hers as he said, “Enough to marry me?”
A slow grin claimed Gigi’s lips as she nodded and asked, “What took you so long?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Iris Hartsen was having a bad week. A very bad week. After attending three new business openings and making connections for real industry growth, Iris had been called into work on a Saturday and presented with a letter from the town council asking her to resign her post. The letter had described the rising rate of violent crime and her husband’s involvement in a drug trafficking scheme. It didn’t matter that she’d thrown him out and divorced him the minute she’d learned about his crimes last fall. But they were only concerned that Tom had gotten off on a technicality, and they thought Iris engineered it.
She let out a humorless bark of laughter. In the immortal words of Cher Horowitz, As if!
If someone had asked her a year ago what her husband was like, she’d have said kind, funny, loyal, a good businessman, and a contender for the most supportive husband of the year award. Now? Cheater, thief, criminal, and the guy who’d gotten her ousted from the job she loved. She hated that he wasn’t paying for his crimes. The judge had let him go with a warning that if he ended up in her court again, she’d find a reason to give him time. It had been unprofessional, but Iris understood the judge was just as pissed as she was about the lack of accountability.
“Fucking piece of toad slime,” Iris said.
“You’re not talking to me, are you?” a man from next door asked.
Iris glanced over and spotted her new neighbor smiling at her, humor dancing in his brilliant blue eyes. “Not yet, but give it a few minutes. You never know how this conversation is going to go.”
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I’m going to like you.”
She snorted out a laugh. “We’ll see.”
“I hope so. Actually, I was just going to come over and ask if you have any coffee. It turns out I’m a shit shopper and forgot to pick some up yesterday, and I could really use a shot of caffeine.”
“Sorry. Fresh out.” She actually had emergency instant, but there was no way she was letting the handsome stranger know she drank that stuff when she was too