from you.”
“What a shame,” Derek said.
“I’d be open to an even trade,” I said. “I give them the wrinkle reducer if they give me the scar treatment.” Derek squeezed my leg in approval under the table.
“Consider it done,” Jenny said. “The SEC is not inclined to allow an IPO at this time. Not with an investigation into Lita pending. The earliest it could be approved is first quarter of next year.”
“Serves those ungrateful shits right,” Daisy said derisively.
“To ungrateful shits!” Luna said, raising her glass. Luna was a lovely lightweight.
“Speaking of investigations, Lita will face charges,” Jenny continued. “A butt-ton of them. In my professional opinion, if she went this far, there are other things we didn’t catch her on. But the SEC might.”
“Butt-ton!” Daisy cheered.
“How about my dear brother?” I asked.
“Well, he tried to convince your father to file a lawsuit against Mr. Price here for, and I quote, ‘rearranging his face’ and Jane for making him ‘piss his pants.’ But your father wasn’t inclined. In fact, he called the police himself and handed Byron Stanton the Third over to uniformed officers and then called a divorce lawyer.”
I choked on my Bloody Mary. It looked as though fresh starts were happening everywhere.
“You do good work, Jenny,” I said, blotting my mouth with a napkin.
“I’m very, very expensive. I’m glad you can still afford me.”
“This calls for champagne,” I said. I kissed Derek on the cheek and slid out of the booth. At the bar, I ordered a few bottles and a cake. I wanted cake today.
“Celebrating something?”
I turned to the woman next to me and nearly slipped off my stool. It was one of the romance novelists.
“Y-yes,” I sputtered.
I’d just had a showdown with a board of directors, a physical altercation with my nemesis, and now I was tongue-tied over speaking to a woman in yoga pants and a Tequila Tacos and Naps shirt.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Congratulations, whatever it is. I love a happy ending,” she said, fingers flying over the keyboard of her laptop.
“Here comes mine, now,” I said as Derek approached.
“Hmm, chiseled jaw covered in stubble. Carelessly worn suit. Ooh. Eyes like the deepest point in the Caribbean.”
“I like to think of them as a glacier blue,” I told her.
“Glacier. Nice.” Her fingers danced over the keyboard.
“I’m standing right here,” Derek said.
“And we’re sitting right here appreciating you,” the novelist said. She knocked back the rest of her drink and signaled for another one. “I’m suddenly feeling inspired.”
“Good luck,” I told her.
“You, too,” she said without looking up from her screen. “You guys got any tacos on the menu?” she asked the bartender.
I took the first open bottle of champagne and slid off the stool.
Derek snaked his arms around me.
“What do you say you and I take that bottle and sneak off to the bathroom?”
“Bathrooms are kind of gross. Maybe try the rooftop terrace since it’s closed until dinner?” the writer suggested.
“Come on, darling,” Derek said, pulling me toward the stairs. “Let’s go find our happy ending.”
Behind us, my friends, my circle, was still toasting.
“To Derek, I’m so glad I didn’t have to junk punch you.”
“To Derek!”
Epilogue
Emily
“I’ve got some papers for you to review when you have a moment, love.” The warm affection in Derek’s voice drew my attention away from the microscope I was glued to.
“This is a nice surprise,” I said, lifting my lips for a kiss for my sexy, smart, well-dressed, devastatingly handsome boyfriend. It was a Saturday morning, or at least it had been two hours ago, I winced, noting the time on the clock. A beautiful, hot day outside, and I was happily toiling over a blood sample and new, life-changing data.
“It’s almost quitting time,” he said, dropping a neat stack of legal documents next to me on the stainless steel work table. “I thought I’d pick you up and we could head to the beach bar for a late lunch. Maybe finish the afternoon off with a naked swim and drinks at home?”
The man knew how to woo me away from my work like no other.
“That sounds like perfection,” I said, rising from the stool and slipping my arms around his neck. “What’s wrong?”
He looked… nervous? A nervous Derek was a suspicious Derek.
“What are you up to?” I demanded. “Did you steal the Porsche keys again?”
He laughed, blue eyes twinkling and it gave me a start to know that soon, I might know someone else with his beautiful eyes.
“You’re a suspicious one, aren’t you?” he said, stroking a