“Get out of here,” her boss said with a smile. “You’re the first assistant I’ve lost after only six hours.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam said, although she was unable to hide her grin. She rounded her desk to grab her things, sweeping up her silver bud vase and rose last. Then she slipped her arm through Brody’s and walked with him out of the building.
Once they reached the street, they stopped. “Where are we going now?” she asked.
“Anywhere you want.”
“I want to go out to lunch.”
Brody smiled, but she could tell he was nervous about the prospect. He wasn’t going to be comfortable overnight. “Okay. How about that place across the street?”
They headed toward the crosswalk and waited for the light to change. As they passed through the crowd of people, Sam could feel Brody tense beside her. There were some stares, but Sam clung tighter to him and they kept moving. Outside the restaurant, she stopped and turned to him. “Are you okay? Is this too much for your first day out?”
The tension eased from his face as he leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll be fine. I can do anything if you’re with me. Besides, I’ve decided that they’re not staring at me because of my scars. They’re staring because my fiancée is so damn hot.”
Epilogue
Christmas Eve
“I don’t know what to wear,” Sam said from the depths of their closet.
Brody sat on the mattress and shook his head. “It really doesn’t matter. We usually wear whatever we feel like. Something warm,” he suggested.
“It does matter!” She flipped through several outfits and frowned. “I’m meeting your family for the first time. I want to make the right impression.”
“My family has been so concerned about my love life for the past ten years that I think they’ll love you on principle. No matter what you wear, they’re going to adore the beauty that tamed the beast.”
That was sweet, but it didn’t make her any less nervous about facing the Edens and their clan of super-successful children. Sam emerged from the closet with an outfit held up to her chin. It was a plaid wool wrap skirt and cream sweater that she would pair with tights and knee-high boots. “What about this?”
“It’s great.”
She could tell he was humoring her. Sam carried the outfit back into the closet and came out with another one. This one was a red sparkly sweater with flowing black palazzo pants. “What about this?”
“It’s great.”
She dropped the outfit to her side. “You said that about the last one.”
“They were both great. Really.”
Sam sighed. “You’re no help at all.”
Brody shook his head and got up from the bed to approach her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her close. “You’re beautiful in anything. I actually prefer you in nothing. But you could wear an ugly reindeer sweater and it wouldn’t matter. You’re so fashionable, you’d probably start a new trend of ugly reindeer sweaters.”
He leaned down to kiss her, and Sam felt her nerves finally start to fade. She melted into him, letting the latest outfit fall to the floor. Brody’s hands glided over her back. One slipped beneath her top and moved to unsnap her bra.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, twisting from his grasp before he could succeed. “We’re going to be late getting to your parents’ house as it is.”
“Then finish packing so we can leave!”
“Fine. The skirt,” she decided.
“Fine.” Brody smiled, and she realized he’d tricked her into making a quick decision.
Sam was stuffing the last of her things in a bag when she heard Brody’s cell phone ring. She recognized the tone now as his brother Xander’s—“Hail to the Chief.” It always made her laugh when she heard the different songs he chose for each member of his family.
“Hey, Xander,” Brody answered. “Are you at the house already?”
There was an extended silence. Sam zipped up her bag and rolled it across the room to where Brody was standing. The expression on his face was not what she was expecting. His face was blank and stony, his eyes boring into the wall. Something was wrong. Hopefully nothing happened with his parents. Brody had told her his foster dad, Ken, had a heart condition.
“Are we certain it’s him?” Brody said at last. “So Wade was wrong.”