Joker in the Pack (Romantic Suspense, Completed, Watty Winner)

Epilogue - Part 1

A month later, I was still waiting for Nye to come to his senses, but last week, he'd cleared out half of his wardrobe for me and bought a new food mixer. That said he wanted me in his life, right?

So why did he keep sending mixed messages? He asked about my friends, but if I touched on his family, he shut me down. Although he didn't mind me going to the office with him, last week, he'd disappeared for the whole of Saturday and changed the subject when I asked where he'd been. And his daily questions about the progress at Lilac Cottage seemed more than just a friendly interest. Did he want me to go back there?

Today was no different.

"How's the work going?" he asked, looking up from his plate of toast.

"The men have finished clearing the site now, and they said the materials for the rebuild should start arriving today. It's going faster than I thought."

"I got a friend of a friend to have a word with the insurance company, so there shouldn't be any hold-ups."

He did? Was he that desperate to get rid of me? Suddenly, I'd lost my appetite. I got up and threw the rest of my scrambled eggs into the bin, then shoved the dirty plate into the dishwasher.

"Babe, what's up?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Oh shit. What did I say?"

"It doesn't matter."

I'd forgotten how fast he could move, and he closed the door before I managed to escape to the lounge. "Liv, I can't make things right until you tell me."

I turned to him, hands on hips as tears tickled my eyelids. "I'm upset because you want me to leave, okay?"

"Huh?"

"Every day, you ask if the cottage is ready for me to move into yet, and now you're trying to hurry things along."

"Oh, Liv." He pulled my hands free and clasped them in his. "I want the cottage finished because I'm a selfish bastard. It's taking up half your time at the moment, and I want it all."

"You don't want me to leave?"

"No, I want you to stay." He swallowed and closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, he sucked my soul into his clear blue eyes. "I want you to stay permanently. Don't go back to Upper Foxford."

"Really? You want me to move in here?"

He nodded, looking a little worried until I squealed and leapt into his arms.

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes. I love being back in London."

And more than anything, I loved being with Nye. Breakfast was forgotten as he carried me to the bedroom and reminded me of all the reasons why I never wanted to leave the apartment. Or, in fact, his deluxe king-size. I'll give you a hint—it didn't have anything to do with the glorious view from the terrace.

"If I don't need to move back to Lilac Cottage, what should I do with it?" I mused afterwards.

Nye had given up on the idea of going to the office and brought his laptop into bed, where he was answering emails in between twirling my hair around his fingers and feeding me chocolates. As long as he didn't hit the video conference button, we were all good.

"Sell it, rent it out, use it as a holiday home?" he suggested.

"I'm not sure a trip to Upper Foxford would be much of a holiday." But me as a landlord? If someone had suggested the idea a year ago, I'd have laughed, but with the state of my finances, I couldn't deny the extra money would come in handy. "The rental income could tide me over until I get my business built back up again."