Love on Lexington Avenue(75)

His eyes searched hers. “You want me to do the knee thing? I’ll do the knee thing.”

She laughed, a little breathless, still staring at the ring. “Isn’t this all kind of soon? We have time.”

He reached for her left hand, rubbed his finger along the base of her fourth finger. “It’s not too soon for me. You’re it for me, Claire. But if you need time, I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

Claire gave the only answer she could, the one that had been lodged in her heart the second she saw him sitting on the picnic blanket watching her. “I don’t need time,” she said, looking at him with a bright smile. “Yes. Yes!”

She laughed as he enthusiastically slid the ring on her finger, as though fearing she’d change her mind.

“Oh, that’s heavy,” she said in surprise.

“Good heavy?”

“Great heavy,” she said, kissing him softly.

“How soon until I get to marry you?” he asked, lowering her to the blanket beneath the Eiffel Tower.

Claire smiled. “We’ll figure it out. Later.”





Epilogue


ONE MONTH LATER

And you thought I’d be insufferable,” Naomi protested. “Audrey hasn’t stopped gloating since you got back from Paris. Also, Claire, hon, please make sure you take a water break. Lugging that ring around has got to be dehydrating.”

Claire grinned, lifting her left hand and wiggling her ring, the light bouncing around Audrey’s sunny kitchen. “It never gets old.”

“Bob, sweetie, put the Louboutin down,” Audrey said as she handed them each a champagne flute. “I swear, they say dogs are color-blind, but Bob only seems to go for the red soles.”

“Don’t judge her,” Naomi said. “She has excellent taste. Who is that poor dog even living with these days?”

“Claire and Scott, but I get regular visitation rights,” Audrey explained.

“Ah. And where are you living?” Naomi asked Claire. “Since you have, what? Three places to choose from?”

“Mine. Are you kidding? That sucker took months of planning. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor,” Claire replied.

“And Scott’s labor?” Naomi nudged.

“Eh. Maybe a little. I guess he did some stuff. Built the kitchen, redid the bathrooms, changed all the flooring, painted all the walls . . .”

“But you Pinterested hard,” Audrey pointed out.

“I did. I really did. Thank you for noticing.”

Naomi had picked up Claire’s left hand and was tilting it in every direction. “I still can’t believe you’re married. I haven’t even found my dress yet.”

“Second wedding prerogative,” Claire pointed out. “I’ve already done the big white wedding. This time around, I just wanted Scott.”

“Don’t cry,” Naomi said, pointing a warning finger at an already blubbering Audrey without looking away from Claire. “But it is pretty damn sweet the way you guys are doing things your way, all out of order.”

Scott and Claire had spent the week in Paris on what they’d called their honeymoon. Then they’d come home and gotten married at city hall on the way back from the airport. Then they’d moved into the home they’d built together.

Scott had started work almost immediately on a new building in the city, one he swore he liked even better than the Shanghai project. It didn’t hurt that the architect of this one was none other than Oliver Cunningham.

Life was just about perfect.

Naomi set Claire’s hand aside and turned her attention toward Audrey. “All right, Tate. Two of us in the pact down, one to go.”

“Well, actually,” Claire pointed out. “The pact was to help each other avoid the Manhattan womanizers, not necessarily to help each other find the right guy.”

Naomi gave her a look. “Really? Says the one who’s been looking like the personification of the heart-eyes emoji for the past few weeks?”

“I do want that,” Audrey admitted. “But I’ll also point out that I’m the only one with a perfect record on picking out the good ones. Naomi couldn’t see Oliver when he was right under her nose, and she misjudged Scott. Claire saw Oliver’s potential, but kissed way too many frogs before realizing Scott was the one.”

“Your point?” Naomi said.

“Just that the record proves that I am the best judge of male character. I love your intentions, but at this rate, I’ll have married my dream guy before you two have even spotted him. Bob, no! Drop the Louboutin!”

Claire and Naomi exchanged a knowing look as Audrey bent to wrestle a shoe from the dog. They’d both already spotted Audrey’s perfect guy.

And he was sitting right under her nose.





Acknowledgments


Thank you so much for letting me share Claire and Scott’s love story with you! I hope you enjoyed watching these two stubborn souls journey to happily ever after!

I loved writing this story, but as always, it didn’t make it from my imagination to the bookshelf without the help of a fantastic team who deserve my heartfelt thanks:

My agent, Nicole Resciniti, always deserves a shout-out, but she was instrumental in this book in particular for helping me navigate some tricky rewrites.