Surprise

EMERALD

Sophie was every bit the prim and proper lady she appeared to be. She had the grace, poise, and dignity of any debutante in her eighties.

Her aged beauty still disarmed people far younger than herself, and her matronly grandmother vibe set people at ease.

She was disturbingly easy to talk to.

However…

This frail, elderly woman that you’d expect to whip up cookies from scratch, using a family recipe passed down from a time before modern ovens, was more than what you saw.

I discovered this little gem of a fact during brunch.

Yes. Brunch. The rich people’s excuse to sleep past the working class’s usual wake-up of six a.m. Not quite late enough for lunch, but too late for breakfast. But, hey. There are drinks, right?

We were at a country club. Yeah. Another rich people thing because going to an actual club was too “low-class.”

We were having a wonderful time talking about what I was walking into with this marriage.

Apparently, there were a lot of expectations beyond me saying “I do” that Tate either wasn’t aware of, found to be unimportant, or just didn’t care to inform me of.

These women, who were older than me yet younger than Sophie, started prattling on about “that poor Everett girl” and how it wasn’t fair that Tate was putting her through a lawsuit when she wanted justice for her unborn child.

Ha! I couldn’t believe people actually bought that crap, but before I could so much as blink, Sophie was on her like white on rice.

Only she never got out of her chair.

A few sentences and those women were pale-faced under their fake tans and shaking. One was in ~tears~! It was glorious.

She was also very blunt.

One of the topics we discussed began with, “You’re having sex with my grandson,” and ended with, “We should go shopping soon.

“There’s this store called Wild Cherry that has some pretty sexy lingerie. I’m sure Tate would appreciate it for about two seconds before you two ended up taking a long weekend at home.”

The entire time, she was grinning like an evil villainess that knew my weakness was embarrassment and cringe-inducing topics. Evil Sophie.

I missed lunch with Tate, which oddly upset me a little bit. I hadn’t realized just how much time we actually spent together until Sophie bet me that I couldn’t survive the day without him.

I started out strong enough. I tried to hold out for as long as possible by distracting myself.

I visited Lance, then chatted with Macy on the phone while she ran an errand for her boss. When that proved ineffective against my withdrawal anxiety, I called the man himself.

It was like drinking a soda when you wanted coffee. Caffeine was still caffeine, but the weaker dose was what you had to settle with.

Technically, that wasn’t against the rules of the bet, right? It sure didn’t feel like it since the phone call only served to ratchet up the jitters until I found myself waiting for him at the office.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing me sitting on a chair just outside his office.

“Your grandmother is an evil woman.” I narrowed my eyes as I got up and practically tackled him because I slammed into his chest so hard.

“She has her moments.” He chuckled. “What did she do?”

“Told me I couldn’t last a day without seeing you. Old bat was wrong, but it was absolute torture,” I said into his chest, making him laugh.

“So that’s why you missed lunch, huh?” he asked, tucking me against his side under his arm and leading us to the elevators.

“She owes me a recipe.” I pouted.

“Does it really count when you met me here and not at home?” he asked, and I glared at him.

“It fucking counts.”

“Well, it works out, I guess,” he said as we got in and began our ride down to the lobby.

“What works out?” I asked, then smirked at him and gave his arm a squeeze. “Aside from you, bossman.”

“I’m not your boss anymore. I haven’t been for a while, Shrimp,” he laughed.

“True, but I do kind of like it when you’re in that Big Boss Zone,” I admitted, tapping my chin and glancing at him sideways, grinning when I saw the look on his face. One I had become familiar with since my birthday.

“You are a temptation, Emerald,” he huffed. “I have a surprise for you when we get home, woman. Hold off on the seduction until after, please?”

“Killjoy, but fine. I’ll wait,” I pouted. “What kind of surprise?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now, would it?” he chuckled.

“You seem awfully confident about me liking it,” I smiled and put my arm around his back as we walked across the empty lobby. “You’re adapting to the whole relationship thing pretty well.”

“This one was an easy guess,” he smiled. “And I had a bit of help.”

“From whom?” I asked.

“That would be telling, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t like you right now,” I huffed as Dale opened the back door of the car for us with a nod in my direction.

“You don’t mean that, do you?” he asked, smirking at me as we both slid into the seat.

“I’m finding it incredibly difficult to feel anything other than good things around you, Tate. Every day, it gets a little harder,” I admitted, holding his hand to my cheek. “Pretty sure I’m close to being completely incapable of it.”

“That’s good. Maybe the next time I make a mistake, you’ll forgive me easier. That was the worst week of my life.” He smiled and rubbed his thumb over my cheek.

“It wasn’t a week.” I giggled.

“Felt like a lifetime,” he said seriously.

“So, what’s the plan when we get home? I didn’t make dinner, so we have to order something,” I asked.

“Nice try, Shrimp, but you’ll have to see for yourself.” Tate chuckled, and I huffed and crossed my arms.

***

Tate walked me into the penthouse with his hands over my eyes, much to my irritation. He insisted with an excitement that made it damn near impossible for me to put up any kind of real argument.

So, there I was, blind and trusting Tate not to let me trip. It was actually quite easy to do, which wasn’t surprising so much as…enlightening. Inevitable, obviously.

“Ready?” Tate whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine as I nodded once.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision when he took his hands away. When I looked around, I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth as my eyes immediately stung with tears that raced down my face.

All around us were pictures that I thought I would never see again. The ones that documented the life I used to have.

The happy one where anything and everything was possible and there wasn’t a single tear to be seen for miles.

Hundreds of pictures that had been charred and ruined beyond recognition now sat in frames, perfectly reflecting the moment in time they had captured all those years ago.

“How?” I squeezed out of my tightened throat as my eyes went from one photo to the next in complete shock and total awe, wiping the tears that kept coming.

“The day I stupidly told your brother and then opened my dumb mouth to put my foot in it,” he answered. “I didn’t even understand what had happened. Vince explained it, and I felt like such a fucking dick.

“I needed to make it right somehow. I pulled your personnel file and found Barbara’s emergency contact information. I talked to your mother and got them from her.”

“That’s why she thought she knew you!” I exclaimed, staring at him with my mouth wide open.

“I was going to say something, but Barbara has a wicked elbow jab.” He rubbed his side with a smirk. “It’s taken a while to restore them. Some weren’t able to be salvaged at all.”

“I didn’t think ~any~ of them could be fixed,” I breathed out as I looked around the living room again. There wasn’t an inch of free surface space to be found, even on the couch.

“I made sure there were copies made for your mom and brother as well, and you all have a disk and a thumb drive as backup, so you’ll never lose them again.”

He came over and used the back of his knuckles to dry my face. “I’m sorry for being a dick, and thank you for letting me try again.”

“Oh, Tate,” I shook my head and took one last look around me before letting my eyes rest on the man in front of me.

“Damn you. How do you expect me to function when you’re being overwhelmingly perfect, you asshole?”

His eyes widened for a second before his lips twitched in a fight he quickly lost as he laughed loudly.

He tucked me against him in a hug I returned eagerly as the sound slowly faded in his chest. Once again, I felt something not entirely unexpected.

I’m not sure if it was one thing or several things all at once, but it wasn’t something I had allowed myself to feel since I found my father passed out on the kitchen floor, leading to the discovery of his cancer.

Not this deeply, anyhow. That feeling, however, led me to a realization that did shock me.

I was in love with Tate King.