Page 98 of Made
Together, as always, we walk inside—to the launch night of Maddox’s new restaurant, Verona’s Place.
Epilogue
4 MONTHS LATER
We’re high in the Atlas Mountains, and it feels like we’re literally on top of the world. We spent the day hiking, eating in traditional village spots, and relishing our new status as husband and wife. We have a villa all to ourselves, complete with private pool and its own gardens. I’ve loved the opportunity to pick fresh produce and use it in my cooking, and Ellie has totally adopted the feral kittens that call the place home. I’d be very surprised if those kittens didn’t soon find themselves relocating to New York.
I don’t mind though, I love animals. It’ll be good practice for when we have kids.
My heart swells at the idea, a combination of some long-dormant primal instinct that’s kicked in recently, wanting to fill her with my baby, and the knowledge that she will be the world’s best mom.
We’ve definitely been practicing hard on the baby front, that’s for sure.
Morocco is as beautiful as I remembered, but it’s still overshadowed by the gorgeous woman by my side. She’s next tome in the Jeep as we bounce over rough terrain and head down the hillside.
“Are you doing that on purpose?” she asks.
I frown, all innocence. “What?”
She narrows her eyes. “You know what. You’re deliberately speeding up on the bouncy bits. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at my boobies every time.”
I laugh out loud. The word boobies always cracks me up. And yeah, she’s right. I have been doing that. “Can I help it if my wife has the best tits on the planet?” She blushes, and it’s unbearably cute. “I only have to look at them and I get hard.”
She looks away, a tiny smile on her face. Her nipples pebble beneath her flimsy sundress. Yeah. Looks like I’m not the only one with a hard-on. “Where are we going anyway?” she asks, fanning herself.
“It’s a surprise.”
It takes us an hour to get there, and I smile as she realizes where we are. It’s the exact same restaurant where we came for dinner all those years ago. It’s changed hands now and has a new name. Like us, it’s very different than it was back in the mists of time. Back in the days when I was still fighting to stay sober, still finding my way through the maze of celibacy. Back when I first laid eyes on her, immediately wanted her, and still managed to say no.
I will never say no to my wife again.
“Oh, Maddox. I thought this place had closed down?” she says. “I looked it up and it said it’d gone out of business.”
I shrug. There are some advantages to being rich, and this is one of them. Besides, I now have my own income because Verona’s Place is booming.
“I bought it,” I tell her simply. “For us.”
“What do you mean for us? We don’t need our own restaurant in Morocco. Much as I love the romance of what you’ve done, the gesture, this is?—”
I open the Jeep door, helping her out of her seat. “Relax, baby. It’s for us when we’re here—and I suggest we make this an annual pilgrimage, maybe on our anniversary? But the rest of the time, I’ve got it set up as a community enterprise. It’s a non-profit, training local kids in the culinary arts and in tourism. It’s giving them a chance to develop their skills. They only use local suppliers so it’s boosting the economy here, and all income is reinvested in the neighborhood. Did I think of everything?”
“Of course you did. Maybe the kittens can live here, too.”
I nod. Those kittens are coming home with us. I just don’t think she’s admitted that to herself yet. Her eyes are sparkling as I take her hand and lead her to our table. We are the only people here tonight—that’s the perk of owning it. Our space is set up with comfortable beanbags to lounge on, and it’s draped with colorful fabrics and strings of fairy lights. “Maddox, it’s magical. Even more pretty than that first night.”
“The night we talked for hours. The night I gave you a little piece of my soul, baby.”
She smiles, twines her fingers in mine. Pouts a little, which is fucking adorable. “And then brutally rejected me and broke my poor heart.”
“I don’t regret it,” I say, pulling her into my lap. Another perk of owning the place— everybody is looking the other way. “Saying no to you.”
She wraps her arms around my neck. “Really? How cruel.”
“You know it’s not. You know exactly what I mean. I wasn’t ready then, Ellie. I didn’t even love myself, and I certainly wasn’t capable of loving you the way you deserved to be loved. I had to go through the process. I had to do the steps, put in the work.Figure myself out before I was worth a damn to anybody else. It took time, but we got there in the end, baby.”
She kisses me, and my cock responds immediately. She grins and wriggles around on my lap, teasing me. We might own the place, but she knows I won’t get her naked and wet out here with other people in the vicinity. I’ll punish her for it later, though, and she’ll fucking love it.
“This isn’t the end, Maddox,” she says, her smile setting off fireworks in my heart. “This is just the beginning.”
