Page 116 of The October Arrangement

“Because you took your dad engagement ring shopping.”

“I needed a second opinion.” A smirk crossed his lips.

I couldn’t believe I was engaged to Simon Montclair. I looked around the penthouse, and it finally sank in.

“You did this here on purpose,” I said.

“Yeah. I did.”

“Because this is where we started?” I smiled.

“This is where I tried to get rid of you.” He wiped a tear from my eye.

“You didn’t try very hard, Mr. Montclair.”

“I gave you ten rules to follow.”

“Look how well that turned out. I broke almost all of them.” I laughed, and so did he. “Everything really did come full circle, didn’t it?”

His thumb swept over my cheek. “Yeah, sweetheart. It certainly did.” He leaned in and kissed my lips.

Chapter Forty-Two

Six Months Later

Simon

I woke to the sound of the ocean. Not an alarm. Not to traffic fifty-some floors below us. Not to my phone vibrating on the nightstand with calls that couldn’t wait until a reasonable hour. Just the soothing sound of the ocean. I opened my eyes and stared through the open doors of our villa as I lay in bed, and the warm, salty morning air drifted into the room. I could get used to this.

I looked down at Bella. She was sprawled across me, one leg tangled with mine, with her left hand resting on my chest. My wife. We’d been married for three days, and those two words still got me every time I thought about it. Bella Castle, now Bella Montclair was my wife.

She stirred when I ran my finger lightly across her collarbone. A smile crossed her lips as she opened her eyes.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” I grinned.

“Good morning. What time is it?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. We don’t need to worry about time. That’s the entire point of a honeymoon.”

“So, what are we doing today?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Wait a second. You’re telling me that Simon Montclair doesn’t have a plan in place for today?” she smirked.

“Nope. No plans. We’re winging it, baby.” I smiled.

“I like the ‘winging it’ Simon.” She grinned.

Suddenly, she cupped her hand over her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” My brows furrowed.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

I followed her and held back her hair as she hovered over the toilet and vomited.

“Shit, Bella.”