A Hot Holiday Collection

Epilogue

KATIE

A fter more than two decades together, I knew my husband better than anyone. I had suspected he was up to something for the past month, but his lips had been sealed about whatever surprise he was finally ready to spring on me today. “Why are you being so secretive about where you’re taking me?”

“All in good time.” He intertwined our fingers and lifted my hand to kiss my knuckles. “You’ll understand when we get there.”

“It’s already been forever since we left the house, and you know I’m not the most patient person in the world,” I reminded him with a smile as I shifted to get comfortable in my seat. We’d been driving for almost two hours, and my butt was going to fall asleep if I didn’t get out of the car soon.

“Which is why it’s funny as fuck that you love surprises so much when waiting for them drives you up the wall.” He laughed and shook his head.

I shrugged. “What can I say? You fell in love with a complicated woman.”

“And I’d happily do it all over again.”

There wasn’t a hint of doubt in his tone. Or my heart. Our feelings for each other had grown stronger every day we’d spent together. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, baby. With all my heart.”

I basked in my gooey thoughts for another half an hour. Just when I was getting ready to ask him how much longer our drive would take, he turned down a gravel drive. “Are we near the lake?”

“Yes.”

I peered out my window, taking in the mature trees lining the country road. “It’s so pretty here.”

His lips curved into a satisfied smirk. “I figured you’d like it.”

“Have you been stalking my social media again?” I shot him a suspicious glance. “One of the home-renovation shows that I follow posted a bunch of shots a couple of months ago from a lake house they featured on a recent episode. They were stunning, so I commented to congratulate them on a job well done.”

“I may have noticed your interest in that house when we watched the episode together.” When I snorted in reaction to his non-confession, he added, “And I might have also scrolled through your profile for a few ideas and noticed your comments on their post.”

I wasn’t even a little bit surprised. Sawyer never missed anything when it came to our children or me. “It’s a good thing your behavior doesn’t really count as stalking since I have no secrets from you.”

“And you make it so easy for me.” I lifted a brow, and he added, “The little sticky note you keep under your keyboard with all of your passwords is basically an invitation for me to snoop.”

I rolled my eyes. “Or it’s there because I got tired of having to reset my passwords every time I forgot one, which happened pretty much every week before I finally gave up on memorizing them.”

“Nah, I think my explanation is better.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure you do.” I laughed, but it was short-lived. My breath caught in my throat when he rounded a corner, and the view of the lake caught my eye. “Whoa.”

“Like it?”

He sounded pleased with my reaction, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the beautiful blue water to look for the smile that was bound to be on his gorgeous face. “How could I not? It’s stunning. Please tell me you rented the place for the whole week and not just the weekend.”

“C’mon, baby. You know me better than that,” he chided.

I rubbed my hands together in excitement. “Did you get it for all of September then?”

“Guess again.”

I swiveled in my seat with a gasp. “Oh, my gosh! Did you buy us a lake house?”

“Damn straight, I did.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “Now that our babies have flown the coop, I figured we could be empty nesters in style. Plus, a lake house is bound to lure the kids into visiting more often, and there’s plenty of room for everyone.”

I had been a complete mess when we’d helped our youngest move into her freshman dorm last week. The kids had filled the beautiful house Sawyer had bought for me with so much laughter and fun, I was afraid it would never feel the same without them. Everywhere I looked were reminders of all the milestones they’d experienced. Dashes on the kitchen doorframe to mark their height as they grew. Little handprints on stepping-stones in the garden. The tree house in the backyard that our eldest had talked Sawyer into building. We’d created the home I’d always dreamed of, but now that the children were grown, I was more than ready for a new challenge.

As he pulled up in front of a sprawling, two-story house with vinyl-shake siding in a pretty blue shade with bright-white shutters, I thanked my lucky stars that my husband knew me so well. And that he always went above and beyond to give me what I needed, even before I knew I needed it.

“With views like these, we need a porch swing,” I announced as soon as he opened the passenger side door to help me out of the car.

“You’re going to want two.” Instead of heading inside, he guided me around to the back of the house, where the cedar deck looked over the water.

“And a boat.” I pointed toward the lake. “Since you picked the house, I get to choose what we’re going to tether to this gorgeous dock.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he agreed, knowing darn well that I wouldn’t pick a boat he didn’t like.

And we sealed the deal the same way we had ever since the day we got engaged—with smoking-hot sex.