Beautifully Complicated (Front Range University #4)

Epilogue - Aiden

FIVE YEARS LATER

“I can’t watch.” I hold my hands over my eyes to block the screen, realizing only then it doesn’t block the sound.

“Hiding your eyes won’t change the outcome.” Kier chuckles beside me.

“Yes, but if I can’t see then I can’t cheer one way or the other.”

Damien and Jagger are competing against each other in the Superbowl, and it’s giving me heart palpitations. No matter what happens one of them will be devastated, and I can’t bear to see that, especially since I’ll be ecstatic for the other. So I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, still in my tux, facing the TV with my hands plastered over my face.

“At least we aren’t there in person. Think of poor Cruz and Liam.”

“I don’t envy them that.” I shudder.

Due to an unfortunate coincidence, the Edison Awards were scheduled at the same time as the Superbowl, and since Kier and I received the award for innovation in medical technology for our AI-powered prosthetics, we couldn’t accept the invitation to attend the game. Initially I was bummed to miss out on the reunion of friends, but now I’m grateful for the excuse not to be there.

And as far as excuses go, there’s no better reason to miss the Super Bowl than winning an award for our work.

That’s obviously not the main goal, but after everything we’ve done to get here, it feels good.

Having my name on the article about the research we did for his dad’s prosthetic did help speed my acceptance in the field, but it didn’t negate the speculation entirely. My age, coupled with the fact that we were personal as well as professional partners, did give some people pause.

For the first two years our only client was the Boston firm Kier worked at prior to coming to Front Range University, and while that was a good arrangement, it wasn’t what we envisioned when we formed the company. Sure, we had the resources to continue our work, and we made advancements over and above what we were able to do for Kier’s dad. But only that firm took me seriously.

It wasn’t until that investor Kier had been talking to pulled together the resources to start his own company that things finally took off. Though we declined the offer to work for him exclusively, we consulted on several projects, and when he raved about us—both of us—more people started to take me seriously.

I’m still one of the youngest experts in the field, but I’ve earned the respect of my peers, which this award shows.

“Ooh, so close.” Kier whistles as the announcer says Jagger made the catch, which I assume means Damien nearly disrupted the play.

I think he’s secretly rooting for Damien. Living in Boston means we see them more frequently than Cam and Jagger, who live on the west coast. That, and the fact Damien’s married to my best friend, translates into us being closer to our New York neighbors. Not just physically either, we try to get together at least once a month, so we’re just closer to them overall.

But it’s not like we don’t see everyone else. Once a year we all vacation together to catch up, and since most of us have careers that involve some sort of travel it’s not uncommon to find yourself in the same city as someone else. We’ve all stayed remarkably close over the years, so while we’re closest to Damien and Bennet, it’s not like we’re distant from the rest of the group.

And as far as choosing sides goes, years ago, right before we became roommates, Cam toured the lab I worked at in school, and really made an attempt to learn what it is I do. To this day he makes the best effort of all our friends to understand my work, and because of that I have a soft spot for him. Given that he’s Jagger’s husband…

I don’t want to root for one friend over the other.

“Maybe we should just turn it off,” I say. “They won’t know if the ceremony ran late and we missed the whole damn thing.”

The words are barely out of my mouth when the room suddenly goes silent. “Whatever you want, Leanbh.”

“Thank you.” I take my hand off my eyes only to have to blink them furiously to bring my boyfriend into focus. “What are you doing?”

“I would hope you know the answer to that,” he says from bended knee, holding a velvet box in his hand.

Kier’s asked me to marry him twice before, and both times I declined. Not because I don’t want to marry him, but because the time wasn’t right.

Right after graduation was too soon. We had a business to build, I had a name to make for myself independent of him, and since I knew we’d be together forever I didn’t feel the need to rush into marriage. I sort of regret that now, but back then it felt like the right decision, and he went along with it since he knew it’d happen one day.

I’m pretty sure he thought that day would come sooner though. We both did.

The second time was when my father got cancer, and Kier thought we should get married while he was there to see it. But my mother and sister were a mess, which meant Conor and I were stressed and distracted, and it just didn’t feel right to celebrate much of anything while my dad was suffering. Fortunately, he’s in remission now, though even if he weren’t, it’s time.

“Third time’s the charm?” Kier’s nervous smile melts my heart.

“We can go with that.” I join him on the floor and pull a tiny box from my breast pocket. “Or we can pretend this is the first and last time either of us has to ask.”

My man’s eyes are watery when they find mine. “How long have you been planning this?”

“I’ve been planning to marry you since that day I walked into your office and realized you loved me as much as I loved you, even after that one night.” Kier’s hand is shaking slightly as I put the ring on it. “I’ve been plotting how to propose since the first time I said no.”

“You regret that?” He puts a ring on my finger and kisses it as if sealing it in place.

“I never wanted to say no. I just felt like I owed it to myself to start my career with my own name.”

“Did you think I’d expect you to take mine?” Kier holds our hands together in his lap, his thumb rubbing gently over mine.

“No. But if we’re married that’s what I’d want. Whether it’s yours, mine or a combination, I’d want us to have the same name.”

“I’d like that, Leanbh. Should we stick with what we’ve already decided on? CalSin?” He references the name of our company.

“That sounds a little official, but it might be easier to say than Caldwell-Sinclair. Although—” I pretend to think about the options “—keeping both will be like passing down our heritage to our kids.”

“Our kids?” It’s impossible to miss how those two words make his eyes sparkle.

“You’ve always wanted kids, right?” I play coy, knowing full well the thing he wants most in this world now that we’ve given his dad his mobility back is to have little ones running around. “I hope so, because the surrogate agency I’ve been talking to will be—”

“You’ve been talking to a surrogate?”

“An agency that pairs you with surrogates, yes. And—”

Kier smooshes his lips to mine, rambling excitedly between kisses. “I want two. One that looks like you and one that looks like me. And I want them close in age so they’re best friends. And we’ll move outside the city so they have a yard, and we can get them a dog, and—”

“Slow down.” I put my hand on his chest and push him slightly back so I can breathe. “First we have to pick our last name, then you’ve gotta marry me, and then we have to fuck like crazy so we can go through the IVF process.”

I bite the corner of my lip, waiting for him to process everything I’ve just said, and knowing exactly what he’ll say next.

“There’s no reason we can’t practice the fucking part right now, Aiden Caldwell-Sinclair. Get naked.”

This dude abides.