Blurring the Lines (Men of the Zodiac) (16 page)
Read Blurring the Lines (Men of the Zodiac) Online
Authors: Marisa Cleveland
Epilogue
Edgewater Bay’s Downtown District
One year later
T
he sun cast bright light over the early morning volunteers setting up for the Bayfront Festival and Ribbon Cutting. Most of the buildings had been renovated to meet the current Florida Building Code without losing their original structure or facade, and this morning marked the first day for Bayfront Boulevard to be reopened to the public.
Blake stood with his back to the sun, his eyes pinned on the one woman capable of distracting him from anything and everything. She moved with liquid grace, unrolling the thick, red ribbon for the mayor to cut in a couple of hours. If it weren’t for her, so many things would be different, including his apartment with three dogs, but she’d wiggled her way into his life, and he couldn’t imagine spending his time any other way than with her.
When she moved to haul a crate, he jumped into action, stopping her before she could bend in a bad way.
Jogging over to her, he called, “Let me get that.”
She whirled on him and grinned. “I got it. You just relax and prepare for your speech.”
His speech. How could he think about a speech when he’d noticed that pink stick in the trash bin? He could hardly believe that after a year together they were adding to their family, and not just with more dogs. They’d had a serious conversation when a board position for the animal rescue opened, because within the first week, Kira had filled his apartment with a dozen dogs, violating the city ordinance.
“I’ve got it right here.” He tapped his back pocket with the rolled up pages of his speech.
Suspicion filled her voice as she asked, “Have you reviewed all my notes?”
“A good deal of them.” Truthfully, he hadn’t looked at the thing in two days. They’d been too busy, and with one thing after another, he hadn’t made the dedication speech a priority.
Her mouth curved into an adorable pout, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I think you should review it one more time.” She used the hug to snatch the paper from his pocket and presented it to him. “Over here.”
Steering him by the shoulders, she pushed him in the direction she wanted him to go.
He spun around and faced her, holding the speech but not looking at it. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to present to you—”
He glanced down and saw her trademark pink flower sticky note, which she’d used to mark his stage direction. He knew them by heart. The first one read, “Scan the crowd with your eyes, so they know you’re looking at all of them.”
But as the speech came to an end, he saw she’d replaced the final sticky with a different note. Next to the words, “…for our families to enjoy for generations,” she’d placed a baby blue rattle-shaped sticky note that read, “including my son, due this summer.”
The pages fell from his fingers and he wrapped her in the full-body hug. “I love you so much.”
“Thank you for making all my dreams come true.”
“
Our
dreams, Kira. Ours.”
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Acknowledgments
First and forever, thank you to all the readers and writers and believers in the power of words.
Nicole and Robin, you stuck with this to the end, and I am grateful for your immeasurable talents that shaped this book. Without your guidance, I wouldn’t have made it to today. Thank you.
Always, to Simon Cleveland, my first reader and my last everything.
About the Author
Marisa Cleveland
loves to laugh, hates to cry, and does both often. She’s been called admissions counselor, assistant director, teacher, coach, analyst, agent, friend, and wife. As a writer, she writes. Every day.
Perhaps because she married her best friend, her adult romance novels focus on playfully naughty relationships developed through friendship and family-oriented values. She is a member of SCBWI, RWA, and YARWA.
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Discover the
Men of the Zodiac
series…
Sign: Ares
Sign: Taurus
Sign: Gemini
Sign: Cancer
Sign: Leo
Sign: Virgo
Sign: Libra
Sign: Scorpio
One Night with the Billionaire
Sign: Sagittarius
The Greek Tycoon’s Tarnished Bride
Sign: Capricorn
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