The Almost Romantic Bonus Epilogue!

Bonus Scene for THE ALMOST ROMANTIC

Secret Date

Elodie

The package arrives by personal messenger. A cute blond guy with freckles, who strolls into Elodie’s Chocolates one Thursday afternoon in the fall, swinging a pink envelope back and forth. He comes up to the counter and hands it to me.

“For you.”

I don’t even blush. I’m so accustomed to these deliveries now. With my chin up, I say, “Thank you, Carson.”

He stayed on when the perfume shop became Risqué Business, and though the sex toy shop caters primarily to women, he’s developed a specialty of sorts, helping many of the men who shop there for their ladies.

But the specialty I like most is that he makes Kenji very, very happy.

From behind the counter, Kenji waves at his beau, then blows him a kiss. Carson blows one right back, then turns to me. “From Mr. Archer to Mrs. Archer,” he says.

Since there’s a lull in traffic right now Kenji slides over to me, sets his chin on my shoulder, and says, “I want to see what he sent you.”

“Not now.”
He pouts.
“Spoiler alert: it needs batteries,” I say.
Kenji smiles at Carson. “The best things in life do.”
“Hey, I don’t need batteries.”
“I stand corrected.”
They’re so in love it’s adorable.
Later, when I leave to meet Gage for a secret date, I tear open the top of the pink

envelope and peer inside as I walk. I don’t take it out though. “Ohhhh.”
It’s The Symphony. I’ve been wanting to try this one with my husband.
It’s our thing. Well, one of our things. We have a lot of things, from secret dates in the

daytime, to sex toy shopping, to making fruit-scented soap, to taste-testing chocolate, to going to football games with our friends. We stay very, very busy. Also, we’re raising two brilliant young ladies.

Eliza’s twelve now, kicking butt at playing softball and acing her math class in school. Amanda’s fourteen and is already in love with her art school and is spending more and more time at the pottery studio. They still like to get boba together when they can, and every time they go, I’m convinced they’re going to crack some new mystery.

Gage keeps busy at Sticks and Stones, but he works less than he used to. He’s a softball dad and an art dad and a very doting husband. Plus, we run Hot Cocoa and Grandma’s Cookies as a five-some on Sundays. In the summers, the shop makes iced chocolate, and it’s even better.

Today, I steal away to meet Gage at the tea gardens. It’s another date we redo, like the baseball one. That’s another one of our things. We keep telling each other the story of our once-fake romance, and then we do it for real.

I meet him at the gate by the tranquil gardens, water gurgling softly over rocks, flowers crawling up the hillside. He’s as handsome as ever, wearing jeans that hug strong thighs and a Henley that shows off some of his ink, but not all of it. It’s only rolled up to reveal some of the lotus.

I meet his eyes, and they burn brightly for me.

“Hello, cupcake,” he says, then drops a possessive kiss to my lips. He loves kissing me in private. He loves kissing me in public. He constantly wants everyone to know I belong to him. And I do.

“Hey, you.”
“Did you get your gift?”
I pat my purse. “Will you use it on me later?”
“I fucking will.”
“You’re so good to me.”
“What can I say? I like to take the make my wife come countless times challenge.” I laugh. “I think that’s a challenge you should take every single day. The multiple-O

challenge.”
He wraps his arm tightly around me, squeezes me to his side. “My favorite one.” We wander through the gardens, and we catch up on our days. But I stop talking

when I spot a splash of color on his forearm where his sleeve is rolled up more now. “Gage Reginald Archer.”
“What?” he asks innocently.
I point. “You got a new tattoo.”

He looks down at it like he’s just realized it’s there. “Oh yeah. I did.”

He’s smiling as if he has a secret, and boy, did he ever keep this one. It’s small but it’s bright and brilliant—a yellow rose.

“You like?”
“I love.”
“Good. It’s for my wife.”

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