“Because I love it here. I love the sun, the weather. I love to surf. I’m not sure New York offers us the life we want.”
“And what do you want, Ben?”
Ben sets his plate down and pulls me into his arms. “I want us, Elle. And I know you’ve said you’ll move. Hell, you did that before I even could ask you, which meant the world to me, but look at our lives. We spend so much of our free time at the beach. We love it here. Why should we give it up?”
“Because we’re adults now,” I tell him. “Or at least we will be in a few short months.”
“I know, but…” He shakes his head.
I place my hands on each side of his face so he’ll look directly at me and not be caught off guard by the ocean. “What’s going on? I thought Omni was your dream.”
“It still is.”
“So what gives?”
He points toward the beach. “What if this is my dream too and I didn’t realize it until now. What if I’m making a mistake? What if we get there and we hate it, or you start to hate me?”
“Moving comes with risks.”
“Not when you don’t need to take them,” he says. “There are plenty of firms here I could work for, plus Brad’s here. I could go out on my own and start my own company, or you and I could band together, and create an agency that offers everything.”
As soon as Ben says that, my eyes light up. “Are you serious about the last part?”
He nods. “I am. I’ve thought about it before, but never thought to bring it up. Think about it, baby. If you manage the talent side and I do their marketing, they wouldn’t need multiple people working for them.”
“That could be an enticing offer to someone starting out. I think you’re onto something, Mr. Miller.”
“The only thing I want to be on right now is you Miss Powell-James.” Ben picks me and runs down the hall to the bedroom, where he sets me down on the bed.
“Can I ask you a serious question, which will probably freak you out?”
“Sure,” I say, as I start to take off my robe. Ben closes his eyes for reasons unknown, but if I had to guess, it’s so he can concentrate on his question and not my nakedness.
“When we’re married because let’s face it, it’s going to happen, are you going to hyphenate your name?”
I laugh, and while the thought of marriage weeks into a relationship should scare me, it doesn’t. “You mean so I can be Elle Powell-James-Miller?”
“Such a mouthful.”
“I know. Professionally, Elle James.” I beckon Ben with my finger as I shimmy my way up the mattress. He follows, crawling toward me like a cat does its prey. “However, when we’re not working, I’d really like to be Mrs. Miller.”
“Yeah, I like that.”
“I thought you would, Mr. Miller.”
“I’m going to love you forever.”
“Yeah, I like that,” I tell him, using the same words he just said.
This is how Ben and I spend our first weekend together, tangled in the sheets while life moves on around us. We’re not naïve to think everything’s going to be easy. Two people just out of college and starting their own business is going to be hard, but we’re both confident in our abilities to make sure we succeed and that the talent who entrusts us are successful.
Now that our future is somewhat planned out, we have to move onto bigger, more important things, like… Peyton’s wedding and finding Quinn a date! And given the wedding will be on us sooner than we think, Quinn’s love life definitely takes priority.
Sneek Peek
A Beaumont Wedding Novella
The bonfire crackles as the sun starts to set over the lake. All around, family members are talking, carrying on like they haven’t seen each other in years, instead of months. For some of us, it’s only been weeks. I know we have it lucky, being able to visit whenever we want. I have teammates whose parents are too old to travel or, for whatever reason, they’re not on speaking terms. I can’t imagine not talking to my mom or dad on any given day. I still harbor some resentment over the fact my father was missing for the first ten years of my life. I know, it wasn’t his fault or my mother’s, but the pang of missing important moments with him still lingers.