The Auction (21 page)

She smiled up into Adam’s face, a sense of utter joy radiating through her like the purest, sweetest sunlight, warming her from the inside out. “Yes,” she breathed. “I’m perfect.”

~*~

Later that evening Carly sat snuggled in her bathrobe beside Adam, her cheeks rosy, her eyes sparkling. Adam reached for her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing her palm. James and Amy sat across from them, their shared, secret looks no longer a mystery to Adam Wise. He understood now what it meant to have a heart so full it felt like it might burst. He realized that, despite what he’d thought all these years, he’d never really been in love. Not the kind of love that you would die for, but would rather live for—the kind of love story that never has an ending.

James had added several logs to the fire. The flames leaped and curled against the wood. Amy set the crystal champagne flutes on the glass table between the two sofas while Adam lifted the bottle from the ice bucket and twisted at the wire holding the cork in place.

The grandfather clock in the corner of the living room began to chime and they all turned to listen. At the twelfth stroke, Adam popped the cork, filled their glasses and handed them around.

He lifted his glass and the others lifted theirs as well. “To friends,” he said first, smiling and nodding toward James and Amy. In the months since Carly had returned to him, Adam had found the shields he hadn't realized he’d erected around himself falling away, no longer needed. He’d been able to hear and accept James’ gentle coaching and advice as he learned how to be a real Dom for Carly, instead of just for himself.

“To a new year,” he continued, caressing Carly with his gaze. “To new life, new beginnings and most of all, to love.”

Also Available at Romance Unbound Publishing

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