Epilogue

Ana looks at her wrist watch impatiently. Her ass is numb from sitting too long, her head is fuzzy from sleep deprivation and there is no way her swollen feet will fit in her beautiful, black court shoes once the plane lands. She should have changed into her sneakers before leaving Stockholm.

She's spent two weeks in Sweden's beautiful capital, getting to know the higher management of the publishing house she works for. The success of the authors she's brought in the young adult genre – her forte – finally caught the attention of the powers that be in Stockholm.

Now they want her to join them full-time, and Ana's been wined, dined and entertained, then sent on her way home to Seattle with a very generous offer to consider. But all these powerful people in publishing managed to do was bore her.

Accepting BPH: s offer would mean a great deal of money – which she doesn't need, being a billionaire by marriage. She still can't help but cringe a little at the thought, although she's getting more used to it.

The position would also include a lot of traveling, more than now, all over the States and Europe; she'd spent more time away from her family. On top of that, her duties would entail a lot of sucking up to people she can't care less about. Something she loathes to do. But being the good girl that she is, she can't help feeling slightly guilty for not wanting to climb the career ladder, feeling almost ungrateful for the opportunity.

However, she's an editor because she loves the written word and the hunt for the undiscovered, perfect novel. That's what makes her happy. So, it's really a no-brainer.

One hour till landing. Ana's never been away from her family this long and she's missed them so much it hurts. Taylor's picking her up at the airport and she'll see them all at home soon. She can't wait.

Reaching under the seat in front of her, she flips open the lid of her leather satchel and pulls out a dog eared manuscript. She's too tired to really work but maybe some reading will make time go faster. Her seat is closest to the aisle and she turns slightly to face away from the business man sitting next to her, as she flips through the manuscript. He's sleeping, thank god – he was quite the little chatter before – but still there's a faint smell of something … fried emanating from him. It's making Ana slightly nauseous. In her mind she can see her enormous bed, in her beautiful bedroom, with the windows open to the garden below and a breeze making the white curtains flutter. That's where she'll be soon.

…..

Why is her bag always among the last ones to come out on the luggage mill? At least she has finally gotten to change to sneakers and is now treading towards the exit and Taylor. When the sliding doors open Ana immediately starts to scan the waiting crowd for Taylor's solemn face, but there are so many waiting for loved one's she can't see him.

Suddenly she hears a familiar voice calling her name – Sara's voice. With a huge smile Ana starts to scan the crowd again and this time she sees Sara holding a sign that says "Mommy". Next to Sara is an unusually tanned Christian – from sailing no doubt – with a large grin and a two-year-old on his hip.

Bouncing her way to her family, Ana gives Sara a long hug and several kisses, until the twelve-year-old girl starts blushing and squirming.

"And how's my boy?" The toddler on Christian's arm reaches for his mother and screams in delight when Ana lifts him high up in the air. "Mommy's missed you so much!" She kisses his cheeks and neck until he starts squirming as well.

"Is it my turn now?" Christian asks, faking a jealous pout. He snakes his arm around Ana's waist and pulls her close. "I've missed you too, you know." He leans down and gives her a long, light kiss.

"I know. You've told me everyday for two weeks, baby." She sighs and leans her forehead on his chest. "It's so good to be home with you guys. And you all came to meet me!"

"And how are you?" Christian looks at her appraisingly. "Did you eat on the plane? Sleep?" His eyes narrow when Ana avoids his gaze. "Ana?"

"There were these weird smells … And you know what airplane food is like."

Christian sighs and takes the protesting toddler from Ana's arms, placing him on the hip again. He puts his free hand on Ana's small belly.

"You need to take care of yourself," he scowls. "Come on Samuel, Sara, we need to get your mom home to food and bed." He asks Sara to take her mother's bag and they start walking towards the parking where Ana assumes Taylor is waiting for them.

Christian gives her a meaningful look as they make there way through hugging couples and families. "Thank god you're back so I can take care of you properly," he sighs, but gives her a small smile.

"Yes, thank god." Ana mocks him. "I swear a mother hen has nothing on you. But I love it."

Christian turns to head for the exit with Ana following, her arm around Sara's shoulder. As they walk she looks at her husband's back. Even from behind he's gorgeous, but in his khaki shorts and crinkly white linen shirt, with a somewhat sticky Samuel in his arms, he looks so domestic and … ordinary. A far cry from the uptight, controlling and troubled man-boy he was when they met. It's incredibly sexy.

She knew from the start that this is who he really was, behind all those carefully built protective walls. But it still surprises her sometimes that he finally started believing it.

…. …. ….

When Ana wakes up from her afternoon nap it's already dark outside, and the house is quiet. The clock on her bedside table shows 11:00 pm., meaning the kids are already asleep. That's alright, she got some really nice quality time with them when they got back from the airport. Presents were distributed and household anecdotes told, every one eager to fill her in on what's been going on while she was away.

She's terribly jet-lagged and it was probably a really bad idea to go down for a nap at 5 pm. She feels rested now.

Pulling on a silk robe on top of her underwear, she trudges down the hallway to Christian's office, peeking in on her soundly sleeping offspring on her way. In the office the lights are on, as is the computer, but the room is empty.

Ana hates not knowing where Christian is. He often works late at night to be able to give as much time as possible to his family during the day and she's ok with that – but she just needs to know where he is, that he's around. It makes her feel safe. He's probably talking something or other over with Taylor and she decides to peek into his office as well, just to make sure.

On her way through the living room on the ground floor she sees him through the french doors, sitting on a lawn chair by the pool, empty glass in his hand, his face a ghostly hue from the under-water lights. He looks pensive, but untroubled.

The night is warm – Seattle is in the middle of a heat wave - and despite Ana's light dress she's not cold at all. Christian is so deep in thought that he doesn't notice her until she's almost right by him, and he jumps in surprise, making her giggle.

Grinning, Christian puts his tumbler on the ground and swiftly grabs her arm, pulling her down in his lap. He buries his face in her neck, nuzzling her messy hair.

"Oh my god, you're awake," he mumbles. "I didn't think I would get to see you until the morning."

Slowly he runs a finger lightly from her neck, between her breasts and downward until he reaches the sash of her robe and pulls until it opens so he can curl his arm around her bare back.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you these two weeks. I don't think I can let you go away for this long again." He traces her collarbone with light kisses, his hand sliding up and down her bare thigh. Ana feels the familiar warm sensation gathering in her lower abdomen.

"You know what; I won't go away for this long again if you don't either," she whispers.

"I won't." Christian's voice is soft and his hand is now circling the small trace of her baby-belly. "You're so beautiful, Anastasia."

She grabs his face between her hands and attacks his lips with hers, coaxing his tongue into action with her own. "I've missed you too."

Christian's middle finger ghosts over her lace panties, feeling the moist through the thin fabric. "I can tell," he moans in her mouth. Pulling back a little, he brings his hand up to Ana's cheek and caresses it.

"But I want to know about the offer and your thoughts on it. I've waited all day and you haven't said a thing yet. Why?" He kisses her nose. "You know I'll support you whatever your decision. If you want it, we'll make it work."

Ana hesitates. This feels like absolutely the wrong time to talk about this. But Christian's look is sincere and expectant – he doesn't want to wait, although it's a bit more complicated than he thinks.

"The thing is …," she starts. "Well, first of all; I'm not accepting the offer. It's not what I want to do, and I don't want to spend that much time apart from you guys."

Christian kind of looks relieved, even if he's trying to hide it. He can tell that she has more to say and he nods in encouragement.

"I … didn't want to talk about this by the pool, in the middle of the night, while horny in you lap," - Christian flashes her a devilish grin, followed by a satisfied smirk - "but hey, why not?"

Ana slides from his lap and sits down on the patio; she needs to keep her head clear. Christian takes a seat next to her.

"Ok, so I've been thinking that I could maybe start my own small publishing company." Christian's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but not in a bad way from what Ana can tell. His hand urges her on – now he's impatient.

"I have a few big enough authors who want to follow me; the idea has even been suggested to me on occasion. Also, I've had talks with a distribution-guy, Paul, and Gemma in sales, plus a few editors who would come with me."

Christian's surprised look is replaced by a frown. "Why haven't you talked to me about this before?" He sounds hurt. "I would've helped you."

"I know, baby. But at first it wasn't even real; more like a fantasy. And then … I don't know. You're so awesome at this kind of thing and I guess I wanted to see how far I would get, trying to figure it out on my own. I do need your help, but it was important to me it was my brain child. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Ana looks at him, holding his gaze. She might have been really stupid, shutting him out, but somehow it had felt so important that she got to develop the idea on her own, without a well-meaning, sexy-as-hell expert unintentionally bulldozing her.

Christian looks at her seriously for a few seconds, but then bursts into laughter at her worried look. She scowls at him.

"Don't worry – I get where you're coming from." He shakes his head, still smiling widely. "I like the idea of you starting on your own."

"I kinda knew you would. But you might not when I tell you my vision for the business."

He's confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not really planning on making a profit." She smiles at him shyly – it might seem to be far from this billionaire's, or any old billionaire for that matter, way of running a company – but she knows it isn't. Christian's sense of philanthropy runs deep.

He just cocks one eyebrow at her, indicating she should go on. The worst that can happen is if Christian were to make fun of her idea – and her for hatching it. But that wouldn't be like him.

"Ok, so, as writer, to get your work published for the first time is near impossible, as you know. A large publishing house maybe signs four or five new talents a year. It's far to few and what happens is that the diversity that reaches the reader diminishes. So, I would like to be able to sign many more new talents, as many as I can afford without going bankrupt. The point being that the profit from the biggies will support the small ones, you know."

Ana's voice is eager now – she's infatuated with this idea. Christian is nodding slowly – something is going on in there, behind his beautiful face, but his look is impassive – there no telling if it's good or bad. So she continues.

"You've told me so many times that I don't have to work for a living. You have – I mean we have -" Ana corrects herself after another cock of the brow from Christian, "so much money, courtesy of you," she adds pointedly, "so I figure why not do something I love in a way that I feel I can believe in."

Christian is quiet for a few moments and Ana finds herself getting nervous. He must hate it.

"Hmm. I like your idea." That's what he says but he looks like something is troubling him – he's staring somewhere past her right shoulder and he's scowling. Ana pulls her legs up under her chin and waits for him to continue.

"I need to think about it – there might be ways to ..." Suddenly he looks at her, almost embarrassed.

"You said you wanted my help. Did you mean it? If you don't that's ok, I won't interfere. I'll understand." His gaze is hopeful and he gives her a small mile.

"Yes, I want your help, Christian! I would be dumb not to. Does that mean that you think it could work? You don't mind that it might not make any profit?"

"No. This is something that makes your eyes dance with excitement – the idea that you have the opportunity to do something strongly believe in. It's contagious. And of course I support that. I support the ideology behind it too."

She grins at him, elated that he gets it.

"But have you thought of a time frame?" he asks. "I mean, we have this little person to consider." He caresses her small baby-belly again.

"Mm. Planning and organizing until the baby is born, then I'll start with the authors who will follow me and who are up for renewal of their contracts. Once the foundation is laid we'll get to work with attracting new talent. I'll have help, you know."

"Ok then." Christian sighs. "Guess you thought about that." He smiles. "We're going to have so much fun figuring out the details together."

"Uhm … sure." Fun isn't what she would call it. She's probably more of a visionary. "Let's talk about it more tomorrow."

Yawning, she slides closer to her husband and places herself in between his thighs so he can put his arms around her. She's getting to realize a dream, because she has the most amazing person in the world loving her.

Christian puts his head on her shoulder. "You know what came in the mail the other day? The adoption papers."

She can feel him smiling against her cheek and she smiles in turn. He's been longing for this, for Sara to be his real daughter. But they had both wanted to wait until Sara was old enough to make the decision on her own. When Samuel arrived two years ago, Sara had started calling Christian 'Dad', probably staking her claim on him as hers as well as the newcomer's.

Christian had loved it, he wanted Sara to be his. She hadn't forgotten about Thomas – her biological father – but both Ana and Christian had assured her that she could have two. Sara had agreed to the adoption-idea without any hesitation. She wanted Christian, too. She wanted a dad.

"Have I told you how incredibly happy you make me, Anastasia?" Christian is whispering in her ear, his breath hot and tingly.

"Yes, my love, many times. Have I told you how ..." Pulling her back Christian silences her with kiss. "I think it's play time," he chuckles, before tipping her body into the blue water in front of them. Standing up, he quickly rids himself of his clothes, while Ana's spluttering and muttering about her silk robe being completely ruined. But when he makes a splashy jump into the water next to her, she laughs.

As soon as his head breaks the surface, she's latches on to him, attacking his mouth with her own.

"You are a tease," she pants, grabbing him through his boxers. "It's time you make it up to me."

Christian groans and lifts her in the water, making sure her legs are wrapped around his waist. While kissing her deeply, playing with her tongue and nibbling on her lips, he presses her gently against the pool side.

"Oh, I am so making it up to you."

¤ The End ¤

A/N

And that would be that. For now. Thank you for your time and interest – I am so honored and thankful to all of you who have followed me through this story. Thank you for amazing reviews that make my day and make me want to write more.

If you want, put me on your author alert, because I plan to be back although I'm not sure with what yet. Next time I also hope to have a beta, and thus annoy you less with my typos and such.

Love/Nickis.