Page 91 of The Law of Attraction
“Some Prince Charming I am.”
His arms wound around her again. “It was exactly what I needed. You were exactly what I needed.”
Their mouths came together like two magnets attracting. A force of nature. Their opposite poles perfectly aligned, creating a magnetic field that forced the world to change around them.
He was there with her. He wanted to be there, and that meant something.
It meant everything.
Epilogue
Six months later
LAX at Christmastime made Dante’s vision of hell look like a trip to Disneyland.
Apparently everyone in the greater Los Angeles area was traveling out of town today, lugging packs of whiny, overstimulated children and shopping bags full of presents home for the holidays. Olivia had already seen two near-fights break out—one at curbside check-in and another over the last empty table at the airport McDonald’s. Merry fucking Christmas.
She was glad she’d gotten there early. Even with the extra-long security lines, she’d made it to the gate with enough time to stock up on snacks and bottles of water in one of the airport shops.
Still no sign of Adam anywhere, but that wasn’t a surprise. She’d known what she was in for when they’d agreed to meet at the airport. They were both coming straight from the office, but Olivia worked in an office in El Segundo these days.
A few months after finishing the Future Leader Development Course, she’d taken a job with another company: leading a team building wind farm optimization software for Sauer Hewson’s wind energy division. It was challenging, and scary, and hard, but she loved it.
As the minutes ticked toward their scheduled boarding time, Olivia swallowed down a bubble of nerves. She couldn’t do this without Adam. The only reason she’d even agreed to go home for Christmas this year was so he could meet her family. For some reason it had been important to him, and she hadn’t had the heart to say no.
He’d introduced her to his family months ago, and they’d welcomed her with open arms and plates of homemade Mexican food and endless intrusive questions. It had been intimidating and overwhelming, but also pretty wonderful. She’d never felt anything like that before—like being smothered with attention.
If it had been up to Olivia, they’d have spent Christmas with Adam’s parents and sisters and nieces and nephews and cousins in Riverside. Or used his frequent flyer miles to book a mini vacay on some tropical beach somewhere, just the two of them.
If Adam missed this flight and made her face her family alone, she swore to Christ—
“Hey, Woerner,” he said, elbowing his way through the crowd toward her.
At the sight of him, Olivia’s heart swelled like a balloon attached to a helium tank. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe he was hers.
Adam propped his bag next to hers and wrapped his arms around her, dropping a light kiss on her mouth. “I made it.”
She tugged at the hem of his henley, and her knuckles grazed his stomach. Where there had once been a six-pack, he’d developed a soft little pooch. He still went to the gym, but only three days a week instead of seven. He had better things to do now, like spend time with his girlfriend.
Olivia loved his little pooch, because it was physical evidence of how much happier and more relaxed he was. His body was softening along with his personality. He wasn’t half as brusque as he used to be, and he smiled all the time, even at people who weren’t her. He’d even been making more of an effort to make friends. He showed up for after-work drinks with her new coworkers most weeks when he wasn’t traveling, and had even made a few appearances at her knitting group’s weekly meetups. His knitting skills hadn’t progressed much, but he’d scored massive points with her friends for being the first boyfriend in the group to even make the attempt.
“I was only a little worried,” Olivia admitted.
“I wasn’t going to miss the plane,” Adam said, gently admonishing. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“I know, but you know I can’t help worrying.”
“I do know, and I love you for it.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “How long have you been here?”
“Only about ten minutes.”
“That’s not bad. Did you get snacks? I assume you got snacks.”
“I did.” She wriggled out of his embrace and opened her purse to show off her haul from the airport newsstand.
He shook his head as he peered at the selection of candy bars and chips. “You know we’re not going to need any of that, right?”
He’d used his miles to upgrade both of them to first class. Soon they’d be reclining in luxury, sipping free alcoholic beverages and enjoying hot towels and warm nuts on the flight to Houston. It would probably be the highlight of the entire trip.
