The Merger

Epilogue

Lucas Handler

"Crop tops? You can't be serious, Tal!"

"Oh, I'm very serious!"

"How can we show ourselves as a professional business if we let our employees wear crop tops?"

"I want people to dress how they want to dress."

"Baby, I hear you. And believe me, I'm the first person who will sign up for casual Fridays. But how will anyone take us seriously if we look like college kids who just stepped off the beach?" I glance behind me toward the couch. "Imani, back me on this."

"Imma let you two figure this one out. I'm busy over here."

Talia giggles and wraps her arms around me, causing my insides to melt. I could listen to that sound all day.

"I don't want our business to be like any other business. I want to make it how we want. I hear you, that people won't take us seriously. But then they're not the right people. I'm sick of adhering to what society expects of us. I want what we do to be fun. I want to attract clients who are just trying to make a living, not off running a company."

I sigh and kiss her. "I seriously love you."

"So, is that a yes to the crop tops in the allowable office dress code?"

I chuckle. "Fine. But, if crop tops are allowed then so are my sandals."

"Absolutely not! Imani! Back me!" Talia yells out to Imani who doesn't look up from her computer and continues typing.

"Yeah, Lucas. That's going to be a no from me too."

I mock-huff. "So, is this how this is going to work? You two are going to gang up on me every time I suggest something?" I tickle Talia's side and she tries grabbing onto my arm as she bursts into laughter.

"I'm only the COO, you both make the final decision," Imani calls out before closing her laptop with a smirk. "I also added a new rule, no making out in the office. We don't want y'all to scare off the new employees when we officially open shop next week."

"Veto!" I yell.

Talia crosses her arms. "Lucas, I thought you wanted to be professional."

"I do, baby. But have you seen yourself? I won't be able to not kiss you each and every day."

She smiles and gets up on her tiptoes to kiss me, sending my nerves into a frenzy of excitement.

"Okay, that's officially my cue to leave. Bye, guys. See you tomorrow," Imani says as she grabs her bag and leaves the house.

I mold myself against Talia again. I can't get too excited though. We've been working in this living room for hours and our stomachs started grumbling ages ago. Another loud rumble reaches my ears and I pull away. "How about this - we go out to that new diner down the street and eat lunch, and then when we come back home, I eat you out for dessert?"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that." Despite the plan being made, we continue to kiss and press our hands all over each other.

Another loud rumble. This time, it comes from Talia. I break off the kiss and chuckle. "C'mon, let's go eat."

We leave the house, walking hand in hand down the street toward the diner. I can't get over how happy I am. Everything about my life is turning out way better than I could have ever imagined. After Talia and I got married a few months ago, we went straight to work on a new business plan we've been talking about. Thankfully, my mom ended up planning most of the wedding for us, so we were able to focus our time on each other and our hopes and dreams for the future.