The Merger

Epilogue

Lucas

"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?" He glanced behind him toward the couch. "Imani, back me on this."

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

Talia giggled and wrapped her arms around him, causing his insides to melt. He 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."

He sighed and kissed her. "I seriously love you."

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

Lucas chuckled. "Fine. But, if crop tops are allowed then so are my sandals."

"Absolutely not! Imani! Back me!" Talia yelled out to Imani who didn't look up for her computer and continued typing.

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

Lucas mock-huffed. "So, is this how this is going to work? You two are going to gang up on me every time I suggest something?" He tickled Talia's side and she tried grabbing onto his arm as she burst into laughter.

"I'm only the COO, you both make the final decision," Imani called 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!" Lucas yelled.

Talia crossed 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 smiled and got up on her tiptoes to kiss him, sending his nerves into a frenzy of excitement.

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

Lucas molded himself against Talia again. He couldn't get too excited though. They'd been working in his living room for hours and their stomachs had started grumbling ages ago. Another loud rumble reached his ears and he pulled 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?"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that." Despite the plan being made, they continued to kiss and press their hands all over each other.

Another loud rumble. This time, it came from Talia. Lucas broke off the kiss and chuckled. "C'mon, let's go eat."

They left his house, walking hand in hand down the street toward the diner. He couldn't get over how happy he was. Everything about his life turned out way better than he could have ever imagined. After Talia and him got married a few months ago, they had gotten straight to work on a new business plan they'd been talking about. Thankfully, his mom had ended up planning most of the wedding for them, so they had been able to focus their time on each other and their hopes and dreams for the future.