Epilogue
THEO
Theo’s Apartment
Saturday Night
A year.
That was how long it had been since I ran into Mia Walker at Wrinkled Pages.
Back then, if anyone told me that I’d be here now, back home after seeing my daughter off on her first day at Columbia University, I wouldn’t have believed them.
I wouldn’t have believed that Mia and I would be living together, either.
But here we were, in my apartment, unpacking her boxes.
She stood across from me, humming in a silk robe. With nothing underneath. The overhead lights traced the smooth, pink fabric, touching the curve of her breasts, highlighting the swell of her slight hips.
A sweat broke out on the nape of my neck as she bent forward, digging deeper into the box, and the middle of her robe parted, just a little, just enough to tease her breasts.
She unloaded book after book, and I wanted to grip her wrist, pull her to me, make her stop.
It had been a year. And still, she didn’t know the effect she had on me. She didn’t know that as she bent and twisted in front of me, I was hard just from the sight of her.
Those pebbled little nipples, rubbing against the silk of her robe. So small, so tight, so fucking sexy.
I knew how those gorgeous tits looked bare, how sensitive they were. I could almost hear the noises she’d make as I sucked them into my mouth.
“I can’t fucking take anymore.”
Mia looked up with surprise, and the heady shock there was enough to get me moving, to reach out, to take her wrists in my hand, to pull her closer.
She jerked her hand away and tripped backwards, until her back connected with the wall behind her.
“Theo, what are you doing?”
“I can’t take watching you move in front of me like this. In that.”
A slight, playful smile lifted the edge of her lips. She reached for the lapels of her robe and closed it.
I grunted in frustration as she said, “I need to unpack.”
I gripped her wrist and pinned it to the wall. “It can wait. This can’t.”
She raised a brow. “Are you saying that you–” she ran her free hand along her chest, opening the split of fabric, tracing the curves of her breasts. “–need this?”
Saliva pooled in my mouth. I swallowed it back and said, “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
She tilted her chin, voice soft and teasing as she said, “But you said you’d help me find that book.”
“Later,” I growled, trailing my hand down her lithe, gorgeous body, taking in the feel of her under the silk as I reached the tie to her robe.
She dropped her gaze and watched, silent, as I pulled, loosening the knot, letting the sides of her robe fall open, exposing the naked skin underneath it.
Fuck me.
I groaned as my gaze moved from her chest, where her robe barely clung to her breasts, down her taut little body, until I reached her smooth pussy. Fucking delicious.
She opened her legs as I let go of the tie and pushed my hand under the robe, and the fabric slipped, sliding off her shoulder and down her arm, giving half of her naked body to me.
Mia arched into me as I moved from her hip to her ass, gripping her in my palm as she bit her bottom lip.
“Careful, Hudson. If you keep going, I might not get a chance to move in.”
“You don’t need anything out of those boxes. The only thing you need is me.”
My fingers pressed deeper into her skin, moving inward until they brushed soft, swollen skin. I smiled down at her.
“You’re already wet for me.”
“I love the way you touch me,” she admitted, lifting her chin, letting me see the effect I had. Her pupils were blown out, lips parted, drunk on knowing how much I wanted her.
I dragged a finger across her slit from behind, teasing her, and as I did, her legs spread wider, her hips braced against the wall.
“That’s it. You want to come, don’t you?” I whispered, pushing a finger into her, feeling how desperate her body was for this.
“Yes,” she moaned.
I pulled out of her and gripped her thigh, lifting it onto my forearm as I let her wrist go. I held her, keeping her open for me as I dragged my touch along her clit with my other hand. Her hips bucked as she threw her head back against the wall and rode my hand.
So soft. She was always so fucking soft.
I ran my fingers up and down her slit, never staying on her clit for too long, letting it catch, then slip away. Teasing her, building her, never letting her get enough.
“Theo,” she whispered, her voice tight, head tilted to the side as she reached up to play with her naked breast.
She was hot to the touch, warm and wet, willing. I stood and watched, fascinated as my fingers smoothed her juices over her pussy, moving round and round. Her breath caught as I pushed into her, working her in small, tight motions.
“Oh god, yes,” she moaned as she rode my hand, letting me watch her pinch and squeeze her nipple as I took her right to the edge. “More. Please Theo, I need more.”
Exactly what I wanted to hear.
I listened to her frustrated moan as I pulled away and dropped to the ground. My cock was hard, rough against my trousers, but this was what I wanted. Her taste on my tongue.
Her thighs shook as I lifted them onto my shoulders. Her upper back pressed into the wall as she braced her palms against it.
“What are you…?” she started, then her voice tapered into another moan as I flicked the tip of my tongue against her pussy.
“You’re close. I can feel how wet you are. You’re ready to come, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she breathed, rocking her hips against my mouth, chasing the feel of my tongue on her clit.
I gave her what she wanted. I licked and sucked, driving my tongue into her over and over again. The taste of her. The fucking taste. I savored every drop as her body rode me, hips moving faster and faster, until finally, I slipped two fingers inside her, and she came.
And she came hard. I flicked my tongue back and forth over her clit as she ground against my fingers, spasming and crying out until there was nothing left.
It wasn’t until her screams faded that I realized someone was knocking, loud and impatient, on my front door.
Gingerly, I put Mia down, propping her gently against the wall, as I gripped my clothed cock for just a second, regretting that I had to leave her here. I opened the door just enough to see one of my irritated neighbors staring up at me.
It was the elderly nurse who lived two doors down. “Everything all right, Jill?”
“That’s what I came to ask you. I heard a woman screaming.”
“Oh, that was me.” Mia’s head popped out through the doorframe. “I forgot that the walls are so thin here."
Jill eyed her, taking in her flushed cheeks, her tousled hair, her hastily closed silk robe.
“Really, Theo? Your daughter just left for school.”
I raised a brow. “And? I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
Mia put a hand on my chest. “I was pretty loud. I’ll try to be quiet next time.”
Jill didn’t look satisfied with Mia’s apology. “I thought he’d killed someone.”
Mia tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, that’s understandable. Look at him.”
I shrugged. I was six-foot-three and tattooed. It was a fair call.
Jill glared at Mia. “If I hear a scream like that again, I’m calling the police.”
Mia smiled at her. “I’ll make sure to pick up some donuts then.”
Jill huffed, “You’re nothing but trouble,” turned her back on us, and stalked down the hall.
I could tell from the way Mia struggled to keep from laughing that she was having the time of her life.
I shut the door, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her laughter was so loud that Jill could probably hear it through the walls too. “I didn’t make a good impression on the neighbors, did I?”
“Fuck the neighbors.”
I grinned down at her, but then she patted my groin and said, “Oh no. That woman made you lose your boner.”
I laughed and reached down to twine her hair between my fingers. “Lucky for me, you know how to get it back.”
Without waiting for her to say anything, I lifted her up and over my shoulder. On my way from the hallway to the bedroom, she squealed as I pinched her ass.
“Come on. Looks like tying you to my bed is the only option for us now.”
“Oh no, how will I ever escape?” She put a hand to her forehead, pretending to faint.
“You’ll have to convince me to let you go. Taking every inch of my cock should help.”
“Well. This is the best moving day I’ve ever had.”
“It’s about to get better.”
I threw her on the bed, listening to her laugh as I climbed over her, nudging her legs open with my knees and bending to kiss her. To swallow that joy.
“Jill called me trouble,” she murmured into my mouth, her breath warm against my skin.
“So?”
“Is it true?”
“Fuck yes. And I love it.”
She raised a brow at me. “Oh, come on. You don’t.”
I tsked into her throat. How could she not know by now how completely fucking gone I was for her? For every part of her.
“Of course I do. I love everything about you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you do.”
“I do. I love that you’re witty and ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?”
“Yep. And I love that you’re a loyal little bulldozer.”
“Only Lilly gets to call me that.”
“I love that you think the universe forced us together.”
She groaned. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Not for a single day.”
“Then you know what, I think I’ll go back to unpacking.”
She giggled as I pushed her back down on the bed.
“I love what you bring out in me. I like who I am when I’m with you.”
She softened as she trailed her fingertips along my biceps.
“But am I worth it?”
“Always.” I held her hand and put it on my chest. Her palm barely covered my latest tattoo. The one of her. “Nothing is ever going to change that.”
If Mia Walker was nothing but trouble, then trouble was exactly what I wanted.
Rochelle
Oakhaven, Iowa
Sunday Night
“You got there okay?” Theo asked through the phone, and I tried not to feel guilty over the concern in his voice.
The sun was setting, and the breeze had more of a bite to it than I was used to. I stood on the sidewalk, staring up at Waxford’s General Store. Fifteen years later, it was still here–same faded paint, same chipped storefront sign. It looked just like how I remembered it.
The entire town did.
“Yeah. I just stopped at Waxford’s for some snacks. Can you believe this place is still standing?”
Theo snorted. “You’re at Waxford’s? That’s risky. Make sure you check the expiration dates.”
I frowned, already turning back to my car. I wasn’t about to risk eating expired tuna salad on my first night here. My mom didn’t even know I was coming. The last thing either of us needed was a case of food poisoning.
“How’s Kira?” I asked. “Is she still mad at me?”
“She’s mad at me, Rochelle. Not you.”
“Yeah, well–”
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
The deep, rough voice came from behind me, and it scared the shit out of me. I jolted, then tried to cover it by whipping around, ready to glare.
But the second my eyes landed on him, my breath caught.
“Cole?”
He stood over me, rigid, holding a paper grocery bag. His knuckles were white, like he needed something to strangle. His dark eyes locked onto mine, his face hard. Unreadable.
I had forgotten how big he was. How intimidating he could be.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Rochelle?” he repeated.
Theo’s voice crackled through the phone. “Is that Cole? Tell him I need–”
I hung up. Now was not the time to play pass-the-message with my old next-door neighbor. Not when he looked like he wanted to murder me.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
He stepped closer. I stepped back. Weight pressed on my ribs, like invisible hands were squeezing my lungs. My inhale was sharp as he came closer. Despite the cold, sweat prickled the back of my neck.
My heart pounded, but I tried to tell myself it was okay. I knew Cole. He wouldn’t hurt me.