Epilogue
One Year Later
I used to say I didn’t do Valentine’s Day, and I still didn’t, but Harlowe did.
So here I was, putting in a twenty-four hour shift at the firehouse so I could fly my girl out to Jamaica tomorrow and celebrate our anniversary.
I’d already sent her for a day at the spa and had her flowers delivered this morning in place of me having to work.
She thought that was the whole surprise.
She ain’t know I had our bags packed already, and we were flying out first thing in the morning.
“For what? I already did inventory.”
“I dunno, man.” He grinned, trying too hard to look innocent. “He just said bring your big ass now.”
I glanced at the other guys all staring at me, looking suspicious as hell, and stood up from the sofa.
“Y’all niggas definitely on bullshit,” I said, giving them all a look.
The way they were all trying not to laugh told me it was probably some stupid ass prank, but I went anyway.
I headed down the corridor, and the guys followed me halfway.
When I reached the supply closet, I pushed the door open, and a smirk instantly appeared on my face.
The supply closet was cleared out, and somebody had strung little lights across the ceiling.
There were battery candles flickering on a table with takeout from my favorite seafood spot, two wineglasses, a heart shaped red velvet cake, and two sneaker boxes.
I shook my head as my eyes looked around for her.
“Hey, best friend,” she said smiling, clearly proud of herself. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” She was sitting in the middle of the room, sitting on the edge of the desk in a little red dress and heels. For a second, all I could do was stare.
“What you doing here?” I finally managed to ask, pushing the door shut behind me. “I thought you had your big book thing tonight.”
“I do,” she said, sliding off the desk and walking into my arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. She smelled like vanilla and something floral. “I just decided to do it here.”
I wrapped her up, pressing my face into her neck for a second longer than I meant to. We’d spent a whole year together, and what a year it had been.
“You know you ain’t supposed to be making me look soft at work,” I muttered into her neck.
“Please. You drug the whole station to my front lawn, remember? I think that ship has sailed.”
I shrugged. I couldn’t argue there. The fellas still hadn’t let me live my five-day camp out for Harlowe’s heart down, but I didn’t give a damn.
It was nothing wrong with being in love.
The last twelve months had been good as hell.
Me and Harlowe weren’t technically living together, but she had a toothbrush in my bathroom, I had a drawer at her place, and we rotated weeks between our places and the firehouse like it was nothing.
My mama was officially calling her daughter, and we’d been up to visit her parents a few times.
Marcus was retired from the “ex” position and fully locked into his new role as annoying brother-in-law.
I’d already sat down with her pops, looked that man in his eye, and told him I was going to marry his daughter.
I already had the half carat ring from her Pinterest board sitting in my top drawer back home, waiting on the right moment.
Some days, I still couldn’t believe I got all this.
My peace and my problem in one woman. My best friend and my girl in the same body. I was the luckiest man on the planet.
“You know I had more planned for you right?” I pulled back enough to see her face.
“What kind of plan?”
“The kind where I finish this shift,” I said, thumb brushing her jaw, “then we hit the airport.”
“Hasheem!” Her mouth fell open. “You didn’t have to book a whole trip. The flowers and the spa day were more than enough.”
“That was for Valentine’s Day,” I corrected. “This trip is for our anniversary.”
She blinked up at me, eyes filling with tears.
“You really out being a real life book boyfriend.” She smiled. “Where are we going?”
“Jamaica,” I said, enjoying the way her eyes lit up. “Five nights, all-inclusive.”
She smacked my chest, grinning. “So you been planning secret trips, and I thought I was doing something showing up to your job with cake?”
“I will always out spoil you.” I kissed her lips, ready to dive into her.
“Go ahead, Lowe,” I said, nodding toward her phone on the table. “Do your big author announcement so we can tear this food up.”
“Bossy. Bossy.” She laughed, wiping under her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Supportive,” I corrected. “I wanna watch you shine, then I’ma eat.”
She laughed, kissed me quick, then stepped back and made her way to the corner where she’d set up her phone on a tripod and ring light.
“Hey, y’all,” she said to the screen. “Okay, so . . . y’all know I’ve been teasing a secret project.”
I leaned back in the chair across from her, out of frame but dead in her line of sight, and just watched.
She talked with her hands like she always did, eyes sparkling, smile big enough to light up the whole room.
Then her knee shifted, and she angled her legs toward me under the table.
The hem of her dress slid a little higher, another inch, then another.
She never broke eye contact with the camera, but that smug little curve at the corner of her mouth was all for me.
One more shift revealed she wasn’t wearing any panties.
My jaw clenched, and my dick got hard, but she kept right on talking.
“I’ve spent the last eight months turning a certain friends-to-lovers situation into a full romance novel,” she said, grinning. “And yeah, I wrote a book!”
Her face lit up with excitement, and I was sure the comments were flying in.
My eyes stayed under the table, watching as her hand disappeared under the table.
I shook my head as she kept right on talking to her followers while she slowly eased her thighs apart, letting me see her pretty, wet pussy lips.
Yeah. I was gonna let her have every second of this moment. She deserved it. Then I was cutting that live off and feasting on the love of my life, who just so happened to be my best friend.
Harlowe
“So yeah,” I said, grinning into the ring light.
“I finally did it. I wrote a whole book about my trip to Zanzibar and falling for my best friend.” I looked across at Hasheem, who was sitting just behind the tripod, out of frame, admiring the little show I was giving him underneath the table.
“In the book,” I went on, “this girl books her best friend as her fake boyfriend for a couple’s brand trip, makes every wrong decision she can possibly make, and somehow still finds love. ”
I watched the screen, waiting for the comments to roll in.
My nerves were doing backflips, which was probably why my knees were spread under the table.
I knew exactly what I was doing to Hasheem, sitting there all innocent from the waist up while I made a quiet mess for him underneath.
If I couldn’t calm down, I could at least distract myself.
I did not know how people would take me stepping out from behind the Tbr stack and actually writing a book.
I didn’t have to wait long because the comments started pouring in.
@ITSCRYSTAL_G: OMG! Is this about you and your firefighter??
@MEASHA_READS: BEST THIS IS DOPE!
@BLKGRLBOOKIESWITHCOOKIES: Drop the preorder link right now
I kept scrolling the comments, reading a few out loud and answering questions.
“It’s called Booked Boyfriends, Bad Decisions,” I said, grinning at the screen. “And it comes out this summer. I’ll put all the preorder links in my bio when I get off live.”
Out the corner of my eye, I saw Hasheem push up from his chair. I peeked past the phone just in time to catch him leaving his spot and crossing the room toward me. He dropped to the floor like he was picking something up, and my heart started sprinting. Uh oh, Harlowe, you done woke the beast.
I felt his hands first, sliding over my ankles, then up my calves. He tugged my chair an inch closer to the table, then eased my knees wider.
“Umm.” My voice hiccupped right as his breath hit my bare skin.
“Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat while his mouth brushed the inside of my thigh and my brain started short-circuiting.
“Where was I? Right. It’s a friends to lovers, fake dating, Black romance.
Basically, everything I love, and I cannot wait for y’all to read it,” I managed to say, even as Hasheem’s fingers slid up my wet folds.
Nope. Time to go. Another comment flashed on the screen, and I could hardly believe my eyes.
@KurvyKatie: This live getting REAL rated R Your firefighter must be around.
My eyes ballooned in horror. Oh my God. I had to get off this live.
“Okay, I’m gonna answer all y’all questions in my stories later,” I rushed out.
“Right now, go sign up for my newsletter, add Booked Boyfriends, Bad Decisions to your Tbr, drink some water, mind your business, and…” Hasheem’s tongue brushed over my clit.
“I gotta go before y’all see more than you paid for.
Love you. Happy Valentine’s Day. Bye!” I hit end on my screen fast as fuck just as my vision blurred and my head dropped back.
“You’re evil,” I moaned.
Hasheem’s head popped back up from under the table. There was a disrespectful grin on his face. “Nah. You started it. I’m just finishing.”
“You’re absolutely trying to get me banned off live forever,” I said.
“They not banning you,” he said, pushing to his feet. He rounded the table like he had all the time in the world. “Everybody loves you.”
His hands slid around my waist, and before I could clap back, he was lifting me like I weighed nothing. My back hit the cool table, and our food and the cake fell onto the floor as he settled me on top of it. He nudged my knees apart and lowered his head between my thighs.
“Hasheem, we’re at your—”
“Shh.” He cut me off as he drew me closer to the edge. “Ain’t nobody here but me and you.” He slid his tongue down the folds of my pussy. Any words I thought I had left.
“Oh—” The sound ripped out of me before I could stop it. He licked into me slowly, tongue working me with licks and slurps that had my hips thrusting up into his mouth.
“Hasheem. Oh my God . . .” I panted as my heels dug into his back. He continued to suck up my juices like it was his last meal. Another broken moan spilled out my lips, and I slapped a hand over my mouth.
“Fuck!” I moaned, and he chuckled into me, then went right back to feasting on me like I was his favorite thing to eat.
God, I loved this man so fucking much. The last year had been a dream.
Duality’s final payout hit my account two weeks after their last email, and for once, I actually did the grown woman thing.
I paid off my credit cards, funded my little author era, flew back home with Hasheem, and took my parents a nice gift.
I was almost sure he pulled my daddy aside that weekend and asked for my hand in marriage.
I’d seen the ring in his top drawer months ago.
I wasn’t about to ruin his surprise, but I did have a series going on my close friends titled Countdown to My Proposal. Maybe it would happen in Jamaica.
Hasheem’s tongue did that thing I liked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“I’m proud of you, Lowe,” he said quietly, thumb stroking my clit as he came up for air. “For real. You sat down and turned all our mess into a whole book.”
“I love you, Hasheem Hart,” I declared as his other hand reached up and tightened gently around my neck, his mouth brushing my ear.
“I love you too, Harlowe Daye. Always. You hear me?”
Hear him, I did. I’d wasted so much time worrying about what it meant to fall for my best friend and my ex’s brother when the truth was simple.
Love is messy, and sometimes the right person has been standing in front of you the whole damn time.
I closed my eyes and let the pleasure consume me.
I had finally gotten the whirlwind romance of my dreams, and it turned out all I had to do was book a boyfriend and make a few bad decisions with my bestie.
THE END!