Epilogue
Hunter
Almost One Year Later
The grill was quiet now, the smell of charred peppers and smoky burgers fading into the afternoon haze.
The clatter of plates and laughter of my family had dimmed as they headed toward the car, waving goodbye.
Holly and I lingered on the porch, the sun warming our shoulders, the hum of cicadas filling the spaces between our words.
I reached for her hand, lacing our fingers together like it was second nature. “You know,” I said, keeping my voice low, almost reverent, “I don’t think I’ve ever really thanked you.”
She tilted her head, eyebrows rising. “For what? I fix broken hockey players all the time,” she teased, but her smile softened under the weight of what I meant.
“For everything,” I said, letting my grip tighten slightly, feeling the heat of her palm through mine. “Not just the PR stuff, or the media. You fixed my head, my family, me. You made me… whole. And I’ve spent a long time not being that.”
Her laugh was quiet, a little nervous, and she leaned into me, nose brushing mine. “I didn’t fix you. You did the work. I just helped make the mirror reflect what you didn’t see yet.”
I shook my head, pulling her close against my chest. “I wouldn’t have seen it without you. Not in time. You changed everything.” My thumb traced the back of her hand, each motion slow, deliberate. “And I swear to you… I’m going to spend the rest of my life being the man you deserve.”
Her breath hitched, and she searched my eyes, that mix of steel and vulnerability in me that she knew so well. “Hunter…”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed softly, shaking my head in disbelief at how easy it was to lay my heart bare with her. “I’m going to marry you one day. And until then, I promise to be exactly what you need me to be. Every day.”
She blinked, a flush creeping over her cheeks, lips slightly parted. “Wait… is that… a proposal?”
I leaned down, brushing my lips against her temple, inhaling the faint scent of sunscreen and the summer air, keeping my words soft and slow. “It’s one… on ice. For now. But it’s a promise. If you’ll have me.”
Her smile broke into a laugh, teasing but warm, and she pressed her hand against my chest. “Well then, it’s a yes. Also on ice.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before we were moving.
My hands slid to her waist, pulling her against me, the world narrowing to the heat of her body, the rapid cadence of our heartbeats echoing against each other.
She let out a soft laugh that turned into a gasp as I tilted her chin up and kissed her—slow, lingering, deliberate, tasting the sweetness of the moment, savoring the now, the here.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, tugging me closer, and I responded in kind, tracing the curve of her spine with my hands, memorizing every line, every tremble.
The air between us seemed to thrum, alive with everything we had held back over the past year—the stolen glances, the late nights, the quiet moments of support and vulnerability.
Now it was all out in the open, and it burned like fire in the best way possible.
We moved together through the living room, a tangle of limbs and whispered laughter, and I finally pressed her against the bedroom door, capturing her in the narrow space, hearts hammering, breaths mingling.
Her cheek pressed to mine, she whispered my name in that way that always made me dizzy, made me forget everything else.
I kissed her again, slower this time, with more intensity, as if I could make her understand with each brush of lips, each press of hands, how much she meant to me, how much she had changed the trajectory of my life.
Her hands roamed my back, tugging at the shirt I was wearing, and I followed the contours of her body, feeling her respond to every touch, every caress, every whispered breath and sigh.
When we finally tumbled onto the bed, it was a controlled chaos of heat and laughter, the kind that only comes when two people know each other entirely, inside and out.
We moved together with a rhythm that wasn’t just physical—it was emotional, intimate, a culmination of trust, longing, and love that had been building for a year.
Her eyes held mine when we paused, sweaty and breathless, and I kissed her again, softly this time, tracing the line of her jaw, memorizing her face as if to store it inside me forever. “You’ve got me,” I whispered.
“And you’ve got me,” she said, voice trembling but steady, curling into me as if nothing else in the world existed.
We collapsed together, limbs entwined, hearts slowing, breath mingling, the heat of our bodies replaced with the comfortable warmth of being together. I held her close and she let out a long, contented sigh.
“I think I’ll start here,” I stroked her bare legs with my fingertips.
Her eyes fluttered lightly as my touch kept her in the moment. Clothes gone, day done, ready to devour each other in the way we’d been wanting to for hours.
“They will be punished,” I continued, nipping at her calf. “For taunting me in those heels all these times.” And then I moved up to her inner thigh. “For torturing me with their look-but-can’t-touch attitude.” I bared my teeth and the nipping became biting.
It was hard enough to cause pain but not hard enough to stop the pleasure from circling in a warm pool between her legs. She moaned out loud and the sound made my already hard cock throb with desire.
“And this,” The sudden feel of my warm breath on her clit made Holly gasp. “-will get the biggest punishment of them all.”
“Oh, God, Hunter,” her voice was throaty, wrought with desire.
“Shhh,” I quieted her. “No talking.”
“What?”
“If you say anything, I stop what I’m doing.” I flicked my tongue ever so lightly and felt her writhe in response.
“That doesn’t make any-“ the end of her sentence caught in her throat as her words made me lift my head. “What are you-?”
“My game; my rules.” I eyed her mischievously.
She started to protest but changed her mind when I straightened. She pursed her lips tightly then, to keep from speaking and watched me. Waited. I smiled slowly and nestled between her legs again, feeling myself get considerably harder as I breathed in her sweet smell.
“I think I’ll leave this one for last,” I teased and moved on. I needed to retain control and being that close to her pussy presented a challenge that I wasn’t quite ready for.
“Now these hips,” I circled them with my finger, which elicited a quiver from her. “They must be punished,” I placed a kiss on her pelvis. “For mocking me in their perfectly tailored pencil skirts.”
I took a piece of her soft skin between my teeth and she ran her fingers through my hair, careful not to make a sound as she lifted her hips to me.
“For screaming at me about the secrets they kept hidden; the skill they could pleasure me with.”
I traced wet kisses all along her abdomen up to her full breasts and heard her breathing get heavier when I reached her hardened nipples. My aching cock throbbed against her thigh and it was all I could do not to have my way with her right then. But I persevered; I had to keep to the game plan.
”And these,” I let my moist lips graze her nipple and felt her hips start their rhythmic rocking against my crotch. She was driving me crazy.
Still, I held on.
“The biggest teasers of them all,” I said and started circling her other nipple with my tongue.
A soft glow of perspiration had formed on her forehead as she concentrated on staying silent – her mind disciplined but her body moving of its own accord, urgently rubbing itself against any inch of me it could find.
My kisses moved up to her collar bone, then neck, and I flicked my tongue tantalizingly along her jaw.
Her mouth dropped open; ready for me. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes to find me staring at her, my mouth mere millimeters from hers.
She lifted her head to close the gap, her tongue hungrily darting out for me.
But I was too quick in my retreat and she ended up barely brushing my lips.
“Dammit, Hunter,” her frustration was clear as she fell back onto the pillows.
In one smooth movement I positioned myself properly on top of her, supported my weight on one elbow and brought my cock to her already pulsing entrance.
I slipped my tip into the slick warmth and pulled it out again.
I felt her body shudder beneath mine and could feel that I was slipping further and further away from the measured control I’d started with.
Again, I slowly slipped in my tip. This time I kept it there, letting the feeling of almost-but-not-quite send Holly over the edge.
She clawed at my back as she tried to push me deeper but her efforts were in vain.
“So needy,” I whispered. “All good things come to those who–” My rock hard cock slid easily into her depths at the end of my sentence, and I felt her walls instantly contract around me.
Her climax was hard and consuming and she clung to me as unspeakable pleasures swelled and surged through her entire being to find her nerve endings, where they enjoyed a scintillating repose.
Her body mapped a mold around my shaft with no intention of release - wanting more, wanting me to fill her entirely, not being able to get enough.
I pulled out again but before she could protest, I drove into her with such unbridled force she cried out.
Then I repeated the motion until I’d built a steady rhythm; each time thrusting harder, until I felt myself teetering on the edge of orgasm and Holly along with me for a second time.
“Hunter,” she breathed my name.
“The rules, babe. Don’t think I can’t stop.” My voice was ragged but I spoke without breaking my rhythm.
My movements became faster; more urgent.
Who was I kidding? I couldn’t stop now if someone held a gun to my head.
Holly felt the familiar tingling in her core and her eyes rolled back in her head as she felt her body start climbing toward another orgasm.
My breath came in short, hot bursts on her neck and she felt me relinquish all control as I emptied myself inside her.
“You’re insane,” she murmured, laughing softly against my chest.
“Yeah, but you like it,” I countered, smiling down at her, feeling her shiver at the touch of my hand against her back.
She pressed a light kiss to my chest, just above my heart, and I felt it sink deep, right where I knew it would. “I think… I think we’ve figured out a few things in the past year.”
“Like what?” I teased, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“That you’re impossible to live without,” she whispered, eyes glinting with mischief and love all at once.
“I could say the same to you,” I murmured, tightening my arms around her.
We stayed like that for a long while, talking in soft whispers, laughing quietly, sharing touches and kisses that weren’t rushed but deliberate, full of meaning.
Every sigh, every brush of lips or hands was another thread weaving us together, proof of the life we had built and the person we had become with each other’s help.
Eventually, the sun began to dip lower, casting golden streaks across the room. I held her tighter, rocking her gently as we basked in the afterglow, knowing that even after all the intensity, the passion, and the rawness, what mattered most was this—the quiet, unshakeable intimacy between us.
“I love you,” I murmured into her hair, letting the words ride the air like a promise.
She tilted her head up to meet my gaze, a playful smile tugging at her lips. “I love you too. And just so we’re clear… I plan on holding you to that on-ice proposal.”
I laughed, deep and full, pressing my lips to hers once more, soft and lingering, sealing that promise between us.