Epilogue
DARBY
“ B est investment ever,” I said as I set my stemless wine glass in the cupholder on the hot tub ledge and settled in next to my husband.
I’d barely taken a sip of the wine, having read the warnings that came with the hot tub. Never mix alcohol and hot tubbing, the user manual had cautioned.
We’d actually waited until both kids were born to buy this, solely because hot tubs and pregnancy didn’t mix. But our youngest was four years old, and we’d both decided two was the perfect number of kids. That made this the perfect time to purchase a hot tub and have it installed on the deck of the log cabin where Lucas lived before he met me. The log cabin that we’d called home for the full decade we’d been together.
“It was your idea,” he said. “First night you came here, remember?”
I laughed. “How could I forget? I said you could sit in this hot tub and look out at the view in front of you.”
“And I didn’t want to sit out here alone back then. That would be pathetic.”
He put his arm around me and pulled me against him on the bench that lined each side of the hot tub. The view in front of us was indeed breathtaking. It had just started snowing, but the trees across the water were already lightly dusted with snow. They looked like those fake Christmas trees sold as “flocked.”
“The kids want to know when they’ll be able to play in the hot tub,” Lucas said, adding a chuckle. “I told them when they’re a little older.”
They probably were old enough—or would be soon. But I was being overly cautious.
“Playing is not a good word to mix with hot tubs,” Lucas said.
“That’s what I told them. It’s not a toy.”
“It’s like a swimming pool,” he said. “Hot tubs can be dangerous. The heat and all…”
“Maybe we should have waited until they were older,” I said. “I feel bad.”
“No way.” He began tracing slow, lazy circles around my left shoulder, and my body responded immediately. Just one touch and this man could still make me feel better. Sometimes all it took was a look. “Mom and Dad need a place to play.”
I laughed. “This is our toy room. They have theirs, we have ours.”
I was referring to the third bedroom, which used to be Lucas’s home office. Now it was covered in toys. Every now and then, he’d navigate the minefield to get to his computer. But mostly, he worked on his laptop on the sofa.
“This is the dream,” I said. “It’s exactly what I pictured when I imagined moving to the mountains.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I forgot. All your life you wanted to live in a log cabin.”
“With a hot tub on the deck.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look over at me. “Really?”
I shook my head. “Not really. But the fireplace was definitely part of it. But I never imagined I’d live somewhere this big.”
“Custom-built cabins turned out to be a pretty good business move,” he said. “I didn’t even plan for it to grow like it has. I just liked building cabins for people.”
Lucas Bennett Cabins stayed ridiculously busy these days. Luckily, Lucas had a full team of employees that kept everything going. I’d left the lodge to work for him for a couple of years, but once our oldest was born, it made more sense for me to stay home. At the time, Seduction Summit didn’t even have a daycare, so I would have had to go to Adairsville to drop off our oldest, Corey. I helped Lucas with some administrative work when I got bored, but for the most part, the kids kept me too busy to do anything else.
“You know, it’s been a while since we’ve made love anywhere besides our bed,” he said.
I smiled. Yes, I was all too aware of that.
“I’ve been thinking lately we needed a vacation,” I said. “Maybe one of those tropical islands where we can do nothing but drink Mai Tais and hang out on the beach all day and?—”
“Make love in a hot tub on the balcony?” he asked.
Those words told me exactly what he had in mind. My body had already been warming up, but now, it was on broil. I settled my hand on his thigh and moved gradually upward until I felt the hem of his swim trunks. As my fingers slid underneath that hem, his hand drifted across my shoulders to my neck. One tug on the string holding up my one-piece bathing suit and the entire top part drooped, baring both breasts.
Immediately, I sunk a little lower, hoping the water would conceal it as I looked to my left. But then I remembered I’d set my phone on the chair next to the hot tub with the volume as high as it would go. If the kids started moving around either of their bedrooms, we’d get a chime. We had all the privacy we needed out here.
I stroked his balls through the bottom of his shorts before finally moving around to the top. My hand went under his waistband and my fingers wrapped around his cock. That brought a moan from him. It also prompted him to move his hand over my breast, his thumb skimming my nipple and making me gasp.
My breasts were always sensitive, but they’d become especially so after the kids were born. Even the slightest touch sent heat straight to the area between my legs. His heavy breathing did almost as much for me as his touch. We were no slouches in the bedroom, but there was something about being outside with snow falling on our heads that made every touch all that much more exciting.
He moved his hand from around my shoulders and slid it between the two of us, going below my arm. He had trouble getting beneath my swimsuit, so I used my free hand to tug it down. His hand followed all the way, sliding between my legs and finding that swollen nub that was so, so sensitive right now.
“Man, that feels good,” I said.
I was wet for him, but he wouldn’t be able to tell. Not being in water as we were. But we’d been together so long, he could get me to orgasm in seconds. Sometimes he’d draw it out, but I knew tonight he’d want me to come right away so he could pull me onto his lap and fuck me.
Sure enough, within a minute or two, my body was ramping up. My eyes could no longer stay open, and I had trouble keeping myself quiet. I wanted to cry out, but I settled for quiet breaths and the occasional whimper.
I let go of his cock as my orgasm overtook me, afraid I’d grip without even meaning to. As soon as I came down, I tugged my swimsuit off, letting it float off to the side. He got to work on his swim trunks, jerking them to his thighs, then pulling me on top of him, his gaze admiringly landing on my breasts before rising to my face.
As I slid him inside me, I paused to give him a long, slow kiss, our tongues mating as our bodies came together. I couldn’t help but remember our first time—how much it had hurt, and how I’d gradually eased my way into it.
Soon after, Lucas admitted that watching me touch myself had been just about the sexiest thing he’d ever experienced. So, I repeated it whenever I was on top of him. I’d brought myself to orgasm many times while he was inside me, the combination of his thick cock and stimulating my clit doing the trick. When I didn’t touch myself, he touched me. Either way, I always had at least two orgasms when we made love.
Tonight was one of the nights he touched me. His hand slid over my thigh, his thumb finding my clit and stroking it in small, slow circles. Those circles increased in speed as I bounced on top of him, holding on to the ledge and biting my lip to keep from crying out. It just felt so damn good.
“Yes,” I gasped, careful to keep my voice barely above a whisper. “Like that. Oh…”
I drew that one word out for a solid fifteen seconds, not even realizing it until I was mid-orgasm. But it didn’t matter. With Lucas, I was free to be myself. No worries about him judging me. He got me. He accepted me for who I was. He loved me with everything he had…and I loved him more than life itself.
When the waves subsided, I turned my attention to him, and that was when I finally took the time to really appreciate my surroundings. All my senses kicked in, and I was aware of the sloshing of the water around us as I moved and the crisp, chilled air that the heat from the tub had insulated me from until now.
After a few bounces on his erection, Lucas put a hand on each of my hips to still me at the highest point. Then, holding me in that position, he moved, pumping into me with rapid movements.
That freed me up to watch him, admiring the angles of his face that only got more handsome with age. His features had been a lot harsher when I met him. It was clear he had his guard up. But the past decade had softened those features as he settled into a life of peace, happiness, and, of course, lots of love.
He kept his eyes closed as he came, and I knew he was struggling, as I had, to remain quiet. A gentle grunt was all that came out of him as he pumped his seed into me. But I was used to that. It was rare these days that we got the whole house to ourselves to make all the noise we wanted. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing about our lives.
Once we were both fully satiated, I settled on the bench next to him and eyed my wine glass. We’d enjoy the warmth and the view for a little longer, then go in and watch the rest of a show we’d been streaming.
It was the perfect life. One I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Brock stops by the lodge for a cup of coffee…and finds more than he bargained for in the new night clerk.