Alternative Epilogue from Alex’s POV
ALTERNATIVE EPILOGUE FROM ALEX’S POV
A “High Tide And Low Bars” Bonus
Six Months Later
Lily St. John was trying to kill him.
That was the only explanation for the way she was currently positioned—straddling his lap in the cramped quarters of the Florida Keys research station, her wild curls tumbling around her shoulders, wearing nothing but one of his faded Boston University t-shirts and a smile that promised absolute destruction.
“If you keep staring at me like that I can’t be responsible for what might happen,” she murmured, rolling her hips in a slow, deliberate circle that made his brain short-circuit.
He grunted as he surged against her hot center, “I’ll take my chances.” His hands found her thighs, fingers digging into the soft flesh as she ground against him. “God girl, you’re killing me,”
"Mmm." She leaned down, her lips brushing his ear. “That’s the idea.”
Six months. Six months of video calls and weekend flights and missing her so much it felt like he was missing a limb. And now she was here—warm and real and making those little sounds in the back of her throat that drove him absolutely insane.
He was never letting her leave again.
“Turnabout is fair play,” Alex said, flipping them in one smooth motion that had her gasping beneath him, “and you deserve to be fucked within an inch of your life for being such a tease.” He pinned her wrists above her head, watching her pupils blow wide.
“A dirty,” he ground against her with each word, “little tease.”
She giggled. “You love it.”
Guilty.
He kissed her like he'd been starving for it—because he had been, two weeks of phone sex and dirty texts a poor substitute for the real thing. Lily arched into him immediately, her legs wrapping around his waist, pulling him closer with a desperation that matched his own.
"Off," she demanded, tugging at his shirt. "Why are you still wearing clothes? This is a clothing-free zone. I'm instituting a rule."
"You and your rules." But he was already yanking the shirt over his head, tossing it somewhere in the direction of the floor. Her hands were on him instantly—tracing the planes of his chest, the ridges of his abs, lower to where his cock strained against his boxer briefs.
"I've missed this," she breathed, palming him through the fabric. "Missed you."
"Show me."
Her grin turned wicked.
She pushed at his chest, and Alex let her reverse their positions—let her push him onto his back and settle between his legs with a look of pure intent that made his cock twitch.
"Someone's eager," she teased, pulling his boxers down with agonizing slowness.
"Lily—"
"Patience, Dr. Carmichael." She wrapped her hand around him, stroking once, twice. "I've been on a plane for five hours. Let me have my fun."
Then her mouth was on him, and Alex forgot how to form words.
Fuck.
She took him deep, her tongue doing something sinful along the underside that had his hips jerking off the mattress. Her hand worked what her mouth couldn't reach, a perfect rhythm that she'd perfected that had left him ruined and desperate.
"Jesus, Lily—" His fingers tangled in her curls, not pushing, just holding on. "Your mouth—"
She hummed in response, the vibration shooting straight up his spine, and Alex had to think about coral taxonomy to keep from embarrassing himself.
Acropora. Montipora. Pocillopora—
She pulled off with an obscene pop, looking up at him through her lashes. "You're doing the science thing in your head, aren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Liar." She kissed the tip of his cock, feather-light, making him hiss. "What was it this time? Fish species? Reef formations?"
"Coral genera."
Her laugh was delighted. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"You should." He tugged her up his body, capturing her mouth in a kiss that tasted like salt and sex and her. "You're too good at that. I want to be inside you."
"So demanding." But she was already reaching for the hem of her stolen shirt—his shirt—pulling it over her head to reveal the body he'd been dreaming about for two weeks straight.
Freckles everywhere. Sun-kissed skin. Breasts that fit perfectly in his palms, nipples already peaked and begging for attention.
"God, you're beautiful," he breathed, the words escaping before he could stop them.
"Flattery will get you everywhere." She positioned herself over him, her slick heat brushing the head of his cock. "Ready?"
"Since the moment you walked through that door."
She sank down onto him in one smooth motion, and they both groaned at the sensation—the tight, wet heat of her enveloping him completely. Alex's hands gripped her hips hard enough to leave marks, and Lily's head fell back, her wild curls cascading down her spine.
"Fuck, I love the feel of you inside me,” she groaned. "Every time.”
No argument from him. Being inside Lily always made him see stars.
She started to move, riding him with the same confident grace she brought to everything—rolling her hips in waves that had him vibrating with pleasure.
Mine. The word rolled through his head as a primal growl, igniting a need to be as deep as possible inside her quivering wet heat. He wanted to fuse with her until it was impossible to know where he started and she began.
He sat up without warning, pulling her flush against his chest, changing the angle so he could thrust deeper. Lily cried out, her nails raking down his back, and Alex captured the sound with his mouth.
“You’re all mine, baby girl,” he growled against her lips.
“God, yesssss.” She was breathless, her rhythm faltering as he took control. "You're—oh God, right there—I’m yours, Alex."
"Always." He fucked up into her harder, faster, one hand sliding between them to find her clit. “All mine, baby…”
"Yes—"
She was close. He could feel it in the way her thighs shook, the way her moans pitched higher, the way her fingers dug into his shoulders like she was holding on for dear life.
"Come for me," he demanded, rubbing tight circles over her clit. “I want to feel you come all over me.”
Lily shattered with a scream that was definitely going to alert the entire research station, her body clenching around him in rhythmic pulses that dragged his own release from him with devastating force.
He buried his face in her neck and groaned her name as he spilled inside her, his hips stuttering through the aftershocks.
They collapsed together in a tangle of limbs and sweat-slicked skin, both breathing hard, neither willing to move.
"Okay," Lily managed after a long moment. "I forgive you for making me take that terrible middle seat."
Alex laughed, the sound vibrating through both of them. "How generous."
"I'm a giver." She pressed a kiss to his collarbone. "Also, I think you killed me. I'm dead now. This is my ghost talking."
"Ghosts can't talk."
"This one can. Very chatty ghost. Exceptionally satisfied chatty ghost."
He pulled out carefully, both of them wincing at the loss, and rolled to his side so he could look at her properly. In the soft light of the research station's bedroom, her skin glowed golden, her curls a magnificent disaster against the pillow.
How did I almost let this go?
The thought surfaced unbidden, bringing with it the memory of that terrible morning on the dock—watching her boat disappear while he stood there like a coward, choking on all the words he should have said.
"Hey." Lily's finger poked his chest. "You're making your broody face."
"I don't have a broody face."
"You absolutely have a broody face. It's happening right now. And that is not allowed after what we just did.” She propped herself up on one elbow, studying him with those too-perceptive green eyes. "What are you thinking about?"
You. Always you. How close I came to losing this.
"Boston," he admitted.
A slow grin spread across her face. "Ah. The groveling."
"It wasn't groveling—"
"It was absolutely groveling." She settled back against the pillows, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "World-class groveling. Olympic-level groveling. If groveling were a sport, you'd have medaled."
"I said I was sorry. Multiple times. That's not groveling, that's... apologizing with emphasis."
"Alex." She turned her head to meet his eyes, her smile softening into something more genuine. "You showed up to that restaurant with notes."
He felt his ears go hot. "I wanted to be thorough."
"You had bullet points."
"Organization is not a crime."
"You alphabetized your feelings."
"I did not—" He stopped, because actually, in retrospect, he might have. "Okay, I may have organized them by theme. But I was nervous and I didn’t want to screw up.”
Lily's laugh was the best sound in the world—bright and unguarded and so full of joy it made his chest ache.
"Tell me again," she said, rolling onto her side to face him. "The speech. I want to hear it."
"You've heard it."
"I want to hear it again." She walked her fingers up his chest. "Consider it... foreplay for round two."
Round two. His cock twitched with interest, already responding to her touch despite the fact that he'd just come hard enough to see God.
"You're insatiable."
"You love it."
He did. He really, really did.
"Fine." Alex took a breath, letting himself sink back into the memory of that Boston restaurant—the way his hands had shook, the way his heart had hammered, the way Lily had sat across from him with her arms crossed and her expression guarded, giving him nothing.
"I told you that I'd spent my whole life running away from anything that might hurt me," he said slowly.
"That I’d spent too much time isolating myself from anything or anyone who might have the power to hurt me.
And that you—" He swallowed. “made me see that I was being an idiot and if I let you walk out of my life for a second time, I’d regret it forever.”
Lily's eyes had gone soft. "Keep going."