Epilogue 1
Sometimes I look back at the last year and realize everything I went through led to this happiness. I wouldn’t go back and relive my early twenties, but I can appreciate what I have now more than ever.
That’s not to say I needed the trauma to get here, I would’ve been strong regardless. I’m grateful it brought out my resilience—and for the man lying beside me, meeting my gaze as a woman walks along his bare back.
We’re in a lodge high in the mountains, getting a couples massage. The room is bathed in a soft light, and everything is relatively bare, as to give the attention to the full wall window, showcasing the snowy trees outside.
It’s the day after Cal and Ronan’s wedding and what a day it had been. It snowed in the backdrop, like a scene out of a dream.
Their love deserves to be shared. If they ever have kids, I hope they pass the story down. Well… maybe not the part about chasing each other through the woods.
Ronan asked if we wanted to watch, but I’m not sure I want to see that. I love them both, but Cal feels like a sister to me—and with all the twisted “incest” talk Michael had spewed, that’s the last association I want in my head.
Besides, she’s hinted at her degradation kink more than once, and… yeah. That’s not my thing.
Keo grunts as the woman’s steps move toward his shoulders. The masseur working on me is gentle—thankfully. I don’t need to be cracked or folded in half.
He gestures downward, and I let out a soft laugh before lowering my face into the cradle and closing my eyes.
I still can’t believe Ezra paid for all this. He rented out the entire lodge and fronted the entire bill.
Calista says he’s going to be apologizing for as long as everyone lives in Sapphire Valley. She wouldn’t tell me what for, and by the twinkle in her eye when she said it, I don’t see myself begging for her to tell me.
I’m sure if I asked Jayde, she’d tell me.
But do I really want to know?
Probably not.
The hands that had been rubbing my shoulders vanish, and I let out a sigh. Has it already been ninety minutes? Damn, that was good. Maybe I should’ve gone for the two-hour session instead.
Soft ambient music drifts through the room. The masseur hasn’t given the usual, “I hope you enjoyed your massage.” Instead, I catch the click of a door closing, followed by the quiet scrape of Keo’s table shifting.
“I may or may not have slipped a few bucks somewhere for an extra thirty minutes.” His voice is low, blending with the hush of the space around us. “Keep your head down, my love.”
Goddamn. Every time he says my love, I melt into a puddle.
“As you wish, baby.”
His warm fingers trace down my spine, lingering across the scar before finding the edge of the towel. Now I understand why he insisted we strip down completely, boxers and all. Because the moment he reaches that spot, he tugs away the only fabric left between us.
“Fucking hell.” The raw need in his voice sends goosebumps racing across my skin. “I’m supposed to be finishing your massage, but I’m a weak man.”
“You just had a woman walking on your back. Weak is the last word I’d use to describe you.” I raise my voice just enough for him to hear.
He must, because his response comes as a sharp smack across my ass.
My head snaps back, and I start to sit up, but his hand presses firmly against my shoulder.
“Just a love tap, sunshine.” His palm lingers, rubbing the spot he struck, fingers teasing dangerously close to where I ache for him to fill.
Then he moves away, circling to my other side. I watch as he picks up a candle, and my heartbeat quickens when his eyes meet mine.
“Safe word?”
I nod. “Fire.”
As he steps closer to the table, my gaze drops, and there it is. His cock, thick and throbbing, veins straining with the force of his arousal.
The moment I lick my lips, a sudden drip of warm wax trickles onto my back, making me jolt.
The sting melts instantly into pleasure, and my whole body trembles.
He’s done this once before, but only as a test—just a drop on my arm.
That time, he’d been buried deep inside me, and I swear the sensation had burned twice as hot.
Now, the wax trails lower—down my ass, along my thigh—and I groan at the sheer rush of it.
“I love watching your body respond to everything I do,” he murmurs. “That’s why my favorite position is you riding me.”
His free hand smooths over the wax, spreading it across my skin, and the pressure of his fingers massaging it in rips a moan straight from my chest—especially when he digs into the muscle beneath.
“Or on your back, eyes always on me.” His tone is a purr, and the pressure of my cock grinding against the table is almost painful.
The heat returns as wax drips across my ass, then trails back up toward my shoulders.
“Keo…” I pant, fingers clawing into the blanket beneath me.
He steps away, only long enough to say, “Turn over.”
There’s no hesitation, I flip onto my back so fast it almost makes him laugh. By the time I’m settled, he’s already there, a small bottle in hand. I know that oil.
“You really planned this out, didn’t you?”
He gives a casual shrug. “I do try.”
“And you succeed—” My words break into a gasp as he drizzles the sex oil across my stomach, the same one we’d picked out together weeks ago. It shocks cold on contact, then blooms into heat as it spreads—especially when he drags it straight over my throbbing cock.
He sets the bottle aside and begins to work it in with his hands, rubbing the slick warmth into my skin. I can’t stop the noises spilling from me, each one pulling a low groan from his throat.
“Keo… what if someone walks in?”
His grin makes my chest tighten. “And how does that make you feel? Knowing someone could step inside and see me worshipping the man I love?”
Heat floods my face, nerves and excitement tangling together. We’ve never hidden our relationship, but this—this is slightly dangerous. Definitely inappropriate. And yet the thought of being caught, of showing the world how little we care what anyone thinks, makes me ache for him to keep going.
“Hmm, sunshine?”
“Excited,” I answer honestly.
“So… keep going?”
“Yes, please, baby.”
The moment his fingers wrap around my length, his other hand closes around my throat, cutting off my air.
I’ve always craved this. Asphyxiophilia has been my kink for as long as I can remember, but after literally drowning, it became harder to find the pleasure I used to draw from it. With Keo’s patience—and the introduction of a safe word into our sex life—he’s brought that euphoria back to me.
His strokes are slow, deliberate, and it has me twitching with every glide. Each pass from base to head leaves me squirming. When he twists his wrist on the way back up, I instinctively try to suck in a breath—but his grip makes it almost impossible.
My eyes roll back, heat surging into my face as my stomach coils into tight, unbearable knots.
“That’s it. My good boy loves that, doesn’t he?”
The instant my eyes squeeze shut, he releases my throat—and I come so hard it streaks across his chest before spraying over my stomach. My mouth falls open, moans and gasps tumbling out as my body twitches through the waves of my release.
His hand keeps stroking me, dragging out every pulse until my back arches off the table. Then his mouth crashes onto mine, his tongue rough and insistent as it tangles with my own.
I clutch the back of his head, holding him to me, turning just enough to let him deepen the kiss. He devours me, groaning hungrily into my mouth.
His fingers thread through my hair, yanking my head back. His tongue drags down my chin, over my throat, where he sucks hard.
He loves marking me—bites, hickeys, whatever he wants, wherever he wants—and I love that he does.
When he finally releases my cock, his hand slides around my midsection. In one smooth pull, he hauls me up, pressing our chests together as his mouth claims mine all over again.
“Let me show you how perfect you look when you come apart for me,” he croons against my lips.
We walk past the wall to wall window, right to the corner where a bench seat rests. On its opposite side is a full body mirror.
“But first… Why don’t you get on your knees and suck my cock.”
My mouth waters, and I obey his command almost immediately.
“That’s my good fucking boy.”
I wrap my hand around him, feeling him pulse in my grip, which has a thunderous groan vibrating from his throat.
He threads his fingers through my hair, tugging me back from his length. My eyes catch my reflection in the mirror, and seeing myself like this—submissive, kneeling before him—sends an electric rush of pleasure straight through my sensitive cock.
Fuck, we look so good together.
“This is what I see. Fucking perfection.”
He tugs on my hair again, drawing me closer, and I open willingly.
He slides across my tongue, and feeling the three rigid bars against me has me moaning.
Those two months of healing were brutal—not because he denied me, but because I couldn’t touch him.
He said I could fuck him if I wanted… but that’s not really my thing.
I like being the one fucked, and I’m okay with that.
Very okay with it.
He steps slightly to the right, aligning us with the mirror. The instant his thick head hits the back of my throat, I steal a glance at our reflection. His chin is raised to the ceiling, bottom lip caught between his teeth, causing my chest to tighten.
I love making him feel good. God, do I love it.
His hips thrust forward, and I press my tongue against the base, feeling that prominent vein pulse while matching every move eagerly.
Drool mixed with his precum rolls down my chin as he fills my throat, holding himself there.
“Fuck me. That’s it, Ayden.”
I lift my gaze to him, and the way he smiles down at me has my praise kink fully activated.
“I love you blushing for me,” he croons before pulling his hips back.
As I attempt to catch my breath, he takes my throat and brings me to my feet. I’m one large lung full in before he captures my mouth with his. His arm comes around my waist, dragging me forward as he steps back.
Feeling him begin to bend, I’m eager to straddle his waist, when he takes my hips, halting me. Against my lips, he breathes out, “Turn around.”
I don’t hesitate, turning my back to him. The mirror is directly in front of me, and I watch as he settles into the double-seater chair, legs spread wide. His cock falls between his thighs, and he reaches beneath it to his bag.
He knew exactly what he was going to do to me today, and I can’t help but smirk.
He pulls out a bottle of lube and sets it down beside him. “Already hard again for me,” he murmurs.
I wet my bottom lip, watching in the mirror as he pumps the dispenser, coating his fingers in the slick liquid. His arm snakes around my hips, tugging me back toward him.
“I want you to watch yourself come for me.”
A sharp breath escapes me as his fingers slip between the crease of my ass. He rims my entrance, soaking me, before sliding two fingers deep inside. There’s no pumping, just a single deliberate thrust that makes my abs tighten.
“Eyes on yourself, Ayden,” he commands.
I open my eyes to see my own reflection—panting, flushed, trembling—as he moves his fingers in and out. Spreading my legs slightly, I feel heat coil through me at the sight.
He adds another finger, and just as my body begins to shiver, he slowly pulls me down to sit in his lap. I’m not empty of him for long; the tip of his cock nudges inside. He moves slowly at first, letting each inch settle past his piercings, then, once fully seated, he thrusts his hips hard.
Leaning back against him, our legs intertwine—mine straddling over his while he closes his around me. I lift and sink onto him, matching his rhythm.
“Fucking hell, you feel incredible,” he breathes against my neck, teeth grazing my skin.
My gaze shifts to the mirror. One of his hands moves to my jaw, two fingers slipping into my mouth. I suck on them as my body trembles, his slight shifts sending pulses of friction to the spot that drags me over the edge.
He found that right place to have me coming without my cock being stimulated, and holy fuck, it’s just as euphoric as him fucking me with his mouth until I finish down his throat.
My second orgasm comes hard, and quick, just as my cum does. It may not be as strong as the first, but it shoots across the floor, nearing the mirror.
I feel him thickening inside me, stretching me just that much more to make me moan louder around his fingers.
“That’s it, fuuuck, that’s it.” He holds me down as pressure builds deep inside of me, and I squeeze my eyes shut with how quickly I’m filled.
Breathing heavily, I slump back against him, my legs shaking as he slowly helps close them for me.
After a few seconds of him coming down from that high, I stand, and quickly turn around in his hold. Both our fingers lace through one another’s hair, and our mouths meet in a devastating kiss.
Mine. All mine.
His touch is tender as he drags it across my shoulder. It turns the lustful moment we just had, into one of longing. One that I can feel all the way down to my core.
I pull away, staring down into his eyes.
“I’m ready for an entire life of this, Ayden. I hope you are too.”
I’m not sure if my smile could be wider. “What? Sex?” I joke, drawing my hands down to either side of his neck.
“Us. In every capacity that there is. Sex. Trips to snow capped mountains. Summers in the Bahamas. Taking care of our cat…”
Heat builds in my eyes as I nod.
“Living a full life.”
“Together,” I murmur against his lips.
“Together.”