EPILOGUE
~ SAM ~
The whole drive to Las Vegas was a mind-fuck.
We took her rental car because it was the least likely to be identified as ours.
Fifteen hours of driving and I didn’t feel drowsy at all.
We talked. And talked.
Bridget held my hand over the console.
She smiled.
My head kept spinning between screaming at me that this couldn’t be real, she couldn’t really want me—both sides of me—and this had to be some kind of trap… then washing in relief and pure joy because Bridget was happy.
She was happy, and it was because of me.
I didn’t know how this had happened. I knew it was crazy what we were doing. But I couldn’t drive fast enough. Still, I had to stay close to the speed limit because we couldn’t afford to be pulled over, especially once we crossed out of state.
I was breaching parole again. But it was worth it.
We made it to the Las Vegas Strip just as the sun was going down and the sky was turning purple and pink. Just as all those neon lights began to really glow against the deepening dark.
Bridget had spent the last hour on the phone arranging a hotel room and a chapel.
We were really doing this.
God, is this real?
An hour later, I stood in a white room, with two strange men in suits—one who was a celebrant, and the other who was a butler, or something. I couldn’t quite figure out what his title was, but he was helping Bridget get everything she asked for.
I made sure they gave her a veil. I didn’t give two shits that she was wearing dark jeans and a hoodie—and she apparently didn’t care that I was dressed the same.
We stood in front of those men and we vowed our lives to each other. I held her hand and stared into her eyes and all the problems, all the questions, all the obstacles that were going to try to push us apart just fell away when she spoke.
The celebrant gave us a chance to say what was on our hearts, and her words made me shake.
“Sam, I… I know this is crazy. And I know I’m crazy. But I’m also crazy for you. All of you. You’re the only person I’ve ever met who seemed to understand me. Really understand me. And want the same things I want. I… I know I’m going to let you down, but I don’t want to. I want to be with you every day. I want to stand up for you. I want… I just want you.”
My heart skipped a beat at her big eyes, so wide and fixed on me, like she was a little bit shocked, and a little bit scared, and a little bit awed.
I had to clear my throat before I could speak. I was already holding her hands, but I tugged her a little closer so I was standing over her, looking down. I wanted to kiss her already, but I knew I needed to do this first.
“I’ve never met someone who saw me… all of me,” I said hoarsely, squeezing her hands. “From the first second I saw you, you’ve never been out of my mind. I’m… stunned to be standing here with you. But so grateful too, Bridget. This is what I want. You are what I’ve always wanted. Someone who shares every part of me, every day.”
“I will,” she breathed. “I promise, Sam. I will.”
“Me too,” I rasped.
I was swaying towards her, drawn in, unable to resist, but the celebrant chuckled.
“Not long now—just bear with me for a moment so we can make this legal…”
I didn’t even hear the vows, but I knew what they were.
For better or for worse.
For richer or for poorer.
In sickness and in health.
As long as we both live.
And my entire being sighed with relief when she responded, “I do.”
I didn’t wait for the announcement, I took her face in both hands, pulled her in and took her mouth with every ounce of the desperation and urgency I was feeling. Because I needed her to be mine. I needed to brand her. And I knew she felt the same way, because her arms wrapped around me and her fingers dug into my back and she plastered herself to me from knee to chest…
One. We were one.
Or about to be anyway.
Finally.
I would have taken her right then and there, but the celebrant cleared his throat and after a few more kiss-drunk moments, we broke apart. He smiled apologetically and muttered that we needed to sign the contract.
My hands were shaking, but I gripped her with one hand while I signed with the other, and she did the same. Then they witnessed for us, gave us our certificate, and we were moving again, both jogging through the halls, Bridget laughing and smiling, running out to the car—where she drove because she’d already booked the hotel and knew where we were going.
I could barely think straight. Kept clawing hands through my hair and shaking my head because I could barely believe this was real.
I didn’t think I’d ever been happier—or more terrified.
The drive to the hotel was short—and fast because Bridget drove like she was testing for Formula One. The tires gave a short squeal when she stopped in the parking lot, but then suddenly… nothing.
She was sitting, staring at the bushes in the garden at the base of the hotel, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white.
I blinked and reached for her leg. “Bridget, what’s—”
“Is this real, Sam?” she breathed, then licked her lips and turned to look at me, her eyes wide. “Was all of that real?”
I nodded slowly. “It was for me. Was it real for you?”
She nodded too. “That’s why I’m so scared.”
I inhaled deeply. “Me too. But I don’t want to go back.”
“Neither do I. I just…”
She stared at me and for the first time ever, it seemed like she just opened herself up—no badass indifference, no sarcastic brutality, no airy, reckless endangerment or dismissal.
She stared at me like a child afraid, and a woman in crisis. “I don’t know if I know how to do this,” she whispered.
And I knew exactly what she meant. I knew, because when I’d first found God, it was exactly what I’d said to Him.
“I get it,” I whispered back. “But that’s the whole point, Bridget. You don’t have to do this. We do. And now… now I just want to be with you, and enjoy you, and make memories. The rest… the rest we’ll figure out together.”
Her eyes welled a little, but she blinked it away. “Do you promise, Sam?”
“Babe, I just vowed my life to you. I’ll give you whatever promise you want.”
She gave a quick little nod, but she hadn’t let go of the steering wheel and she turned away, looking straight out of the car and at the side of the hotel.
I scrambled, remembering when I’d felt so lost and so adrift… What had helped me?
I needed to help her get grounded.
I needed to give her something good to focus on.
So, smiling and squeezing her thigh, I whispered, “Do you want to know what I want to do right now?”
She turned quickly. “What?”
I leaned across the console so my shoulder brushed hers and our faces were only inches apart.
“I want to get you alone, and naked. I want to see every inch of you without any risk of being interrupted, or pulled away,” I said hoarsely—and honestly. I let my hand play up the inside of her thigh and her hands tightened even more on the steering wheel. “I want to stroke that soft, soft skin on the inside of your thigh. I want to be skin to skin with you. I want to feel you get wet for me. I want to watch you come again and again and again—and then when it’s over, I want to do it again. Bridget… I’ve waited. I’ve waited so long. Now I want everything with y—”
She sucked in and leaped over the console, clambering into my lap, kissing me open mouthed and desperate, straddling me, clawing hands into my hair.
Then, just when I thought maybe we were going to do all that right here, she pulled back suddenly and met my eyes, her chest heaving.
“Me too,” she gasped. “All of that. And anything else too, Sam—whatever you want. I’m game. Just… yes.”
I swallowed, gripping her ass because I was keeping her hard against me. My voice, when I spoke, was a deep gravel and her eyes twinkled.
“So… you need to get out of this car right now, and go find out what room we’re in and text it to me. I need to dodge the cameras as much as I can.”
She nodded quickly, biting her lip—which made me groan and kiss her again, and that kept her in the car for another couple minutes until I grabbed the door handle and practically threw her out.
“Go. Now.”
She laughed as she stumbled out of the car—then teased me by leaning back in, over my aching, straining lap to grab her little purse and phone from the console, dragging her hand—the one with the ring on it—over my cock as she straightened. Then the little tease laughed again when I growled.
When she was gone, trotting across the parking lot towards the main entrance, I sat back in the seat and focused, praying that I could relax enough to walk into the hotel without pitching a tent. I tried to distract myself by watching Bridget smiling at the receptionist, talking animatedly, and leaning her elbow on the tall desk so that the little diamond on her finger sparkled.
It wasn’t much, but I’d used what savings I had to get her a real ring.
Seeing her smile was like air after being underwater. She sparkled. Then and there I made a resolution to make sure she smiled every single day.
Help me get this right, I prayed. She’s perfect for me. Thank you. Now… don’t let me fuck this up.
Then, a couple minutes later she was taking a little wallet from the woman, shaking her head, and smiling even broader, before she stepped away from the desk and started towards the back of the lobby, hunched over her phone.
BEAUTIFUL: Room 7805. There’s no external stairs that high, but there’s a bank of elevators on the first floor, just inside the exterior door. I’ll leave it propped open for you, but get there fast because they usually have alarms if they’re open more than a minute or two.
ME: Got it.
I jumped out of the car, grabbed our bags from the back and slung them both over one shoulder, gripping them with one hand as I started towards that exterior entrance. I took the stairs two at a time until I found the door she’d propped open—but Bridget herself was nowhere to be seen.
I smiled, but kept my hood up and my chin down as I got into the hallway, letting the door close behind me, and pushing the button for an elevator, impatiently.
I didn’t look up, kept my head down and looked at my phone so the cameras wouldn’t catch me, and darted out into the hallway on the seventh floor looking for the signs—and instead seeing Bridget, almost at the other end of the floor, walking quickly with her back to me, and her head down like she was looking at her phone.
Instinctively I slipped behind one of the pillars that extended out of the wall alongside each doorway—and my instincts prickled.
I smiled and leaned out just far enough to get one eye out and see where she was. She was just turning from looking for me, but still walking briskly.
Then I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Slipping back behind the pillar again, I checked it quickly and smiled.
BEAUTIFUL: Where are you? You can’t get into the room without a keycard.
I was about to answer, but then I had an idea.
Peering out again to see where she was, I caught her turning a corner at the other end of the floor and had to slip back behind the pillar quickly so she wouldn’t see me.
ME: I’m coming.
I waited a few more seconds, checked that the hall was empty, then trotted the length of the hallway, keeping to the wall so the pillars obscured my position from anyone looking around the corner.
BEAUTIFUL: Oh, to be a man and for it to be so simple.
I snorted.
ME: New rule. Next time we’re going anywhere, you don’t tell me and I have to find you.
BEAUTIFUL: Great in theory, but with ten floors, it might have taken you a while. I would like to have at least one orgasm before the sun comes up.
Fair point.
I reached the intersection of hallways at the end and peered around—but now it was my line of sight that was obscured by the pillars. But there were only two doors on each side, so very few options. I smiled, and sent her one word.
ME: Soon.
Still uncertain whether she was in the hallway behind a pillar, or had gone into the room and was waiting for me to knock, I crept forward, peering around the first pillar, and mentally cursing when she wasn’t there—which meant our door had to be the second one on this side, because I could see the other two from this angle and the numbers were even.
My heart was hammering, my body tightening again in anticipation. But just as I made it to the next pillar, I heard the elevators on the main floor ding.
Cursing, I whipped around the pillar, relieved to see that it was our room, and knocked quietly.
There was no sound for a moment and I shifted the bags on my shoulder, my breath becoming shallow as I imagined her inside—
There was a clunk, and the door swung open and Bridget, my wife, stood there in the doorway. Beaming at me.
And naked as the day she was born.
I stopped dead, staring, taking in the sight of her. Adrenaline coursing through my veins as I scanned her gorgeous body all the way up from her toes. I was fully erect immediately—and stunned.
“Hey…” she said quietly… and a little shyly?
I locked eyes with her immediately. I was panting.
“Do you need food or water… a bathroom… anything?” I growled at her, still standing just outside the door.
Her brows went up. “Right now? No. Why, are you hungr—”
She shrieked laughing as I launched myself at her, throwing the bags aside and leaning down to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder, kicking the door closed behind me and slapping her ass as I carried her deeper into the room… and stopped dead.
It wasn’t a room. It was a fucking suite. A big one.
It had an entryway, because there was a kitchen on the other side of the wall, a long island, then an even longer, wider dining area that ran under the huge windows—they started a couple feet up from the floor and ran all the way to the ceiling, with windowsills so deep Bridget would be able to curl up with a pillow and a book.
“Bridget—” I started hesitantly as the room opened up to my right and then I could see that those windows ran the length of the living room that was large enough for a recliner, a sectional couch, a drink bar, and the door into the separate bedroom, that I couldn’t see, but knew had to be just as luxurious as the rest of this place.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” she said, still giggling, her stomach jumping against my shoulder in a way that made my cock twitch.
“But—”
“I figured we wouldn’t be getting out much and… if you’re worried about it, you can repay me in services rendered,” she said slyly, her voice vibrating against my back.
I took another couple steps into the room, swallowing, because this place was massive and beautiful.
Then she clapped her hand on my back a couple times. “Husband? God that seems weird to say, but anyway… Are you going to freak out about this? It’s the closest thing I could do to a honeymoon on such short notice.”
“No, no, of course not…” I rumbled, leaning down to put her back on her feet, and straightening because I needed to look at her again.
Her face was a little red from hanging upside down over my back, but she tipped her chin up to catch my eyes, smiling, though I could see the uncertainty in her gaze.
I cupped her face with one hand and held her waist with the other, glancing over her back at the stunning room behind her then back down to her shining eyes.
“God bless whoever designed this hotel,” I said, low and husky, stroking her cheek.
She arched one brow. “Oh? Why?”
I grinned at her. “Because those window sills are deep enough to sit in… or bend you over.”
Her eyes widened and her smile turned saucy. “You should see the shower.”
“I’m going to see every inch of this place,” I vowed to her, pulling her right up to her toes because I was about to kiss her. “But first, a new rule.”
She tipped her head. “You and your rules—”
“No clothes the moment we cross that doorway—ever. For as long as we’re here,” I growled.
Her smile broadened as I leaned down to kiss her, but then she grabbed my face in her hands and pushed me back.
“Bridget! What—” My voice was muffled against her palm, but she shoved me back and waggled a finger at me.
“The Dom has to play by his own rules. Don’t worry, I’ll help.”
Then she reached for the hem of my hoodie and started pushing it up my torso, wrestling because she was so much shorter than me—and because the button-fly on my jeans didn’t want to release. Too much pressure behind it.
But finally, finally, breathless and laughing, I was naked too and she grabbed me immediately, pulling me down into a kiss. I appeased her, but kept leaning down, sliding hands down her back to cup her ass, then pick her up and carry her into the bedroom.
She wrapped her legs around my waist and opened her mouth on my neck, sending a wash of need down my spine as I hurried through the suite with her, thrilling as I got her in the bedroom, then wrenched her off and threw her onto the huge, king sized bed.
She shrieked and laughed when she bounced, pushing up to sit. The laughter died on her tongue when our eyes locked, but her smile got wider as she began to back away.
I crawled onto the bed, prowling towards her. When she tried to evade me, I shot a hand out to grab her ankle and yanked her towards me so fast her head bounced on the bed and she shrieked again.
Her laughter echoed around the vaulted ceiling as I crawled over her, using my weight to press her into the thick bed as I covered her. I couldn’t resist kissing my way up her body, teasing her nipples with my teeth until she gasped, then pulling myself up to take her open, smiling mouth.
Plunging my hands into her hair, I tilted her head and delved her mouth with my tongue boldly.
She wasn’t smiling anymore. She had already hooked one knee over my hip and was writhing underneath me, rubbing herself against me in time with the kiss, her hands clawing up my back leaving me shuddering as she arched her back and tried to pull me into her.
Planting one hand over her shoulder to brace, I reared over her, mouth open, and rocked my hips to draw myself against her slick heat.
Her mouth dropped open and she grabbed my ass with both hands, pulling me against her.
“Don’t tease me, Sam,” she gasped. “I’ve waited too long.”
I almost choked on my own lust. “You think you’ve waited?” I growled, leaning down and grabbing a fistful of her hair, pulling her head back and nipping at her chin. “Between prison and God, I’ve practically regrown my virginity.”
She snorted, but her jaw dropped when I flexed my hips and held, arching her against the grip I had on her hair. It felt so good I shuddered, and her breath caught, so I did it again.
“Sam… please.”
“I like you begging for me.”
“Please!”
Our bodies were already slick, she was gripping me, arching against me, asking for me, and I almost lost control. But there was a moment when it all came home to me.
She was here.
She knew me… all of me.
And she wanted me.
She wanted me with a fire I could see in her eyes.
It was… humbling. And so arousing, for a second I was genuinely afraid I’d explode the moment I entered her.
So I rocked against her one more time, holding the pressure, then releasing her hair to cup her face and hold myself over her—and I didn’t move.
“Sam, I said don’t tease me!”
“I’m not, I’m just… taking it in,” I said, my voice gruff with need.
She blinked and her face softened. “Taking in what?”
“You. The miracle that you’re here. That you want me. All of me.”
Her eyes widened and she let go of my ass to trail her fingertips up my back, then along my sides, then around to cup my jaw in both hands, staring at me as if she was awed.
“Sam… you remember you’re the good guy here, right?” she said, and there was a flash of a shadow as she searched my eyes—a hollow fear in her that made my stomach pang and made me want to fight demons for her.
“This isn’t about good or bad, babe,” I murmured to her, swallowing as I positioned myself, ready to take her. “This is about right. And you are so… so right for me.”
She nodded. “I am.” Her eyes shone and she bit her lip.
“Are you ready?” I murmured, sliding my free hand under her nape, to cup her head and hold her.
She went very still, and there was a flash of panic in my chest—was she having second thoughts.
But then her throat bobbed and…
“I’ve been ready for you my whole life,” she whispered.
“Oh, God, Bridget!” I groaned, then took her mouth and plunged into her, taking her in a single, claiming stroke.
Her mouth opened under mine, our twin breaths roaring, mingling. Her head dropped back, and I cradled it as I took her again and she whimpered. Then again, breaking a cry from her throat. Then again.
And again.
And again.
My body quivered with need, every muscle rigid, teeth gritted for control as she met me stroke for stroke and the pleasure coursed through my veins like a drug, my skin tingling, prickling, every hair standing in ovation to the perfect pleasure she clawed from me. As if when her hand clapped to my back, she didn’t just reach for my skin, but inside me—diving into my soul and dragging out into the light the parts of me that had been buried for so long in shame, and uncertainty.
It was beautiful. She was beautiful.
And so fucking hot, I was going to explode.
“Bridget—”
“I’m almost… keep going… Sam!”
I threw back my head and let the guttural roar come, since I was still holding back the rest of me, but I was losing my grip. Arching my back, I planted both hands over her shoulders, bracing her against my wrists as I picked up the pace and felt my body spiraling up and up and up…
I was going to come.
“Bridget… Fuck!”
“Sam, don’t stop!”
We barely parted before I was plunging into her again, and she rode me, her ankles hooked behind my back, her mouth open—then her eyes widened and began to roll back in her head.
“Sam… Sam… SAM—” She cried my name with abandon, her face alight with joy.
Actual joy.
My wife loved me.
She wanted me just as desperately as I wanted her—and the monster in me, the creature that had never been satisfied, roared with delight.
“Mine!” I rasped. “Bridget… you’re mine!”
Her back bowed and her nails dug into my back as her body clenched around me.
My leash snapped.
Still bracing on one hand, I slid the other under the hollow of her arched back and pulled her against me, pounding into her, jaw slack and growling her name, feasting on the sight of her breasts bouncing as she rode the wave of an orgasm that went on, and on, and on.
And then I crested that wave with her, the sheer ecstasy detonating at the base of my spine and spiraling out—pleasure, bliss, and fire filling my veins and leaving me shaking and roaring, fisting the quilt under her and shuddering… until I collapsed over her, covering her, cupping my hands over her head and burying my face in her neck, letting my hot breath rush against her skin as my body twitched and jerked in the aftershocks of pleasure.
She grabbed for me, clinging desperately, pulling me against her, in an embrace as frantic as our lovemaking, and just as needy.
“Sam…” she whimpered. “Sam, that was…”
She turned her head, tipping it back to meet my gaze and I made myself focus, my body still trembling, because there was something in her eyes…
Fear?
I blinked. “Bridget, what—did I hurt you?!”
“No! No, I…” her eyes welled with unshed tears and she shook her head, then her eyes screwed shut and her chin crumpled and she buried her face in the crook of my shoulder. “No, I’m just… so happy,” she whispered. “And so scared they’re going to take you from me.”
“Hey, hey—”
I pulled her in, rolling off her only enough that I wouldn’t suffocate her, and could wrap my arms around her.
She clung to me, arms and legs wrapped around me, her breathing quick and labored against my neck.
“Bridget… Bridget, look at me,” I whispered.
But she shook her head and just held on.
With a heavy sigh, I dropped my chin to kiss her shoulder.
“I love you,” I murmured against her neck. “I don’t give two shits what anyone else thinks. Or what they try to do to us. God made you for me. You’re mine.”
“But—” she pulled her head back, her eyes red and shining with tears. But I shook my head.
“No buts, Bridget. You’re my wife. You’re mine forever now. And I will burn down any motherfucker who tries to say otherwise.”
THE END