Epilogue
Nine Months Later
The water was a shade of turquoise Charlotte had only seen in photos before she and Marin arrived at their waterfront bungalow on St. John in the US Virgin Islands.
It was the first week of January, winter break from the university for Marin and a slow period at work for Charlotte, so they’d flown out for a week in the Caribbean.
This was their first real vacation together, but also the first time in years that either of them had taken a vacation at all.
Too many years, for both of them.
“I can’t get over how beautiful this is . . . or how relaxed I am.”
Charlotte turned her head to stare at her.
Marin sat reclined in a lounge chair, wearing a blue-patterned two-piece swimsuit that revealed a thin strip of skin at her waist. She had a tropical drink in one hand, while palm fronds overhead shielded her from the sun.
She looked so sexy, and indeed, so relaxed.
They had been going up to the main resort for meals, but otherwise they were enjoying the seclusion of their private villa. Powdery white sand stretched out before them, and there were no people in sight, only a couple of seagulls pecking along the waterline.
Yesterday, they’d chartered a boat to take them out so they could scatter her mom’s ashes at sea.
Charlotte had given it a lot of thought in those first months after receiving her mom’s remains.
She’d discussed it with her dad and with Marin, and in the end, they’d all agreed that Charlotte should set her free in the place she’d died trying to reach.
Charlotte had said a few words and tossed some flowers into the waves, and it had been overwhelmingly peaceful. It had also brought her a sense of closure. Now she could look ahead to the future, which shone as bright as the Caribbean sun.
“I understand why people enjoy tropical vacations so much.” Charlotte slipped off her lounger and climbed onto Marin’s. She lay on her side, cuddled against the woman she loved, and it was bliss. The air was warm but not unpleasantly so here in the shade.
“Distracting, having you pressed against me in that adorable little bikini,” Marin said, her voice lower, slightly throaty the way it got when she was aroused.
“Oh yeah?” Charlotte reached down to tug at the bust of her purple bikini. She was displaying a lot more cleavage than Marin, a lot more skin in general, but Marin’s modest two-piece was sexy as fuck.
Marin might give off the appearance of being reserved, but Charlotte knew the truth. Marin had a spine of steel, the heart of an adventurer, and she was brimming with passion. After waiting so long for a fulfilling relationship, Marin was ready for anything and everything when it came to love.
Case in point? She was looking at Charlotte like she had ideas for less relaxing things they could do right here in this lounge chair.
That made two of them, because Charlotte had been low-key aroused since she joined Marin on this chair.
She slid over so she was straddling one of Marin’s bare thighs, arching her hips until she felt pressure against her clit. Oh. Yes.
Marin’s breath hitched, even though Charlotte hadn’t touched her yet, but then again, Marin had always gotten off on Charlotte’s pleasure. Charlotte sat up, rocking her hips against Marin’s thigh, and Marin watched with the most deliciously erotic glint in her brown eyes.
Then she slid her hand inside Charlotte’s bikini bottom.
Fuck. Just fuck. Charlotte would never get over how good this felt.
Marin’s fingers toyed with her, and Charlotte shamelessly ground herself against them.
She threw her head back, nearly blinded by a brilliant beam of sunshine that filtered between the palm fronds overhead.
Somewhere, a bird squawked, and this must be the definition of paradise.
There was just enough alcohol in her system to give her a slight buzz.
The ocean was nearby, providing a melodic backdrop to her and Marin’s rendezvous.
Charlotte was already halfway to an orgasm as she stared up at the swaying canopy of palm trees.
She moved her hips faster, chasing her release.
It rushed through her in a cleansing wave, leaving her gasping, sweaty, and so freaking happy.
She dropped her gaze to Marin, lying beneath her on the lounger, looking awfully damn pleased with herself.
Charlotte sucked in several deep breaths, enjoying the tingling aftereffects of her orgasm.
Then she leaned forward to capture Marin’s lips, simultaneously cupping her over her swimsuit.
She felt the sharp intake of breath that betrayed just how aroused Marin was from getting Charlotte off.
Charlotte kissed her deeply while she teased her over her swimsuit, stroking with just enough pressure to drive Marin crazy.
Marin was patient with her at first, returning her kisses with enthusiasm as she attempted to adjust the angle of her hips to get more friction, but after several long minutes of this, Marin whimpered. “Charlotte, please.”
“Oh, I do love it when you beg.” Charlotte smiled against her lips. “I really want you to come against my tongue. Can I do that for you? Right here?”
Marin blinked at her, then darted a quick look around.
They were secluded behind their bungalow, but there was always some risk inherent to having sex outdoors.
Charlotte thought that, in this situation, the reward greatly outweighed the risk, and Marin must have agreed because she nodded, her hips pushing more insistently against Charlotte’s hand.
She loved it when Marin was this turned on. God, she was beautiful.
Already, Charlotte was working her hand below the band of Marin’s swimsuit bottom, pushing it down before dropping it into the sand.
Marin let out the sexiest little gasp when Charlotte bared her to the tropical breeze, and Charlotte wasted no time scooting down to nestle herself between Marin’s parted thighs.
She looked up, and the view of Marin, naked from the waist down with a background of sand and palm trees?
It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. And the sexiest.
Charlotte throbbed between her thighs as she pressed her tongue against Marin.
She’d done too good of a job with her teasing, though, because Marin’s breathless cry when Charlotte licked her clit indicated she was already close.
Still, Charlotte prolonged her pleasure as long as possible, licking and sucking, driving Marin closer to the edge.
Marin writhed against the lounge chair, hips rocking up against Charlotte’s mouth, hands clenched around the cushion beneath her. “I’m so . . . so close,” she panted with another whimper, arching her back.
“Come for me,” Charlotte murmured against Marin’s soaked flesh.
Marin’s body went taut against the chair, and she let out a long, low moan as she found her release. Charlotte swirled her tongue around and around her clit, helping her wring every bit of pleasure from her orgasm, until Marin pushed gently at her shoulders.
She looked down at Charlotte, her eyes glazed with pleasure, a pink flush staining her cheeks. “That was perfect. You’re perfect.”
Charlotte scrunched her nose. “Hardly.”
“You’re perfect for me,” Marin clarified.
Charlotte gazed up at her, happy and content. “And you’re perfect for me.”
“You know, I checked my horoscope this morning,” Marin said, her expression suddenly serious. “And it said that today, I should tell the person dearest to me what I really want.”
Charlotte sucked in a breath. “What do you want?”
“You, Charlotte. Always. I want to make it official. Once we’re back in Vermont, let’s get married. What do you say?”
Charlotte’s heart lurched. “Oh my god. Are you . . . are you proposing?”
Marin nodded, eyes glistening with tears. “I have a ring back at the bungalow, but this moment . . . I just couldn’t wait. You’re the love of my life, my one in eight billion. Will you marry me?”
Charlotte swiped at happy tears, already nodding. “Yes. God, yes. After everything we’ve been through together to make it to this point, I think we must be written in the stars.”
Marin exhaled. “I’m so happy.”
“Me too.” Charlotte slid up beside her, nestled against Marin so she could kiss her lips. “Remember what I told you about vacation being more about the person than the place for me?”
Marin nodded, rubbing Charlotte’s ring finger with her thumb, as if picturing her ring there.
“I spent so long searching for my mom,” Charlotte said. “At some point, I don’t think I even knew what I was looking for anymore. I was just wandering from place to place, city to city, job to job. Nowhere ever felt like home.”
Marin wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close.
“Then I met you on that bus, and something shifted. I didn’t know what it was at first, but now I do.” She blinked back tears. “I realized that for me, home isn’t a place. It’s a person. Marin, it’s you. You’re my home. Wherever you are, that’s where I’m meant to be.”