20. Epilogue Shay #3
There’s a breath where I have to brace myself against the table, one hand gripping the edge, Declan’s arm tight around my middle.
He takes his time even when we don’t have time, because that’s who he is.
He’d take care of me through a fire alarm.
The slow drag of his blunt fingertips circling my hole, spreading the slick that’s already leaking for him, makes my thighs tremble.
I can feel the exact distance between the tip of his finger and where I need it most, that maddening almost-there that has me rocking back, chasing contact I know he won’t give until he’s ready.
“Good?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Declan.”
“Say it.”
I roll my eyes, though he can’t see it. “I’m sure.”
“That’s my boy.”
The praise goes through me like a live wire.
“Fuck you,” I gasp.
His hand spreads over my thigh, holding me steady. “Pretty sure you’ve got that backward.”
“Technically, I’m facing the room, so maybe we’re both right.”
He laughs so hard his forehead hits my shoulder.
I’m still laughing when I settle fully into his lap, when the rush of being close to him steals it from me and leaves only a broken little sound in its place. He’s big. He’s always going to be big. I love it now in a way I can’t explain without sounding completely unhinged.
Maybe I am unhinged.
Maybe that’s fine.
His hands find my hips, thumbs digging in gently.
“Easy,” he says.
“I am being easy.”
“You’re trying to bounce already.”
“I have a schedule.”
“You have no patience.”
“I have excellent project management.”
He kisses the side of my neck. “Ride me, then.”
So I do.
I plant my palms on his knees and move, facing the bar, facing the shelves of bottles and the brass sign visible through the front window. The room that used to belong to Declan alone. The room I walked into furious and humiliated, determined to prove I didn’t need anybody.
Now I’m in my alpha’s lap in the middle of it, trying to keep quiet while I ride him.
This is so fucking weird.
Declan’s hands stay on my waist, letting me set the pace until I start getting greedy.
Until I’m moving harder, chasing the exact drag that has my legs shaking and my mouth falling open.
The thick line of his cock stretches me open with every downward rock.
I can feel the exact millimeter where the head drags over that spot inside me, and the awareness of how completely he fills me makes my next breath hitch.
“That’s it,” he says, voice gone deep. “Look at you.”
“Don’t start.”
“You’re gorgeous.”
“Declan.”
“My omega, taking what he wants.”
I turn my head just enough to glare at him, but there’s no real heat in it. “Your co-owner.”
“Mine,” he says simply. “And mine.”
That should be too much.
A month ago, it would’ve been.
Instead I grin, breathless and wrecked, and reach down to hold his hand where it’s gripping my hip.
“Yeah,” I say. “Yours.”
His breath catches.
Got him.
I lean back against his chest, shamelessly pleased with myself, and move again.
“My name on the liquor license,” I murmur, because I need to say something or I’m going to make a noise loud enough for the entire patio to hear. “Your cock in my ass. Seems balanced.”
Declan makes a strangled sound behind me.
“Shay.”
“What? It’s a fair division of assets.”
“You’re going to kill me.”
“Probably. But the business will survive.”
His hand comes up to cover my mouth when I laugh, not hard, just enough to muffle it as he starts moving beneath me. The angle changes. Everything in me goes tight and bright.
“Oh,” I breathe against his palm.
“That good?”
“Don’t be smug.”
“You’re the one who said you had a schedule.”
“Shut up.”
“Can’t. I’m busy.”
He keeps one hand at my waist and the other over mine on his thigh, anchoring me while the pace turns messy. The table gives a tiny squeak under us.
I freeze.
Declan freezes too.
From outside, Diego’s voice carries through the door. “Was that the table?”
Tessa says, “No.”
“It sounded like—”
“Diego.”
Silence.
Then Jude starts cackling.
My face goes hot.
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
Declan presses his face into my shoulder, laughing soundlessly.
“We’re never hearing the end of this.”
“Nope.”
“I hate them.”
“You love them.”
“Unfortunately.”
He kisses the corner of my mouth, still smiling, and then the laughter fades into something softer as he holds me closer.
“Love you,” he says.
The words still hit me right in the chest. Not because I don’t believe him anymore. But because I finally, finally do.
I turn in his lap as much as I can, enough to catch his mouth with mine. Enough to look at him. This huge, steady man with gray at his temples and tired green eyes and a bar towel tucked through his belt like he was born wearing one.
My alpha.
My partner.
My home.
“Love you too,” I say.
The knot catches before I’m ready for it, and Declan’s hand tightens on my hip.
“Shay.”
“I know.”
“You want it?”
I laugh softly, forehead pressed to his.
“Do I want you to knot me in our bar while our entire family is outside?”
His eyes go dark.
“Yeah,” I say. “I really do.”
He kisses me as he pulls me down, and I bite his lower lip to keep from making too much noise. We both laugh into it, breathless and stupidly happy, tied together in the middle of the bar we built.
Outside, somebody knocks once on the door.
“Absolutely not,” Benji calls through it. “I’m not rescuing you. I just want you both to know the ribs are getting cold.”
I bury my face in Declan’s shoulder.
Declan laughs against my hair.
And for once, I don’t care who hears us.
***