Epilogue
Two Years Later
Iris
“That man just winked at me.”
My eyes shift from the cocktail I’m making and follow Evie’s line of sight to a man seated alone at a table, nursing a large glass of beer. “I think he just has something in his eye,” I tell my coworker, busting her bubble to which I am rewarded with a pout.
“No, I swear he winked at me. He looks hot. Doesn’t he look hot?”
I chuckle at the need I hear in her voice. “We don’t date customers, Evie. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
“Well, how am I supposed to meet the love of my life then?”
“Not here,” I say, turning back to my cocktail.
“Didn’t you meet yours here?”
Tracey lets out a cackle beside me, probably remembering that horrible advice she gave me.
I turn to the younger woman, flashing her a grin.
“Touché,” I chuckle. Evie is one of the newest additions to the bar and I always find it hilarious how charmingly innocent the girls who work here are.
I don’t quite remember a time I was this innocent, not even when I was forced to work at a bar at just nineteen.
I always moved about life feeling jaded.
Well, that was until I didn’t have to move about life alone anymore.
“Look, he did it again,” Evie whispers, nudging me with her arm and pulling my focus back to the man in question and he is indeed staring at our new waitress.
There is a gleam in the man’s eyes that makes me want to protect Evie as I often do whenever a customer gets too handsy but one look at my coworker and I can tell the attention is welcome. “Do you think I should go talk to him?”
“Let him come to you,” I advise her, laughing when I see stars in her eyes.
Tracey looks at me with a knowing smile and I can’t help but wonder if that is the same look she saw in my eyes two years ago whenever Ghost walked into the room.
Did I give him that same dreamy look whenever he was close?
Heck, it’s a wonder it took us so long to drift toward each other.
Thanks to the Víboras Gemelas, we were able to find each other and create our own little family.
My hand unconsciously moves to my stomach and I can’t help the smile that touches my lips. Soon, it’s going to be more than just us two. Ghost is no doubt going to lose his mind when he finds out that I am carrying his baby.
And to think it all started that night in Austin.
It all led me here. To meet the man of my dreams, marry him and take his name.
Elizabeth Grundy didn’t just die; she vanished from existence.
In her place came Iris Turner who then became Iris Benito.
Unlike me, Ghost was able to reopen his past and did the tough work to start rebuilding his relationships with his family.
He’s even introduced me to them. It’s not perfect, but it’s progress.
How the hell did I go from having no one to having a husband, friends, and freaking in-laws? A life where I don’t have to worry about someone coming after me. Not after Priest and Pope worked together to take down all the higher-ups in Víboras Gemelas, sending the rest into hiding.
After my kidnapping, Priest returned to Austin with some men from both the Steel Sinners and Bishop’s club, the Steel Aces, who joined the Steel Orders to dismantle the criminal organization so that there would be nothing left to piece together if someone decided to revive it.
I found it suspicious that the other twin was mysteriously killed in prison and how every man, including Henry, disappeared from the face of earth that night.
“I’m going for it!” Evie’s words pull me back to the present and I turn to watch her run her palms over her short skirt. “Wish me luck.”
She grabs a beer and approaches the table. I watch as the man tracks her across the room, smiling charmingly at her when she stops by his table. He nods to something she says and nudges his glass toward her. She hands him the beer and then takes a seat across from her.
I’m tempted to watch how it all plays out when I feel a tingle on my skin, a soft caress almost like someone’s touching me.
Lust snakes up my body and hardens my nipples.
My eyes shift to the entrance and standing there is the man I fell in love with two years ago.
His gaze has always felt like a warmth on my skin, leaving me aching with need.
One look is enough to send me melting into a puddle—that has never changed between us.
Barely anything has changed between us. Not the love. Not the heat. Not the affection.
In fact, it’s only grown into heights that should feel unhealthy—probably are. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.
***
Ghost
Her eyes find mine as they always do whenever I step into a room.
I never have to say or do anything to bring her attention to me.
It always just snaps into place, like a magnet.
Those stunning blue eyes light up as I approach her and I can’t resist the urge to kiss her when she’s within arm’s reach.
“It’s against the rules to touch the staff,” she giggles when I pull back, slapping my chest playfully. “I’ll have to report you to security.”
“Good thing I have connections there,” I tell her, brushing a hand over her cheek then pushing back before I am tempted to walk around and fuck her in front of so many people.
I grab a stool and settle back as I watch her pour out a blue-green drink into a glass then slide it down to a customer.
I imagine the drink is one of her unique cocktail creations.
Every now and then, she comes up with new ideas off the top of her head over cocktails that seem to be a hit with the customers.
The menu is loaded with her own drink creations and the fact that some of those are non-alcoholic to accommodate people like me touches me in ways only she can.
“I wonder what I’ll order tonight. It’s been a long shift,” I say, reaching for the menu but I find it snatched from my fingers.
“Nuh-huh,” she says, putting the menu aside. “I have something else special for you tonight. I created it just for you.”
“Did you now?”
“Yep,” she beams, and I watch as she grabs the shaker, a playful glint in her eyes. “Just wait until you taste it. You’re going to lose your mind.”
“And it’s better than the White Knight?” I ask, alluding to the signature mocktail she created for me years ago. Another hit with the customers.
“Better!” She pours ingredients into a clean shaker.
First the ice and then a splash of something red, followed by a generous amount of something yellow that smells like pineapple juice.
She adds a squeeze of lime, those pretty brows furrowed in concentration as she adds two more ingredients in vibrant colors of red and yellow before topping it all with a splash of soda.
She closes the shaker and I watch as she shakes it all up, completely captivated by the woman I still can’t believe is mine.
How the fuck is she mine?
Nearly five years ago, I was a shell of a man. One who was on the fast track to hell and then I came to Vegas, got my act together and met someone I had no business wanting, but couldn’t keep my eyes off of.
And now, she’s mine.
My eyes stay on hers as she pours the drink into a tall glass and hands it to me. “Try it,” she says with a smile reserved only for me. After two years together, I’ve learned to know her tells. Her customer-service smile and the secret one we share when it’s just us two.
With my eyes locked on hers, I grab the drink and take a tentative sip and my eyes go wide when the flavors explode on my tongue.
The sweetness of the pineapple is immediately apparent but there’s also a perfect blend of flavors I can’t make out, perfectly blended together to create a drink that is sweet and tart but incredibly refreshing.
Christ, after the long day I’ve heard, this feels like landing in heaven.
“Jesus,” I sigh, taking another sip. “I know you’re a genius at creating and mixing these drinks but goddamn, baby.”
“I told you you’d like it,” she beams, leaning across the counter and I am rewarded with the view of her cleavage. “Do you wanna know what I call it?”
“Sure,” I say, a little distracted. It’s so fucking tempting to slip my hand under the table and palm a hardening dick. Hell, it takes so little from her to get me all worked up and right now, her tits make me hard as steel. Fuck, do they look bigger or is her top just tighter?
“Baby Daddy,” Iris says, grasping my jaw and pulling my face to hers. “The drink is called the Baby Daddy.”
I blink at her, too aroused to make sense of her words and when I do, my eyes go wide with shock.
“You’re pregnant?” I whisper, afraid that I’m reading her all wrong but she nods, those pretty eyes welling with tears.
“Fuck sweetheart!” I push the drink away and circle the counter, walking to her and picking her off the damn floor.
“Pregnant?” God, I can’t believe it. How many times have I wondered if I would ever have a family of my own.
Countless and Iris just made that dream come true.
My perfect little wife. My bride. My heart. My joy.
“I knew you’d like the drink,” she giggles delightfully.
“You have no idea how happy you make me, gioia mia,” I say, putting her down. “I’m tempted to show you right here in front of all these people.”
“You’re kidding,” she laughs, pushing back to look at me and she must see that I am in fact not kidding because she pushes back and turns to look at the crowd, beckoning to Tracey, her close friend and fellow bartender. “Tracey, can you cover for me for a moment?”
“Sure,” Tracey calls out.
“You’re ridiculous,” Iris tells me but I read the need in her eyes as she drags me away from the bar and we barely make it into a room before my mouth is hot on hers.
I’m breathing hard as I kiss her, touching her as if I don’t spend every waking moment by her side.
I’m starved for her—only her—as I rake my mouth over her throat, hands frantically tugging at her skirt, reaching underneath to tease her pussy over her panties.
“I need to be inside of you, baby,” I say, fevered. An addict seeking his next fix and Christ above, she’s my drug. The one I never want to quit. “I need to feel you.”
“Me too,” she pants, unfastening my jeans and we both groan when her fingers close around my cock.
Our loud breaths echo in the room, fevered against each other as I rip down her panties and bring her knee to my waist. She lines my cock into her entrance and we both groan as I sink into her wetness.
“Fuck!” I growl, burying my cock deep into her wetness, her hot pussy pulsing hotly around me. “Hold on to me, baby. I can’t stop.”
“Don’t want you to,” she whimpers, her lips seeking mine in a kiss when I start thrusting into her.
I rake my free hand up her tits, cupping one and playing with her nipples as I stroke my cock into her, faster and harder.
Seeking to possess and mark her. The world outside this room fades and it’s only just us two. Will only ever be just as two.
Mine.
Gioia mia.
My joy. My heart.
“Iris?” There’s a knock on the door, followed by a muffled voice. “Are you in there?”
It doesn’t register to my wife that there’s someone at the door until the second knock. She freezes in my arms and those beautiful eyes turn panicked as they shoot to the door. “Jesus,” she mutters under her breath. “Evie?”
“Oh, you’re in there,” the voice says. “So…um, a customer just walked in and requested the White Knight cocktail and I don’t know how to make it yet.”
“I’ll be there in a second, Evie,” Iris says, biting hard on her lips when I rub my thumb over her nipple, driving harder into her sex. Her breathing starts to get choppy and her thighs begin to tremble around me. “Oh God…I mean, just wait for me. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay, but like…maybe you could give me the instructions and I’ll go make it.”
Her fingers tighten on my shoulders and her pussy begins to pulse faster around my thrusting cock.
“I’ll teach you, later,” she chokes out, burying her teeth into my shoulder to muffle a moan.
I drop my hand between us and stroke her clit, rubbing the berry in rough circles.
“Five minutes. Give me five minutes, Evie.”
“Maybe you could…”
“Five minutes, Evie. I promise!”
A long beat of silence followed before the voice offers a quiet. “Okay.” Iris waits for the owner’s footsteps to fade to let out a whimpered moan.
“Oh God. Ghost!” she sobs, scratching at my shoulder as she rises to meet my fevered thrusts.
I stroke harder into her, sending her off the edge with a scream.
Her back bows and she sobs as her pussy tightens hard around my cock, pulsing hungrily and milking my length.
I thrust faster into her, sending her into yet another wave of body trembling orgasm before I find my own.
I come with a bellow, burying my face into her neck and biting into her skin as wave after wave of pleasure flood through my system.
It takes us longer than the five minutes she promised to recover. Her fingers are in my hair as we soak in each other’s warmth. “You don’t think she heard us, do you?”
I laugh at that, pushing back to brush my mouth over hers.
“You make me incredibly happy, Iris Benito.” I brush a kiss over her cheeks and forehead before closing my eyes and pressing my brows to hers.
“You’ve given me a new life and new purpose, gioia mia.
Coming here to Vegas and being accepted by the Sinners saved me but a part of me was still lost after everything that happened.
” We don’t talk much about my past but she knows it all.
Understands me better than anyone ever has.
I stroke her hair and breathe in her warm, rosy scent.
“Loving you has given me a second chance at life.”
“It did the same for me,” she whispers, tucking her face into my chest. “I am the happiest I have ever been because you’ve made all my dreams come true.”
Fuck! “I love you, baby,” I rasp, emotions heavy in my throat. “My heart. My love. Gioia mia.”
“I love you,” she says with a contented sigh, nuzzling my skin. “Evie is probably going to hate me but I want to stay like this a moment longer.”
My arms tighten around hers, “However long you like.”
~The End