Epilogue
BECK
“Why don’t we bring these into the kitchen?”
Mae and I followed Ellie from the front room into the bed and breakfast’s kitchen, our arms both laden with trays of desserts. Placing them on the table, I watched my beaming fiancée as she hugged the woman who’d gotten it all started.
“Thank you,” she said. “If it weren’t for you, Mae’d from Scratch might not even exist.”
“I’m certain,” the older woman said, “it would. But I insist on an invoice.”
Mae had refused to give her one, telling Ellie her thriving pastry business was thanks to the start Ellie had given her.
“Absolutely not.” Mae stood firm. “You were my first customer and this is my way of thanking you for believing in me before I even had a business card.”
Ellie’s displeasure showed clearly on her face. “Then I insist you stay the night, on me.”
Mae and I exchanged a look.
“We weren’t prepared to stay,” she began.
“And don’t have overnight bags with us,” I finished, my mind racing. We had the bar covered for the night, but I had to open early tomorrow. Not that it was an issue since we weren’t that far away. Ellie was our only delivery today, so technically…
“I have your room.”
That seemed to do it for Mae. I could tell by her wistful expression she was thinking of the last time we’d stayed in that room. As I was.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
“You were planning to check on the bar later.”
“Only if we ended up back in town,” I said. We’d already planned to walk around town and possibly stay here for dinner. “It’s not necessary.”
O’Malley’s had been running like a well-oiled machine thanks to our hire who not only handled the bookkeeping but was an excellent server. I’d promoted Spence to manager, a role he’d been so proud of that his entire extended family had come in to celebrate. And he was damn good at it.
She’d already decided but just wanted me to confirm. I knew her, not from being engaged to Mae this past month, but from growing up with her. Now, there was just a whole new layer to our relationship. One I was already looking forward to exploring tonight.
“Deal,” she said to Ellie. “We’ll have to go into town to get some things.”
“No need for toiletries, we have those. Now, about this taste test you mentioned.”
Just as her husband walked in, Ellie opened one of the trays.
They fawned over Mae’s mini almond croissants and apple cardamom crumble cups, my personal favorite.
Word hadn’t spread about Mae’d from Scratch only because of the support she’d gotten from Cedar Falls businesses—from Mason and Pia to Maggie at The Big Easy to Bella Luna and Cedarwood Bar and Grill—but because her creations were damn good.
After finishing with Ellie, we headed into town to get a few things and make dinner reservations. By the time we returned, our room was ready to check into. The second I opened the door, memories flooded back.
Our first kiss.
Our engagement.
“I can’t believe it’s been just over a month,” Mae said as I closed the door. She looked at the bed. “Do you remember the first time we had sex?”
Had she lost her mind?
“Remember? I fantasize about it daily.”
“You do not.”
“Calling me a liar?” I teased, pulling Mae toward me.
“Yes. A blatant one.”
“Not nice,” I said, reaching up to undo the first of her two braids. “May have to punish you for that one.”
“Oh yeah? What are you planning?”
One braid done. Onto the second.
“Maybe a nice slap on the ass. Or two.”
“Big. Fat. Liar.”
“Taunting me now, are we?”
I spun my fiancée around, pushed her hair to one side, and took advantage of the spaghetti strap dress she wore. “The first time I saw this,” I said of her tattoo, “I wanted to trace the lines with my tongue.”
Doing exactly that, I relished the sounds Mae made. Whimpers that got me every time.
“You like that?”
“I like everything you do.”
“Good,” I said, spinning her back and pushing the straps down. “I think sundresses should be your required apparel of choice from now on.” It slipped down easily, revealing the fact that Mae wore no bra. Of course, I’d known that already.
“I think I’d be a little chilly in this in January.”
My hand slipped beneath her underwear. “What if I warm you up?”
Mae couldn’t answer because I covered her mouth with mine.
With my tongue and fingers working the same rhythm, I willed her to come.
The sound of her pleasure had become my new favorite thing, next to seeing Mae’s face as she orgasmed.
If I thought the fantasy was hot, it paled in comparison to the real thing.
She was close.
I was hard as a rock already, but this was about my fiancée. A full circle moment for her business, and for us too.
I rubbed her clit while teasing Mae with my tongue until the telltale pulses around my finger, and wetness that I couldn’t wait to sink into, told me I’d reached my goal.
For now.
There would be more to come. And there was, more than once.
It was only later, when we sat across from each other at dinner, that I looked into the eyes of the woman I loved, my best friend, and reveled in… well, all of it.
“I love you,” she said, beating me to it. “Always have.”
“That’s my line,” I said as she took a sip of wine. “Sometimes I curse the time we wasted—or specifically, I wasted. But I think everything happened the way it should.”
“What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “I was still too immature, before you left, and probably would have fucked things up if I’d told you then.
Seeing Mason and Pia, and then Parker and Delaney, gave me hope.
It made me realize, even though I probably already knew by then, the pact we took was nothing more than four guys who were scared to repeat their parents’ mistakes.
Or in Mason’s case, scared to lose someone he loved. ”
“I think about it a lot too,” she said, this conversation one we’d had more than once but in different ways. “What would have happened if I hadn’t gone to France. I needed that, I think, to be where I am today, with the business.”
“Agreed.” I twisted my lips. “I could have done without Mathieu, though.”
“Same. But you know… even that taught me something. I think regrets are pretty useless. We are where we’re meant to be when it was meant to be.”
“You think?”
“I do.”
Like she said, it didn’t matter either way. The past was behind us. The future was uncertain but filled with possibilities. The present was really all we had, and I for one didn’t want to waste a minute of it.
“I remember distinctly coming up with the rules when Mason blurted, ‘Oh, and another one… never date the neighbor.’ Every one of them looked at me, already knowing the rule was for me alone. I never even argued it. They knew what I did… Any interest from you and it was all over.”
“That’s still so unbelievable, that you all kept it from me for so long.”
“They knew the stakes. The guys can be a bunch of assholes sometimes, but they’d never have risked ruining our friendship. It was, and is, too important to me.”
“Cost you three hundred bucks,” she teased.
“Try five fifty. Remember we each pitched two fifty to start.”
“Ouch.”
I reached across for Mae’s hand, the one with a ring on it. “Let’s not wait.” Prepared to explain what I meant, that I wanted to marry her now… yesterday… I opened my mouth to do just that.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“Let’s get married. This summer.”
There were benefits to marrying someone you’d known your whole life, who could almost read your thoughts.
“Done.” I squeezed her hand. “Rule number five. Marry the neighbor. Stay forever.”