Epilogue
A LOVING HEART IS THE TRUEST WISDOM – CHARLES DICKENS
Zane
(Ten months later)
Lying in a field of strawberries, I took in the sweet scent. The sky was peaceful.
A fly buzzed nearby and then landed on my nose.
It tickled.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
My eyes popped instantly open.
She grabbed my hand before I could pull away.
My hand encircled Peyton’s breast, and my head was in her hair. That explained the tickle on my nose. The strawberry scent was still strong. “Morning.”
“See. We can do this.”
“Do you mean this?” I squeezed the soft mound of her breast. It felt fucking amazing.
“Well, that too.” She giggled. “But I meant this.” She snuggled back against me, wiggling her butt against my morning wood. “All night.”
Pushing my erection against her, I breathed in that scent again.
“I didn’t hold you like this all night.” I knew I’d fallen asleep on my side of our bed.
Hell, I’d stayed awake almost all night because that kept her safe just in case.
It struck me that this was the first time I’d allowed myself to call this our bed—a milestone in itself.
Peyton hadn’t even been allowed to sleep here in my bed, our bed. Not until Doctor Lang had helped me conquer the demons. That was a month ago. I’d added the extra month of waiting for last night to be sure.
The first time the doc made me write the experience of losing Julio in that terrorist hellhole had been a hell all its own. And analyzing the experience had been just as tough.
Peyton’s fingers stroked my hand. “You know what today is?”
“Saturday.”
“No, silly. It’s the first day of the rest of our lives.”
I kissed her hair. “You’re right.” She had no idea how appropriate that sentiment was. I lifted my head to check the time. “Shit.”
Peyton stroked my thigh. “What?”
I jerked up and away from her. It was late, almost too late. “We have to get up.” I rolled out of bed.
“Hey,” she complained, sitting up. “That’s not how this works. I come to your bed—”
“Our bed,” I corrected.
“Fine. Our bed for the first time.” She let the sheet drop, showing me her perfect tits. “You’re supposed to show me a good time again this morning.”
“We have to go.”
“The hell we do. My first appointment isn’t until noon.”
“It’s important,” I said, passing into the bathroom for a hot shower.
“What can be more important than making love to your woman?” she called from the bedroom.
I had just gotten the water up to temperature, and I stepped under the spray when she opened the glass and joined me. I looked straight into her eyes. “You’re coming along, and trust me, you don’t want to miss this.”
She was quickly up on her toes and kissing me. Then the minx broke the kiss and grabbed my cock. “I bet I can change your mind.” Kneeling down, she took the tip of my lengthening cock into her mouth.
I almost called off this morning’s plans—she was so damned good at this. As a SEAL, I’d trained to work through everything, cold, pain, tiredness, even bullet wounds, to complete a mission, but I’d never trained to withstand this.
She sucked harder and stroked me with both hands.
But a SEAL never allowed mission failure. Today, I had the most important mission of my pathetic life to complete, and I would not fail.
I leaned over and roughly lifted my woman off the floor. “Enough of that.”
“I wasn’t done.” She yelped when I pushed her up against the shower wall and then urged her to wrap her legs around me.
“You asked for this.”
Peyton
My back hit the cold, hard tile of the shower, startling me.
His determined eyes, the snarl in his voice, the sudden roughness were the sure signs I’d awoken the beast in my man. Like this, he was a glorious sight to behold.
I glared back at him.
His thick shaft found my soaked entrance. “Tell me you want this.”
I tightened my legs around his waist. “I want you.”
He slammed all the way home, stretching me in that glorious way he always did.
I goaded the beast. “Fuck me like you mean it.”
Normally, he was careful with that monster weapon between his legs, attentive even. Today, he began thrusting wildly. One hand held up my ass, and the other captured my breast.
I willingly absorbed the quick, hard movements that rammed my back against the tile. Those words of mine had become the code phrase for this—the wild, feral, animal sex, I sometimes craved that he wouldn’t unleash unless I asked him for it.
“We won’t have,” he grunted between thrusts, “time for breakfast.”
Lost in the moment, I didn’t care. I had what I wanted—the confirmation that I could make my cool, methodical SEAL lose control like this—give in to the instincts that he suppressed.
Like this, I was his, and he was mine, mated.
With each plunge of his cock inside me, I came closer to my undoing and at the same time felt closer to the man who’d claimed me nearly a year ago.
His chest heaved with heavy breaths as his grunts became louder. Then, his hand slid between us and found my clit.
Navigator should be his nickname. He always found just the right spot, just the right movement and pressure to ignite release. Screaming out his name, I came apart in his arms. My legs shook, and my walls clenched around him.
I was still riding out the waves when, with a few more labored grunts, his climax followed mine.
Wrapping my arms around his neck to hold on, I relished feeling the pulses of his cock deep inside me as he gave in to the pleasure.
He pulled us away from the wall.
I unwrapped my legs from around him, and he set me down.
He reached for his soap. “We don’t have much time.”
I nodded. “Okay.” He took these mystery dates, as he called them, super seriously. He’d taken me on several, and not once had I been able to get anything out of him until we arrived.
Normally, he would have snuggled with me for a time—each of us holding the other tight—but not today. He was really serious about the mission he wouldn’t share with me.
I tried one last time. “Why the rush?”
“You’ll see.”
Not just a mission, but a secret one. At least, secret from me. Could it be that he’d flown my old Boston friend, Rhonda, out? She’d been uncharacteristically giggly about something secret.
Without another annoying question from me, we both finished showering and dressing quickly.
Without the time for anything else, I put my hair up with a claw clip. I never wore much makeup, but I asked anyway. “You haven’t told me what we’re doing. Am I dressed okay?” I turned for him in my leggings and T-shirt.
“You look gorgeous as ever. Maybe bring along a little makeup if you want.”
It wasn’t Rhonda then. Now I was worried.
I grabbed eyeshadow and eyeliner to add to the basics in my purse.
Our last mystery date had been at Magic Mountain, riding roller coasters.
Where the hell were we going that I needed makeup on a Saturday?
“I’m ready, but I need to be at the clinic by noon. I have appointments.”
Zane
I took her in. My God, how did I deserve such a talented and beautiful woman?
“I know. I checked with Susan.” Susan was her scheduler. I was super proud of her and the new physical therapy business she’d started. I didn’t dare be the reason she was late for an appointment.
The business was just getting off the ground after her legal name change from Leighton to Peyton caused delays in getting her licensing paperwork straightened out between Massachusetts and California.
She checked her reviews every day, reminding me that the number one reason for bad reviews in her line of business was scheduling issues.
“I said I’m ready,” she repeated, slinging her purse over her shoulder.
I strode to the door and held it open for her.
After a quick stop at the local Starbucks drive-thru for caffeine and sustenance, I checked my watch—we had just enough time to make the drive.
I glanced over at Peyton.
She unwrapped her hot bacon-gouda sandwich and closed her eyes as she sniffed it. “This is exactly what I needed this morning.”
I grinned but didn’t vocalize that all I’d needed this morning was to wake up next to her. “I get it,” I said in my best pouty voice. “If you want to switch back to your vibrator, I can help with that.”
She giggled. “I mean, after the shower sex, of course. I needed the Whopper more than this, way more.”
I nodded. “If you say so.”
She punched my arm.
We hadn’t discussed our relationship beyond constantly saying I love you to each other.
That wasn’t for lack of Peyton’s attempts, but early on, I’d shut them down.
Working with Doctor Lang to get past my nightmare had been scary, but even scarier had been the prospect of making plans with Peyton if I couldn’t be successful with the doctor and having to let her go to keep her safe from me.
The light ahead turned red, and I stopped.
Finally sleeping in the same bed as Peyton last night had been a big step, a gargantuan accomplishment. Today, I felt as proud of last night as the day I’d graduated BUD/S and earned the SEAL Trident.
It was time for the big discussion, and it had to be held in the right place.
As the light turned green, my phone rang on the Porsche’s speakers. The screen said it was Lucas.
“Hi, boss,” I answered.
“You’re driving?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is Peyton with you?”
“Yes,” she answered for me. “Good morning, Lucas.”
“Uh, good morning. I have an update. Peyton, you won’t need to testify at O’Connor’s trial.”
I looked over to catch a large smile bloom on my woman’s face.
“That’s great,” she said.
“A pair of inmates attacked O’Connor in jail yesterday. He’s dead.”
Peyton sucked in a shocked breath. It was a reminder that Peyton wasn’t used to my world, where death was not shocking news.
“Good news,” I said, so she wouldn’t feel she had to react.