Epilogue Leo
Two Months Later
“Hey Alex?” I called back into the villa from the front stoop. “There’s a package here for you.”
“Not mine,” he replied. “I didn’t order anything.”
I let out a long sigh. “Your name is literally on it.”
I frowned down at the large heavy box in my hands, turning it over to examine the label more closely.
Sure enough, there was Alex’s name printed in bold letters across the top, along with a return address from somewhere in New York.
My curiosity piqued, I carried it inside, setting it down on the kitchen counter where Alex was nursing his second espresso of the morning while working on his laptop.
“Well, open it then,” I said, leaning against the counter beside him. “Maybe it’s a surprise from your mother.”
He set down his cup and reached for the box, his jaw tightening slightly as he examined it.
I’d learned over the past month that Alex had a complicated relationship with packages from home.
His mother had been calling regularly since he’d told her about us, her tone shifting from shock to cautious acceptance, though I sensed there was still plenty of processing happening on her end.
“It’s from my lawyer,” Alex said, reading the sender’s information. He looked up at me with confusion etched across his features. “Why would my lawyer be sending me something?”
I watched as he carefully opened the box, peeling back the tape with methodical precision.
Inside was a stack of documents and a handwritten note.
His blue eyes scanned the note first, and I saw his expression shift through several emotions.
At first he was surprised, then it settled into something that looked almost like relief.
“What is it?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity any longer.
“The divorce settlement,” he said slowly. “Amanda’s agreed to a revised settlement. She’s dropping the request for alimony in exchange for the house.” He looked up at me, and there was wonder in his voice. “She could’ve gotten a lot more in alimony over the years than that house is worth.”
“What?” I pushed off from the counter, moving closer to read over his shoulder. “Why would she do that?”
“She’s pregnant,” he admitted, flipping through the pages. “According to this letter, she contacted my lawyer two weeks ago. Said she wanted to change the deal. That her life was going in a new direction now.” He trailed off, his brow furrowing as he continued reading. “Oh my god…”
“What?” I asked, trying to figure out where he was on the page. “What is it?”
“Tyler isn’t the father,” Alex replied, his jaw hanging open.
“The pool boy isn’t the father?” I repeated, trying to process what Alex was telling me. “Then whose—”
“It’s some guy she met at a yoga class,” Alex said, still reading through the documents with a look of disbelief on his face. “Apparently they had a fling a few weeks ago. She didn’t even realize she was pregnant until after she got engaged to Tyler.”
I felt a strange mixture of emotions wash over me.
There was surprise, confusion, and underneath it all, a petty satisfaction that Amanda’s perfect new life wasn’t quite as picture-perfect as she’d made it seem.
But I pushed that aside quickly. Alex was processing something here, and I needed to understand what it meant for us.
“So what does this mean?” I asked carefully. “For the settlement, I mean.”
“It means she’s not going to fight me anymore,” Alex said, setting the papers down on the counter.
“She wants the house, she doesn’t want anyone to know that she ruined her second marriage before it even started, and she wants to start fresh with her new guy and the baby.
” He looked up at me, and I could see something shifting in his expression, a weight lifting off his shoulders. “It means the divorce is over.”
I reached over and squeezed his hand, understanding the significance of that statement.
For months, Amanda had been this looming presence in the background, a reminder of everything that had gone wrong before.
Even though we’d built something beautiful here in Italy, there had always been that lingering thread connecting him to his old life.
“That’s good,” I said softly. “That’s really good, Alex.”
He caught my hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss against my palm. “You know what this means, right?” he said, his blue eyes searching mine. “It means I can finally think about the future without worrying about the past.”
My heart did a little flip at the intensity in his voice. “What kind of future?” I asked, though I was fairly certain I knew where this was heading.
Alex stood up from the barstool, his hand still holding mine as he pulled me closer. “The kind where I stop being afraid,” he said. “The kind where I stop running from what I want.”
He reached into his pocket and I felt my breath catch. Surely he wasn’t—
“Not yet,” he said with a small smile, apparently reading the panic on my face. “I’m not proposing today. But I want you to know that I’m thinking about it. I want you to know that I see a future with you, Leo. A real future. Not just this pseudo-vacation bubble we’ve been living in.”
I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes.
Over the past two months, Alex had slowly been shedding the armor he’d built around himself.
He’d started reaching out to his parents more regularly.
He’d even taken a few freelance consulting jobs remotely, rebuilding his professional reputation piece by piece.
But this was different. This was him looking forward completely without glancing back.
“I love you so much,” I whispered. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Alex.”
He kissed me then, slow and deep, and I let myself sink into it.
Outside, I could hear the cicadas singing in the afternoon heat, the distant sound of tourists wandering through the streets of Livorno.
The villa settled around us, solid and real, a testament to the new life we were building together.
When he pulled away, Alex was smiling in a way I’d never seen before. It was open and hopeful, free from the bitterness that had defined him when he first arrived.
“I love you, too,” he said simply.
I kissed him again. But when I pulled back, I left my arms snaked around his neck.
“So… do you want to try to get me pregnant now?” I grinned. “You know, to celebrate?”
“Leo,” he smiled back. “I will do that ten times a day for the rest of our lives if that’s what you want.”
“Let’s start with one and see how I feel,” I chuckled. I took his hand, pulling him back from the counter before hopping up there myself. “You can fuck me right here on this counter.”
A wicked smile curled over his lips. “Yes, sir.”
He didn’t waste any time. His hands found the waistband of my shorts, tugging them down along with my underwear in one fluid motion. I kicked them aside, leaving me completely exposed on the cool marble countertop. The contrast of the cold surface against my warm skin sent a shiver through me.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” Alex murmured, his eyes dark with desire as he took in the sight of me spread out before him. He pulled off his shirt, revealing the muscular chest and broad shoulders I’d come to know very intimately over these past two months. His shorts followed quickly after.
I watched as he stroked himself to full hardness with some olive oil from a bottle on the counter, my own cock already responding to the sight of him.
There was something freeing about this moment, the afternoon light streaming through the kitchen windows, the heat of the Italian summer pressing down on us, and the knowledge that we were finally free from the shadows of our pasts.
“Come here,” I said, my voice rough and wanting.
He stepped between my legs, his hands bracing on either side of me on the counter.
I could feel the head of his cock brushing against my entrance, and I took a breath, relaxing into the anticipation.
Even after two months, even after countless times, the moment before he fucked me still made my heart race.
“You ready?” he asked, always the considerate one despite the raw hunger in his eyes.
“Always,” I replied, reaching up to pull him down for a kiss.
He pushed into me slowly, letting me adjust to him as he stretched me out. I loved this part, the moment when we were completely connected, where there was nothing between us but skin and breath and the overwhelming feeling of perfection that came with having him buried inside me.
“God, I love you,” he whispered against my neck, beginning to move with a rhythm that was both familiar and electrifying.
I let my head fall back, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he drove deeper. The counter creaked beneath us with each thrust, and I found myself laughing breathlessly at the absurdity of it all. Two months ago, I never would have imagined this. I never would have even dared to hope for it.
“What?” Alex asked, slowing slightly to look at me with concern.
“Nothing,” I gasped, pulling him back down to me. “I’m just happy. I’m just... really fucking happy.”
He groaned in response, picking up his pace.
I could feel the tension building in my core, my hole tightening around Alex’s dick.
My own cock was trapped between our bodies, leaking against my stomach with each of his movements.
The friction was driving me insane. But I didn’t need any help to get me off, not when Alex was fucking me. That was more than enough.
“That’s it,” he murmured, his voice strained with effort. “Cum for me, Leo. Let me feel it.”
I came with a cry that probably echoed through the entire villa, my body convulsing around him as pleasure crashed through me in waves.
Cum painted my stomach and his, creating a sticky mess that just turned me on more.
He followed seconds later, burying himself deep inside me as he found his own release, his breath hot against my shoulder as he flooded me with warmth.
We stayed like that for a long moment, pressed together on the kitchen counter, the afternoon heat wrapping around us like a blanket. Outside, the world continued on. Tourists were taking photos, locals were going about their days, and the endless rhythm of life in Livorno stayed on the beat.
But here, at this moment, there was only us. Only the two of us and the future we were building together, one day at a time. Just the thought of it made me breathless with delight.
We cleaned up the mess we’d made with some paper towels and a laugh, and I found myself marveling at how easy this had become.
There was no fear or regret anymore. Now I just felt grateful.
Grateful for him, for this life we were building, for the simple fact that he’d turned around at that airport gate.
“I love you so much, Alex,” I said, snaking my arms around his neck once more as we stood naked in the kitchen.
“I love you too,” he smiled back, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“I mean it. I never thought I’d be this happy. Ever.”
His mouth turned into a crooked grin. “I guess you just weren’t looking close enough to home.”
“Is that a stepbrother joke?”
His smile widened. “Yeah.”
“You’re dumb.”
But my lips were on his again, getting lost in the way he kissed me. Not like I was his stepbrother, but like I was the most important person in the world to him. Like I was the man he loved without shame or fear or regret.
It was the best feeling in the world.
If you enjoyed this book, please leave a quick rating/review!