Epilogue
Savannah
“What are you doing?” I squeal as Camden yanks me out of the car and cradles me to his chest.
We finished our photoshoot with a bottle of champagne, compliments of Sienna and Jolie. Then Josie and our entire department swooned over my ring and the surprise engagement.
I can’t stop looking at it. I can’t believe he’s had it for all these months.
“Carrying you over the threshold, baby girl,” he says, his face lit up in a huge smile.
He’s been grinning since I said yes. Despite the many good memories we share, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.
“You’re not supposed to do that until after the wedding,” I tease him. Though I love the gesture. I love him. So damn much.
And I’m so glad I got out of my own damn way and went for it.
We have a complicated history, and we both have complicated pasts, but the love I have for this man comes easy.
It’s as natural as breathing. I love him and he loves me and we’ll make it work.
It’ll take a lot of communicating and maybe some uncomfortable conversations, but it will be worth it.
Camden takes the steps easily, but he stops before opening the door and smirks down at me.
“I don’t know what other people do when they get married, and I don’t care.
I’m carrying you into our home because you deserve it.
I know you’ve never had a place that really felt like home.
And it kills me that when I asked you to leave, I destroyed the semblance of peace you found here.
I need to make it right. So baby girl, I’m promising you that from here on out, you will always have a home because you will always have me. ”
I place my hand on his cheek, so filled with love I feel like I could float away. Luckily I won’t, because this man grounds me.
“You are my home, Camden. I love you. Now carry me into our home. No more worrying about the past. We are all that matters from here on out.”
With a relieved sigh, he presses his lips to mine. It’s a quick kiss. Not nearly enough for either of us.
“I love you.” He punches in the code, and I turn the knob. Once it unlatches, he kicks it wide open. “Welcome home, baby girl.”
Breathing in, I settle my head against his chest, memorizing every detail of this moment. The smells, the way his heart pounds, the warmth of him wrapped around me. The peace that rolls through me because, finally, I’m home.
He carries me straight upstairs, and I don’t have to ask where we’re going. Since the moment we said yes, I think we’ve both been waiting for this. When he tosses me onto his bed, a memory flits through my brain, making me giggle.
“What?” he asks as he pulls his shirt over his head.
My laughter falters at the sight of my name inked on his chest. For months, I haven’t allowed myself to think about it, even as I saw his name on my own flesh day in and day out, a cruel reminder of all I’d lost.
I shake my head. No more sad memories. “Just thinking about the first time you threw me onto this bed.”
Smirking, he yanks his belt through the loops. When he bends at the waist, dropping his pants, his abs ripple.
“You’d been a very bad girl that night.”
Mouth watering, I drink in every inch of him. “You loved it.”
Clad in nothing but boxers, he crawls onto the bed and prowls toward me.
With a squeal, I scoot back, falling against the pillows.
He covers me, his body warm and strong, his hands in my hair, his mouth hovering over mine. “My beautiful girl, I love everything about you. When you’re bad and when you’re good. You’re mine and that’s all that matters.”
My heart swells, and the tears are back, threatening to flood my eyes. “I really am.”
He presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Now let me get reacquainted with all my favorite parts of you. I’ve got a lot of apology orgasms to give you.”
My breath catches. “You going to give me an orgasm for every one I had without you?”
Expression suddenly sobering, he squeezes his eyes shut. “I don’t think—” He swallows. “I don’t think I can handle hearing about that.”
I press my hands to his cheeks, my chest pinching with sympathy for him. “Open your eyes, baby.”
When he does, pain radiates from him.
“There’s been no one since you, and there will be no one after you. Hear me? I didn’t mean to say it that way. And I don’t expect that it was the same for you, but—”
“Baby girl, the idea of touching another woman makes me physically ill,” he rasps. “I promise you, the only reason I didn’t come for you was because you deserve better than me. I worried it would be too hard for you to have me in your life.”
“I stayed away for the same reason.” I let out a sardonic laugh. “We love each other too much, I guess. So much that we got in our own way.”
“No more.”
I smile, chest expanding. “Yes, no more.”
Camden sits back, easing me up and pulling my top over my head. Then he works my pants down my hips while I undo my bra.
Within seconds, the only thing between us is the thin fabric of our underwear.
On his knees, he stares down at me like he’s refamiliarizing himself with every inch of my body.
I’m too focused on him to appreciate the feral look in his eye. The man is so beautiful. So achingly perfect. And so mine.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he tells me.
“I do.” Winking, I lean up and tug on his boxers.
When his hard cock bobs free, a moan slips from my lips.
Chuckling, he takes himself in his hand and tugs softly. “Missed this, baby girl?”
“You know I did.” I lick my lips. “Can I suck your cock…Daddy?” I peer up at him, hoping the nickname is still okay.
When he lets out a feral growl, I relax.
“Yes, baby girl,” he groans. “Make me feel good.”
I keep my eyes on him as he guides himself to my lips. Then I press a kiss to the tip. “Like this?”
“Fuck,” he tips his head back, then tucks his chin, focus pinned on me. “You know I need more than that.”
I smile. “Maybe like this?” I lick up his shaft, relishing the warmth of him.
Growling, he clutches my throat, just tight enough to hold me in place.
“No more games. Open your mouth and let Daddy fuck your throat.”
Obediently, I relax my jaw and look up at him, silently giving him permission.
In one rough thrust, he slides between my lips. When his piercing hits the back of my throat, I gag, and he breaks into a wicked grin. “That’s my good girl. You know I love it when you make those sounds.”
He rolls his hips at a quick pace, and I focus on breathing through my nose, taking as much of him as I can.
Before long, his grip on my neck loosens and he caresses my jaw. “My beautiful little whore loves this, doesn’t she?”
I nod, tears dripping down my face and lungs heaving for air.
I do. I love how we are together. Love being this way with him.
Love that nothing could steal this from us.
Our pasts don’t matter any longer. Neither do my parents or the bet or Calliope’s Column.
Even the interaction at the strip club holds no weight.
Nothing we have has been ruined because this is special. We’re special.
He picks up the pace again, for just a moment, and when I whimper around him, he pulls back.
“Fuck,” he groans. “You can’t make those sounds.”
I pant. “Why?”
“Because you’ll make me come, and I refuse to do that until I’m buried deep inside you.”
“By all means.” I fall back against the pillows with a grin.
“Oh no, baby girl,” he chides. “You’re going to sit on my face first.”
I feign a long sigh. “Ah, what a hardship.”
Chuckling, he rolls onto his back. Then he helps me out of my panties and guides me to straddle his head.
The moment I settle against his mouth, he hums, the vibration of the sound ratcheting up my need. “Fuck, baby girl, I missed this.” With that incredible tongue, he tastes me, dips inside me, teases me, winding me higher and higher, all without coming up for air.
Within minutes, I’m writhing, riding his face, babbling, “Oh my god. Right there. Yes. Fuck.” I grab the headboard and grind against him.
It only spurs him on further. He wraps his hands around my thighs and pulls me closer, if that’s possible.
When he does that little twist against my clit, my vision goes spotty and all rational thought flees.
“That’s it, baby girl,” he growls against me. “Give me what I want.”
He curls his fingers inside me, and I detonate, cresting a wave I can’t possibly ride.
I fall forward, hands splayed on the headboard, panting for breath.
All the while, he continues working me over, his fingers digging into my thighs as he holds me down on top of him, forcing me to enjoy every delicious second of pleasure.
I’m still panting, my vision still blurry, when he drags me down his body and swipes his tongue into my mouth.
Tasting myself on his lips is intoxicating. Mind-altering.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you so damn much, Savannah. So fucking much. Don’t ever leave me, please.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Desperate for more of him, I sit up, take him in hand, and line him up with my entrance.
“Wait,” he says into my mouth.
At the hesitation in his voice, I pull back.
His eyes bounce back and forth between mine, a crease between his brows. “Are you still on the shot?”
I shake my head. “I stopped a few months ago. When you wrote the article about going to the doctor.”
He lunges up and kisses me again. It’s a thank-you. An acknowledgment that all along, we’ve both been working toward the same thing. “I can put a condom on if you want.”
My heart flutters at his thoughtfulness. “No.”
“Really?”
“I mean, I would rather not have a huge belly on our wedding day,” I cringe, though the expression is a teasing one. “But I want a baby with you. So much. And ya know, you’re not getting any younger.”
He pinches the skin at my hip. “Brat.”
With a sigh. I bend down and kiss him.
“We’ll do it this summer,” he says against my mouth.
I pull back a few inches. “Do what?”
“Get married. Where do you want to do it?”