Epilogue
Nerves coursed through me as I bolted to the toilet, making it therejust in time to throw up the orange juice and croissant Nash made me eat this morning.
Dominique’s catwalk show had started. She’d been on stage forthe last few minutes introducing her collection to the crowd, and the second she said she was also proud to be showcasing a new designer, Savannah Carson, the nerves hit full force.
Despite Nash, Fox, and Dominique doing their best to convince methat my designs were impressive, I was still questioning the outfits I’d chosen to display.
Truth be told, I was still doubting that Dominique was really giving mea slot to showcase my work.
Yet, here I was. Throwing up in the bathroom of a very exclusive hotelin Paris where Dominique was holding her show.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Nash’s soothing tone rang out, followedby a gentle tap on the bathroom door.
“I need a minute,” I replied, not wanting Nash to see me in thisstate.
Christ, the things that man had done to me over the past few monthswould make an escort blush, but I couldn’t bear the thought of him seeing me puke.
“Open the door, Savannah,” he said, using his authoritative, I-won’t-take-no-for-an-answer voice.
As much as I’d gotten used to obeying his every order, there were stilltimes when I wanted to defy him, like now. And there were times when I had defied him.
It usually resulted in me being punished with orgasm deprivation, butboy, when he did eventually let me come, it was always worth the torture.
But I was too distracted to argue with him, and as much as I didn’twant Nash to witness my vomiting episode, he was the only person in the world I wanted near me right at that second.
On shaky legs, I got to my feet and unlocked the door, finding Nashwith a sympathetic smile on his face, and a bottle of water in his hand.
“Feel better?” he said, handing me the bottle.
Grateful, I took it, and gulped down several mouthfuls wanting to getrid of the nasty taste in my mouth.
“No,” I replied, my voice hoarse.
Nash pulled me into his embrace, wrapping his strong arms aroundme before placing a delicate kiss on my head. I snuggled into his chest, wishing we were anywhere in the world but here.
Obviously, I didn’t really want that. I was more than ecstatic for theopportunity Dominique had given me, but what if everyone thought my designs were terrible?
What then?
Being a fashion designer was all I’d dreamed about since I was a littlegirl.
As if he could hear my thoughts churning over in my head, Nashpulled back, before bringing his warm palms up to cup my face.
“I know you’re nervous, sweetheart, but you have nothing to beworried about. Dominique isn’t stupid. She knows talent when she sees it, otherwise, she never would have given you this opportunity.”
I opened my mouth to protest, ready to tell him she’d only given methe opportunity because she owed him a favor, but Nash cut me off by placing a finger over my lips.
“Before you say it, she didn’t give you the slot because she owed mea favor. She looked at your sketchbooks as a favor, the rest was on you. If she didn’t think you had what it takes, she never would have given you the time of day. You’re a talented designer, Savannah. You need to have more faith in yourself, people are going to love your work.”
“You don’t know that, Nash,” I replied glumly when he took his fingeraway.
My eyes dropped to the floor, but using his thumb to tilt my chin backup, I found Nash frowning in disapproval. “One day you’ll remember that I know everything,” he said, smirking. “Now, enough of this pity party. I’m ordering you to put a smile on your face, and get that fine ass out there to show the world how goddamn talented my wife is.”
My designs were a hit. I had to keep pinching myself every time oneof the critics told me how much they loved the outfits I’d showcased, and they couldn’t wait to see what else I was going to produce.
I was giddy with happiness. I’d dreamed of this moment for so long,but it was way better than what I ever could have imagined. The only thing missing from the whole experience was my mom.
I wished she’d been in the audience to see my work, and as much asI didn’t believe in the afterlife, I hoped if there was such a thing, then she was out there somewhere, watching proudly.
Nash more than made up for her absence though. Once the lastmodel wearing the skirt and shirt ensemble I’d put together walked off the catwalk, he was on his feet, applauding louder than anyone else, and a rush of love for him flooded me.
Fox had also been on his feet, clapping wildly, and coming in a closesecond to beating Nash’s over-enthusiastic applause, and again, a rush of love for him ran through me.
A different kind of love though.
In a weird way, Fox had almost become part of mine and Nash’smarriage. More often than not, he’d be at our house, having dinner with us, or catching football games on the TV with Nash.
He knew to give us time alone, but if there was ever a single day thatwent by, and I hadn’t seen or spoken to Fox, I’d find myself missing him. He was a good man, and I hoped one day he’d find a woman for himself.
The three of us attended the after-show party, but shortly after itstarted, Fox disappeared. Apparently, Dominique had propositioned him again, and he didn’t want to partake in another round of getting his ass whipped.
Nash and I stayed for several hours, but when I slumped against him,exhausted, Nash demanded that we leave. I didn’t argue. I’d barely slept the night before, fretting over the show, so I was more than ready to call it a night and crawl into bed.
After saying our goodbyes to Dominique, we made the short walk tothe hotel, admiring the Parisian sights on the warm evening.
I’d fallen in love with Paris, the food, the wine, the people…everything about it really, and I was glad that we were staying for another week so we could enjoy everything the city had to offer without the worry of the show hanging over my head.
Naturally, we were staying in the penthouse suite of the ElysiumCasino and Hotel, a Carson-Fox Resort.
The entire hotel was stunning, decked out to look like a hotel from the1920s. When we’d first arrived in our suite, Nash opened the balcony door, revealing the spectacular view of the city. I’d never seen anything like it.
The best part was how close we were to the Eiffel Tower which wasless than half a mile away. It was incredible, and I told Nash that I never wanted to leave.
As soon as we arrived back to our suite, I ditched the killer heels I’dbeen wearing, and quickly slipped out of my dress, opting to wear my loose-fitting nightshirt.
My dress had been a little on the snug side like most of my clotheswere these days, and I reminded myself that I ought to watch what I was eating a bit more now that I had delicious meals three times a day.
I hadn’t eaten a single noodle since leaving Oregon.
Nash took a quick shower, and when he emerged with only a towelwrapped around his waist, and droplets of water running down his sculpted chest, my mouth watered.
His silvery-gray eyes darkened, the telltale sign that it wouldn’t belong until I was screaming his name. But instead of pouncing on me, he surprised me by opening the balcony door, nodding his head, and indicating for me to follow.
As I stepped outside, a gasp left me when Nash flicked a switch. Hundreds of twinkling fairy lights spread all around the long balcony,lit up, and casting a soft glow over us. Rose petals had been scattered all over the floor, and on the table, chilling in a bucket of ice was a bottle of champagne, next to it, two crystal flutes.
“Nash, it’s beautiful,” I said, looking all around and admiring the effortsomeone had put in to decorate the balcony.
A beaming smile from ear to ear took over my face as Nash poppedthe cork and poured us both a glass of bubbly before handing one to me.
“To you,” he said, holding his flute up. I chinked mine against his,unable to stop the smile on my face from getting bigger. “I’m so fucking proud of you, sweetheart,” he added after we’d taken a sip of our champagne. There was nothing but pride and adoration shining in his eyes.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat. As determined as Nashwas to make me have more self-belief, it was something I was still trying to overcome.
Taking my free hand, Nash led me over to the ledge of the balcony,standing behind me, and caging me in with his arms, his glass of champagne now abandoned.
“I told you you’d ace today,” he said smugly, his gravelly voicerumbling in my ear.
I rolled my eyes playfully before putting my glass down next to his.“Alright, Oh mighty one.”
He chuckled. “I thought my name was Master of Orgasms?”
As if to back up the nickname he’d called himself once too oftenthese last few months, he rubbed his hard cock against my ass.
“I dunno,” I replied, trying to keep my tone serious. “You’ve beenlacking in the O department of late, maybe you ought to prove you still deserve the title.”
I wiggled my ass against him, my core throbbing deliciously, morethan ready to take him.
A low growl left his throat. In less than a few seconds, Nash hadwhipped his towel off, and tugged my nightdress up, revealing that I wasn’t wearing any panties.
“Oh, my sweet Savannah. I think I can prove to you that the titlebelongs to me. In fact, maybe I should make you scream so loud that the whole of Paris knows what my title is.”
That was all the warning I got before Nash pushed me forward andthrust his length inside of me before fucking me hard, and letting the city know that he was indeed my Master of Orgasms.
Nash
One week later
Savannah and I didn’t want to leave Paris. It wasn’t necessarily thecity we didn’t want to leave, but rather the time we’d spent there. We didn’t have the stresses of trying to make it as a fashion designer or the demands of being the CEO of a billion-dollar business.
It was just us. We were free to enjoy each other’s company, and wetook full advantage of that.
For a week after the fashion show, we had no distractions, spendingthe time eating fancy French food, taking in the sites, and fucking.
And hell, did we fuck.
Begrudgingly, we accepted we needed to go home. After the show, Savannah received three new offers to showcase her designs at upcoming shows, and with Oynx now open to the public, mine and Fox’s workload was busier than ever.
Since returning home, Fox had been dealing with an issue at The Grand Palace. Drug dealers had been caught peddling drugs in the casino, and it was something we were keen to put a stop to as soon as possible.
Fox had found out that the dealers were running for a man named Arnold Diaz, a man we both despised, but tolerated because he held a lot of power in the Las Vegas criminal underworld. He was the sort of man whom it was better to be onside with, than to be his enemy.
When Fox informed me he was planning on going to see Diaz to discuss the problem, I knew it was time for me and Savannah to return home.
We flew home through the night, landing back in Vegas at 5 am.Savannah was exhausted having spent the entire flight with a pencil in her hand, and her sketchbook in front of her.
By the time Brian stopped the car outside our house, she’d fallen fastasleep. I carried her to our bed before stripping her out of her clothes and tucking her under the covers.
I’d intended to get a few hours of sleep before meeting Fox so wecould discuss what we were going to do about the Diaz situation, but I must have been more exhausted than I’d realized, and the two of us slept right through until the afternoon.
I was woken up by Savannah flying out of bed and rushing to thetoilet. Seconds later, the sound of her puking rang out from the ensuite.
A grin curled my lips. I had a feeling I knew why she was being sick.
Getting out of bed and pulling on a pair of jogging bottoms, I grabbedthe glass of water from her bedside table and made my way to the bathroom.
Savannah was sitting on the floor, naked, and holding her hair backas she leaned over the toilet.
Her head twisted to where I was standing in the doorway, andwhen she saw I was there, she wiped her mouth.
“Here,” I said, holding out the glass.
“Thank you,” she replied, taking a sip of it. “I think I might have pickedup a bug in Paris.”
“Or you’re pregnant,” I said casually, returning to the doorway andleaning against it.
Savannah’s whole body tensed, and wide, panicked eyes found mine.“You shouldn’t joke about that kind of thing,” she said after a few seconds of silence.
Slowly, she got to her feet and my eyes dropped to her stomach, mymind conjuring up the image of what she’d look like when her bump started to show.
“Who’s joking?” I replied, walking to her and grabbing her hips. Bloodrushed to my cock, the way it always did whenever I saw my wife’s naked body.
“I hope you are,” she said dismissively, not even entertaining thepossibility. “Anyway, I can’t be pregnant, I’m on the pill.”
I stared down at my wife, wondering how she’d react when I told herthe truth. But I supposed it was about time I set her straight.
“No, you’re not. You haven’t been on the pill since you left Oregon.”
Once again her eyes widened, and her brows shot to her hairline. “Yes, I have,” she replied, her face turning ashen. “Fox gave me my pills from my old apartment, and you’ve been getting my prescription since I moved here.”
My lips curled into a smug grin as I watched her put the piecestogether.
The truth was, I’d switched her pill out from the day I’d had herapartment cleared out as a backup plan. If I hadn’t succeeded in getting her to fall for me, I knew she wouldn’t be able to leave me if she fell pregnant.
Putting a baby in her belly had taken a little longer than I’d hoped, so it was a good job she hadfallen for me.
“No. Fox gave you vitamins disguised as your pills. The samevitamins you’ve been taking every day since.”
By now, all the blood had drained from her face, and she gaped atme, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
When another few seconds passed, and she still hadn’t uttered asingle word, I let go of her hips and went to my cupboard in the bathroom. Hidden at the back, behind my cologne and moisturizers, was the stash of pregnancy tests I’d put there weeks ago.
“Here,” I said, handing her a test. “Take a test, let’s find out for sure.”
“You...you can’t be serious?” she said, her voice a horrified whisper as shelooked at the test like I’d handed her a bomb about to detonate.
I raised a brow. “What have I told you about asking me questions likethat, sweetheart?”
That seemed to snap her out of her trance. Her eyes filled with rage,and her lips twisted into a snarl. “What the fuck, Nash?” she roared. “You can’t do that! You don’t get to dictate to me when I get pregnant! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
She stormed past me and out of the bathroom, grabbing her robebefore wrapping it around her and covering her delectable body. Once she’d tied up the belt, she started pacing.
I gave her a minute to get the shock out of her system, tucking thetest in my pocket. In true Savannah style, as she paced, she muttered curses under her breath. I held back my chuckle not wanting to anger her any more. It wouldn’t be good for the baby.
“Sweetheart,” I said after a few minutes of her wearing a hole in thecarpet. “I know you’re scared-”
“Scared?” she snapped, finally stopping her strides to glare at me.“I’m not scared, I’m furious! I’ve just started getting my career off the ground, and now I find out I could be pregnant because you’ve been tampering with my birth control! What about me, Nash? What about what I want?!”
“Tell me, why do you think you can’t have a career and a baby?” Ireplied, keeping my tone even, despite my temper beginning to spike at her hysterics.
“Because!” she bellowed, marching her cute ass across the room towhere I was standing, her nostrils flaring.
“Because what?”
“Because! What if I don’t want kids, huh? What if I never wanted tohave a baby?” she said, her voice several octaves higher than her normal pitch.
I grinned at her knowing she couldn’t answer my previous question,because of course she could have a career and a kid.
“So you’re telling me that you don’t want to have our child? You’retelling me that you don’t want the little thing growing in you right this very second, the little thing that you and I created?” She fell silent, almost as if me telling her that something was growing inside her made all the anger leave her body in an instant. Taking advantage of her stunned state, I grabbed her hips again. “You’re telling me that when we go for a scan, and you hear our baby’s heartbeat for the first time, you don’t want it? Or when our baby is born, and it wraps its tiny hand around your finger and looks at its mama with unconditional love, you don’t want that?”
Tears welled in her eyes, and I knew I had her. She wanted that, shejust hadn’t ever realized that was what she wanted.
When her bottom lip began to quiver, I cupped her face with bothhands and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. “Sweetheart, I know you have just started your career, but there is no reason we can’t have a family as well. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make sure you have the career you’ve dreamed about your entire life, and our children have everything they could ever want. Especially two parents who love them.”
A tear slid down her face, and after a few seconds of silence, she tooka shaky breath. “You don’t even know for sure I’m pregnant,” she said, acceptance in her whispered reply.
I pulled the test from my pocket and held it up in front of her. “Go takeit, let’s find out.”
She visibly swallowed before taking the test from my hand. I followedher back to the bathroom, and when she went to close the door, I raised a brow, giving her a silent warning that there was no way I was missing any part of this moment.
The next few minutes passed in a tense silence as we awaited theresults. Savannah resumed her pacing, but with every lap she did, she passed by the dresser where the test was.
I watched her pace as I sat in the chair. Part of me wanted to pull herinto my lap and hold her still, but the bigger part of me knew she needed to expel the energy. It was only through years of therapy that I’d learned to control that need to get rid of all the emotions brewing under my skin.
“It’s time,” I said, glancing at my watch to see three minutes hadpassed.
Savannah froze before turning to me, fear etched all overher pale face.
“I’m…I’m scared,” she whispered, finally admitting how she felt.
In two long strides, I’d crossed the room to her and pulled her into myarms, holding her tightly in my embrace.
“Sweetheart, there’s nothing to be scared about,” I said, pausing toplace a kiss on her head before pulling back so I could stare into her gorgeous emerald orbs. “If you are pregnant, we’re going to have a baby. Our baby. And I’m going to be right by your side for every minute of it. This isn’t like what your mom went through, Savannah, I’m going to be there for every minute of it.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, but behind those tears, she smiled.“I love you, Nash,” she said, making my heart pound harder.
“I love you too, my sweet Savannah. Now go check the test.”
Determination washed over her face as she pulled out of my graspand walked to the dresser.
Picking up the test, she gasped. For a moment, I was worried I’d got it wrong. She wasn’t pregnant,and I’d gotten both our hopes up.
But then a small smile broke out on her face. “It’s positive.”
A feeling I’d never experienced before rushed through me.Happiness, amazement, and love, all mixed together, combining to make one powerful, overwhelming emotion.
Before I knew it, I was across the room lifting Savannah into my armsand spinning her around. She squealed in delight, not a hint of fear or refusal to accept the truth.
I put her down before smothering her in kisses, and then peelingopen her robe. Placing my hand on her belly where there would soon be a bump, I stared in awe. Inside her, there was a tiny little bean that we’d created together, and I couldn’t wait to meet him or her.
Savannah looked up at me, her eyes glistening with happy tears.
“You have no fucking idea how happy you’ve just made me,sweetheart,” I said, my own voice thick with emotion. “I’ve waited for this moment from the minute I laid eyes on you.”
And I had.
The minute I saw her all those months ago in my casino in Portland, Iknew instantly that one day, she would be my wife, and the mother of my children.
I didn’t give her a chance to reply before my mouth was on hers,claiming it the way I’d claimed every inch of her.
Savannah threw her arms around my neck, our kisses turning moreheated with every passing second.
Blood rushed to my cock, and the overwhelming need to be insideher consumed me.
Sliding her robe off her shoulders, it pooled on the floor in a silkpuddle. I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around my waist before I carried her over to the bed, gently laying her down.
I climbed between her thighs, kissing a path down her neck, chest,and breasts, before making my way down her body. When I reached her belly where my baby was, I pressed little kisses over her skin, eliciting a giggle from her.
As I was about to move lower, intending on eating my wife’s sweetcunt, my phone rang, the shrill tone pulling my attention away for a moment.
I glanced at my smartwatch seeing it was Fox calling.
Fuck him, he could wait.
But when the phone cut off and then rang again, I boltedupright, searching for my phone.
“What’s wrong?” Savannah asked, propping herself up on her elbows, worrypulling at her brow.
“Fox and I have a rule. If we don’t answer the first time one of uscalls, we only ring immediately after if it’s an emergency.”
I scrabbled off the bed and lunged for my phone on the bedside tablebefore it could cut off a second time.
“What’s up?”
There was a pause, and that was enough to send a ripple of anxietythrough my body which only grew when Fox spoke.
“Nash, I need help.”
Fox’s book will be out in 2024…