Epilogue
Sutton
Almost a year later
“Come back here.” Jagger caught the bottom of my bathrobe and yanked as I stood from the bed. “We’re not done.”
I snort-laughed and tugged the silky material from his hand, hurrying to the bathroom. “I have to get ready for work.”
“It’s Saturday.”
“And? Since when does that matter? You often go into the office for a twelve-hour day.”
Jagger pouted. “Not when I’m still hard, and you’re naked under there.”
I started to wash up at the sink. My bossy CEO had woken me an hour ago with his head between my legs. I’d returned the favor on my knees. “I really think you should get that thing checked,” I yelled. “It’s supposed to deflate after you finish, you know.”
Jagger stalked into the bathroom. He came up behind me and tugged the tie of my robe. It opened and parted, exposing my breasts. “I’m never finished until I’m inside you.”
Remembering the last time he’d come into the bathroom and made me late for work—taking me from behind while we watched each other in the mirror—I was tempted to give in again. But then I remembered the meeting I had at nine. I turned around and pressed my lips to his.
“I can’t be late this morning. But I promise I’ll make it up to you when I get home.”
Home was now Jagger’s penthouse. I’d finally agreed to move in with him two months ago.
A lot had happened over the last year, and the timing had finally felt right.
Amelia and Olivia no longer lived with their uncle, though they did live in the spare apartment in the building with their mom.
It had taken Catherine six months to get back to a place where she could be with her daughters again.
Once she was healthy, she’d moved to New York, but it took another four months before the girls lived full time with her.
Jagger now had joint legal custody of his nieces, something his sister had actually agreed to, rather than going back to court.
The girls were happy to have their mom back, but they still spent a lot of time with us.
Which was the reason this bathroom was lined with pastel nail polishes, bubble baths, hair clips, and a million other little-girl things, not to mention all of my beauty supplies.
Seeing the clutter spread out all over the vanity—in what used to be an immaculate, nearly sterile apartment—made me smile.
“If you worked for me…” Jagger pouted. “…you would be able to take off whenever you wanted.”
Against the advice of everyone, including my stepfather and bossy boyfriend, I’d declined the Apex executive training program invitation.
While it was the business opportunity of a lifetime, I knew it wouldn’t be healthy for our relationship.
And I valued what we had personally too much to put it at risk.
Balance was important to me, and it hadn’t been difficult to figure out where I preferred Jagger Langston to be in charge.
He wasn’t happy with my decision, but it had all worked out for the best. The week after my internship ended, Louise—the sitter who took care of Amelia and Olivia—had a family emergency in Florida.
Her mom had broken her hip, so she went down south to take care of her for a while and wound up not coming back.
I was able to step in so the girls didn’t have to be introduced to a stranger.
We had an amazing nine months together. And then when one door closed, another miraculously opened.
Remember Will, the head of the algorithm-engineering division at Apex? Well, he left and started his own company. Turned out, Jagger’s loss was my gain. I was now an AI algorithm engineer at Alchemy AI, Will’s amazing startup.
“I’ll only be at work for a few hours. And then tomorrow you’ll have me all to yourself for a full week.”
“You better have ice packs and Epsom salt in your suitcase because you’re going to need ’em.”
“What else am I going to need?” Jagger had kept the destination for our upcoming vacation under wraps. “You, at least, need to tell me if I need a bikini or a winter coat.”
Jagger slipped a hand inside my robe and pinched a nipple. Hard. “You’re assuming you’re going to be allowed to leave the room.”
With that, he begrudgingly let me get ready for work, and I stopped in the living room on my way out.
If I wasn’t already head-over-heels in love with this man, the sight of him sitting shirtless on the couch with my dog snuggled up next to him, head on his lap while he snored, would’ve done it.
I’d gotten Blue a few days after everything went down with Silas.
Since I’d refused to move in with Jagger, he’d pushed me to get a dog.
Of course, he was thinking more along the lines of a highly trained German shepherd or Doberman and not the lazy, extremely sleepy basset hound I’d picked up at the pet store a few doors down from the office.
Blue was no longer lonely. Though I couldn’t even train him to sit on command, much less attack someone.
Still, I liked to believe he’d protect me if push came to shove.
Blue snorted, waking himself up, and proceeded to fall off the couch.
Jagger shook his head. “What a guard dog.”
I bent down and kissed both my boys goodbye. “Why would I need a guard dog when I have a guard human?”
***
The following afternoon, I still had no idea where we were going when we arrived at the airport. Though I guessed it didn’t really matter. I was just excited that Jagger had taken off work for a full week. It was going to be his first vacation in six years.
Renee, the flight attendant, met us at the door with two flutes of champagne. She passed me one. “Happy birthday, Ms. Holland.”
It wasn’t until tomorrow, but rather than correct her, I smiled and took the champagne. “Thank you.”
The privacy curtain that led from the galley to the seating area was closed. She pushed it open so I could enter and…
“Surprise!”
My eyes widened. “Oh my God, Miles! What are you doing here?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, lifted, and swung me around. “You didn’t think I’d miss your birthday eve, did you?”
My best friend set me down and Rodrigo, his boyfriend of almost a year, hugged me. “Happy birthday, Sutton.”
I turned to the man behind me. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this.”
“I knew you felt bad you wouldn’t be with your best friend for your usual birthday-eve celebration.”
I had felt bad, though I hadn’t said anything.
That was one of the things I loved most about Jagger—he knew me.
He paid attention to the small stuff—the way my hands fidgeted when I was nervous, the way sometimes my silence said more than my words.
Even when he had a million things going on in his chaotic life, he always knew what I needed.
Jagger kissed my cheek. “Don’t get too excited. They’re only coming for two nights. I’m not willing to share you more than that.”
I smiled and whispered, “Thank you. This was so thoughtful.”
After we took off and leveled out at cruising altitude, Jagger went in the back to use the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, Miles slipped into his seat. He weaved his fingers with mine.
“I could get used to flying private.”
“You might need to fly this way soon so your boyfriend doesn’t get flanked by teenyboppers. I noticed yesterday that his Instagram had over a million followers already.”
“I know. And the movie hasn’t even come out yet.”
Miles’s love had landed the lead role in a movie adaptation of some big romantasy book series. Rodrigo was twenty-six, but he had a boyish charm and could pass for nineteen. He’d become a celebrity almost overnight. The teenage girls went gaga for him.
“Can’t say I blame them,” Miles continued. “I mean, look how adorable the man is. He has dimples when he’s sleeping, for God’s sake.”
We looked over at Rodrigo. He had a cheetah-print travel pillow hooked around his neck and was currently dozing with a slight smile on his face. And he did, in fact, still have dimples. I smiled. “I’m happy for you.”
“I’m happy for both of us,” Miles said. “What a difference a year makes.”
I tried not to think back to anything related to a year ago, anything related to Silas Clive.
But I hadn’t been able to help it lately since my birthday was approaching.
One year ago tomorrow, the card had arrived, setting off the chain of events that had finally allowed me to put the nightmare I’d been stuck in since my first year of college behind me.
Jagger had gotten lucky, and the police had ultimately decided not to charge him with assault.
But Silas? Not so much. Two days after the police took him out of his Brooklyn apartment in handcuffs, he was charged with two counts of rape.
But that was only the beginning of his troubles.
Once his face had been flashed all over the news, three other women came forward who had never reported being assaulted.
Two months later, he took a plea deal of sixty years in prison, rather than facing twenty-five years for each victim.
He deserved life, but I was relieved not to have to testify.
Jagger came back from the bathroom and thumbed to the empty chair across the aisle that Miles had been seated in. “Beat it.”
I frowned. “Jagger…”
Undeterred, Miles stood with a grin. “It’s okay. With that face, he can get away with almost anything. Especially when he’s being possessive about my girl.”
Jagger settled back into his seat. “When do you have to be back at the office?”
“Monday, a week from tomorrow. Why?”
“Because I want to make a stop on the way home next Sunday.”
“Where?”
He passed me his cell phone. There was a text from Bridget Nelson, the wife of Jagger’s marine buddy.
Bridget: I hope we didn’t create a monster by letting him keep it.