Series Epilogue
A YEAR LATER
WALKER
Imissed my wife.
In all the years we’d been together, I’d never missed her quite like this.
Moreover, I was worried about her. Sloane had been working overtime at the bakery to cover Callie who was on maternity leave.
And when she wasn’t working overtime, her brain was worrying about our daughter, fussing over our grandkids Harley and Xander.
Our son Harry was fifteen, obsessed with martial arts and football and uninterested in academics.
This concerned Sloane who was spreading herself thin trying to make sure everyone had everything they needed from her.
Even with me there to make sure Harry did his homework, was fed, clothed, supported, and attending school and all his extracurriculars, it wasn’t enough.
I helped out with Callie and the grandkids when I could.
But my woman couldn’t switch off and it wasn’t helping she was practically running that bakery all by herself at the moment.
Xander was only a few months old so Callie was at home with him and our granddaughter Harley.
Fuck.
Granddaughter. Grandson.
We weren’t old enough for that shit.
Well, I was.
Sloane wasn’t.
Parking my SUV in the car park behind the bakery, I carried the flask of decaf coffee I’d made for my wife.
The bakery hadn’t been open today, but Sloane had gone in this afternoon to prep and she still hadn’t come home.
She’d texted me earlier to tell me she’d eaten, but I didn’t know how much longer she was going to be, and I was sick of waiting at home alone. The bungalow felt so fucking empty.
School started back next week, the summer holidays already almost over, and Harry was making the most of his freedom, staying at his pal’s house in Golspie for the night. His friend’s parents assured me they were home, there was no partying, and they were holed up inside playing video games.
Far more innocent than the shit I’d gotten up to at fifteen.
I knocked on the back door of the bakery, already anticipating seeing my wife like I hadn’t seen her in years.
It felt like it.
Other than when we were in our bed, I hadn’t had Sloane to myself in weeks.
“It’s me,” I called through the door.
A few seconds later, the back entrance swung open. Ever since Callie was attacked at the bakery, I’d made both my wife and daughter promise no loud music when they were on their own and always to ask who was at the door before opening it.
Sloane’s gorgeous face split into a happy smile as she stepped back to let me in. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d bring you coffee.” My gaze swept the place.
It looked like she was in the middle of cleaning up.
There were trays of cakes in airtight containers waiting to be frosted, which I knew she’d do in the morning before opening.
Bags of frosting ready to be chilled. Flour and bits of butter still on one of the counters.
Sloane ran a hand through her hair as she watched me set the carafe on her clean counter. Her eyes roamed over me greedily in a way I recognized after many years of marriage. Satisfaction heated my blood.
“I miss you.” She gave me a soft smile as she echoed my feelings. “It feels like forever.”
We’d been married for almost seventeen years.
There had been disagreements and hurt feelings, but I could count those moments on one hand.
Despite my resistance in the beginning, my wife had given me a beautiful life.
I thought I’d wanted solitude. Instead, she’d given me the chaos of parenthood, as well as the gift of it.
She’d filled an emptiness in me. Coming home to her and the kids fixed something broken in me.
Sometimes I shuddered to think what my life would look like if Sloane hadn’t fought so hard to show me what I needed.
I think that’s why I hated sitting in the house alone.
There were very few people I’d admit that to. “Aye, it does feel like forever.”
She sighed. “I was just finishing up and then coming home to you.”
I shrugged. “I’m here now. Put me to work.”
“No. You just sit there and keep me company.” Sloane gestured to a couple of footstools over in the corner. “Tell me about your day.”
I hungrily watched her as she moved around the bakery cleaning up. “Do you remember Dr. Dick?”
Sloane scowled. “I remember.”
Dr. Dick was what Fyfe called Dr. Cameron Phillips.
The moniker caught on. After I’d witnessed him trying to intimidate Eilidh into dating him, I’d made it my fucking mission to run the arsehole out of town.
Eilidh was Callie’s sister-in-law. She was family.
I’d known her since she was a kid. No one fucked with my people. Or with women.
Her uncle Lachlan felt the same way. Once we’d discovered Dr. Dick had a habit of harassing and stalking women, Lachlan handed that information over to a journalist down in Edinburgh.
Three months ago, the story on Dr. Dick broke.
Eilidh, unfortunately, was pulled into another media storm over it.
The poor lass. She’d been through a lot lately.
But hopefully, this was the end of it and she’d get some peace.
“The board revoked his medical license. Decision came in today. Lachlan told me.”
Sloane straightened. There was that look in her eye. The one I secretly lived for. The look that said she thought I could do anything. “You and Lachlan did that.”
“Mostly Lachlan.”
“You both did it.” Her smile was soft. “I’m proud of you.”
“Proud of you,” I murmured truthfully.
Her cheeks flushed and I was already anticipating a night alone in the house with her.
“Callie stopped by with Harley and Xander today. I don’t think she and Lewis quite realized how hard having two babies was going to be.
” Worry creased her forehead. “Maybe we could offer to take them for a few days?”
The woman didn’t know how to stop. She’d always wanted to protect Callie (and Harry) from absolutely everything. Even new parent exhaustion. “Xander’s too young. They wouldn’t want to be away from him just now.”
“You didn’t see her. She’s worn thin.”
“And she’ll get through it,” I promised her. “When Xander’s a bit older, we’ll take them away for a long weekend. All of us. It’ll give Callie and Lewis some free time without taking the kids away from them entirely.”
Sloane considered the idea. “That could be good.”
“They’re fine. They’re better than fine. This is what they wanted. And they’re young enough to have the energy to handle it.” When we had Harry, the exhaustion was a shock to my fucking system.
“True.”
I cleared my throat, eyes devouring Sloane’s every move as she finished cleaning up and began untying her apron.
Her hair was scraped tightly back from her face for hygienic reasons, and I itched to tug the hair tie out in favor of my fist. Heat pooled in my gut.
“I take it now is a bad time to suggest a holiday just for two? Lachlan offered to take Harry for a week next month. He and Brechin would love it.” Brechin, Lachlan and Robyn’s son, was in the same year at school and the two lads had become best pals lately.
Brechin was also at this lad’s sleepover in Golspie because wherever Harry went, Brechin followed.
Sloane turned to me, her pretty blue eyes lit with surprise. Seventeen years. I’d wondered if at some point, I’d lose my need for her. Strangely, my possessiveness for her only increased. “A holiday? Where?”
“Portugal. I might already have booked it.” A private villa overlooking the water.
“Seriously?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
“Seriously.”
“I’d have to close the bakery. Ask Callie if she minded—”
“Callie already knows. She’s happy to close the bakery for a week.”
My wife crossed her arms over her chest, a smirk playing on her lips. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“I want my wife to myself.”
At the growl in my voice, Sloane’s whole body softened in a way I recognized. Fuck, I was a lucky bastard. “I could be alone with you for a week. What do you intend to do with me?”
“I think you know.”
“I’d still like to hear about it.”
My lips twitched. “Let’s just say I made sure the villa has a bed frame I can tie you to.”
Her cheeks flushed, eyes gleaming. “Oh, I can definitely close the bakery for that.”
“How about I give you a preview this evening?” It had been ages since we could play.
Sex had become making love quietly most nights.
I still held her down like she liked, sometimes missionary, sometimes on her knees.
But always quiet and less energetic than either of us preferred.
It was only on nights Harry was out of the house that I could fuck my wife hard and rough just as she liked it.
“Oh, I definitely expect a preview when we get home.” She reached up to untie her hair. “But maybe you could give me an appetizer right now.”
My already heated blood turned hotter as I raised an eyebrow. “Here?”
As her hair fell around her shoulders, Sloane reached for the zipper on her jeans. “I told you I missed you.”
I’d crossed the room and hauled her up onto the counter before she’d barely finished speaking. Her laugh scored through me as my hands coasted possessively over her body. “Fuck, I missed you too.”
Sloane’s lips brushed mine. “Then stop missing me.”
My answer was to kiss her as if she was the fucking oxygen I needed to breathe.
Because that’s exactly what Sloane Ironside was.
NORTH
It had been weeks since I’d seen my wife and son. Weeks.