Epilogue
TATE
The morning after…
“Come again, Baby. That’s it. Good girl. Just like that.”
Sullivan’s voice is like velvet being dragged over stone as he murmurs against my lips, emotion passing between us with every scorching and tender kiss we’ve shared throughout the night.
I shudder inside his arms, coming in deep, pulsing waves as I slide up and down his cock.
He grips my hips as I use my arms around his shoulders to support myself.
“Tate,” he grunts, pulling me down roughly and coming inside me.
I kiss him through it, then break into a smile against his mouth.
“Hottest night ever,” I muse, my voice hoarse from the number of times he’s made me cry out his name.
I lost count of how many times we fucked. Made love. Kissed. Came.
They all melded into one another.
I just know I haven’t slept. The rare moments when Sullivan wasn’t inside my body, he was inside my heart, and head. Talking to me. Telling me all the things he wants to do together when we get home. All the places he wants us to go together with Molly.
As a family.
The happiness in his voice is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. I’m loving it.
There was no way I was ever going to leave New York after that day he came and played on the sidewalk to me.
I knew from the moment I heard the first notes of that song, “Unstoppable”, that nothing would keep me from them again.
Sullivan didn’t want me to give up my dream job. He asked me to consider flying back from LA each weekend. To make it work long-distance. And maybe we could have. But despite him pretending that would be enough for him. It wasn’t enough for me.
I want to be with him and Molly every day.
I knew the moment I walked into that meeting about my contract that I was going to be working from New York. So, I took a page out of Sullivan’s book and negotiated like a shark, doing everything I could think of to get them to agree.
My song, “Blue Eyes”, was the deciding factor.
I was prepared to let that song go. People already heard it when I was touring. I figured the new company would want fresh songs. And they do. But they want “Blue Eyes”. They said it’s the song that made them notice me in the first place and make me the offer of a job.
So I agreed.
It’s as if Sullivan and Molly were in that meeting with me. And they’re the reason it went the way that it did.
“Molly will be awake soon,” Sullivan says, kissing me with a groan as he guides me off his lap and back against the soft pillows. I sink into them as he sits up.
“Take your time. We’ll meet you downstairs in the kitchen.”
I nod, happy to steal a few moments in his luxurious bed before I get up.
And happy to watch his muscular round ass saunter away across the room.
I didn’t get to take in the décor last night. The bathroom is inside the bedroom, partitioned with a giant glass wall. There’s a round tub with a floor to ceiling window beside it, showcasing an incredible view of the ocean. And a huge rainfall shower that Sullivan’s turned on.
There’s a door to one side which I assume is the toilet, but my attention glues back to the magnificent man inside the shower, head tipped back beneath the spray, eyes closed.
His biceps bulge as he slicks his dark hair back, then grabs a bottle of something.
It’s like hot billionaire shower porn as he soaps up his toned, broad body.
Bubbles catch in the smattering of dark hair on his chest, and he drops his hand to his dick, soaping up the semi-hard length with skilled ease.
“How did I get so lucky?” I murmur.
I look up. His eyes are glittering, and his lips are tilted into a self-assured smirk. He totally busted me staring. But I don’t care.
“You okay, Baby?” he calls in a rich, satisfied voice that seems to give away the fact he’s been screwing all night.
“Yeah. Just watching,” I muse. “I figure if I’m yours like you say, then you’re mine too. And I can perve on you and your billionaire dick should I wish.”
He chuckles. “Look all you want, Baby. It’s all yours.”
He closes his eyes and tips his head back, rinsing away the suds.
My mouth waters as he shuts off the shower and smirks as he wraps a towel around his waist and walks over to the bed.
He leans down and kisses me, water droplets running down his tanned chest.
“I know that look. And believe me, I’d love to sit that pretty little pussy back on my face and make you come again before breakfast. But I have something to do with Molly.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’ll be fine here in this ridiculously comfortable bed.” I press a kiss to his lips. “But I am getting up in five minutes because I miss Molly and need to see her. We didn’t get long together last night.”
Sullivan’s eyes soften at the corners, and he lifts my hand, kissing my fingers.
“She’ll be so excited you’re here, Tate. See you downstairs.”
I take my time showering after he leaves, admiring the sunrise over the ocean from the balcony as I dress in a white sundress from my luggage that Sullivan brought up from downstairs for me last night.
I smile to myself about him ripping off my blue one last night as I leave the room and pad quietly down the hallway toward the staircase.
It feels weird to be tiptoeing around one of his father’s vacation homes when I haven’t even spoken to Sterling since arriving. Sullivan said the immediate family are staying here, with the rest of the guests in a nearby hotel.
I’m hoping it’s too early for anyone else to be up, because doing the walk of no-shame from Sullivan’s suite isn’t how I’d like to run into them again.
I need coffee before that.
Heading down the stairs, I follow the faint sound of a familiar sweet little voice that pulls at my heartstrings.
Molly’s sitting eating at a long, gleaming marble table when I walk into the expansive kitchen. Sullivan looks up from where he’s making coffee and catches my eye. The warmth in his gaze as he looks at me makes bubbles fizz in my stomach.
The glass wall behind him that shows the ocean stretching off to the horizon barely registers. Instead, with pure happiness guiding me, I make my way over to Molly.
“Good morning. Can I join you?”
She looks up and grins as she notices me, before nodding eagerly.
I slide into the seat beside her, feeling Sullivan’s eyes on us.
“What you eating?” I ask, resting my chin on one hand.
“Pancakes,” she replies, her bottom lip poking out in concentration as she collects a piece of pre-cut pancake onto her fork and puts it in her mouth.
“You ready for another, Sweetheart?” Sullivan asks, walking over with a large plate in one hand.
“Aww, you made bear pancakes? Are these ones yours?” I ask Molly, pointing to the messier attempts at bears on the plate.
She shakes her head. “Those Daddy’s.”
I look up at Sullivan, biting back my grin.
“It’s the oven,” he grumbles. “The ones I make at home come out better.”
“You’ve been making bear pancakes at home?”
He nods and places the plate on the table. “Molly missed yours.”
He walks back over to the counter and picks up two mugs. I know he doesn’t mean anything by that. But knowing Molly missed me when we were apart makes my heart heavy.
Sullivan comes back, placing a coffee on the table for me.
“Thanks.” I smile up at him gratefully and he leans down to kiss me.
I motion with my eyes to Molly who’s too busy eating her pancake to notice. Sullivan’s eyes twinkle and he pulls out the chair beside me and sits down.
“Sweetheart?” he says to Molly, keeping his eyes on mine. “Shall we show Tate that thing we talked about?”
“Yeah!” Molly bounces down from her chair and runs over to the counter, coming back, holding a book.
Sullivan’s eyes are on my face as Molly thrusts it into my lap proudly.
“What’s this?”
“Open,” she instructs.
I look at the plain blue cover, then open it.
“What are these?” I frown as I turn the first three pages, staring at the small pieces of card stuck to each one.
“I think you know what they are,” Sullivan says softly.
I glance up at him, my breath hitching. “You were there?”
“At every one.”
My throat clogs as I trace a fingertip over one of the many ticket stubs. “Oh… wow.”
They’re all here. Every concert I ever played as a support act. All the different cities. All the venues in each one. Glued inside the book in chronological order, marking every moment we spent apart.
“I never saw you.”
“You weren’t supposed to. But I heard you. All of your songs. And I heard every lyric of that one.”
I swallow. I know exactly which song he’s referring to.
“Blue Eyes?” I whisper.
“Blue Eyes,” he repeats, taking my hands inside his.
“I wrote that song before I left New York. It was about falling in love for the first time.”
“I know,” he rasps.
I look up at him, searching his eyes, a confession dangling from the tip of my tongue. “It wasn’t—”
“About me?” He arches a brow. “I know.” His eyes move to Molly, and they soften with adoration. “It was about Molly.”
“It was,” I whisper, the emotion in my voice turning into a giggle as Molly beams brightly at me.
“You were singing about her. And every time I heard that song I prayed that things could be different.”
“Sullivan…” I give him a soft smile. “We don’t need to go over this anymore. What’s done is done. It’s all in the past now.”
“Let me finish, Tate.” He strokes my hands inside his. “You love her the way she deserves to be loved. You love her like I do. You love her unconditionally, like a mother should.”
I blink away tears at the tenderness in his voice.
“She deserves a mother like you.”
He holds my eyes, his signature intensity burning brighter than I’ve ever seen it before.
“What are you doing?” I falter as he pushes back his chair and drops to one knee.
“Molly?” he instructs in a soft voice, his eyes staying on me. “You know the next part we spoke about?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she says seriously as she comes to stand beside him.
He holds his hand out and she places a signature blue, Beaufort Diamonds box into his palm.
“Good job, Sweetheart.” He kisses her on the head.