Epilogue
Ash
The next summer
Today was off to an exceptional start.
It was a fine, sunny Saturday and since I was finished with business travel for the month after arriving home around eleven last night, I had the pleasure of waking up beside Zelda—who deserved a lazy morning after cranking through a hellish two weeks of summer session finals at Boston University.
The day only improved from there. We shared a long, slippery shower that left me disordered in a very pleasant way and then we devoured Zelda's famous pancake sandwiches. Life was really fucking good.
Since I didn't understand her "system," Zelda required me to sit at the kitchen island while she washed and dried the dishes.
Letting her do household chores while I watched made me feel like an ass but I'd missed her face too much to busy myself elsewhere.
Instead, I wiped down the countertops and watered Kirby the cactus and her small potted herbs on the windowsill and stole every opportunity I found to touch her.
It'd always been this way, even before I'd realized it.
I'd loved her that way too.
"What should we do today?" Zelda asked, submerged up to her wrists in the soapy water.
I stopped behind her, settling my hands on either side of the sink. "I know what I want to do."
"Again?" she asked, laughing. "But I haven't seen you all week."
"I'm pleased you understand the issue," I replied, dropping to my knees and gathering up her long skirt in my fist. I looped a finger under the band of her panties and sent them falling to her ankles. "Be a good girl for me and spread your legs."
She did as I asked but did it while saying, "We should do something. Go somewhere. Isn't there a baseball game today? Why not a picnic in the park? How about a visit to that used bookstore we like over in Cambridge? Better yet, one of those sunset harbor cruises we always talk about taking?"
"I'll take you on a picnic, to a bookstore, on a cruise. I'll give you anything you want, my love." I ran my knuckles between her legs. "Just as soon as I feel this pretty little pussy come on my tongue."
A shiver moved through her shoulders and she released one of those high, breathy gasps that seemed to say "ohhhh" with six syllables. I traced the line of her ass down to her thigh and back up again, touching only enough to make her squirm.
"I'm not finished, you know," she said, as petulant as ever. "With the dishes."
"Go ahead and finish." I leaned in, dragged my lips up the silky skin of her inner thigh. "I don't mind." I licked the crease where her ass transitioned to her leg. "You taste as good as I remember."
"It's only been a few days, Ashville."
"You're delicious," I whispered as I closed my teeth around the curve of Zelda's ass. She gave a short squeal and I heard the water splashing. I smiled, brushed my knuckles along her seam once more. "Did I tell you to stop? No. Get back to work."
She was wet and swollen, rocking her hips toward my touch. I loved her in a way that lanced pain through my chest if I thought on it too long because it was a catastrophic kind of love, which was for the best as I had no intention of ever recovering from this.
I slipped a finger through her folds and rewarded her patience with my thumb on her clit.
Her gasps turned into sighs as I circled the sweetest, softest spot on her entire body and bit along the low curve of her ass while the scent of her arousal flooded me, intoxicated me.
That was my punishment, of course, since I was ignoring the best part.
No, wait, that wasn't true. Pussy wasn't the best part. Teasing Zelda in the kitchen on a lazy morning when neither of us had a mountain of responsibilities to climb was the best part. Biting my girlfriend's ass and saying inarguably rude things that turned her on while I did it was the best part.
Although— "When are you going to marry me?"
Because it wasn't enough to merely ask the question, I pushed three fingers inside her and pressed hard on the spot that made her a little senseless.
I dropped my other hand to the small of her back, right where that dragonfly tattoo took flight, and shifted her into an angle that would give her what she needed.
There was a splash followed by dishes clattering in the sink. Then, "Ash."
"Yes, my love?" I watched my fingers disappear inside her only for them to emerge coated in her arousal and my cock was ready to burn straight through my shorts.
That did it for me every time. Her responding to me, us coming together.
We shouldn't have made sense, we shouldn't have even found each other yet here we were, sharing the most elemental thing of any world.
"What is it? What do you have to say about making me wait? "
While it was amusing to imply Zelda was the one holding up our nuptial proceedings, that wasn't a fair portrait of reality.
We simply hadn't had the time to make any progress, not with her diving head and shoulders into grad school last fall, my new business ventures keeping me on the road several nights each month, and my father scaling back to only one day a week in his office after tax season had ended.
And that was on top of me and Zelda learning how to make this relationship work when we didn't get to spend every minute of every day together.
In the spirit of reality, I was the one who struggled most with my separation from Zelda during the daylight hours.
If the shortage of wedding vows spoken was anyone's fault, it was mine.
As much as I'd wanted to seal this deal, there was no reason to rush.
Zelda deserved time to come into her own.
She'd spent far too long sitting on the shelf of her ex's design and even longer putting up with that horrendous family of hers.
This was her shot at being whoever, whatever she wanted—and I had the fortune of watching from the front row.
Yeah, this was on me—but I was ready to change that.
"I'm waiting for an answer," I said, delivering an especially mean bite just an inch away from where she wanted it. "You know how I feel about waiting, Zelda."
"I—I—you know I want to," she replied, her words strained.
I slipped my fingers out and walked them along her back channel. It wasn't nearly enough pressure or friction, and the urgent rock of her hips confirmed it. "That's the best you can give me?"
"What do you want me to say?" she asked, breathless as she hooked a glance over her shoulder. "You want to set a date? Draft the vows? A promise I'll change my name? What do you want, Ash?"
"A ring on your finger to start," I said, retrieving the small box from my pocket, the one holding the sapphire and diamond ring I'd picked up in Phoenix last week. "I imagine the other pieces will fall into place after that."
Her lips parted and if I'd allowed it, this would've devolved into a precious, lovey mess of cuddles and tears on the kitchen floor. That wasn't happening. Not yet.
I set the box beside me and gestured for her to shift back into position, saying, "As you were. You'll get this when I'm through with you."
My hands filled with the globes of her ass, I leaned in and traced her seam until I found that hard pearl, all pink and eager for my attention.
I gave her a long, hard suck as her hips rolled and her hands slapped against the countertop.
Her legs shook as I flicked my tongue over her one last time and I knew from the throb I felt there she was primed to explode.
In the end, it took only one, two thorough laps for those muscles to shiver and spasm, and all her unbelievable heat to rush over me, and then a violent pinch to her clit to make her scream.
I had my belt off, shorts unzipped, and cock out before she'd stopped twitching and somehow—somefuckinghow—managed to yank her down to my lap and slide inside her without anyone taking an elbow to the eye or tumbling over from the precariousness of it all.
I'd mastered many things in my life but fucking my girlfriend—fiancée—with nothing but my arm around her waist to keep her from faceplanting on the kitchen floor wasn't one of them.
That I lasted all of two minutes was a blessing.
With Zelda still panting in my lap, I shifted back against the refrigerator. "I should tell you I'd planned to do this a bit less"—I motioned around the kitchen—"savagely."
"Why start now?" she asked.
"Fair point, Miss Besh." I kissed her temple and dropped the box into her hands. "This is for you."
She pried it open with care, as if she was concerned about the contents getting away. Then, "Wow. Just…wow."
"Does that mean you like it? I can take it back. I can have them make something different."
Zelda shook her head, saying, "This is quite perfect."
Since she was still clutching the box like it had the capacity to shapeshift, I plucked the ring out and slipped it on her finger.
The large center sapphire gazed up at us like a bottomless lake while twin diamonds sparkled on either side.
Smaller diamonds climbed down the band, twisting over and around the platinum.
"I believe I deserve some acknowledgment for waiting more than a year to make it official. "
Angling her hand to study the ring, she said, "Marital customs aren't my area of expertise but I thought the suitor was expected to get down on one knee."
"Am I being penalized for making it both knees and my face between your legs? Because I seem to recall you taking some gratification from that change."
She patted my arm. "No penalties," she said with a laugh. "It's just fun to push your buttons, Ashville."
There was a knock at the door and we frowned at each other but the sound of my sister's voice quickly answered all questions. "Ash? Zelda? I'm knocking and I need you to answer the door. I'll use my key. I swear, I will. I need to come in. Answer, answer, answer."
"Oh my god," I muttered. "What does she need at"—I shot a glimpse at my watch—"twelve thirty on a Saturday? Does she always have to barge in like this?"
Zelda scrambled off my lap and straightened her skirt, saying, "Does it matter? She's six months pregnant with twins. She's allowed to barge in."
My mother, for her part, had been cured of her tendency to invite herself into our apartment back in October when an eyeful of my bare ass and Zelda bent over the sofa greeted her one morning.
Now, she called before she visited and called again before boarding the elevator.
Just to be cautious. She was more interested with Magnolia and Rob these days anyway, always visiting to help with the nursery or something like that.
I tucked myself back into my shorts and hefted to my feet. "I don't have to like it."
Zelda paused near the door as I zipped up. "Will you like it when I'm six months pregnant with twins?"
"Ignoring for the moment that your question doesn't make sense, yes. When you're pregnant, I'll—" Fuck. I shoved my fingers through my hair because that notion was a tidal wave. It was a loud, desperate drowning in thoughts and images and emotions and Fuuuuuuck. "Yes, my love. You know I will."
She pressed her palm to her chest and that ring glinted back at me like a beacon. "You're right, I do know."
"I can hear you in there," Magnolia yelled. "Could you have this conversation after I pee? Because that's the only thing that has to be resolved right this instant."
"Let her in. I'll never hear the end of it from my mother otherwise," I said.
Zelda held the door open for my sister, who bustled past us for the bathroom down the hall, calling, "Open a window. The sex hormones wafting off you two are making me woozy."
"We'll need to move." I gave the apartment an ambiguous shrug. "We'll need more space. For the twins," I added.
"And the ones we have after the twins," she offered.
"Bedrooms and…backyards," I said. "We'll need—"
"For real, dude, what is going on here?" Magnolia asked, drying both hands on her round belly. "The Very Serious Convo vibes are clashing with the Dirty, Dirty Sex vibes big time."
I blinked at her for a second. Then, "Technical question for you, Mag. Do we need to wait until after this situation"—I nodded at her belly—"is finished to get married? Does it matter to you?"
Magnolia plucked a band from her wrist and gathered up her hair as she shifted to face Zelda. "What is my brother asking me?"
Zelda held up her hand in response. Magnolia abandoned her hair to rush forward with an almighty screech. "Fucking finally," she cried, turning Zelda's hand to inspect the ring. "Am I the first to know? Please tell me I'm the first!"
"You're the first," my moonbeam bride replied.
"Yes, I love it when I'm the first! You're calling Mom and Dad right now, and Lin too.
And then you have to call the girls, Zelda.
They're going to die. Okay, that's the plan, you're calling everyone and I'll call a caterer," Magnolia went on.
"An About Time Already engagement party at my house this evening.
Bring your beautiful selves and I'll provide the rest." She was halfway out the door before adding, "Don't even think about getting married before these boys are born.
I'm not waddling down any aisle and I'm not drinking cider instead of champagne.
No autumn weddings for you two, not this year. "
Suddenly, we were alone again and I said, "Spring it is, my love."
Thank you for reading!