Bonus Epilogue
One Year Later
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I straightened from my hunch because my back was aching. I absently rubbed my lower back as I surveyed the page in front of me. Something wasn’t quite right with Chase’s eyes. I bent forward and scrubbed my eraser over his face before trying again.
I don’t know how much time passed, but I’d finished one drawing and was most of the way through a second when someone’s hands caressed my shoulder.
“Ack!” I screamed, flailing my arms and nailing my husband in the face with my eraser. “Cole! Oh my god. Are you okay?”
He smiled as he rubbed his forehead where my eraser had hit him. “I think so. I’m not bleeding at least.”
“Why do you do that?” I groaned and slapped his oh-so firm stomach. “You scare the crap out of me every time.”
“I feel like that question answers itself…”
I huffed and rolled my eyes. “I never would’ve married if you I’d known you loved jump scares so much.”
“Yes, you would’ve.” His arms wrapped around me from behind, and he rested his chin on the top of my head. “What are you working on?”
“T-shirt designs for the Tin Gods’ Vegas residency.” A huge smile spread across my face. Those words still felt so surreal. I was working for the Tin Gods! Me! I’d gone from fangirl to contributing artist with one of the biggest bands in the world.
After I’d done the cover for Cole’s next album, they’d called me out of the blue. I’d drawn art for their next cover, and then they’d optioned more art for t-shirts and merch designs for their upcoming Vegas residency.
I’d gone from unemployed, lost loser to a somewhat successful artist who was blissfully married to my Prince Charming. Life was pretty awesome.
Cole scowled. “You made Noah Hawker look too good in this one.” He stabbed a finger at the drummer in the background. “And don’t even get me started on Chase Robinson. Why the hell does he look mid-orgasm here?”
I bit my bottom lip to try to hide my smile. And failed. “Is someone jealous?”
He turned his scowl on me. “I really don’t like the thought of you spending hours and hours looking at their faces. It’s just not right.”
“Aww, is someone feeling neglected?”
Cole nodded pathetically.
I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I giggled uncontrollably. “You are ridiculous!”
“What? Are you serious? You’re just going to stomp on my feelings like that?”
“If I for one moment thought you were being serious, we’d be having a totally different conversation. Probably about you being weirdly controlling. Because I totally heard you bragging about me with Jace the other day.”
“Well that goes without saying. I’m so proud of you, sugarplum.” Cole’s arms came around me again, and I felt a soft press against the top of my head as he kissed me. “But that doesn’t mean I want you looking at hunky rock stars all day long.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then you shouldn’t have talked me up at Stolly Records.”
“Wasn’t me. Your talent did all the talking for you. I swear I didn’t say a word.”
I pushed him away and then spun around in my chair so I could look him in the eyes. “Seriously?”
I’d always assumed that he’d pulled strings at the record label to get me more jobs doing what I loved.
Cole blinked stoically. “Seriously. I didn’t talk you up to anyone at Stolly. I just told Jace that I wanted you for the cover art, and he made it happen. I haven’t talked to any of the guys in the Tin Gods since…I can’t remember. May, maybe?”
“Oh wow.” I felt kinda light-headed. All this time I’d assumed every job I’d gotten since I’d finished the art for Cole’s cover had been funneled to me so that I could travel with him. Thankfully, I’d long given up on finding a marketing position once the jobs started coming. Working for myself was a dream come true.
And ironically enough, I found something that let me use my passion and my college education—creating art and designing merch for bands.
“Enough shop talk.” Cole grabbed my hands and tugged me up before walking backward to the bedroom at the back of his behemoth bus. “We’ve got just enough time to take care of some important business.”
“Cole…” I groaned in feigned protest even as I let him lead me into the bedroom. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Yes, we do.” He grinned wolfishly at me.
“No, we don’t. Remember what happened last time?” Having Cole’s manager, Jace, literally walk in on us in the greenroom—with Cole still inside me—was mortifying.
I still couldn’t look him in the face.
“That’s why I’m seducing you on the bus.” He stopped next to the bed and gently pushed me down onto it. “I locked the door. No one except Charlie can get inside and he knows better than interrupting me.”
“Cole.” I groaned for a whole new reason as he all but ripped my leggings off, with my panties quickly following. Why was that so hot? Knowing that this man had to have me now—wanted me so ferociously, he’d ripped my panties off my body—had me so wet in seconds.
Something Cole groaned his approval of. “Ahh, sweetness. You get so wet and ready for me. I fucking love it.”
Then he ducked down, burrowing between my splayed thighs and had me gasping. His tongue. His fingers. The man was so fucking wicked with those fingers. He could finger a guitar or me with dexterous ease.
I clenched around his probing digit as he licked and teased my aching clit. “Ah, Cole. I don’t…I can’t…”
Then I was screaming as I went over. Still wearing my shirt and bra, I orgasmed so strongly I swore I saw stars. My sex clenched on his finger still inside me and an echo of my orgasm rocked through my body.
Cole chuckled darkly. There were some rustling sounds and then he pressed his cock into me.
We’d had talks and decided we wanted to wait to have kids, so I had an IUD put in. Which meant all the sex with none of the worry over condoms being nearby or breaking.
Cole kissed me and I tasted myself on his lips. It was heady and so freaking sexy that I clenched down on his thrusting cock.
“Christ, you’ve got me so fucking hard for you. Every single time I see you, I have to be inside you. And you’re so fucking gorgeous. I don’t know what hurts the most—my hard dick or my aching heart.” He paused for a second and looked down at me with this look full of aching, needy love that I gasped.
“Cole.” My eyes watered at the love and just everything I felt in that moment. I couldn’t count the number of times he’d looked at me like this. And every time I still felt so amazed.
And so loved.
“I love you so fucking much. You are everything to me.”
My breath hitched. “Same.”
He chuckled and shook his head. His cock still hard and pulsing inside me. “Seriously? I say all that sweet shit, and all I get in exchange is ‘same’?”
He braced his hand next to me and did this twitching thing inside me that had my eyes crossing.
I whimpered. “I love you. You’re a sex god. A rock god. You can have my car. Just—please—let me come again. Please!”
“That’s more like it.” He chuckled before going back to fucking me.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and just held on. In moments I was going over the peak again.
“Ah, so fucking tight. Love this fucking cunt. Could spend all day here. I want—” He broke off in a strangled groan as he came. His juttery shakes and thrusts sent another, smaller orgasm pulsing through me.
Cole rested his forehead against mine and sighed. Then he kissed me softly before rolling over to rest on his back next to me. “I can’t feel my knees.”
I laughed. “I’m still wearing half my clothes.”
Bracing himself on his elbow, he leaned up on his side next to me and sent me a seductive smolder. “We can still fix that.”
“Again?” I groaned. This time it wasn’t feigned. The man was insatiable. Meanwhile I’d had three orgasms to his one. I was drained.
Bam, bam, bam!
We both jumped as the outer door rocked with someone’s knocking—make that pounding.
“Cole! Come on, man! You can sex up your wife after the concert.” Jace sounded pissed. Bam, bam, bam! “Don’t make me come in there!”
This time I shuddered for a totally unsexy reason. I really didn’t want a revisit of the greenroom episode. No, thank you.
“You heard the man.” Cole bounced off the bed then stood at the bottom still totally naked, and grinned down at me. “Get dressed. We have a show to do.”
“He didn’t say squat about me.” I wrapped the blankets around my half-naked body and scowled at him.
“But I can’t go onstage without my sugarplum cheering me on from the sidelines. It’s the last show.” He batted his eyes exaggeratedly.
“Cole…”
Bam, bam, bam!
“I’m not kidding!” Jace shouted. “You got two minutes then I’m coming inside—dressed or not!”
“You heard the man.” Cole raised his eyebrows. “What’s it going to be?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re lucky I love you.”
“You’re damn right I am.” A huge grin swept across his face.
I couldn’t help but smile as I crawled out of bed. Even knowing I was going to have to face Jace—again—I felt light and so happy as I got dressed.
Because I was lucky too. I had everything I could want, and Cole was at the top of that list.
The End