Epilogue #2
Once my panties are off, he leaves his spot behind me, dragging me onto my back and pushing my thighs apart. My fingers sink into his hair, my head thrown back as his mouth latches onto my pussy.
His tongue delves inside me, dragging hotly along every nerve ending, then he focuses on my clit.
A breath rushes out of me and my eyes open, and as I look up at the mural painted across the ceiling, I remember where we are.
I’ve had a lot of surreal experiences since meeting Tor, but having my pussy eaten in the library at Calhoun University might take the cake.
He makes me come, clutching desperately at the bedsheets. He keeps feasting until I have to curl away from him, the stimulation of his tongue too much. My body is relaxed now, and I melt back into him as he takes his place behind me on the bed.
I smile softly at the screen as Inigo Montoya first crosses paths with The Dread Pirate Roberts. I told Tor that when I was younger, I loved The Princess Bride so much, I would watch it every night, so of course that’s the one he picked for our forbidden movie night.
I munch on some popcorn while we cuddle and watch the movie. “When I was a kid, the rodents of unusual size made me very uncomfortable,” I tell him.
“I can imagine,” he says, reaching over to grab some popcorn.
“I want to watch this with our kids someday, but I don’t want to freak them out.”
“Eh, they’ll be okay. If we think one of them will be too squeamish, we’ll send them to get candy during that part.”
I crack a smile. “Always thinking on your feet.”
“How many kids do we want?”
I laugh briefly at the way he worded it. “We may have different answers. I know how many I want. How many do you want?”
“However many you want is good for me. I don’t have a number.”
“What if I want ten?” I ask.
“Then we’re gonna need a bus.”
“What if I want none?”
He holds me a little tighter. “Then I get you all to myself.”
I smile softly, imagining a little half me, half him human to raise. Sounds like a challenge, but we’re not afraid of those. “I’d like two. I think two is a good number, though I do hope not at the same time. I know you’re a twin, but two of you at once feels like potentially a lot to handle.”
He smirks. “It would be. I’ll tell my sperm to keep his shit together when he gets in there.”
I snort. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Glancing back, I ask, “How’s that number for you?”
“Two works for me,” he says. “I want to wait a while, though. I want us to have a lot of time together before we expand our family.”
“How long is a while?”
“At least six or seven years.”
I nod. “I can work with that. I definitely want kids, but we have other stuff to do first. I’m not in any rush.”
“Marriage, though,” he says, nuzzling close so he can kiss my neck. “Marriage needs to happen sooner.”
I grin, tilting my neck to give him better access. “You’re always talking about marrying me. I’m gonna take you seriously one of these days.”
“I’d marry you tomorrow.”
“I’d need a little more time. To pick out a dress,” I add when he pulls back, disgruntled. “And plan the wedding. We’re doing Gatsby, after all. I have a lot of planning to do to bring that vision to life.”
“You’d better get started,” he advises, his tone teasing, but I’m not sure he’s joking.
“Do you think your dad will approve?” I ask seriously.
Since our first olive branch dinner at Tor’s house, I’ve received the unimaginably cool Gatsby first edition and other lavish gifts from his family, but despite their apparent acceptance of our relationship, I still get the feeling his dad has reservations about me.
If Tor dumped me tomorrow, I think Carson would be relieved.
I don’t think it’s entirely my fault, though.
I don’t believe he knows what happened at the lake house—I don’t think he would put up with me if he did—but I do think he finds it easier to blame me than Tor for some of the discord and blatant aggression he feels for his son after all the damage he has caused.
Carson Walters had his entire kingdom beneath his thumb, and Tor moved through the shadows, wrecking all of it—with my help, of course.
I will never know the extent of it because I don’t want to rip open that wound, and frankly, I don’t need to, but I’m guessing Carson Walters knows every dirty detail.
I’m guessing he even helped engineer it, thinking he was in charge of it the way he’s always been in charge of everything, not realizing Tor was waiting in the shadows to snip all the strings and attach them to his own control bar.
I can’t imagine how that must make a man like Carson Walters feel, knowing his own son that he sacrificed so much for outplayed him and handed his legacy over to the very girl they sought to destroy.
To him, it was betrayal.
To me, it was loyalty.
Carson Walters may be Myra’s king, but Tor is mine, and I’ll spend every night of my life paying fealty to him, just like he spends every moment paying fealty to me.
Since he took up the sword for me, Tor has never put it down, so of course when he answers me, it’s, “Yes. But it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t. I’d marry you anyway.”
“He’s gonna make me sign a hell of a prenup,” I joke.
Tor shakes his head. “We’re not getting a prenup.”
I smile, but push back a little. “That’s crazy. You have to get a prenup. You guys practically own a whole town—and that’s just what I know you own. I suspect there’s more.”
“There is, but what’s mine is yours.” He kisses my knuckles. “When we get married, it’s for life. I’m never letting you leave.”
I sigh. “Always so sweet and/or threatening.”
He smirks. “None of our stuff is as valuable as you, anyway.”
“Aw.” I turn away from the movie to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling closer so I can steal a kiss. “Sweet. We’re sticking with sweet.”
“Only for you,” he murmurs against my mouth, making me sigh again.
Then he kisses me, his hand sliding along my jawline to catch the side of my face in his firm, loving grip. After all this time, his kisses still give me butterflies.
When he breaks the kiss and pulls back, he holds my gaze, and I hope he sees all the love I have for him shining in mine.
“Can you get me a Sour Patch Kid?” he asks.
I blink, totally unprepared for such a casual request.
Then I chuckle, feeling silly for my own sappy thoughts when he clearly wasn’t having any. We’re not usually out of sync like that, but I shake it off and nod. “Sure.”
Tor eases back, and I reach over to grab the candy off the snack tray, but frown because the box is really light.
“Uh, I think whichever friends you had help you with the setup may have eaten your candy. It doesn’t feel like there’s much left.”
“Bastards,” he says.
I nod, opening the tab and tilting the box. My breath catches because it’s not a piece of candy that tumbles into my hand.
It’s a diamond ring.
I look at Tor, and he smiles. A shiver of excitement dances down my spine.
“Cassie…”
“Oh my god,” I say as he takes my hand, taking the ring from my palm before I even get a chance to look at it.
“I know we talk about getting married a lot, so this may not come as much of a surprise.”
Emotion swells up inside me as I meet his gaze. “Nope. I’m surprised.”
“You know I’m not a big believer in fate, and I like to set my own course, but from the moment I met you, I think our paths were meant to collide.
I think I always felt it, this magnet pulling us together.
I know you didn’t feel the pull as early as I did, but that’s okay. You caught up,” he teases.
Tears well up in my eyes and I nod. “I did.”
He sighs. “The truth is, I think I’ve loved you all my life.
And I’ll love you for the rest of it. You’re always with me.
Every moment of every day, even when we can’t physically be together, you’re in my thoughts, you live in my heart, and I never want to spend another day of my life without the lifeblood of your love pumping through me.
I’m obsessed with you, Cassie Pritchard, and I love you more than you can ever know.
” As he slides the ring on my finger, a glint of mischief lights his pretty blue eyes.
“I think I’ve waited long enough. Will you marry me already? ”
I laugh, tears blurring my vision, ecstatic joy filling me up until I feel like I’ll burst. “Yes.” I nod, barely able to string words together. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He grins, and the sight of it unleashes the butterflies in my tummy again. He comes down on top of me, kissing me, cradling my face. He makes me feel so loved, so happy, so treasured.
I sink my fingers into his dark hair, wrapping my legs around him and sliding a hand up under his shirt so I can feel his skin. I feel him every day, but it’s never enough. He’s like an addiction I would never try to kick. A dream I never want to wake up from.
It’s hard to believe I can be so happy when my life was in tatters not so long ago. I was lost and wandering down a path I didn’t belong on, and Tor found me and led me to the place I was meant to be.
With him.
Wherever he is.
No matter what he’s done to get me here.
I love him without reservation, the same way he loves me.
And I know I always will—he’ll make sure of it.