Epilogue #2
“Yes,” she chokes out. “A thousand times, yes. In every lifetime, yes.”
I slide the ring onto her finger—a two-carat radiant diamond, set in gold. Because she sparkles like light breaking through a storm, so fucking radiant it hurts to look at her sometimes.
Only fitting she has a ring to match.
Olivia’s turned toward me now, hand pressed to her chest, eyes reflecting every colour of the sunset behind her.
She kisses Teddy first, then she grabs my collar and yanks me forward, and we topple backwards into the grass, tulips bending around us as she kisses me like she’s trying to memorise the shape of my soul.
Teddy giggles, climbing on top of us, squishing his cheeks between ours.
It’s chaos. Soft and wild and perfect.
She pulls back just slightly, breathless with laughter. “Wait… where did you even get the blindfold from?”
I grin. “Ah. Borrowed it off your brother.”
She narrows her eyes. “Which one?”
“Bradley.” I smirk.
Olivia laughs, shaking her head. “Of course you did.” Then she leans in again and presses one more kiss to my lips. Her fingers tangle briefly in my shirt, like she’s not quite ready to let go. Eventually, we stand, brushing off petals and grass. She starts to wipe at her cheeks.
“There’s one more thing,” I say.
Her brows pull together. “Bash…”
I reach into my pocket and pull out the small stack I’ve been holding onto for months. Faded sticky notes. Crumpled corners. Ink smudged from my fingers.
Her handwriting. Every damn one.
Her lips part. “You… kept those?”
“Every single one.” I flip the first one over. “‘Don’t forget the milk or I’ll murder you xoxo Trouble.’ You left that after the first grocery run we ever did together. I laughed like an idiot the whole drive home.”
I show her the next.
“‘Try to smile more today, Grumpy.’ You left that after the shittiest shift of my life. I stuck it to my dashboard for a week.”
Another.
“‘Thanks for letting me fall asleep on your lap even though I drooled.’ That was the night you told me about your dad’s health was playing up.
I stayed awake long after you did. I just held you.
” Her tears fall unchecked now. Mine damn near do too.
“I kept them all, because deep down, they meant something to me,” I say softly. “Because you wrote them.”
Then, right on cue, the first drop of rain lands on my cheek. Another drop. Then another. Soft summer rain, light and warm, smelling faintly of eucalyptus.
“Perfect timing.”
“For what?”
I grin. “To dance with me.”
She laughs through a sob. “What? Here?”
“Right here.” I hold out my hand. “Dance with me in the rain, Trouble.”
I pull out my phone, set up my Bluetooth, and somewhere behind us, hidden in the flowers, the small speaker I planted crackles to life. ‘Summer Rain’ starts to play. A soft guitar, warm synth, a nostalgic kind of melody that feels like being held. It’s gentle, hopeful, drenched in longing.
“This… this song.” Her face tilts up, rain dripping from her lashes. “It’s one of my favourites.”
“I know,” I whisper, brushing her wet hair behind her ear.
I hold her tighter. Tighter than I ever have.
Like she might float away if I let go. Rain slips over her bare shoulders, down the back of her dress, and seeps through the collar of my shirt, but neither of us flinches.
Because nothing else exists right now. Just this moment.
Just the three of us. And even though I still call her Trouble like it’s a joke, somewhere along the way, she stopped being the kind I’d tried to avoid.
The girl who talked too loudly. Felt everything all at once. Loved too damn hard.
She became something else entirely.
My calm.
My storm.
My always.
I kiss the crown of her head and shut my eyes, letting her warmth settle deep in my chest as the softest smile curves my mouth.
The whole damn thing’s been months in the making.
The dinner. The tulips. The ring Teddy held.
I spent hours figuring out the timing. Where the sun would hit.
When the field would bloom. Coordinating with Xavier for the damn speaker to be in the right spot without her noticing anything, convincing everyone else to keep their mouths shut while I walked around pretending this wasn’t the most important thing I’d ever done.
Rain slides down my cheek, cooling my skin. Teddy twirls in messy circles around our feet, arms out like he’s trying to catch every drop from the sky.
“Let’s go home.”
That’s all I say. Quiet. Certain. She threads her fingers through mine and Teddy’s as we walk toward the ute, bumping her shoulder into my arm with a smile far too sweet for the way she’s been driving me insane all night.
“Movie, then tea?” she asks, pretending she doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing to me.
I snort, tugging her closer. “No, Trouble.” I press a slow kiss to the side of her head. “Tonight, it’s just you and me.”
She stutters a step. “But… Teddy?”
“Your mum offered to watch him.” I brush my thumb across her jaw. “For the night.”
Her eyes go wide—hopeful, nervous, turned on. “Oh.”
Yeah. Oh.
I slide my hand to the back of her neck, thumb stroking the soft spot under her ear. “You’re all mine tonight,” I murmur, letting the words sink into her skin.
“Just for the night?” She raises a brow.
I huff a laugh, tilting her chin so she has no choice but to look straight at me. “Forever.” My voice drops. “Mrs. Soon-to-be Daniels.”
Her smile hits me in the chest. Hard. The kind that ruins a man, that makes every shitty thing I’ve ever been through feel like it was leading to this exact moment. And when she finally whispers, “Take me home, Bash,” I know I am well and truly done for.
We dropped Teddy off in record time. He was stoked—couldn’t wait to hang out with Callie and Gracie.
Barely even waved goodbye. That’s the part that guts me, every time.
Letting him go, even for a night. Tonight felt different.
Olivia’s mum cried the second we walked in the door, then everyone followed.
Congratulations flew by after that. Her dad clapped a solid hand on my back—one of those firm, silent approval moves I didn’t know I’d wanted until I had it.
I offered to stay, but Olivia mumbled something about spending time with family tomorrow.
She made it clear tonight was about us. I didn’t bother arguing with that.
We barely make it through the damn door.
Her hands are already in my shirt, mine are dragging her dress up her thighs like I’ve got a timer on how long I can behave.
I don’t. I’ve been holding back all fucking day.
Since she said yes. Now, I want her every goddamn way I can get her.
I slam the door shut with my foot, crowd her back into it like a man possessed.
“Dress off,” I growl against her mouth, biting her bottom lip hard enough to feel the hitch in her breath. “Need to see you. Now.”
She moans, arms knotted around my neck, lifting onto her toes.
Every inch of her is pressed against me.
Desperate. Feral. I yank the dress over her head, letting it fall to the floor, and take a step back just to look at her—my girl in nothing but lace, skin flushed, and that goddamn ring catching the light.
“You’re not real,” I murmur, voice rough with disbelief. “You can’t be. No woman looks at me the way you do.”
Her grin damn near slays me.
She wiggles the hand with the ring in front of my face. “Pretty sure this says I am.”
Before I can blink, she plants both hands on my chest and pushes, hard, until I stumble back and hit the door with a thud. She’s already following, already dropping to her knees like a goddamn siren, eyes locked on mine. “Liv…”
I barely get her name out before her fingers are at my belt, yanking it open with practised urgency. She pushes my trousers down just far enough to free me, and the second my cock springs forward, her mouth is on me. A guttural sound punches out of me.
“Jesus, fuck—” My head hits the wood behind me. “That goddamn mouth…”
Because she knows what she’s doing. She always knows. Warm lips, wet tongue, slow suction, just enough teeth to make my knees threaten to buckle. Her hands curl around my thighs for balance, and I look down to see those bright blue eyes staring up at me like she’s proud of the way she’s ruining me.
“Olivia—fuck…” I thread my fingers through her hair, not forcing, just holding her there. Keeping myself anchored, because if I don’t, I’ll lose it. Right here. Against the goddamn door like some lovesick teenager. And she deserves more than that. She deserves everything.
But fuck, if she isn’t trying to kill me.
Her rhythm doesn’t falter. She moans around me like she’s the one getting off, and I swear to Christ, I’ve never felt more wanted.
More worshipped. More loved. And that’s when I have to stop her.
Gently, I fist her hair and pull her back, her lips popping off me with a soft sound that damn near steals my sanity.
“Trouble,” I rasp, chest heaving. “I’m not about to come now…
” She blinks up at me, flushed, breathless, licking her lips like she knows exactly what she’s done.
I bend, cup her jaw, and kiss her hard, quick and filthy, my tongue claiming hers before I growl against her mouth, “Because when I do, it’ll be in that greedy pussy of yours. ”
She lets out a soft, shaky whimper. My hand slides down the front of her body, slipping beneath the waistband of her underwear. Fucking hell. Of course. The second I find her centre, I grin. Dripping.
Just like I knew she would be. “Fuckin’ knew it,” I mutter, brushing my fingers through her wetness, drawing a breathy moan from her throat before I shift her weight and toss her over my shoulder like she weighs nothing, not caring that my pants are loose and undone.
“Sebastian!” she gasps, half-laughing, half-scolding as her hands smack against my back. “What the hell—”