Bonus Epilogue
DEAN
“Mama! It’s a princess dinosaur!” Clara yells, darting away from me and flying into the backyard.
Keeping her from going outside while we set up was not an easy task and took multiple grown men, plus an almost two-year-old and a ten-year-old.
Our daughter is nothing if not determined when she sets her mind to something.
Plus, the fact that she knew our backyard was being set up for her birthday party didn’t help dampen her excitement.
She told us repeatedly how she just wanted a peek, but I knew the second she saw how over the top my mother and Dean went with the princess dinosaur theme, there would be no corralling her away.
Her excited squeals as she runs around, calling out everything she spots, tells me I made the right call in having everyone distract her.
Dean steps up beside me and places a kiss on my cheek as we watch our daughter hug the giant inflatable T-Rex that is dressed up in a tutu and tiara.
“I don’t even want to know how you managed to find all this,” I say, shaking my head as I fully take in the decorations that I just spent hours putting together.
“I’m an adult with Internet access and money. It wasn’t actually that hard. Plus”—he points to where my mom and Tristan are helping Clara pick out her tiara—“Nana went crazier than me.”
He makes a valid case. My mom has no self-control where her granddaughter is concerned.
We both laugh as we watch Clara put a fuzzy pink crown on her uncle Tristan’s head, followed immediately by her holding out a neon pink feather skirt to match. Just like every adult here, he doesn’t say no.
Looking around at everyone who’s gathered to celebrate our daughter, my heart swells with how lucky we are.
My parents have been a blessing over the past four years, showing up to help as much as we allowed them to during the newborn phase, without overstepping, to stepping in during hockey season to fill in support whenever Dean is away.
Landon and Tristan are the absolute best uncles. Neither afraid of pink feathers or glitter and both willing to crawl around on any floor.
Watching Tristan come to life and be around his brother has been a long journey.
It took months to find the right therapist for him to help him work through his trauma, and he was not happy to be placed into my parents’ custody during that time.
Just as I had predicted, the second my mom learned what was going on and what Tristan had been through, she’d demanded to meet him and help.
Things didn’t click into place easily, and there were plenty of bumps along the way.
It even took me until last year to be able to be alone with him, but he eventually got on track.
Tristan was welcomed into the life Dean had built and no one even batted an eye.
He even managed to get his GED and got accepted into a local community college while working part time at SweetHeart arena.
Tristan catches my eye just as he fits the feather skirt into place and does a dramatic courtesy, making me laugh and shake my head.
“I’m gonna run to the bathroom before all her friends start showing up,” I murmur to Dean before crossing the yard.
On my way inside, I pass by Greyson, Stella, Harper, and their youngest daughter, Andie.
She’s just over a year younger than Clara, but they are absolute besties.
As if to prove my point, Clara runs up, grabs Andie’s hand, and asks her to go in the bounce house with her.
Harper follows them, either ready to supervise or join them remains to be seen since the bounce house that Dean found looks like it could hold a couple of hockey players.
Next come Dominik and a very pregnant Lilly.
My heart clenches at the sight of my friend, knowing all they went through to get to this point of starting a family.
Lilly catches my eye, and she winks, caressing her stomach like the blessing it is.
Before I can pause to find her a seat, Vivian steps up, her new boyfriend, AJ, hot on her heels with a chair for Lilly.
I grin at how easily my best friend fits in with those closest to me, even though she’s not around as much.
I got excited after she dumped her douche bag ex, Dylan, because I was so ready for her to move back here and be close again. Then she met AJ, and I can’t be upset with her for staying with him.
Cora weaves happily between everyone, bouncing from person to person and soaking up the attention from everyone. Anytime someone stops petting her, she simply moves on to the next person.
Once inside, I take a second to bask in the silence. I haven’t had a moment alone since waking up today, so I decide to take advantage of this time. Heading upstairs, I go into Dean’s and my bedroom, shutting the door behind me and not rushing.
After going to the bathroom and washing my hands, I decide to rest my feet for five minutes, dropping onto the bed with a contented sigh.
At the sound of the door clicking open only a few minutes later, I snap up, expecting it to be Clara on a mission to show me something, only to sigh in relief when I find Dean quietly shutting the door behind him.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Dean teases, sauntering across the room with a smirk, and I fall back onto the bed.
“A mommy who couldn’t resist the temptation of this bed,” I tell him, closing my eyes and trying to mentally hype myself into getting up.
“Mm, what a coincidence,” he hums in thought and my stomach flutters at the sound of him getting closer. “I myself can’t resist the temptation on the bed.”
His hands find my ankles and he tugs me toward him, drawing a squeak from my lips. Once he has me at the end of the mattress, he steps between my spread thighs. He stares at the newly exposed skin, since my sundress has been bunched up around my stomach from him dragging me down the bed.
Every time he looks at me like this, he sets my skin on fire. There had been a fear that after I’d given birth, things between us sexually would never be the same. That they’d settle down to dim.
Which was something Dean proves wrong as often as he can.
If anything, the new marks and stretches that came from carrying our daughter only seem to turn him on more. And once I stopped taking birth control, something we talked about for months on end to make sure we were both ready if another kid were to come along, he’s only been more eager.
“Have I told you today how perfect you are?” he asks as his hands find my thighs and slowly tease higher. I squirm, widening my legs and silently begging for him to touch me where I’m already desperate for him.
“Maybe once or twice,” I answer breathlessly.
“Hmm, I’m slacking today. Better make it up to you.”
His fingers hook into the gusset of my underwear and tugs them to the side. He ducks down next, running his tongue along the length of my entrance in an antagonistically slow lick.
“Dean,” I moan, reaching down and gripping his hair. When he does it again, my teeth clench at the sensations already spreading through me. “Please, baby, don’t tease me.”
He chuckles against my core, the vibrations going straight to my clit, and I groan.
“Is my wife desperate for me already?”
“I always am.” How I’m speaking is beyond me. Using the grip I have on his hair, I gently tug. “Please, please fuck me. Now.”
“So pretty when you beg,” he taunts, backing away long enough to shuck off his shorts and boxers, kicking them to the side.
I do the same to my underwear, not bothering to pay attention to where they land once I toss them.
I leave my dress on, though, since we’ll likely be rushing to get back to the party once we’re done.
Kneeling on the bed between my thighs, he hooks my knee around his waist and holds it there while using his free hand to guide his cock to my entrance. I lift my hips to meet him, digging my shoulders into the mattress. Excitement builds low in my stomach as he teases his tip through my arousal.
We both groan as he starts to slowly push inside me. By the time he’s fully worked himself in, he pauses, dropping his head to pepper kisses on my ankle and up my calf.
“You’re so fucking perfect, Arianna.” He pulls out until only the head of his dick remains and then slams back in without hesitating. “This cunt was made for me. Made to take my cock and every drop of cum it gives you.”
I moan, my pussy clenching around him to show my agreement as he sets a punishing pace.
“Shh, baby, we might be in our house, but there are guests coming and going,” Dean reminds me while not relenting on his thrusts. He only makes it harder to keep quiet as he releases my hip and starts stimulating my clit.
“Oh hell,” I grumble before slapping a hand over my mouth to conceal some of the sounds.
Pleasure builds quickly as he fucks me, whispering praises as he does.
“Baby, I need you to come,” Dean tells me, pinching my clit between his fingers in the way he knows I love. That’s all it takes to trigger my release.
I come, shouting his name before I can think better of it.
My eyes roll back, and all the tension that had been building explodes.
His thrusts lose their rhythm, and it only takes another couple before he’s cursing under his breath, and he unloads inside me.
His orgasm only draws out my own, sending mini sensational shockwaves through me.
Dean drops my leg, collapsing on top of me while supporting more of his weight so he doesn’t crush me.
He kisses my chest, then my collarbone and neck, working his way up until he’s peering down at me with a goofy grin.
The drastic difference between the man smiling at me now versus the man who talks so filthy while making me come is something I might never get used to.
“Sorry I interrupted your quiet time,” he tells me just before kissing me. I roll my eyes but smile as I kiss him back.
“No, you’re not.” Pushing him away, I move to stand, but Dean catches my arm and keeps me pinned beneath him.
“I kind of am. You deserve time to rest. I just couldn’t go any longer without touching you, so knowing I could have a few minutes alone with you…
” He bites his bottom lip, gently shaking his head as if trying to shake his dirty thoughts away.
“But I’ll make it up to you. How’s a quiet bubble bath all to yourself sound tonight? ”
“That might be the sexiest thing you’ve ever said,” I tell him, capturing his lips for another kiss before rolling out from under him. “But for the record, I don’t mind when you join me and turn quiet time into fun time.”
“I love you,” Dean calls out as I walk away, flashing him a wink before I dip into the closet to replace my underwear.
“I love you too.”
THE END