Epilogue
Carver
Life was funny sometimes.
One moment, you’re so busy rushing through it you could literally miss the best thing from happening to you if you don’t slow down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advising anyone to lie about who they are and what they do, but fuck, the craziest thing I ever did ended up being the best thing to happen to me in my life. Hands down, no doubt about it.
Max and I fell into a routine easily. I didn’t like that she wanted to keep working at the hotel, but she did for about two months. Until some celebrity found her coloring books and her business went viral. My girl was so busy filling orders and designing, she had to step away from the resort. Which I did not mind because by the time she had decided to do that, the sale of a house at the end of the lake we had fallen in love with had gone through. And just like that, one more piece of our lives together slipped right into place. A year to the date of when we met in that small room at the spa of the resort, I asked her to marry me. And Harrison had not been lying when he said I was a lucky son of a bitch. She’d said yes, and the moment I had my ring on her finger, we got to planning our special day.
It didn’t surprise me when my girl didn’t want a big glamours party. She insisted on something small and simple at the spot on the lake where we would have our late-night lunches together. And we had done just that. Because again, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make my girl smile.
I stepped into the newly renovated spa and grinned. It was finally finished. The Crown was back and thriving. I had just finished a meeting with Grant and Harrison, one that left Grant a little disgruntled because I’d asked him to come back to Moonlit Pines. I needed someone to step in at the office because I was going to start working from home a lot more.
The spa at The Crown was closed, and thankfully, everyone had gone home for the day. I walked through the break room and grinned when I spotted the coffee maker. It reminded me of why I had been at the spa in the first place that day so many years ago. My girl had been the one who made the coffee. Now she made it for me all the time.
I opened the door to the room, and there she was.
Her back was turned to me, wearing a sexy little sundress because the summer temps were at a record high. Not that I minded. Every time I got to see my girl, my princess, my wife in a dress felt like a gift. Who the fuck was I kidding? Every time, regardless of what she wore, was a gift. My heart was full of gratitude for the life we had created together.
She turned, and my heart squeezed in my chest like it did after a long day without her close to me. Her dark wavy hair danced against her back before her eyes met mine.
“This turned out so much better than I could have imagined. You were right about the design,” she reluctantly admitted, but I didn’t say a word.
Instead, I shut the door behind me and set the lock in place, all without taking my eyes off my beautiful girl.
“Come to daddy, pretty girl.” She blushed and shook her head. A brow on my face rose, silently challenging her to disobey me. “Princess.”
“Fine.” She playfully showed her reluctance as she neared. The moment she was within my reach, I took her in my arms and didn’t hesitate tasting her lips and plunging my tongue into her mouth.
“You’ve been a naughty girl at home today, haven’t you?” I asked, and she shivered. My hands moved down and under the hem of her skirt, moving my open palm up the back of her thigh, groaning when I found her bare underneath.
“Have you been watching me, Daddy?” She gasped, her naughty little togue swiping at my neck while she moaned. My girl loved how I tasted.
“I’m always watching, little girl,” I grunted, picking her up, careful not to jostle her too much now that she was carrying our baby.
As hot as it was to think about knocking her up from the very beginning, after her period came after that first time, we talked about it. There were things she wanted to accomplish before we started a family, and I wanted The Crown done so I could hand it over to my brothers to deal with the day-to-day and I could have the time to be with my wife as much as possible as we grew our family.
“How’d they take it?” she asked, finger-combing my overgrown hair.
“Grant’s irritated his time island hopping has come to a pause, and Harrison had a feeling this was coming. Something I’m guessing you had a hand in?” She smiled at me.
“Maybe.” She shrugged, not in the least sorry. And fuck me, I loved that bratty side. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night when we got home. My wife was in a mood for some attention from daddy. My youngest brother and Max got along great. She was the sister he’d never had and vice versa.
“But once I told them why, Grant got over it,” I shared, sitting her down on the plush leather massage table. “They’re both over the moon about being uncles.”
“Yay!” She smiled.
“Did you get a hold of your sister to tell her the news?” Her smile dimmed a little as she shook her head. Fuck. I had no idea why their relationship was so strained, but as the years passed, it stayed the same. She hadn’t even bothered showing up at the wedding.
“No, but it’s okay. I told Olive, and she quickly had a list of gender reveal party and baby shower themes ready and telling me if I chose anyone else to make the cake or desserts, she would kick my butt.” She laughed, and I nodded, thankful she had the Trejo sisters at her back. I pressed my forehead against hers and breathed in her feminine scent. One I never tired of. One that was all home.
“I love you, Max.”
“I love you, too, Carver. Now, I think it’s time for daddy to take me home and punish me for making you watch me play with myself without you.”
“Oh, that is definitely happening, naughty little girl. I’m going to spank you till you beg to take my cock between your pretty lips.” My sexy woman didn’t look in the least alarmed. My girl loved to get her bottom spanked.
“Yay,” she whispered before kissing me.
I had no idea how the hell life could be so fucking good, but holding Max, pregnant with my child, I held my entire world in my arms, and I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for us.
Ready to hear all about how Coral Trejo, Olive’s sister, finds love?
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I glanced around avoiding to look behind me. He was here. Again. With the girl he’d started dating a minute after we broke up. Jack could be a lot of things, but I hadn’t thought he would have been as heartless and nonchalant about how he restarted his life. I picked up my glass of wine and heard my brother sigh.
“Mind your own,” I mumbled, taking a healthy chug.
“You need to find a hobby,” he suggested in an annoying way only a little brother could. “Or download an app,” he muttered. I glanced up at him. Onyx was only two years younger, but to me, he would always me the kid brother who bugged me all the time and got away with all sorts of things just because he was a boy.
“An app?”
“You know, swipe right or left.” I blinked.
I knew what he was suggesting. A dating app. I was thirty-two and now had to go on dating apps after having been with someone for over a decade. Someone I thought I would one day marry and have kids with. Good god, life had a weird sense of humor. I used to believe everything happened for a reason. Like, truly believe it. But I couldn’t figure out why this whole thing with Jack had to be this way.
“A dating app.” The idea made me want to gag. “I don’t think so.” I shook my head.
“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it.” My brother’s hands rose, and I rolled my eyes. “All I am saying is there’s a reason they say getting under someone is a great way to get over someone else. Just ask Oli.”
“Of course, you would say that, my little man child,” I teased with a smile. I knew Onyx was just trying to cheer me up in the best way he could.
“He’s a dick,” my brother said. His dark eyes never wavered from mine. Jack’s betrayal hadn’t just affected me but everyone in my family. “And like I told you that first time he walked in here after you two split, I am more than happy to kick him out. The offer still stands.”
“I know,” I said softly, emotions getting the better of me. “Moonlit Pines is a small town. We’re bound to bump into one another.” I shrugged. “I’d rather have it be here with you and the girls around me than at the grocery store.”
Which coincidently had already happened twice to me, but I wasn’t going to mention that to Onyx. He might be younger than me, but he was overprotective of all his sisters equally.
“I guess. I just wish you’d let me and the guys go over and talk to him.”
“We both know if you and your boys”—I pointed towards his best friends and business partners—“approached him, you would do a lot more than just talk.”
“Maybe then he’d get the idea and date over in Sugarloaf or fucking Running Hills.”
“Maybe, but it’s unnecessary. We’re adults. We grew apart,” I mumbled, almost starting to believe my own lie. The truth was a lot more complicated than that.
“Anyhow, I should get going, I have a case to look over waiting for me at home.”
“You okay to drive?” he asked, and I giggled.
“Oni, really?”
“Hey, you know how pissed Mom would be if you got a DUI after leaving this place? Dad would have my ass!”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head, Oni-Bonnie.”
“Don’t call me that,” he hush-whispered, making my lips twitch.
“I’m walking home,” I shared.
“Walking—“
“I literally live a block away.” Now. I had moved out of the little place Jack and I made a home, or the place I’d thought we’d made a home. He had just been waiting around for someone better to show up. “I’ll text you when I get home. I’ll pick up my car in the morning.”
“You sure? If you wait an hour or so, I or one of the guys can take you home.” His offer was sweet and genuine, but it was high time I took care of myself.
“I don’t need a babysitter.” I rolled my eyes before hopping off the high barstool and pulling the strap of my purse over my shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”
“Text!” My brother called out, and I waved at him. Walking through the brewery and grill my brother and his friends had opened up made me smile. It was good to see our little mountain town grow and flourish after the recession. It had taken a bit, but it was slowly coming back together.
I pushed the door open and almost, like fate had a terrible sense of humor, bumped into a familiar chest who smelled like home to me, or used to.
“Shit. Sorry, Cora.”
“It’s fine.” I shook my head. I glanced up and looked into the familiar green eyes. Eyes I thought my kids would have one day. I moved to take a step to the left, and he matched it. Then the other direction. We both stopped, and he looked at me. Something in his gaze was almost contrite. Apologetic.
“Umm…” He cleared his throat. “How have you been?” he asked, and I frowned. Small talk was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Fine. I should get—“ I moved, but his hand reached for me. His touch seared through me, but not in the same it once had. Not now that I knew his true colors.
“Don’t act like that. I miss you,” he said quietly, almost for my ears only.
“Are you serious right now?” I scoffed. I tried to step back but bumped into someone behind me. I turned and looked into the deep, dark brown eyes of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome.
“Hey, beautiful. Miss me?” he asked. With his eyes locked on mine, I was almost positive he was talking to me, but I couldn’t process why he was saying that. I’d never spoken to the gorgeous man in my life. I’d only admired him from afar since Valentine’s Day. “I tried to get away early,” he continued to talk. Something about the tone in his voice and the warmth of his embrace had me melting into him. “But you know how my meetings go,” he said, as if I knew what the hell he was talking about.
“Meetings?” I repeated.
“Yeah, the ones I told you about last night?” His brow rose and his eyes softened. Just like that, my brain caught up with the rest of my body, which was leaning into his like I knew him well versus just having sorta met. He was giving me an out.
“Who the hell are you?” Jack asked, but I didn’t bother to look at him.
“Well, I guess you have to make it up to me.”
“I do, huh?” he asked, leaning in closer. His scent wafted into my nose and filled my lungs. He smelled good. Different. Masculine and spice.
“You were late.” My hand, open-palmed, rubbed the center of his chest, and I watched Tall, Dark, and Handsome’s eyes turn molten. Like the center of a gooey chocolate lava cake. “I think at the very least, I deserve a kiss.” I had no idea what came over me in that moment.
“Then that’s what you will get.” He leaned forward. In the back of my head, I could hear Jack talking shit, huffing and puffing about what the hell was going on, but I didn’t hear a word.
Not when the sexy stranger’s lips pressed against mine and the world disappeared right after. His lips danced over mine with a firm dominance. Soft and tender with a hint of familiarity. It was the most perfect first kiss. He didn’t try to shove his tongue down my throat, but he did nibble on my lower lip for a moment. I felt like I had kissed this man a million lifetimes.
When we pulled apart, my face was in his undoubtedly strong hands, his thumbs stroking the side of my face. “You can have more of those later,” he promised, and it sounded more enticing than any kind of ice cream I could ever ask for.
“Are you fucking kidding me with this shit right now, Cora? This has to be some kind of joke.”
“Like you and what’s her name?” I asked. It was catty and petty of me, but I couldn’t help it. Not that I turned to look at Jack. Why would I when the handsome man in a suit stood in front of me, his body heat radiating in waves against my front? His gaze was penetrating mine, making me want a lot more than a kiss. There was no doubt the attraction was two-sided.
“Cor—“ Jack didn’t say another word. He couldn’t when the dark sexy stranger pulled me behind him and stood between me and my ex. Jack was tall, but Tall, Dark, and Handsome was taller. He towered over Jack.
“Now, you I gotta thank you, man.” He grinned before patting Jack on the shoulder. Jack’s body shook slightly. “If you hadn’t fucked up so royally, fumbled worse than the last play of a tied Super Bowl, I wouldn’t be ready to get out of here with the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Fucking stupid on your part, no disrespect, but thank fuck. Am I right, babe?” He pulled me back to his side, his strong long arm wrapped around my shoulder.
I looked up and thought if I had the balls to move on with my life, this was exactly the kind of man I would want to do it with. I didn’t know him in the least. Not his name, where he was from, nothing. But I did know there was something about him that called me.
“Yeah, honey,” I whispered with a soft smile. This whole thing was a sham. One that by the looks of Jack’s face we were selling. So, in for a dollar, in for a pound. I rose to the tips of my toes and kissed him again.
“Fucking slut,” Jack sneered. I would have been more than okay to let it go. But by the way Tall, Dark, and Handsome pulled away from me and reached for Jack’s throat, his big hand wrapping around it before he stepped forward and leaned over Jack, he really didn’t like that.
“You ever talk to her like that again, you’ll have to deal with me, do you understand?” he threatened. Jack squeaked, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop. “I didn’t hear you,” he growled into the side of Jack’s face.
“Yes!” Jack squealed.
“You don’t exist for her. You don’t talk to her. You don’t go to places you think she might be at. Is that understood?” Jack gasped and nodded before my sexy, obviously overprotective stranger let him go.
“Take your girl and get the fuck out of here,” he demanded, dismissing Jack like he was nothing but trash. My sexy stranger turned his attention back to me. “You ready to get out of here, baby? We have a long night ahead of us.” The promise in his voice was more than crystal clear.
He had just threatened my asshole ex right in front of me. That alone should have made him a walking red flag. But for some reason, I was turned on. Huge. My breasts felt heavy and achy as they rose and fell. All I could think about was taking him back to my place and showing him just how grateful I was. My brother had just told me the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else, and maybe he wasn’t wrong?
“I’m ready.”
And I was. After months of feeling like I was stuck, I was finally ready for anything.