Epilogue
Not quite a year later
priscilla
“Are you crying?” It was hard keeping the amusement out of my voice, even though Juan Pablo had tears streaming down his face as he looked around my brand-new working space.
“Yeah, I’m fucking crying. Look at what you did, mi reina.
This is amazing.” He turned his head back and forth, like he hadn’t been in here practically day and night for the last week helping get everything ready for the grand opening.
He knew this place almost as well as I did.
But even I had to admit seeing it bustling with people made it all look real.
I came closer and rubbed my thumbs on his cheeks and smiled at him. “You’re a sap.”
“And you’re a badass.” I preened and pushed up for a kiss.
I felt like a badass.
After a year of transitions—leaving the force, moving in with J, and writing a fucking book—I’d reached the last one of my humungous milestones. I finally opened the doors to Come as You Are: Community Store and Growth Space.
Camilo’s man had come through. I’d been able to open this place in the heart of Harlem and I couldn’t wait to get to work.
I couldn’t believe this was my life. That I was doing something I felt passionate about and got to go home to a man that, even after twenty years, still gave me butterflies.
I felt J’s arms wrap around my waist and I leaned into him, my head right against his.
His beard brushed my face when he leaned in to ask me something. “What are you thinking?” I could almost taste the smile in his voice. The same giddiness that was coursing through my veins.
“I’m thinking my cup is full, Juan Pablo.”
He grunted and pressed his arms tighter around mine, that hot as fuck rumbling in his chest that still made me weak in the knees. “You sure we bought enough wine, you know how Camilo gets.” I laughed with my lips pressed to his neck.
“They’re here with Libe, he’s always on his best behavior when she’s around.”
“That’s true,” he conceded. “She’s the only one that can whip him into shape.”
“I can tell from the jealousy in your eyes that you’re talking about me, Juan Pablo,” Camilo called as he made his way to us from across the room with the rest of the guys right behind him. I could feel J’s grin from the way his cheeks popped against my face.
Nesto came in for a hug first. “Prima, this place is bomb. I love it. That Maldonado hustle always comes through, baby.” Nesto’s reference to his and my mother’s maiden name made me practically burst with pride. There were so many people whose shoulders I’d stood on so that I could be here tonight.
“I know that’s right!” My dad responded as Nesto gave me another hug.
Soon Patrice and Easton were doling out hugs and handing out cold Presidentes, and Juan Pablo was getting everyone to the table for some food.
We’d finished our opening day, let the neighborhood into this new space that I was going to steward for them, and now we were going to drink, dance, and eat like my people did.
I had done it. I’d taken a leap and trusted that my man, my friends, and my family would catch me if I fell.
I turned around to wrap my arms tight around Juan Pablo and looked up at his smiling face. “Did you think this is where we’d end up? With me teaching people how to have better sex?”
He lifted a shoulder and bent his head so that our lips were touching.
“You’re doing a hell of a lot more than that, mi amor.
” That pride in his voice when he talked about all this would never get old.
“I love that you’re doing this and that you’re killing it in every way.
” He pushed his lips into mine as our nearest and dearest yelled around us to “get a room.”
“But I always dreamed whatever I was doing, when I was done with it, I could come home to you,” he confessed, making my heart leap.
“So you’re saying I made your dreams come true?” I asked, breathless from the moment.
That smile was going to be the end of me. “Baby, you know I’ve always dreamed big.”
The End