Epilogue
JACE
Six Months Later
“Peaches, you’re going to burn if you’re not careful.
” She’s lying on a towel on the bow of the boat.
This boat isn’t conducive for napping or lounging, which has me thinking about trading it in for a floating couch.
Never in a million years did I think I’d go from a bass boat, my first boat, to a center console, to now thinking about purchasing a pontoon.
Things change when the woman enters your life, makes you rethink your way, big time.
Willow enjoys the wind in her hair and the sun on her skin, but this boat also has no bimini or covering of any kind.
“Maybe you’ll come and reapply sunscreen to my back?
” She lifts her head, propping herself on her elbows, which does delicious things to her chest. I drop the power pole since we’re in a small, secluded area on the river, turn the motor off once we’re anchored, and move around to get to my woman.
There’s a reason why I picked today to come out.
The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining, and we both have the day off.
Willow’s father is now divorced and sitting inside a federal prison for fifty years after receiving life without parole.
Her mother has since moved out of the sprawling estate and is living in the city, a fifteen-minute walk from her mother, and is doing great in her recovery.
Though, I think her new addiction is walking.
The woman has to walk five to ten miles a day.
Larissa retired, and Willow sent her a massive bouquet of flowers that cost a mint, along with a spa day.
When I arched my brow at her, she just shrugged and said, “She practically raised me, dealt with my father, handled my mother even after she went through all that shit, and still continues to be our friend.” Fair enough, if you ask me.
That also meant between all of that and firmly entrenching our lives together, we’ve been fucking busy.
Not too busy for me to have something important in my pocket.
“Slide up, peaches.” I wedge myself behind her and grab the tube of sunscreen she has tucked into a cupholder. The UV rays are unforgiving, especially in Florida, but it’s nothing compared to the heat radiating off Willow’s skin. I sweep her golden hair over one shoulder, exposing her neck.
“Jace.” She lets out a small, contented hum when she sits up.
I tug on the string at her neck and undo the one around the middle of her back.
“Oh god,” she purrs the second I’ve got my hands on her to spread the sunscreen all over her body.
I look over her shoulder, watching as her nipples pebble with desire, and I know if my hand slid down her stomach and slipped inside her bottoms, I’d find her absolutely drenched.
My peaches has been teasing me since the moment she walked out of the house in this damn excuse of a bathing suit.
I start at her neck, my thumbs digging into her muscles as I slowly make my way down to the small of her back.
I repeat the process moving upward, my fingers grazing the side of her breasts.
Hearing her breathing change makes my cock ache.
“You doing okay, Willow?” I know exactly what I’m doing to her, taking my time, repeating my movements, and mapping every inch of her. My hands move to cup her breasts; her weight sinks back into my chest, and her eyes flutter closed.
“I think you’re missing a few spots,” she murmurs, her voice thick with desire.
“The way I’m looking at it, I’m shielding you from the sun just like this.” My hands cover her breasts, fingers pulling on her tight nipples. She clasps my thighs, nails digging in, and this right here is all her.
“Jace,” she breathes into the summer air.
“Shh.” My lips brush against the sensitive skin beneath her ear.
“Let me take care of you.” I move my hands lower, my palms sliding over the curves of hips to the tops of her thighs.
The coconut scent is warm and sweet, but nothing is as intoxicating than her scent.
By the time I run my fingers up her thighs, playing at the fabric of her bottoms, Willow widens her thighs.
But I’m not going there just yet. Instead, I shift and reach for the ring in my shorts.
The emerald-cut diamond is classically beautifully, exactly like the woman herself.
The gold band only adds to it, and when she’s ready to pick out the band, she can pick from one of many, believe me.
The jeweler went over it for far too fucking long.
I take her left hand in mine, and my thumb traces the delicateness of her wrist before I slip the ring on her finger.
“Jace?” She turns around, voice trembling as she resituates herself until her thighs are on top of mine, her cunt pressed against my hard cock.
“I told you, you were mine. Meant it, peaches. I want every morning to start with you in my arms, and every sunset the exact same way.” Her eyes swim with tears, the kind that makes my chest tighten.
“I want that, too, Jace. So much.” My face is inches from hers, my thumb tracing the line of her jaw. I pull her closer, my fingers finding the bare skin of her back, and when my mouth meets hers, it frees up my hands.
“Love you, peaches,” I mutter as I pull at the strings at her hips. She lifts her hips, and I pull the fabric away, dropping it with the rest of her clothes.
“I love you, too, Jace.” My eyes close. I love the sound of those words tumbling from her lips.
“Christ, what you do to me, Willow. Now, going to need you to help me take my shorts off. I want my future wife wrapped around me while she screams my name.”
I hope you enjoyed Jace and Willow’s story and will consider leaving a review.
Coming Next is Promise Me Forever, Toren’s story and releases May 2026
Prologue
Toren
“Gonna suck without you at the plant,” Jace says, I’m two beers deep, and my place is close enough for me to walk home.
If not, the guy beside me will drop me off and head home with his woman, Willow.
His little sister, Jade is behind the bar here at The Social and no doubt, Locke, her man, and Jace’s childhood best friend will be showing up before too long.
Wanna talk about a shit show when that blew up, the gossip mill went to fuckin’ town and wouldn’t shut up about it until they all reconciled.
“Your actin’ like we don’t have weekly poker night, not like I’m movin’ halfway around the world. Shit, I’m just workin’ from home.”
“Want another?” Jade asks sliding a tray of nachos our way.
“Sure,” I reply.
“Not for me, gotta drive.” Jace says to his sister.
“You got it,” she taps the bar top before moving to grab drinks for everyone that needs another round.
“Know you’re not movin’, also know the people at the mill aren’t you.
Means I’m gonna get more fuckin’ work than I know what to do with.
” The music changes from one song to the next, this one a well-known classic from Bad Company, Feel Like Making Love.
My thumb taps the beat on my bottle of beer, this place will start to fill up as the night goes on, and in doing so, it gives me more to see as I people watch.
“Thinkin’ you just don’t wanna work, anymore.
Then again if I were your age I wouldn’t either,” My eyes catch on a group of women looking at the piece of art Ronnie commissioned from me not long ago.
The guys heard I’d been working with metal, creating wall art that mimicked the river and surrounding areas of Jace’s area, then the requests started coming in. So much so that I’d gotten smart.
That whole work smarter not harder mantra kicked in.
I’d seen the interest, the unsolicited emails, messages on social media, and my own cousin telling me to get my shit together, and to let her help me.
Which I did, she set up my website, a presence on some type of this or that thing.
All I know is Julliette comes home once a month, takes more videos and pictures of me working, the artwork, and whatever else she can squeeze in.
Then it’s all set up for the month, she gets a percentage of which I gladly pay her, and it keeps the orders and my bank account flush.
“Fuck you, man,” Jace turns around, his gaze nowhere near where mine is and that’s because Willow walks in right along with Locke.
He’s up and out of his chair before I can respond, figured that’d happen regardless.
All the guys in our group are rooted deeply when it comes to the women in their life, not that I can blame them.
Shit, I’d be the same if I met the one, seeing as how that hasn’t happened yet, here I fucking sit.
My attention returns to the group of women glancing at the metal art piece, it wasn’t one of my more difficult pieces, the raised metal with the script being the bars name, and a couple of other details where they can add a vinyl album, and empty bottles.
Which it looks like they’ve started to do.
The problem Ronnie and her dad had was settling on where to put it, it’s big, bigger than I’d thought they want and covers nearly an entire wall.
“Here’s your beer, Toren,” Jade says behind me.
“Thanks, be right back,” I toss over my shoulder when I see the crowd thinning except for the woman who’s had my eye the entire fucking time.
I move through the bar, walking around the pool tables and people playing darts, there’s even a makeshift dance floor where there wasn’t one before.
It seems Ronnie with likely the help of Jade has nailed the old man down and is making some good changes these days.
“Nice, huh?” I say from over her shoulder.
She turns around, her long, dark hair cascades in one smooth sheath, effortlessly, and past her shoulders.
Her skin glows with a sun-kissed warmth, but it’s her eyes that are the most striking, deep, expressive, and slightly guarded.
Enough to make you want to earn whatever secrets she’s protecting.
“It’s amazing,” she’s wearing a simple white top, fitting tight enough to give me a glimpse of her shape and god damn is it pretty.
The fabric lifts with the simplest of movements revealing a teasing sliver of her stomach, making me want to glide my fingers across her skin.
The low-slung jeans hugging her hips in an effortless and confident type of way, and heels on her feet do even more for her too.
No wonder Jace was gone for Willow when he saw her in a pair.
She leans in slightly whether it’s from the deep thrum of the music and her body is swaying to her or because I’ve got some kind of effect on her, I’ve got no idea.
“That it is,” I’m confident, not cocky. I’ve rarely had a client want changes at the last minute or say they didn’t like what I’ve made. The proof is in the costs of my work.
“Do you know the artist?” She asks, standing here with her feels like stepping into something dangerous in the most irresistible way. The kind of moment you hear your friends talk about when they find the one.
“Yeah, that would be me.”
“No way, I mean no offense but I’m not buying it.
We’re in a bar and I’ve heard plenty of pick up lines.
Nice try,” I’m at a loss for words, it’s not a secret of who I am around here, and while I’d tell her to ask any of the women that know me.
They wouldn’t lie, the guys in the group are a bunch of clowns and would probably work against me.
I’m not able to get two words out, she’s already walking away before I can get my thoughts together.
And in doing so, I’m left standing looking at the missing pieces I’m trying to put together.
At least it’s one hell of a view, the subtle sway of her hips draws my attention to her heart shaped ass.
I watch for a few moments too long, she looks over her shoulder, shakes her head, and continues on her path further away from me.
The mystery woman goes one way, and I go the other, back to my friends, beer, and food.
“Crash and burn,” Jace says when I make it back to the bar.
“Damn, that’s harsh, man.” Locke replies, he’s behind the bar with Jade and has his arm tossed over her shoulder.
“Yeah, well we can’t all be easy to please.” Jade looks from me to her brother and man.
“What happened?” Willow says with an edge of worry.
“Don’t mind them, Colt wasn’t easy to break behind that tough guy exterior either.” Sable joins the group along with the man she definitely broke through his tough guy attitude. Being a single dad, meant protecting not just himself, but his daughter too.
“She doesn’t think I’m the artist,” I shrug my shoulders, take another sip of my beer only to realize it’s empty. Jade being the observant one in the group, grabs me another, doesn’t make a comment, and just slides me the bottle.
“Don’t give up too easily, man. Sable didn’t, and I’m glad for it. Maybe she needs a little chasing,” Colt puts in his two cents. He might be right, he might not, what I’m not going to do is look at the beauty of the woman across the room, I’m too damn old to play games.