Epilogue Two
I wake to the soft morning light, making the tent's thin walls glow. I open my eyes like I always do, next to Naomi. Peacefully.
She's still asleep, her face relaxed in a way that makes my chest ache with just how beautiful she is. I study her features as if I’m committing each detail to memory.
Though of course I don't need to. I'm no artist, but I could draw her face with my eyes closed, every soft, perfect line etched into my mind.
Yet she still steals my breath every time I look at her.
Her face is serene, her once again golden hair splayed across the pillow we share.
I can't help myself. I kiss her arm. Because I have to.
I kiss her collarbone because I have to.
She murmurs, stirring slightly. I kiss her shoulder.
No choice in the matter. She smiles, eyes still closed.
I kiss her cheek. Powerless to keep from doing it.
Working my way down her body, I gently pull back our sleeping bag.
The morning air is crisp, but the tent holds our shared warmth.
She's wearing only a tank top and panties—simple cotton ones I bought her that day I rescued her. She, of course, has her clothes at the cabin. But she still wears these when we go out camping or when she’s relaxing.
And it drives me wild.
I slide her panties down her legs slowly, carefully, not wanting to wake her just yet. I inhale her delicious scent as I lower my head between her thighs, my hands carefully spreading her legs. I gently lap at her pussy. The first taste of her is like heaven.
Her breathing changes, quickening. A small gasp escapes her lips as she wakes to the sensation.
Her fingers find my hair, gripping gently at first, then tighter as I increase my pace and pressure.
I look up to see her watching me with eyes still half lidded, heavy with sleep and desire.
I don't stop until she's arching against me, her climax washing over her with a shudder and a cry that echoes in our small tent.
"Good morning," I murmur against her inner thigh, placing a kiss there.
She pulls me up to her, her eyes dark with want. "I'm in the woods," she says, her voice husky. "I want the animal."
I know what she means. Over these last few months, we've learned each other's bodies as thoroughly as we've learned each other's hearts.
And while I never thought Naomi was a wilting flower—not after everything she's survived—I feared hurting her when making love. My strength, my size... I held back.
Naomi was having none of it. She wanted my power. She wanted to be taken.
And she kept handing me “instruction manuals" she’d jokingly call them.
Romance books.
I’ve been a very good student.
I kiss her hard, letting the restraint slip away. She’s made me a man again. But if it’s the animal she wants, it’s the animal she’ll get.
I grip her hips roughly, turning her over so I have her back against my chest. My teeth find her neck, not biting hard, just resting there. Not a threat. A claim. She moans, fisting her hands in the sleeping bag underneath us.
"You sure, baby?" I growl in her ear, giving her one last chance to change her mind.
"Take me," she breathes back, pushing against me.
I slide my hand down. I circle a finger around her clit and then plunge a finger inside her. She’s already so wet from coming that I don’t need to. But I want to tease her a little.
She complains, impatient. "No, I want you. All of you."
I fist my hand in her hair, pulling her head back. Not too rough but insistent. I soften it by nibbling on her earlobe. "Patience. I need you to be a good girl.”
"Please I’ll be a good girl. Fuck me, Walker," she begs.
My woman is not to be denied. Using her hair like a handle, I have just enough room to rise to my knees and bring her to all fours by pulling her hair.
She lets out a pleasure-filled moan. Without letting go of her hair, I grip my cock with my other hand and place it at her entrance.
I push inside her in one smooth thrust, her body yielding to mine like it was made for me.
After that, I don't waste any more time.
I don't tease her or draw it out. I can't.
She asked for the animal, but she's already made me one. A starving, desperate creature that can only be sated by her.
I thrust deep, and she lets out a beautiful moan that sends fire through my veins. "Let it out, baby," I encourage. "There's no one around for miles. Scream for me. You're mine. Tell the world you're mine. Your pussy is mine."
"I'm yours," she pants, meeting each thrust with equal force.
"And I'm yours, baby," I growl back, meaning it more than any vow I've ever made.
"You fill me up so good," she gasps, her words nearly undoing me.
"Your pussy is so tight," I respond, feeling her begin to clench around me.
I let go of her hair and grip her hips. I’m slamming into her now with all my strength, and she cries out every time our bodies smack together.
Her moans and my grunt crescendo with the wet slapping of our bodies.
Her climax hits her hard, her entire body shuddering beneath me, and I immediately follow, spilling inside her with a primal groan that comes from the deepest part of me. A part that only she touches.
We collapse together, breathing hard, sweat cooling on our skin. After a moment, she laughs.
"What's so funny?" I ask, turning her to face me.
"Your dirty talk has greatly improved, frozen caveman," she teases, her eyes sparkling.
I raise an eyebrow, feigning offense. "You can't give me those spicy novels to read and not expect me to glean tactical information from them."
"Noted, soldier," she says with mock seriousness.
I kiss her, soft and slow, but give her a quick spank on her ass as I do.
The Montana wilderness stretches out before us as we hike, jagged peaks cutting into a perfect blue sky. It's a beautiful day—not a cloud in sight, but the sun isn't punishing, and the breeze is pleasant, carrying the scent of pine and wildflowers.
Naomi walks ahead of me on the narrow trail, her movements confident and sure. She's wearing hiking boots and shorts that show off her long, toned legs. Her blond hair is pulled into a ponytail that swings with each step. I want to pull on it again.
But my constant lust for her is dampened slightly by the hurricane inside my chest. The little box in my pocket feels like a grenade waiting for the pin to be pulled. I hope it’s going to make my dreams come true, but it could just as easily blow up in my face.
The past few months were just as Naomi said they would be. We weathered some pretty terrible things together when we first met. So when every day, run-of-the-mill problems come up, we can handle them. We’re a team.
Just last week, we helped a woman whose husband was threatening her.
Her brother hired us. Our new security consulting business is small but growing.
Naomi tracked down all the information I needed to corner the guy and threaten him just enough to back off without crossing any lines that can't be uncrossed.
"We should bring Static in on cases like that," Naomi had suggested afterward, her eyes thoughtful. "He could help with the digital tracking. Make our operation more efficient."
"We don't need his help," I'd replied, perhaps too quickly. "You're amazing with research."
She'd given me that look, the one that sees right through me. "Maybe it's not for us to have his help," she'd said softly. "Maybe it's for us to help him."
Her big, beautiful heart. Yeah, I want to ask for an eternal stake in that.
We reach the summit after an hour's climb, and the view is just what I’m looking for: forever mountains and valleys in every direction that meet a forever sky.
"It's beautiful," Naomi murmurs, looking out over the landscape.
"It's heaven," I reply, but I'm not looking at the view anymore.
I'm looking at her, the way the wind blows the wisps of hair that frame her face, the flush in her cheeks from the climb.
She's the reason this place isn't purgatory anymore.
The angel beside me transforms it into the firmament. But only one thing is missing.
Naomi's eyes find mine when she realizes I'm not looking at the view. She blushes and smiles a little. Doesn't help my courage, her looking that pretty, but it's a good thing I'm brave.
"I got a question I gotta ask you," I say, my voice rougher than I intend.
"Shoot," she says easily, turning to face me fully.
I take a deep breath. "We've talked a lot over the past few months, and when we tell our story, we say that you were lucky to have found me.
That I saved you." I shake my head, a wry smile tugging at my lips.
"But that's backward. I was in a dark place.
So dark that I didn't realize just how black my existence was until you came crashing into it.
Your light showed me what I had been missing.
What I had lost. I didn't save you. You saved me.
And now that I have that light, I never want to let it go. "
I get down on one knee and take out the small velvet box that's been burning a hole in my pocket all morning.
Naomi's hands go to her mouth, her eyes widening as I open it to reveal the ring inside. I don’t know anything about jewelry, but I asked a lot of questions and made sure it was as pretty as could be. A ring worthy of her.
"Naomi, will you marry me?" The words come out clear and steady, despite the hammering of my heart.
She nods, tears spilling from her eyes and tracking down her cheeks. "Yes, Walker. I will."
I smile wider than I ever have and slip the ring onto her finger. I rise to my feet, and she immediately throws her arms around me, her body pressed against mine in a way that feels like coming home.
"I can't promise what's going to happen. But I can promise you I’ll always be there," she whispers against my chest.
"That’s all I need, darlin’.”
"But I can promise you one more thing," she says, pulling back just enough to look into my eyes.
She takes my large hand in hers and places it gently on her stomach. "I can promise you're going to be a father."
Forever suddenly shrinks to a point, the space between my last heartbeat and when it’ll beat next, if ever.
The mountains, the sky, and the wind that just felt endless crystallize into stillness.
There’s nothing but Naomi and this moment and the impossible, miraculous truth of what she's just told me.
"You're... we're..." I can't even form words.
She nods, her smile luminous. "About eight weeks. I confirmed it yesterday. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. You gave it to me."
A child. My child. Our child. Growing inside her right now. She stopped taking birth control because we were open to anything that happened. But it was still something I never thought possible, something I'd been afraid to even hope for. The last piece of what I never knew I wanted—a family.
I kiss her with everything I have, with all the beating, beautiful heat of now and the endless promise of forever.
Thank you for reading!