Epilogue
Once we ate, we fell into bed and just watched movies and slept.
Our bodies had been running on so much adrenaline for so long that once it was gone, our systems just collapsed. We barely wanted to get up to go downstairs to get food or walk across the hallway to wash ourselves.
But we both seemed to feel the change on the third day. When I got up, Noa came into the room, still steamy and pink-skinned from the shower. Wearing nothing but a towel. And her boot.
A low growl moved through me at the sight of her.
“Nuh-uh,” she said, pushing a hand to my chest when I came toward her.
“Nuh-uh?” I asked, brows shooting up.
“Not until you brush your teeth. I can do sweaty and dirty from running through the woods, but I can’t do morning breath.” She threw an arm out toward the door and I happily obliged.
Only to come back to her sitting bare-ass naked on the edge of the bed.
That rumble moved through me again as I closed and locked the door before moving around the bed, then lowering down to my knees in front of her.
Her eyes heated, the lids going heavy.
My hands slid to her knees, grabbing them, and spreading them for me.
A little sigh escaped her as I kissed up her inner thigh, my beard teasing the sensitive skin before I moved to the center of her, sliding my tongue up until I was circling her clit.
Noa’s hands slapped down on the back of my head, holding me to her as I flicked and circled until she was writhing, whimpering, moaning.
And I wanted her like this, spread, open, coming against my mouth.
But I was too desperate.
It felt like it had been forever.
I needed to be inside her.
I needed to feel her walls clutching around me as she came.
I reached blindly toward the nightstand, fiddling with the box, then pulling out a condom.
Reaching down, I freed myself as I kept licking, kept circling, then slid on the condom.
She cried out when I moved away, trying to drag me back down.
Her objections fell away as I grabbed her legs, yanking them up, spreading them wide, then driving deep into her.
Her moan mixed with my groan as she tightened around me.
It was all hard, fast, and relentless then, both of us too far gone for teasing or taking our time.
She came hard, gasping for breath, thighs shaking. She took me with her, my vision going blurry around the edges, my damn legs going weak.
“I missed that,” she said several moments later.
“Fuck, me too,” I agreed, moving away.
“I think I was too tired to realize how much I wanted that. But now that I do, keep yourself hydrated,” she warned, climbing up the bed, where she lounged with her arm over her head, still gloriously naked.
I wanted to start every morning looking at her just like that.
I cleaned off, then climbed up with her, giving in to the urge to move across the bed and rest my head on her stomach.
Her hands moved around me, holding me close.
Her , a little voice in my head said, she’s the one.
Noa - 3 weeks
“Ugh, this stupid thing,” I grumbled as I hit the edge of my boot on the doorjamb while moving through.
“I thought I said to keep your ass on your chair,” Caymen grumbled, coming over to take the package from my hands.
“I needed to get this before it melted.”
“What is it, food?”
“Chocolate. Trust me, you don’t want to be around me right now without chocolate,” I warned him.
“Not touching that,” he said, holding up his hands and backing away, but shooting me a grin. “Go sit with your heating pad and if there’s something you need picked up, I’ll go. You’ve been on that ankle too much today.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. But I was smiling as I turned around and went back to my chair.
Caymen was equal parts willing to let me handle shit if I wanted to…
and protecting me from doing too much by handling things for me.
It was a balance I was really enjoying. Especially when I had cramps and my shorts were biting into my stomach thanks to bloating.
I just wanted to sit with my heating pad, eat my chocolate, and watch my movie as he continued working on installing the new windows.
We’d only been back at my place periodically, and never to stay over. It wasn’t possible when the windows were busted and the humidity stayed damn near ninety percent all day, every day.
So the first time we came back was just to clean up the glass and junk anything that had been shot up. Then we came back to measure for and order new windows.
And, today, finally, it was install day.
That meant we were this close to finally being able to be alone in our own space.
Don’t get me wrong; I loved the clubhouse. I enjoyed the company of the guys, and getting to know the girls. I loved feeding the tortoise and listening to Mackie the macaw curse out people all day. And, more than anything, I, of course, adored being able to eat Eddie’s food.
That said, the parties were frequent, and after one or two, I kind of had my fill. There was always a wait for the bathrooms. And, well, I was acutely aware that if I could hear other people having sex, then they could hear us.
I was looking forward to being alone together, to being as loud as I wanted to, and to never having to do a pee dance because someone was taking a suspiciously long shower.
I was still a solid three weeks out from being able to take my boot off, so I wasn’t going back to work yet, but I wanted to be close to my computer (well, my new one since the old one took a bullet for me) to be able to keep in contact with past or potential future clients, keep track of my books, doing various kinds of research.
I loved being lazy with Caymen. But I think both of us were itching to have something else to do with our days other than eating, having sex, watching movies, and sleeping.
Once the windows were in, we had an appointment set up with Booker to get my place locked down tight with security.
Then after that we were having dinner with my dad.
We were making plans.
For the future.
Like a normal couple who didn’t meet during an escape from police custody while trying to investigate a heist and being stalked by a psycho ex-family member.
Crazy as it was, I wouldn’t trade our story for a normal one. It gave us something to tell the grandkids.
Yeah, I was even looking that far ahead.
It hadn’t originally been in my five-year plan. But now that I had Caymen in my life, I figured I might have to move some things around.
After seeing Caymen with his brother and then all the various different club kids, I could absolutely picture him as a father.
He could play rough and tough but also show a surprisingly vulnerable side when one of the kids was upset or feeling left out when the other kids weren’t playing fair.
He once scooped up one of the little girls in a cute princess dress and told her silly jokes until she forgot all about why she was crying.
I wanted to see that with our own baby one day.
But we weren’t going to have a litter like some of the other club members. One, max two. That would be plenty for me.
Was some part of me a little worried about being a mother when I’d never had a mother of my own?
Sure. But I did have a loving father who was a great example of what love could look like.
And, unlike him, I was good with the ‘girly shit,’ so if we had a daughter, she would have someone who could teach her how to put on makeup, get the right bra size, and how to use pads and tampons…
without having to pull up a video online in front of her and make it awkward for both parties.
I guess I would have to figure out at least some basic cooking skills, though, if I wanted to raise a kid. But I had a feeling I knew someone who would be all too happy to teach me how to make a few basic recipes.
“What’re you smiling about?” Caymen asked, making me jump.
“Hm? Oh, you with a tool belt on,” I told him. “I think we might have to include that with the wifebeater the next time.”
“You’re ridiculous,” he said, but he totally flipped his hammer the next time he reached for it solely for my benefit.
It was hot.
I cranked up my heating pad, popped a chocolate in my mouth, and cursed my cycle for getting in the way of this newfound fantasy of mine.
Caymen - 6 months
“I know it’s a completely different boat,” Noa said, reaching up to hold her white sun hat with the obnoxiously wide brim on her head, “but I can’t help but feel like we have some late-night attack ahead of us.”
“Well, this is a super yacht,” I reminded her as I hauled one of the bags up higher on my shoulder. “I don’t think anyone could reasonably pull up beside and scale it.”
“You say that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in a movie.”
“Yeah, but in movies, guns have endless magazines and people can take high-speed car chases inside a crowded mall.”
“Fair point.”
It was the first time in months we’d even heard from Zayn. Which had been suspicious. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but I could tell Huck was concerned that maybe the last deal almost going sideways had soured our relationship with the international arms dealer.
We’d all been relieved when he called to offer any (or all) of us to join him on his mega yacht.
But it was school time for kids, so most of the guys had to stay home. It was just me, Noa, Dixon, York, and Velle.
Add in Zayn to that equation.
It was going to be a party on the water.
Noa and my lives had been pretty calm since we moved mostly out of the clubhouse. We worked, got take-out, and watched movies.
Sure, we went to the clubhouse a few nights a week for dinner, but we typically left before the parties got started.
So we were due.
“Oh, my friends!” Zayn greeted us, arms spread, flutes of champagne in each hand. “Don’t worry. I promise no one will be kidnapped off this boat today.”
“Careful,” Noa said, taking one of the flutes. “You never know.”
“See that boat?” he asked, nodding toward the water behind the yacht.
“Yeah,” Noa said.