Epilogue
SUMMER
He laughed against my mouth, his arms coming up around me even as his back hit the sand. I was happy. Ecstatic. Crazy in love and I wanted to make love to my man.
“Sand,” he said. “We’re getting sand in everything.”
“I don’t care,” I said against his jaw.
“The ring,” he said. “Let me put it on you before I lose it in the dark.”
I pushed myself up and sat back on my heels, suddenly very aware that I hadn’t actually looked at it yet. I’d seen it appear and then promptly launched myself at the man holding it. I held out my left hand. It was trembling slightly.
He sat up and took my hand in both of his. He slid the ring onto my finger and I pulled my hand back toward my face to look at it properly.
I stopped breathing.
It caught what little moonlight there was, giving me enough light to see it. Stones clustered together in a way that looked like something pulled from the bottom of the ocean. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life and it looked like it had been made specifically for my hand.
“Colt,” I whispered.
“You like it.”
It wasn’t a question. He could see my face.
“I’ve been carrying that around for three weeks,” he said.
I looked up at him. “Three weeks.”
“Just been waiting for the right moment.”
“Oh.”
“I kept telling myself I was going to wait, but sitting here with you tonight, I had to do it. I’m tired of waiting.”
I looked down at the ring again. I was going to be doing this a lot. I was engaged to Colt Anderson. The man that stole my heart. Broke it and put it back together even better.
I stood up and immediately held my hand out toward the thin strip of moonlight to look at the ring again.
He was already folding the chairs. I grabbed the paper bag and the wine glasses while he tucked a chair under each arm.
We went up the path through the dune grass.
The lights were still on at the house. Through the glass of the sliding door I could see the warm glow of the kitchen and Becca moving around inside.
I stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.
“Go,” Colt said from behind me. “Tell her. Come over when you’re done. I’m so not done with you. I know what you’re wearing and I have every intention of taking it off—with my teeth.”
I giggled and handed him the wine and jogged up the stairs with the glasses. I pulled the sliding door open. Becca was at the sink, her back to me, rinsing the last of the dinner dishes. The kids had gone to bed.
“Hey,” she said without turning around. “How was the beach?”
I walked up behind her and put my left hand flat on the counter beside the sink where she couldn’t miss it. She looked down.
“Summer,” she gasped.
“I know,” I squealed.
She spun around, grabbed my hand, and pulled it toward her face. Her eyes were already filling. She pressed her free hand over her mouth.
“Oh my God,” she said behind her fingers. “Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“He proposed on the beach.”
“Yep.”
“Dad is going to be thrilled. He left about five minutes ago and said he’d see you tomorrow.” She pulled me into a hug so hard I feared she might crack a rib. I hugged her back just as fiercely, my chin on her shoulder, blinking hard at the ceiling.
“Mom would have loved him,” she said quietly into my hair.
I closed my eyes. “I know.”
She pulled back and looked at me. “Don’t let it scare you,” she said. “Go for it. He’s the one. You waited and you got the one that was always meant for you.”
I nodded because the lump in my throat prevented me from speaking.
“Go.” She smiled. “Go celebrate your future.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I practically leapt the twenty feet to his deck. I rushed inside without knocking and stopped short. There were candles lit everywhere. Soft music was playing through all of the speakers in the house.
“There’s my bride,” Colt said, holding out a glass of champagne.
Oh my God. This man. My man. My husband. My future.
“Take me to bed,” I said.
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” He set the champagne down without taking his eyes off me.
The first kiss was slow like he had all the time in the world. He kissed me like he was making a point. Like he was signing his name to something. His tongue slid into my mouth, licking the wine from my tongue and savoring me. I loved when he savored me.
“I’ve been thinking about this since the second I saw you peeling shrimp,” he murmured against my mouth.
“I’ll keep that in mind for future seductions.”
He smiled against my lips. Then his hands moved. Down my neck, over my shoulders, and then inside my shirt. He didn’t rush anything. His knuckles slid up the length of my spine. I shivered despite the warmth of the room.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“I know.”
He lifted the shirt over my head and dropped it. He stepped back just enough to look at me, candlelight flickering across his face. The way he looked at me made my chest ache. Like I was something he couldn’t believe was real. His mermaid.
“God, Summer.”
He said my name like that sometimes. Like it meant something more than a name.
I’d worn the bit of lingerie that was transparent with sparkly little rhinestones across the top.
I took it upon myself to step out of my shorts and let him see the outfit he’d chosen.
I slowly turned, giving him the full show. I heard his guttural groan and smiled.
“I’m so fucking glad Cody’s gone,” he said on a whisper.
I giggled softly. “That’s not nice.”
“I don’t care. I want to devour you and I don’t want to worry about being quiet. It’s just you and me, baby.”
He grabbed my hand and nearly dragged me to the stairs. We ran up them and into his bedroom where he’d already placed more of the same LED candles around the room. That’s where the bottle of champagne rested in a little tub of ice.
“You’ve been busy,” I said.
“I wanted this night to be perfect.”
He stepped close, his mouth immediately on mine. His hands slid up and down my sides, reaching around to cup my ass and then my breasts. Each kiss was full of promise. Unhurried. I just knew it was going to be a long night and I couldn’t wait.
The back of my knees found the edge of the bed.
I sat down. He stood in front of me, his hand sliding through my hair.
I looked up at him in the dim light, this man who had just asked me to be his wife, and felt a warmth I’ve never known before.
It was a tingling sensation like I’d swallowed electricity and was glowing from the inside out.
He took off his clothes, giving me one hell of a show. Then he dropped to his knees in front of me. My body trembled with anticipation.
“I love this little number and we’re definitely going to be bringing it out again, but right now, I need you naked.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
He unclasped the back and slowly pulled it down my body.
“Lie back,” he said quietly.
I did.
He kissed my ankles and then up my shins. My calves. Knees. Thighs. I was ready to explode by the time his tongue slid over my center.
“Colt!”
“I’ve got you.”
I stopped trying to be quiet. My back arched off the bed, my fingers fisting in the sheets as I struggled to hold on to consciousness.
It was too good. He worked slowly, reading every sound I made, adjusting, learning.
He always did this. Made me feel like the only thing in the world that required his full attention.
Like nothing else existed outside of this room, this bed, this moment.
The tension built in long, rolling waves and I felt myself coming undone from the inside out, my thighs trembling and my head rolling back and forth as I struggled to stay together.
“Please,” I breathed.
He delivered. I cried out so loud I hoped Becca didn’t hear me next door. I exploded into a million bursts of light. My back arched so hard, I feared I might snap in two. His arms settled across my stomach to anchor me as he took me through one wave after another.
He moved up the length of my body, his weight settling warm and solid over me. I reached between us, wrapped my hand around his engorged cock, and pulled him to where I needed him. His hand laced through my other hand against the pillow. He rose up, supporting his weight on one arm.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
My eyes felt heavy but I managed to open them and stare directly into his eyes as he pushed inside me. A low moan slid past my lips as he seated himself inside me. I saw the love in his eyes as he moved in and out.
His lovemaking was deep and unhurried, like the kiss on the beach.
Like a conversation. His body telling me just how much he loved me.
His mouth found my ear and he said my name again.
I turned my face into his neck and held on.
The candles threw soft shadows across the ceiling.
The music drifted from the speaker in the ceiling.
I was aware of every point where his skin met mine.
He shifted his weight, changed the angle, and I gasped against his shoulder.
“There?” he asked.
“Yes. Don’t stop.”
He didn’t stop. The pace built gradually, his breathing deepening, his grip on my hand tightening. His raspy breath moved across my face. I pressed my free palm flat against his back and felt the rippling muscle. He lifted his head and looked at me.
“I love you,” I said. It came out wrecked. Half a breath.
“I love you.” He pressed his forehead back to mine. “My wife.”
That word. That word undid me completely.
The wave crested and broke. I pulled him closer and let it, his name a chant on my lips. Every muscle in my body releasing at once. He followed seconds later, his breath ragged against my neck, his whole body shuddering and then going still and heavy above me.
It was one of those experiences I knew I would never forget. We’d had sex plenty of times and there would be a lot more in our future but tonight was one time I would cherish forever.
He pressed a kiss to my temple. Then my cheekbone. Then the corner of my mouth.
“I’m so not done with you,” he said.
“I like the sound of that.”
“Just think,” he murmured against my neck. “We have an entire lifetime to do this anytime we want.”
I laughed. “I think there might be some restrictions, but I get the idea.”
“I love you,” he said. “Truly.”
“I love you.”
***