Epilogue
“You are absolutely not having dinner with him,” Evan said as he secured a corner of the fitted sheet on his side of the bed.
The move-in crew he’d organized and fed with pizza from Mario’s were long gone along with her brother Craig, who’d taken the truck back to the mainland on the five o’clock boat.
She was exhausted from the hard work but exhilarated by the way her things had fit into the apartment, as well as the warm welcome from her new friends—not to mention being back with Evan. That was rather exhilarating, too.
“Why not?” Grace was getting a kick out of tormenting him as she tucked the top sheet in on her side. “We’re just friends. I’m allowed to have friends, aren’t I?”
“That bloody Irishman isn’t interested in being friends with you. He wants to get his hands on you, and it’s not happening.”
Knowing this was her moving day, Seamus had come by to help and had flirted shamelessly with her, which had driven Evan wild.
With a houseful of people—including his parents, brothers, Stephanie, Owen, Laura, Maddie and the kids—helping her move in, she and Evan had been forced to keep their hands to themselves for hours.
The tension had slowly built to a boiling point, aided by Seamus’s blatant blarney.
“I don’t think I like your attitude,” Grace said indignantly, fully aware that she was throwing gas on a fire.
“Too bad. You need to let him know you’re taken. Off the market. Whatever you have to say so he gets the message.”
Grace put lavender cases on the feather pillows she’d bought for her new place. “And what message is that?”
It was a good thing she was looking right at him, or she might’ve missed the moment he finally snapped.
He stalked around the bed, took the pillow from her and tossed it aside.
Pulling her roughly against him, he captured her mouth in a savage kiss that would probably leave her lips bruised and swollen tomorrow.
Not that she cared in the least, because she’d been longing for him for weeks now.
She fisted her hand in his hair and gave as good as she got.
“The message,” he said when he came up for air many minutes later, “is you’re mine. Mine, mine, mine. I don’t want him anywhere near you.”
“You’re being somewhat ridiculous. You know that, don’t you?
“I don’t care. Tell me you won’t go out with him.”
“I won’t go out on a date with him. I will have dinner with him—as a friend.”
“Grace . . .” He dropped his head to her shoulder. “You can’t encourage him! He isn’t capable of telling the difference!”
“I’ll tell him I’m involved with someone.”
Evan lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Really? Will you tell him who?”
As if the whole island didn’t already know! Nodding, she pushed her lips together to suppress the laughter that she knew he wouldn’t appreciate just then.
“Are you trying not to laugh at me?”
Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head.
“You’re really quite awful.”
“I tried to warn you about that the night we met.”
“It’s a wonder I love you this much when you’re so mean to me.”
She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Say it again.”
“Say what?”
“You know what.”
“I love you?”
Nodding, she rested her forehead against his chest. “Does it feel weird to say that?”
“Not to you.” He reached for the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. “I’ve been dreaming about touching you, holding you, loving you.”
“I have, too.” She unbuttoned his shorts and pushed them and his boxers down over his hips, freeing his erection. As she touched and stroked him, Grace was filled with relief to be back with him again. “I have a surprise for you.”
“What’s that?” he asked as he released her breasts from the sheer bra she’d worn with him in mind.
“I saw my doctor about birth control right after I got home.”
Raising his head, he stared into her eyes. “And?”
“It’s already effective, so no more condoms. If you’re okay with that.”
“If I’m okay with that?” His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and his voice was oddly high-pitched and strained. “What do you think?”
Grace smiled up at him and helped him out of his T-shirt as he pushed and pulled at her shorts and panties.
“Just for the record,” he said, “I’m totally safe. I had a physical a couple of months ago.”
“Good to know.”
They slid into her new bed together, arms and legs intertwined.
“You feel so good,” he whispered as he sent his hand down her back to squeeze her bottom.
She ran her fingers over soft chest hair and hard belly. His cock surged against her hip, making its presence known.
“I want to touch you and kiss you everywhere,” he said gruffly, “but right now, I just . . . I need . . .”
Since she needed the same thing, she shifted onto her back and reached out to him. He came into her embrace and took her mouth in a series of deep, searching kisses as he pressed his cock against her, letting her know what he needed.
Grace cradled his hips between her legs, needing him just as fiercely. “Evan . . . Now. Hurry.”
He grasped his cock, positioned himself and slid into her, his breath catching. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “That’s unbelievable. Grace, God.”
She tried to breathe past the lump that settled in her throat at the sheer relief of being back in his arms. “Have you done it without a condom before?”
“No,” he gasped. “Never. It’s amazing.” He moved slowly, as if trying to prolong the exquisite torture. Suddenly, he pulled out of her.
“What is it?”
“We never got to do it this way.” He flopped onto his back, reached for her and arranged her on top of him.
Grace sucked in a sharp, deep breath as she took him in.
“Roll your hips,” he said, nearly levitating off the bed when she did it. “Grace . . .” His jaw pulsed with tension, and his fingers tightened on her hips as she settled into a rhythm that he disrupted when his fingers delved into the place where they were joined, to coax her.
With the tension growing to nearly unendurable levels, she looked down to find him gazing up at her with so much love and affection that her heart filled to overflowing.
“I love you,” she said, leaning down to kiss him.
“I love you, too.” He took her hands and held on tight as he surged into her, crying out just as she reached her own peak.
As she came down from the unimaginable high, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to her forehead. Under her ear, his heart pounded out a steady beat.
“Everything is different now that I know you love me,” he said.
“For me, too.”
“I’ve never felt anything like this, Grace.”
“I never imagined there was anything like this. Not for me anyway.”
“It’s all your fault, you know.”
“I know, I know,” she said, endlessly amused by him.
“So you won’t go out with Seamus, right?”
Laughing, Grace smacked his arm. “How can I go out with anyone else when I’m madly in love with you?”
“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” His indignant huff nearly set her off into a fit of laughter from which she might never recover.
She had a feeling that was going to be a regular problem where he was concerned. “Because it’s so much fun to torture you.”
Growling, he rolled them over so he was on top and looked down at her. “I never wanted any of this, and now I can’t imagine a future that doesn’t include you. How did you do that to me?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said with a smug grin.
“It might take fifty or sixty years to figure it out.”
She hugged him tightly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
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