Epilogue Scott
The following September
I watched as Tessa climbed the ladder above me, tensing with every one of her steps. “I can’t believe you’re doing that in those heels.”
“The heels I wore last year were even higher.”
I waited until she was safely on the next level before hurriedly climbing up myself, only breathing easily when I was standing on solid ground at her side. Loving Tess had brought out a protective urge in me that hadn’t existed before her. Just another one of the ways she’d changed me, all for the better, though she could probably do with a little less of my machismo.
Fortunately for me, she insisted it was a turn-on.
I took her hand in mine, slowly walking toward the silos that housed the building’s mechanics, pausing when a wave of cheering erupted from the bar below us.
“They must be announcing the happy couple,” she surmised.
“Do you want to be there for this?”
She didn’t even take a second to consider it. “It’s their engagement announcement, not a wedding reception.”
“Making a mental note not to steal you away to fool around at the wedding.”
Here, she paused, thinking. “Well, I didn’t say that.”
“That’s my Tess,” I said with a laugh, resuming our trek. She was such a dirty girl, in all the right ways. Always ready to role-play and experiment and lean into the kink. It had been a year since I’d first gotten into her panties, and I already knew I’d never not want to get into her panties.
Not that all there was between us was sex. I’d always been attracted to her ideas. One of my favorite things to do was listen to her talk about the things she was passionate about, and there were so many, especially now that she had a significant role at Conscience Connect.
But it wasn’t just the big issues that drew out her fervor. Since she’d moved in with me six months before, after Teyana officially moved in with Kendra, I’d discovered just how much of the world excited Tess, and it was basically all of it. From Netflix shows to snowfalls to brands of toothpaste, my woman loved life.
And I loved her. A little more with every breath I took.
“I can’t believe we get to spend our one-year anniversary in the same place we met,” she said as we approached the first big silo. “Or almost one year.”
The official day was tomorrow. Close enough, as far as I was concerned. “I know. That’s why I convinced Brett to have the party here.”
“ You convinced Brett,” she said, rightly suspicious.
“Totally.” More accurately, he’d said the rooftop bar was their first choice for the engagement announcement, and I’d enthusiastically supported it.
If he hadn’t, I would have dragged her out here on the official day, but there was something magical about being here tonight with the party in the background. Somewhat romantic too, in a perverted sort of way, considering Brett’s intended bride.
Only Tess would appreciate that fact. Brett, if he knew, probably not so much.
We rounded the silo, and Tess let go of my hand, rushing ahead to the wall that framed the smokestack. “Right here,” she said, bracing her back against the brick. “You were right here when I first saw you.”
“Really? And what was I doing?” I didn’t need to be reminded, but it was fun to let her remind me.
She smirked. “I’m not going to say it. You know.”
I stalked toward her. “Do I?”
“You do. And you were such an asshole to Eden while you were doing it, might I add. I remember thinking, if he was so willing to do that?—”
“Do what?” I insisted, wanting to hear the words from her dirty little mouth.
“Finger-fuck her, okay? If you were willing to finger-fuck a girl you obviously weren’t into, giving her what seemed like a pretty decent orgasm, from my vantage point?—”
“Only one? You must have shown up later than I realized.”
She leveled a stare at me. “I remember wondering if you treated a girl you didn’t like that well, how well would you treat a girl you loved?”
“Hmm. Interesting question.” With one hand braced on the wall behind her, partially caging her in, I traced her lips with my finger, then stuck it in the whole way when they parted, silently urging her to get it wet. Teasing her, I drew a jagged trail down her neck with that wet finger, stopping at the neck of her dress where the top of her breasts taunted me. “Why don’t I show you?”
“Show me what?” Her eyes were already glossy with desire.
“Show you how well I’d treat a girl I loved.”
“Mmhmm.” She nodded encouragingly. “Yeah, you should totally do that.”
I couldn’t have set the stage better than if I’d planned it.
I slunk down her body, nipping at a nipple on my way, until I was down on my knees, eye-level with her pretty pussy—hidden behind her gold skirt, but familiar enough that I could picture it perfectly without having to see it.
She spread her legs apart, inviting me in, and unable to help myself, I gathered her dress up at her waist and placed a naughty kiss on the panty-clad V between her thighs. She moaned, and God it was torture to pull away with my dick as hard as it was, but when she closed her eyes, I released her, propped up one foot, and dug into my jacket pocket so that when she opened them again to find out why I’d stopped, what she’d see was me.
On my knee.
Holding out a ring.
“Uh, what?” The daze of lust morphed into a daze of surprise.
“The way I’d treat a girl I loved would be to cherish her, protect her, support her, laugh with her, cry with her, fuck her—a lot of fucking her—make babies with her, keep her forever. Choose her forever. Terese Turani, I love you. Will you choose me again? Forever this time?”
It usually destroyed me to see her anywhere near tears. Generally, the minute her eyes got watery, I was on my knees ready to do anything and everything to make her better.
This time I was already on my knees, and her tears killed me in a different way. Like my emotions were too big for my body and there was no way I could fit how much I loved her inside of me. Like I’d need a lifetime to figure out how to carry that much love.
Hopefully, she’d give it to me.
I wasn’t sure based on her response. Besides the tears, she had yet to say yes. “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” she whimpered, which didn’t seem promising. “I didn’t put on waterproof mascara. This is really not fair.”
“Okay, but baby? I’m on my knee here.” Taking her hand, I slid the ring on her finger, a dazzling blue diamond solitaire—not too large or “gaudy” per Teyana’s orders—in a platinum pavé setting. It looked fucking gorgeous on her, and now that I’d slipped it on, there was no way I was ever letting her take it off.
Her tears spilled onto her cheeks. “Your parents are going to freak out.”
They would, but I rarely interacted with them anymore. I had enough family without them—my siblings, my cousins, Grandpa Irving. Tess.
“Freaking them out is an added benefit.” I brought her hand to my lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. “Your mother, on the other hand, will be thrilled.”
“She’ll be thrilled when she has a grandbaby. No sooner.”
“Does this mean you’re saying yes?” She was killing me, and not just because the ground was hard on my kneecap.
“Yes, you silly man. I will marry you. I will choose you forever. I’ve already chosen you forever. Nothing would make me happier than making it official.”
“Nothing makes me happier than you.”
I was half a second from jumping up to kiss the shit out of her, but before I could, she sat on my knee, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed the shit out of me instead.
And I could see our whole future together in that kiss—a lifetime of best moments and surprises and sacrifices and blessings. A lifetime with the woman who made me want to be a better person. A lifetime with the woman who made me a better man.
I could keep kissing her like this for a lifetime.
Apparently, she had other thoughts in mind. “Does this mean you aren’t going to lick my pussy? Because I was led to believe that you were, and while a ring is nice and all…”
“I’ll consider it. Can we pretend we’re being watched while I do it?”
“By a hot woman trying to find service for her phone?”
“A smoking hot woman, definitely.”
“You better make me mewl like a kitten so she’ll have a reason to come looking for us.”
“Oh, I can make you mewl all right.”
“So that’s a yes?” She stood up in anticipation of my answer, gathering her skirt up herself and bracing her back against the fireplace like she had before.
God, yes. Forever yes.
But I answered with my mouth, not with words, devouring her pretty pussy, licking her while she trembled, torturing her until she cried out her release loud enough for our fictional onlooker, showing her exactly the way this man treats the woman he loves.
Are you ready to dive into the high-powered, sensual, brutal world of the Sebastians?