Epilogue
LEO
I almost choked on my beer.
Sitting next to me, looking perfectly casual as she perched on the barstool, sat the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen.
Perhaps I should…?
No, she’s probably used to men hitting on her all the time.
But then she turned to look at me with a nervous lip bite. Her dark eyes widened when they took me in, and she quickly scanned my body in a way that made me want to puff my chest out in pride.
Her cheeks flushed, and I realized that perhaps I had a chance after all.
She licked her lips once, and I was done for.
“Hello.”
* * *
A month passed, and Jacqueline and I were riding home from work together on my bike. A form of transportation she started requesting herself shortly after she finally said those three little words that I never grew tired of hearing from her.
We were still deep in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, and I wasn’t upset about it.
Jacqueline was getting used to riding my bike of her own volition. She requested to ride to and from work on it instead of one of our cars. It fulfilled a couple of fantasies that teenage me had of driving around with a sexy partner clad in leather, feeling me up as we showed off how cool and mysterious we were.
She still wasn’t willing to wear leather pants, though. She hated the texture.
So jeans it was.
As we turned toward my street, I snatched her wandering fingers in mine for the fifth time this ride.
“Jacqueline,” I murmured in a deep warning tone, lacing our digits together.
She didn’t respond through the mic. Instead, she squeezed our fingers, attempting to distract me while brushing her free hand over my upper thigh, teasing where I was already stiff.
“You’re not that scared of crashing anymore, are you?” I chuckled as I grabbed her frisky hand and placed it back on my abdomen, where it would be less distracting.
I needed to keep one hand on the handlebars at all times, and Jacqueline used that to her advantage to tease me the entire twenty-five-minute drive home from the office.
Finally, we pulled into my building’s car park.
But Jacqueline’s boldness increased as she, with lightning speed, lowered both of her hands and gripped the solid outline of my erection hidden beneath my jeans. She even managed to stroke me once or twice before I yelped a laugh and covered both of her hands with mine.
“Jacqueline!” I glanced at her over my shoulder, seeing my own reflection in her dark visor.
Suddenly, we both jerked forward. I faced forward to see that I hadn’t properly parked the bike, distracted by my girlfriend’s wandering hands, and the bike drifted so that the front tire bumped into the cement divider of the car park.
“Wicked woman,” I mumbled, earning a pleased laugh from her. We were parked right next to the entrance, allowing anyone walking or driving by our building to see what she was doing to me.
I backed up a bit before flicking the kickstand and cutting the engine, not thinking too much of it until I heard Jacqueline cackle behind me.
I removed my helmet and smiled at her over my shoulder.
Jacqueline’s laugh was hypnotizing. It pulled me in like a siren’s call. Her laugh was uncontrolled, a religious experience that deserved my full and undivided attention. I wanted to worship the sound of her laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, stepping off the bike first.
“The bike fantasy is ruined,” Jacqueline shook her helmet-clad head as her shoulders shook, laughter erupting out of her in waves.
I dropped my jaw, “What? How?”
She lifted her head to finally unclip the helmet, something she could do on her own now, to show me her beautifully flushed cheeks. Lifting her hands, Jacqueline had to wipe tears from her eyes that were smearing her mascara. She was laughing that hard.
“Watching you slowly back up today,” Jacqueline pressed her lips together in a giggle, struggling to get through her explanation, “Using your little tippy-toes to balance the bike.”
I gaped, before glancing down at myself. She still straddled the bike, so I used that to my advantage as I stepped forward and cupped the back of her head with my gloved hand.
“This doesn’t do it for you anymore?” I asked. Jacqueline’s entire body was shaking with laughter, her hand had to wipe more tears from her eyes as she squeezed them shut.
“No, no,” Jacqueline shook her head, inhaling a deep breath and waving her hands in front of her face. She was losing it. I had seen this happen with her once before when we were watching the telly, and a funny, unexpected one-liner was said by one of her favorite characters. We had to go back and rewatch that scene a dozen times, and each time the line was said, Jacqueline would cackle and bury her head in my chest from the hilarity.
I thought the line was funny, sure, but I mostly replayed the scene just to keep watching Jacqueline’s enjoyment. It felt like a hit of the world’s best drug, hearing her laughter again and again.
According to her therapist, it was common for neurodivergent individuals to fall into giggle fits that were difficult to come out of.
I always loved learning about my stunning girlfriend’s beautiful brain, and how it functioned.
“Hmm, we’re gonna have to fix that, yeah?” I asked, lifting my other gloved hand to cup her neck, leaning in so our noses brushed against each other.
Jacqueline sucked in a breath from the contact, her pupils dilating just as I hoped. Except she was still giggling.
“I—I can still see it,” Jacqueline pressed her lips together just as tightly as her eyelids, “Your little tippies—” with an amused growl, I bent and captured her lips with mine. My kiss was aggressive, and I nipped at her bottom lip in a way that promised retribution for her teasing. I reached down to grab her thigh with my fingers, lifting her leg so she was no longer straddling the bike but still sitting on it. I held her legs wide so I could press against her, fitting my body in between.
Right where I belonged.
“Jacqueline,” I grumbled against her neck, “I’m perfectly confident in my masculinity, love.”
“That’s great,” Jacqueline was struggling to calm her breathing, wrapping her arms around my shoulders as she leaned back, offering more of her neck to me, “But the sexy, mysterious, motorcycle rider schtick is on hiatus for a moment.”
I chuckled against her skin, before scraping my teeth against her throat. Her responding shiver let me know she wasn’t completely turned off by me.
“Any other fantasies you’d like me to deliver on?” I murmured, brushing my lips up to her neck and teasing her earlobe, “Want to play today, Jacqueline?”
She whined, and I rewarded myself by taking a deep breath of her vanilla and rose scent. I hadn’t ever been super aroused by perfumes and smells before, but Jacqueline was the exception to the rule.
She was always the exception to the rule.
“We—we can’t,” Jacqueline whimpered against my touch.
“Do you remember your safe word, Jacqueline?” I lowered my voice, letting the gravel take over in a way I knew would have her panties soaked within minutes. God, I couldn’t wait to sink inside of her again.
“No, Leo, we actually can’t—”
“Leo!”
I froze, my teeth tucked around the shell of Jacqueline’s ear as I struggled to make sense of what I was hearing.
Of who I was hearing.
Jacqueline gripped the roots of my hair to pull my head off of her, a nervous smile on her face as she met my eyes.
“Surprise…” Jacqueline immediately looked bashful, and I realized the blush coating her cheeks—unfortunately—wasn’t just from arousal.
“Mummy?” I glanced over my shoulder, helping Jacqueline hop off of my bike.
Both of my mothers were exiting a taxi just outside the car park, and Mummy raced toward us with wide open arms. I barely had time to open mine to catch her hug before she practically slammed me against Jacqueline and the bike.
“I know we’re interrupting,” Mummy squeezed me hard before pulling me away from her so she could look up at me, her dark eyes scanning my features, “But I don’t care. I’ve waited too long to hug my son.”
I laughed, before bending down and wrapping her up in a hug again, lifting her feet off the ground. Mama had just finished tugging their suitcase out of the taxi and waving it off before she jogged over to join the reunion.
I missed my mums.
I didn’t realize how much until this very moment, but I did.
That wasn’t to say I regretted leaving London, I was still happy with the choice I made. I was in a rut over there, and something in my soul craved a move like this. Plus, moving closer to Mary and meeting the love of my life didn’t suck, either.
The three of us pulled away from each other before my mums practically shoved me out of their way to get to my partner.
“I’m so glad to finally meet!” Mama cried before wrapping her arms around Jacqueline’s shoulders. Instead of the group hugging her, they each took their turn.
“Thank you so much for coming,” Jacqueline grinned at my mothers, but it was shy. This was a big deal for her, embracing strangers so openly.
“Thank you for the invite,” Mummy replied after scanning Jacqueline up and down, “You’re even lovelier in person.”
“You invited them?” I grinned at Jacqueline, who looked up at me with a small smile.
“I wanted to surprise you,” Jacqueline bit her bottom lip, her cheeks still flushed from our intimate embrace, “Is that okay?”
“I love surprises,” I grinned, wrapping her hand in mine to bring her knuckles to my lips, “Thank you.”
“Let’s get on, then,” Mama retrieved the handle to their suitcase and started shooing us toward my building’s lift, “We want to hear everything. How’s Mary? Are she and Jamie coming over, too?”
I glanced down at my partner for that one, my chest expanding with that cozy warmth I learned to associate with her.
“She is, she’s bringing dinner with her,” Jacqueline squeezed her hand in mine, and I squeezed hers back. I decided it wasn’t enough, so I released our hands so I could tuck her against my side, my arm around her shoulders.
Because it was habit at this point, Jacqueline wrapped her arm around my waist, squeezing the two of us together as we entered the lift. I raised my other arm when Mummy snuggled on my other side, and I felt two parts of my world finally fitting together.
Falling in love with Jacqueline Williams was unexpected. I didn’t think I was a man who desired the love of one single person. But I was perfectly happy being wrong about that. I never stood a chance against a woman like her, who was willing to risk exposing the most intimate parts of herself to me. Her insecurities, her frustrations, her concerns. But also her desires.
Her love.
A love that was so raw, so vulnerable, that I couldn’t help but fall into it headfirst.
As Jacqueline chatted with my mums, asking how their flights were and what they had planned for their visit, I planted a kiss on the crown of her head.
Jacqueline glanced up at me, a grin on her face as she gave me a playful look with her eyes. Biting back a groan of disappointment, because Jacqueline and I would have to wait for another time to play like I wanted to, I rested my cheek against her head.
My mums eyeballed our casual intimacy with a soft expression on their faces, before taking each other’s hands and having a silent conversation with their eyes.
I had a feeling I knew what they were saying to one another.
He’s okay.
He’s not alone.
No, I wasn’t.
And I would continue to do everything in my power to keep Jacqueline right where she belonged.
Right here, with me.
THE END