Epilogue #2
The bottom line was that Bree was as proud as she could be of her husband.
He was very good at his job, but the thought of losing him was almost overwhelming.
It had taken a long conversation with Caroline Steel to help her come to terms with her fears.
To understand that he had six of the best men he could ever have at his back, and now that he had Bree, he’d do anything possible in order to come home to her.
And he had. Every time.
They didn’t have any children, because neither wanted any.
They were kept busy with their friends’ kids.
Of course, they all loved staying at Aunt Bree and Uncle Smiley’s house because they got to stay up late, eat junk food, and play video games that their own parents wouldn’t usually let them play.
They were the “fun” aunt and uncle, and Bree was content with that.
Her life was full. Being kidnapped by a sex slaver seemed like it had happened to someone else. As if it was a lifetime ago.
As if Smiley could read her thoughts, he said something to Ben and Arlo and bounced his way toward her and the other women.
“Uh-oh, Smiley’s headed this way,” Remi teased. “Guess that’s our cue to disperse.”
“You don’t have to go,” Bree protested, but it was easy to see her friends didn’t mind heading to their own husbands. Even after a decade, they were all just as in love with their spouses as they’d been when they were first married.
“Did I chase everyone away with my grumpiness?” Smiley asked as he reached her side.
Bree laughed. “You aren’t so grumpy anymore.”
“Whatever,” he harumphed, making Bree laugh even harder.
“That’s what I love to see and hear…you laughing. Did you know when I first met you, I privately made it my mission in life to make you smile more often?”
“I smiled back then,” Bree protested.
“Not enough. But now? You’re the light to my dark. When I’m feeling grumpy, all I have to do is look at you, see your smile, and I remember everything I have to be thankful for.”
Bree couldn’t stop grinning. “You’re so sappy. What happened to the badass Navy SEAL I married?”
“Oh, he’s still here. But I’ve learned over the years not to give a shit what other people think about me. If they want to think I’m pussy-whipped, they can. I mean, they aren’t wrong.”
“Shut up,” Bree complained.
He grinned. Then sobered. “You’re happy.”
It wasn’t a question. “How could I not be? I’m surrounded by my best friends, who’ve become my family.
The kids are healthy and well-adjusted. Life sure gave us all some hard knocks, but we’ve made it through.
We’re here. Together. Celebrating Artem’s graduation and the fact he’s going to law school.
Next year, Borysko will follow in his footsteps, although not to be a lawyer.
The kid told me he wants to be a doctor.
A lawyer and a doctor…who woulda thunk it? ”
Smiley brushed his fingers against Bree’s cheek. “I love you.”
She felt her cheeks heat. “I love you too.”
“How much longer do you think we have to stay?”
“Why?” Bree asked, feeling concerned. “Do you feel all right? Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine. I just have the urge to make love to my wife, and I’m thinking doing so in the bathroom of a trampoline park wouldn’t be appropriate.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “No, it definitely would not be appropriate.”
“One of the benefits of not having any children is being able to fuck my wife whenever and wherever I want, without having to worry about a tiny human cockblocking me.”
“Uncle Smiley! Guess what!” Arlo exclaimed, as he came bouncing over to the trampoline nearest where Bree was standing with her husband.
The heat in Smiley’s eyes was searing, but he took a deep breath and turned to the little boy. “What’s up, kiddo?”
“Dad said me and Ben could spend the night with you and Aunt Bree! Isn’t that cool!?”
“It’s Ben and I,” Smiley corrected, with a long sigh.
Bree giggled. “So much for tiny humans not being cockblockers,” she muttered under her breath.
“That’s awesome,” he told Arlo. The boy bounced away, yelling at the top of his lungs to Ben that Uncle Smiley said it was all right.
“I’ve changed my mind about sex in the bathroom,” he told her.
Bree hugged him hard. “Not happening, but I love that you want to,” she told him.
Smiley pulled back and stared down at her with an expression Bree couldn’t interpret. “What?” she asked.
“You’ve given me a life I couldn’t have pictured in my wildest fantasies. A perfect life. Yes, we argue, you hog the covers, we have stress, but I get to wake up to you and go to sleep with you at my side. I can’t imagine anything better.”
Bree melted into him. “You’re so getting some tonight, buster,” she told him.
He grinned. “Yay.”
And that made her giggle all over again. Hearing her badass husband say “yay” was funny as hell.
Two hours later, everyone made their way out of the building.
They’d overstayed their scheduled time by an hour, but everyone was having so much fun they hadn’t been able to cut things short.
Not to mention, getting their group to do anything on time was never going to happen.
Too many kids, too many goodbyes and hellos.
It was chaos wherever they went. And Bree loved it.
By the time she was able to get Arlo and Ben to bed that night, it was hours later than they usually went to sleep and she was exhausted. Even though the two boys were well behaved, they were still exuberant and full of energy.
Bree walked into her and Smiley’s bedroom and found her husband already waiting for her in their bed.
She quickly did what she needed to do in the bathroom and joined him under the covers.
Even though she was tired, desire swam through her body.
She’d never get enough of her husband, and she loved showing him how much she still loved and wanted him.
Pushing the covers off him, she grinned when she saw Smiley didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. Not wasting time, she wrapped her hand around his cock and leaned down. His long, pleasurable moan went straight between her legs. She needed him. Now.
After he was fully hard, his hips subtly lifting every time she bobbed down on him, Bree shifted. She pulled up her nightgown and straddled him. Taking hold of his cock and sinking down in one hard and fast motion.
They both groaned that time.
“Shhhh,” she admonished softly. “The last thing we need is either of the boys coming in here to find out what’s wrong.”
“I wanted to taste you,” Smiley said with a pout.
Seeing that hangdog look on her normally stoic husband made Bree giggle.
“What? I do.”
“Later,” she told him. “I need my husband now.”
No matter how many times she made love to Smiley in this position, or how many times she tried to be in charge, he took over within a few thrusts.
Tonight was no exception. His hands moved to her hips, and he began to slam her down on him hard, then harder.
The slap of their skin making contact was loud. Too loud.
Just as she opened her mouth to protest, Smiley rolled them so she was on her back. He continued to move in and out of her, as he stared into her eyes.
“Love you,” he said.
“I love you too.”
They made love silently after that. Lost in the love and lust they saw in each other’s eyes, and the pleasure they took from each other’s bodies. It didn’t take long for Smiley to gasp out the adorable little grunting sound he made right before he came, holding himself deep inside her body.
Bree wasn’t disappointed that she hadn’t come yet. She knew her time was coming. Literally.
Smiley pulled out and immediately reached down to stroke her clit. After ten years, he knew exactly how to make her come.
Afterward, he pulled the covers back over them and lay mostly on top of her, his head on her chest as they both tried to regain their equilibrium.
Bree loved their cuddle time after they’d both orgasmed. Stroking Smiley’s hair as he lay on her breast made her feel loved. And desired.
No matter what he’d said earlier, their marriage wasn’t perfect. They disagreed about things. Got irritated with each other. But at the end of each day, they managed to talk things through and go to sleep together. She couldn’t ask for anything more.
“I saw this, you know,” Smiley said out of the blue.
“What? What did you see?”
“This. Us. I saw it as clear as if it was a movie playing behind my eyes when I opened the door to that car and saw you tied up in that backseat. It’s why I couldn’t let you go.”
Bree’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
“I know most people don’t believe in love at first sight. But for me, it happened.”
They’d talked about this before. But it never failed to give Bree goose bumps, hearing her husband talk about how he’d fallen head over heels for her the first time he’d seen her.
“It wasn’t as fast for me, but I couldn’t get your name out of my head.
Jude Stark. It made me think of safety. It’s why I was drawn here… to you.”
Smiley lifted his head and rested his chin on his hands. “I’ve never liked my name. It was a reminder of a father who beat my mother. That I had his DNA running through my veins. But you make me proud of who I am now.”
“You’ve always been a person you should’ve been proud of.”
Her husband simply shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But with you at my side, I feel as if I can do anything. Thank you for that.”
This man. His outer shell might be tough as nails, but deep down, he was a freaking marshmallow. And she loved him so damn much.
He smirked at her, and just as he began to inch his way down her body, the sound of someone throwing up in the hall bathroom made them both freeze.
“Fuck,” Smiley swore, dropping his head to her stomach.
This wasn’t funny. Not in the least…but Bree found herself smiling anyway. “The cockblocker strikes again. I’ll go.”
“No, you stay here. I’ll go see what’s up.”
“I’m thinking it was probably the bowl of popcorn, the s’mores, and the huge banana split they had tonight that’s not sitting well.”
Smiley grimaced. “Yeah, none of that was probably the best idea, but fuck it. We’re the cool aunt and uncle. They’ll learn some moderation in the future.”
Bree lifted a brow.
Smiley chuckled. “Or not.” He leaned up and kissed her on the forehead. “Go to sleep, sweetheart. If anything is seriously wrong, I’ll let you know.”
“I love you,” Bree told him.
“Love you too.”
She watched as her husband got out of bed, grabbed a pair of flannel pajama pants lying on the floor, and then pulled a T-shirt over his head before he strode confidently toward the door.
She turned on her side as she listened to the low sounds of Smiley talking to whichever one of the boys had emptied his stomach into the toilet.
She fell asleep thinking she was the luckiest woman in the world.
She had the best friends with some of the best kids on the planet.
If she had any questions about the Navy or life in general, she could go to Caroline and all her friends.
Her husband was generous, kind, and the best lover she’d ever had.
And he had friends who were like family that always had their backs.
She never would’ve thought this was where she’d end up all those years ago, when she was scared out of her mind in the back of that car, about to be taken to who knows where, to become a sex toy for countless men.
Or when she was in that cage in the back of the truck or on that boat, about to suffer the same fate.
Life was funny. It could suck, be terrifying, then change on a dime and become glorious. The highs and lows were sometimes hard to take, but in the end, the people you surrounded yourself with were the key to getting through each and every day.
And Bree had some of the best people around her. She wouldn’t change a thing about anything she’d experienced…because it all brought her to Smiley.
I realize I always thank you, my loyal reader, after each series, but I genuinely am grateful that you’ve stuck it out throughout the series and gotten to the last book.