Epilogue
Penelope Miles
I worry my lip ring between my teeth as I follow the attendant down the hall. Sebastian’s hand on my back prevents me from darting back out into the street.
No matter how ready I am to belong with and to Sebastian, the thought of wearing a dress and heels in front of a crowd—even if it is just our close friends and family—fills me with dread.
My unsettled stomach rolls. I swallow and tighten my grip on my purse.
The upscale boutique is way too fancy for me.
“We should’ve brought Peter,” I grumble.
Sebastian’s noncommittal hum relays his thoughts. Although they get along for my sake, I’m not so socially inept that I don’t sense their animosity toward one another. I hold in my sigh and turn into the dressing room.
Racks of dresses and suits already line the back wall. Apprehension skitters through me.
Sebastian thanks the attendant and closes the door behind her.
“If Peter were here, I couldn’t do this.”
He scoops me off my feet and pins me to the massive mirror. I wrap my legs around his waist and tilt my hips. He groans and squeezes my butt as he devours my mouth with hungry sweeps of his tongue.
“I need you, sweet pea,” he growls.
My head spins and lungs burn as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Was this morning not enough?” I tease.
He drops his forehead to mine as a full-body tremor wracks him from head to toe.
I woke him today with my breasts pillowed around his hard cock.
Although I’m still not ready to put him anywhere near my mouth, the feel of his shaft sliding along my sternum and the smooth glide of his bulbous head hitting the base of my throat was hot as hell.
“You’re fucking killing me, Penelope,” he murmurs.
I smirk and scratch my nails down his back.
“You’re just trying to distract me so you don’t have to try on dresses, aren’t you?” he accuses.
“Hey, that’s not fair. You put us in this position all on your own,” I rebuke.
He chuckles, peppers my facial piercings with kisses, then deposits me in front of the rack of dresses.
I scowl and cross my arms over my chest.
He slides several hangers to the far side of the rack with an unimpressed tilt to his lips and selects four different outfits before ushering me behind the partition.
“I’m not competing with your best friend, but I’m not hopeless when it comes to clothes, sweet pea. Try these on before you give up on me,” he says.
I sigh and turn to grab the first hanger, only to freeze in shock.
With a plunge neckline, long, gauzy sleeves, a detachable half-skirt, and wide-legged pants, the white monstrosity shouldn’t work, but I yearn to see myself in it.
Expecting to feel exposed and ugly from the plunge neckline—it literally goes all the way down to the waistline—I stare in shock at my gorgeous reflection.
My scars remain the same, but they no longer represent humiliation and pain.
Because of Sebastian’s love, they’ve become a symbol of strength. No one is perfect. Everyone has demons.
I don’t need to fit into societal expectations with Sebastian by my side.
He’s my home. He’s where I belong.
He was right, dag nabbit. He’s good with clothes.
Or maybe he’s just good with my body. I never would have tried this on, but it highlights my curves without being lewd. The long sleeves make me feel like a princess, while the bodice displays my sternum piercings and belly button ring.
It’s perfect.
When I step out from behind the partition, Sebastian’s reaction is all the confirmation I need. He abandons his suit coat and stalks toward me with ravenous eyes.
I meet his lips with the hunger pulsing through me. He devours me. I demand more.
He drops to his knees and crushes his front to mine. I groan as he slips a hand inside my bodice and cups my breast. His callused fingers knead, pluck, and twist. I squeak and pull my head away.
“Be gentle. I’m sensitive today,” I breathe.
He growls and nips my lower lip.
“Was I too rough this morning?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“No. I should start my period soon,” I admit.
He pushes my bodice aside and studies my breast as it overflows his hand. Mischief sparkles in his dark eyes.
I squeal and twist my hands in his hair as he closes his mouth around my nipple.
He teases me with gentle flicks, tortures me with playful swirls, and tips me dangerously close to orgasm with demanding strokes of his tongue.
The hard metal through my sensitive flesh adds a delicious element to the overwhelming sensations.
I whisper his name.
He pushes my pants and panties down my legs before lifting me off my feet. I wrap my legs around his waist. He rises with ease and strides to the couch.
I welcome his weight on top of me and writhe with impatience.
With barely leashed desperation in his every move, he worships me with teeth and tongue as he brings us both to the heights of pleasure.
I struggle to breathe as he works his thick cock into my body, his slow invasion a delicious agony I wish would never end.
My newest piercing is healed enough it doesn’t sting, but the tug of sensitive flesh zings straight to my core.
We find our release together and lie shaking and spent in each other’s arms.
“This is the outfit I want,” I croak.
He smirks and rubs his lips over mine.
“Whatever my sweet pea wants. Let me see it again before we go,” he murmurs.
After a gentle yet thorough wipe down, he carries the bottom half of my outfit to me. As I wriggle into my panties and pants, he adjusts his trousers.
The telltale sound of a slap filters through the wall. A woman’s raised voice follows.
Alarm spears through me as I recognize Hilary’s sharp, direct tone.
Despite his confusion, Sebastian shuffles back when I push him and jump to my feet. Fixing my bodice as best as I can, I rush to the door and fling it open.
Hilary’s heel disappears around the corner at the end of the hall.
Connor Pen, her boss of eight years, exits the changing room beside ours. An angry red blotch in the shape of her hand grows more pronounced on his cheek every second. He meets my eyes, inhales, then turns and follows Hilary.
I rush forward, but Sebastian’s gigantic hand wraps around my upper arm and stops me. I crane my neck up and back to meet his eyes.
Nausea slams through me. I yank free of his grip and dart into the bathroom across the hall.
The unexpected turn of events scatters every last one of my brain cells into the wind.
Sebastian helps me tidy up and offers me a stick of gum.
“I think you jinxed us, sweet pea,” he gloats.
“What?” I ask.
He cocoons me in his arms. I burrow into his chest.
“I told you I shouldn’t have come inside you,” he whispers.
All the blood drains from my head.
“No. You’re wrong.”
I don’t know why I argue, but the words pop free of my mouth without my permission. He hums and frames my face with his massive hands.
“Maybe, but I hope not. I want everything with you, sweet pea, including babies. But if you’re not ready—”
“We need to go. Now,” I interrupt.
“What? Why?”
“I need to take a test. Or two. No, better yet, a dozen.”
He chuckles and kisses me until every thought floats away.
“We’re going, sweet pea. But no matter what happens, I’ll be by your side. Forever,” he vows.
“I love you, Sebastian,” I say.
He smiles and licks my lip ring.
“I love you too, Penelope.”
The world fades away. Sebastian Sterling is my fiancé. My future. My sanctuary.
He’s where I belong, no matter what fate throws at us.
I’m his and he’s mine.
Forever.
And later, after a few days of pure chaos when Hilary doesn’t show for self-defense class, he’s right there to protect and support me as I search for my friend. My guilt grows as I recall her predicament.
She slapped her boss, yelled at him, and stomped away, and what did I do?
Vomit.
I owe her a million apologies.
With Sebastian by my side, I’ll beg her for forgiveness knowing I’ll never be alone again… if I can ever find her.