EPILOGUE
A few weeks later
– JAXIE –
I glance to my left and smile. Seamus is completely focused on the laptop in front of him. Benny is lying on the seat beside him, his head on Seamus’s knee. We’re in the backseat of a company SUV, and Macy is sitting on my lap. Ballard is our driver.
It’s a routine Seamus demanded when Murray and Ballard demanded I step up and help the company before it went down the drain. With my father dead, and Burk missing...dead and not so much missing, but we’re the only ones with this tiny piece of knowledge...the company needs extra leadership.
Taunting Burk by telling him Seamus and I were married, making Seamus the one who would get the company’s shares if I died, is something that crossed my mind a few times before that day. Not the married part, but to hire Seamus so he has a place in the company.
I know he wasn’t ready to retire, and was forced into it due to the accident Nolan orchestrated, the first attempt on my father’s life.
He might not have wanted a desk job back then, but I could tell he was deeply touched when I asked him for his help by stepping into my father’s role in the company.
Me sitting right next to him was a counteroffer, more like a demand. I know my father protected me by keeping business and personal separate. Away from the office meant away from Burk. I’ve seen the pictures of my mother. The resemblance is vivid, which would trigger the reminder of Burk’s fiancée.
It’s a relief the man who’s responsible for the deaths of my parents is no longer walking this planet.
Seamus, Murray, and Ballard are working on gathering solid evidence to tie Burk, and Nolan, to both murders.
Well, they are officially still accidents, but according to Seamus that’s going to change very soon.
Nolan still hasn’t resurfaced. It’s a vivid threat according to the men, and the reason Elodie and I are still protected on a day-to-day basis. My smile stays in place while I keep staring at my personal protector.
My father hired him at a time when he feared for his own life. Yet, Edna mentioned how she and my father talked about getting Seamus and I together. Maybe my father hoped we would hit it off? I can only guess, but it sure feels like we have his blessing.
These past few weeks, even with the uncertainty of Nolan being dead or alive, have been bliss. Seamus is a bit overprotective and doesn’t let me out of his sight, but I have to admit...I like it...a lot.
He watches when I’m working with Sloth and Gollum while our dogs play.
Even with Seamus’s leg giving him issues, he still likes to ride, which is something we both enjoy just as much as staying at the cabin, and all the work that comes with it.
Driving home after a day at the office happens three times a week.
The rest of the time Seamus works from the cabin.
I never thought this would be my life. Having a man who treats me like a queen, gives me pleasure I didn’t know existed, and who shares the same dreams and goals.
The darkness and steep hole I fell in when my father died has become a part of my past. Only the good memories of our time together are left, moving forward to honor his memory.
My eyes burn as I stare out the window to see the blurry trees flash by.
My hand is engulfed with warmth, and the harsh callous lets me know it’s Seamus before I hear his voice. “Everything okay?”
I swallow back the lump of emotions clogging my throat, and croak, “Yeah.”
He brings our joined hands to his mouth to place a kiss on the back of my hand. The vehicle comes to a stop in front of our cabin.
“Need me to do a perimeter sweep?” Ballard questions.
“Nah,” Seamus says. “I checked the cameras, nothing out of the ordinary, and the dogs will go nuts if they smell someone else on their territory. Head on home, I know it’s been a long day for all of us.”
Ballard grunts and waits for us to get out. Benny and Macy run off to the tree line and I grab Seamus’s bag while he takes his cane and walks around the SUV. We give Ballard a wave as he pulls away and wait for the dogs as we wander toward the porch.
“It’s getting chilly,” I remark.
My speech has enhanced since Seamus forced me to talk to him. The stutter is still there when I’m nervous or stressed, and I refuse to use my voice when I’m at the office. Seamus doesn’t mind. His ASL has improved due to me helping him over the past few weeks.
Seamus places a kiss on the top of my head. “Yeah. I’ll start a fire.”
His words heat my body, and not due to the fire he’s about to start. No, the reminder of watching him chop wood is enough to trigger a wave of desire. The hard manual work is done shirtless; his muscles covered in a sheen of sweat while all that manly power is used to swing an axe.
Seamus’s short whistle brings me back to the here and now.
Both dogs rush inside and head for the kitchen where there’s water and food.
I’m definitely hungry too but for something completely different.
The door is locked and Seamus stalks to the fireplace while I place his bag on the dining room table.
The few weeks we’ve spent together have definitely given my self-confidence a boost. It’s why I kick my shoes off and start to strip away my clothes as I walk in the direction of the bedroom.
The movement catches Seamus’s attention and he instantly stops what he’s doing.
He doesn’t even grab his cane when he follows me into the bedroom.
Eyes filled with pure lust are locked on me as he reaches for his belt. I’m now completely naked and watch his jeans hit his boots. He toes off his boots when I stalk toward him and sink down to my knees.
He groans as I wrap my hand around his hard cock. Leaning forward, I take him into my mouth and suck while I glance up. He stares down at me with so much emotion. Among them the lust and adoration I mirror in mine.
Seamus cups my face and groans. “Fuck, that feels good, babe.”
Spurred on by his compliment, I bob my head and keep sucking while my tongue teases the underside of the head of his cock. My sexual experience wasn’t much when Seamus came into my life. Though, over the past few weeks we’ve managed to rectify that.
“Don’t want to come down your throat,” Seamus grits. “I wanna fuck that tight pussy and watch my cum leak out.”
My clit throbs at the promise in his voice. He steps back and lets his cock slip from my mouth.
Palming his length, covered with my saliva, he roughly strokes while he orders, “Hands on the bed, ass out.”
I jolt up and quickly follow his order. Throwing a glance over my shoulder, I see how his gaze is locked on my ass as he gets behind me. Thick fingers slide through my drenched pussy, and he groans again.
“Always ready for me,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me.
I push back and gasp when he suddenly smacks my ass. “Stay still.”
There’s no time to respond when he places the tip against my entrance and fills me in one hard thrust. We both moan. I feel his large hands gripping my hips to keep me in place as he starts to roughly thrust in and out.
I sneak a hand between my legs, touching my clit and moving down to feel his cock move between my fingers.
“Yes,” Seamus grits.
He likes it when I tighten my fingers around him to give extra friction, while my palm rubs my clit.
Pleasure bounces between us. Hard pants, the slapping sounds of flesh against flesh fills the space as our orgasm builds.
Rough and fast, lazy foreplay, intense lovemaking, we’ve done it all and every moment is as special as the next one between us.
His grip on my hips intensifies and he hits a pleasurable spot inside me. I cry out and let my head fall onto the mattress while my orgasm overtakes my body. Seamus grinds against me, cock pulsing as he fills me with his cum.
We’re both panting hard, still connected as we breathe to recover from the pleasure we both gave one another when his phone chimes with an alert. Seamus stiffens behind me and instantly pulls out.
“Ours?” I ask and reach for a pair of sweatpants on the chair.
“No,” Seamus grimly states. “Murray’s place.”
Ice fills my veins.
Especially when Seamus adds, “The power of the decoy security system was just cut.”
Afraid to say his name, but needing to, I ask, “Nolan?”
Seamus only gives me a tight nod. Oh, no. This can’t be happening. Dread fills my veins, knowing Murray, Seamus, and Ballard were right. Nolan’s come back to avenge his father. Elodie is the one who shot Burk, and it looks like Nolan has come back to kill her.