Epilogue
Summer
I lean against the wall, admiring Asher from across the living room. He’s cradling Milo in his arms, her little orange and white feet sticking up, and kneading the air as he scratches her belly.
The sun drifts in through the balcony doors and heats the wooden floor.
It’s a one-bedroom apartment on the bottom floor of a small complex with four units.
The kitchen has black marble counters and dark blue wooden cabinets, which I was originally against because it makes the space so much darker, but the colors seem to complement each other more and more every time I see them.
The apartment leans into Carmel-By-The-Sea’s cottage core and has textured walls and round archways.
It shouldn’t work, but it does, and it feels like our very own fairy tale.
Just like in Seattle, Asher has a much nicer apartment, though the studio I have in Monterey has grown on me. But I spend most of my free time in Asher’s apartment; he just successfully convinced me to bring Milo over. Milo, of course, loves having a man obsessed with her—who doesn’t?
I know that I love feeling Asher’s full attention on me.
And we’ve only gotten stronger here together.
Even though Asher’s commute is a bit farther than he’d prefer, he’s really enjoying the new university, so much so that he’s trying to convince Jared to move here and apply for a position.
I am finally in the midst of my practicum at a children’s behavioral center, and getting to speak with kids as actual patients has been the most amazing feeling.
Every breakthrough, every wall dropped, every milestone reached, has warmed my heart and made me feel like I can really make a difference for kids who need help in this world.
Despite the blow-up at Cascadia University, my life has turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I have an amazing man by my side, his sister is one of my best friends, and I am so close to getting my dream job.
What more could I ask for?
“Penny for your thoughts?” Asher asks, gently setting Milo down.
I smile and shrug. “Just thinking about how lucky I got.”
“How lucky you got?” he asks as he steps closer to me.
“Mhm,” I hum, crossing my arms as I continue to lean against the wall.
“What about how lucky I got?”
I look up, pretending to mull it over. “I guess we both got pretty lucky.”
He eats up the space between us as he walks toward me. His arms wrap around me, and I cuddle deeper into his warm embrace, humming with contentment.
“Marry me,” he says softly.
My head jolts backward, nearly hitting the wall behind me, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him. His emerald eyes lock with mine, and a teasing grin breaks out across his face. A startled laugh escapes me. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Marry me,” he repeats.
“You’re crazy,” I scoff.
“About you,” he says with a satisfied smirk.
“Very funny.”
He pulls me tighter against him. “Marry me,” he says with an exaggerated plea.
“No,” I giggle, trying to pull away from him, but his arms are like bands of steel around me—though to be fair, I don’t try that hard to get away.
“Absolutely not,” I murmur before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.
He surges forward and deepens the kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck and let my fingers get tangled in the dark strands of his hair.
Asher walks me backward until we’re falling, and a small shriek echoes around the apartment before my back meets the soft leather of the couch. Milo gives a disgruntled meow of annoyance as she jumps off the back of the couch, having her nap interrupted by our shenanigans.
Asher settles his weight against me, and I can feel him hardening against me as I arch my back while he plants gentle, enticing kisses down my neck and across my collarbone.
“You really won’t marry me?” he asks, pushing himself up on his elbows. “After everything we’ve been through?” he adds in a falsely chastising tone.
I roll my eyes. “We have all the time in the world, calm down, Casanova.”
“Then move in with me,” he jokingly demands. I squint at him, trying to gauge the seriousness in his words. He must see the inner debate I’m having with myself because he adds, “This one’s not a joke, Summer.” He places another soft kiss against my lips. “I’m serious. Move in with me.”
I feel myself nodding before I’ve even made up my mind. “Okay,” I laugh. “Okay!” I pull him back down to me and crush my lips against his. “But just so you know, Milo takes up half the bed.”
He raises an eyebrow. “She weighs six pounds.”
“And somehow, she takes up half of the bed.”
His head falls forward, and he chuckles into the sensitive skin of my neck.
“Worth it,” he murmurs before kissing me again and sending shivers of desire down my spine.
“She can have the whole bed for all I care. As long as I go to sleep with you by my side and wake up to you every morning, I don’t care how much space she takes up. ”
He delivers another devastatingly hot kiss, and I can feel my core turn to molten lava as his hand travels under my shirt to feel the bare skin of my side.
“Thank you,” I whisper against his lips.
“For what?”
“For being you.”
“No thanks are necessary,” he responds. “Because I would be nothing without you.”
And just like that, with those words, I completely melt.
I still don’t know how I got so lucky. There have been times in my life when I’ve thought I was destined to have bad luck. With men. My mother. Friends. My career.
But everything has worked itself out, and I couldn’t be happier. I have a relationship with my mother that grows stronger and better every week. I have Sam and Derek, Juliet and Diem. And Asher. I have Asher. A man so perfect I couldn’t have possibly dreamed him up.
This kind of life is all I’ve ever wanted.
This kind of love is all I’ve ever wanted.
Asher is all I’ve ever wanted.
This is the beginning of our forever, and I couldn’t be more excited to see where this life takes us.