EPILOGUE TWO – GAVIN
The party was winding down.
The lights across the ceiling of Rosemarie’s little shop cast a warm golden hue across the faces of the people who mattered most to her.
Her mom was chatting with one of the women from the bakery down the block.
Teagan was hoarding a bowl of chocolate-covered pretzels and dodging Elodie’s camera like it was the plague.
And Rose … my Rose … she was glowing. Radiating something so goddamn beautiful it made my chest ache.
I leaned back against the corner of the checkout counter, a drink in my hand, and took it all in.
It had been a hell of a week. Planning this surprise with Harry hadn’t exactly been on my calendar.
It started with a few beers at a place on Main Street.
Okay—more than a few. Stella ended up dragging both our asses home, which she did with the kind of long-suffering sigh that said finally, these two idiots figured their shit out.
She didn’t care that we were drunk. I think she was just relieved we were talking like something other than enemies forced into a shared meeting room. We didn’t solve every problem that night. But we did get to the heart of one thing: Rose’s happiness. We were united on that.
I remember sliding my empty bottle across the bar and saying, “As a father myself, I’d never stand between a man and his daughter. That bond’s sacred. I don’t take being part of her life lightly.”
Harry had stared down into his glass for a long time before he answered. “It’s not easy to understand,” he admitted. “And maybe I never will. But … it’s not mine to understand. If she’s loved and cared for, if she’s happy …” He looked at me then. “Then I can find my peace with it.”
And tonight—watching him wrap his arms around her after weeks of silence and tension—I think we both found our places in Rose’s life, together.
I didn’t hear her footsteps, just felt the soft warmth of her body as she slid in behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her hands on my chest.
“Thank you for this. All of this,” she hummed into my back. I turned in her hold and tugged her in front of me, wrapping my arms around her as she leaned into my chest.
“I love you, Rose,” I said softly against the side of her head. “You never have to thank me for doing something that shows I care.”
She tilted her face to mine, lashes low and a slow smile curving her lips. “I love you too, Gavin.” A moment passed before I felt her giggle. “Now can we kick everyone out so we can go upstairs?”
I laughed and pushed a loose wave behind her ear. “We can kick them out, sweetheart, but we’re not going upstairs before we christen the new store.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and scanned the room for the one person I knew would help me shut this down quick, then made my way across the room to her.
Teagan. She was nursing a cocktail that, judging by the way she winced, was absolute hell.
I may have let the crew bartend. Lesson learned: they can frame a house, but mixing drinks? Not so much.
“How do we get them all to leave?” I asked, leaning in.
She looked up at me, raised a brow, and took one more doomed sip. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask your daughter to end a party so you can be gross with your girlfriend.”
“Appreciate it,” I grinned.
“That’s fucking disgusting, Dad.” She stood straighter, downed the rest of her drink, shook off the full-body shiver, and marched to the front door. “Alright, party animals! Show’s over. It’s almost time to return my dad to the senior center and Rose has to open shop in the morning!”
There were a few laughs and some groans, but everyone started saying their goodbyes and filing out. Harry nodded at me and ruffled Rose’s hair before slipping into the night with Stella on his arm.
I turned just as Rose realized, “Oh, crap, I forgot Elodie’s staying.”
“Absolutely not,” Elodie called from across the room. “For the sake of my sanity and my eyes, I am not staying. That was a decoration diversion tactic.” She gave Rose a pointed look. “No offense, Mr. Miller. You’re hot and all, but watching you bone my best friend … well …”
Rose slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter while Teagan rolled her eyes and grabbed Elodie by the elbow. “Let’s go, criminal.”
“Hey, now. We both got tossed in the slammer, Teag. Don’t profile me!”
Watching the two of them not claw at each other’s throats made something settle in my chest. I didn’t want to jinx it, but maybe … maybe they were getting there.
When the door clicked shut behind them, Rose ran over to lock it and flipped the front lights off. The only things left were the twinkle lights Elodie and Rose had put up in the front window, and the flameless candles I’d scattered around the shop earlier in the evening.
No damn way was I lighting real ones—not after what we just finished rebuilding.
She turned back to me slowly, soft and flushed and beautiful in a pale yellow sundress that looked like it was made to be peeled off her. Her arms slid around my neck, fingers playing in the short hair at my nape, knowing what it does to me.
I leaned down and kissed her. Once, twice—then deeper, slower, until her breath hitched and her nails curled at the back of my neck. Placing my hands on the back of her thighs, I lifted and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I walked us to the checkout counter and placed her on top.
“I have a surprise for you,” I whispered against her mouth.
“Oh yeah?” she panted, her voice breathy, pupils blown wide.
I stepped away, walked over to the front window, and reached up to pull the blinds from where I’d tucked them into the ceiling. They fell like a curtain behind the window display, blocking the rest of the store from the street view without ruining the aesthetic.
She tilted her head, watching. “What are those for?”
I didn’t answer—not with words.
Crossing back to her, I stepped between her legs where she sat on the counter and slid my hands up her thighs, under the hem of that perfect sundress.
“How about I show you?” I groaned into her neck, dragging my fingers lightly over the cotton of her panties. She gasped and bit her lip. “Words, sweetheart,” I said against her skin. “I want your words.”
I could see the switch in her eyes as it flipped, and the fire roared to life.
Hopping off the counter, she reached under her dress and slid her panties down her legs, scooping them up and then tucking them into my front pocket, purposefully grazing my aching cock.
She kicked off her sandals, leaned back on her hands and hopped back onto the top of the counter, resting her heels on the edge of the counter.
Her dress rode up all on its own as she spread her legs for me, bare, glistening, and mine.
“I want you to show me, Daddy,” she whimpered.
“Christ,” I breathed.
I dropped to my knees and gripped her thighs, dragging her closer to the edge of the counter until her center was right in front of my mouth.
“You taste like heaven and sin, baby,” I grumbled before running my tongue through her folds, slow and deep. She moaned—soft at first, then louder as I kept going, sucking and licking, teasing the spot that I knew made her tremble.
She threaded her fingers into my hair and I slid two fingers inside her, curling them just right. She gasped my name. Her thighs started to tremble. I knew she was close. And just before she tipped over—I pulled back.
Her whimper was desperate. She looked down at me, wrecked and flushed. I stood, kissed her hard, and said, “Don’t worry, baby. I’m not done with you yet.”
I gripped her hips and lifted her off the counter. Her legs were shaky, her breath uneven, and she let out a gasp as I yanked the pale yellow sundress over her head in one hard pull. It tore slightly at the seams—I didn’t give a damn. I would buy a dozen more.
I growled as I took her in. I reached up and palmed her perfect tits, rough and greedy, rolling her nipples between my fingers until she arched back into me.
“God, look at you,” I muttered against her neck, my voice low and dangerous. “Every fucking inch of you is mine.”
“Yours,” she breathed.
“Say it again.”
“I’m yours, Gavin. Always.”
Spinning her around, I shoved her gently but firmly down over the countertop and stepped behind her.
Unbuttoning my jeans and letting them fall above my knees, I smirked a bit, remembering her comment about my lack of underwear …
It was saving us precious time. My hand swept over her back, then down to her hips.
I gripped her hips and slid into her in one smooth, deep thrust.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I hissed, staring down where we were joined, her slickness coating my cock every time I pulled back and pushed in again. “You feel that, sweetheart? You feel me filling you up like this?”
She moaned, high and broken. “Yes, Daddy. So full.”
“Good girl,” I praised, holding her tight and snapping my hips hard. “So fucking perfect for me. Look at you, taking all of me.”
As I fucked her deeper, I placed my hands on those perfect cheeks and slid my thumb from her dripping entrance up between her cheeks, pressing softly against the tight ring of muscle. She gasped, a tremble running through her spine.
“You’ll let me take this too, sweetheart?” I asked, voice low, breath hot against her shoulder. “Let me stretch you open and fill this sweet little hole?”
Her body answered for her, pressing back into my touch—silent but unmistakable consent. She was ready. More than ready. I pulled away, spread her gently, and let a long, hot string of spit land right where I wanted it. My thumb worked in with slow, steady pressure, coaxing her open.
“That’s it,” I praised, stroking circles around the sensitive skin with my thumb, adding more pressure and entering her slowly. “Just like that, baby. You take everything I give you, don’t you?”
She whimpered, “Gav—Daddy.” Her body went soft with pleasure for a heartbeat.
“You tell me if it’s too much, Rose. If not, I’m going to fuck both these pretty pink holes right here on this desk so that every time you ring someone out, all you’ll think about is me.”
“Yes. Please, Daddy. I want it.”
“Good girl.”
“More,” she panted. “I need more.” Her fingers curled around the edge of the counter, white-knuckled, and her hips pushed back against mine.
“Fucking hell, sweetheart.”
Scanning the desk, something caught my eye.
My hand stretched past her body, and I saw her eyes widen when I wrapped my hand around the item.
Then my eyes caught on something else: the bottle of unscented lotion sitting beside her laptop.
Jackpot. I pumped some into my hand and began to massage it into her ass, working two fingers deeper until she moaned my name like a prayer.
“Breathe in for me, Rose,” I encouraged.
As she did, I slid my fingers out and replaced them with the handle of a screwdriver I’d left here the other night. It only took a few moments for her body to lock up and shatter.
“Gavin—!”
Her pussy clenched around me like a vice, milking every drop of cum from me as I spilled deep inside her. I held her there, buried to the hilt, panting, forehead resting on her back as I slowly pulled the handle free.
“Holy heavens,” she mumbled into the desk.
I laughed softly, placing kisses along her spine. “You got that right, sweetheart.”
She turned her head just enough to look back at me, smiling, flushed, and blissed out.
“This store’s never going to feel the same again,” she said.
“That’s the point.” I grinned, helping her up gently. I kissed her, slow and soft this time, the intensity melting into something tender.
“You ready for tomorrow?” I asked, brushing a curl from her cheek.
She smiled lazily, eyes still heavy-lidded. “I think so. Nervous, but excited.”
“Good,” I said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “You should be. It’s not every day you reopen the place that saved you.”
She went quiet at that, her fingers lightly tracing the edge of my jaw.
“You saved me, too,” she sighed.
My throat tightened. I didn’t say anything—just held her closer, letting the silence say everything that words couldn’t.