Epilogue
Five Years Later
Elena
“We’re late, aren’t we?”
I knew it was a bad idea to stop for candy, but the boys couldn’t stop asking for it on the way to the party. It was pretty awkward walking around the store in a cocktail dress and a tux but neither my husband nor I was willing to deal with fussy kids who didn’t get the treat we’d promised them.
“Relax, baby,” Roarke says calmly, sliding a hand around my waist as he carries our two-year-old son with the other. I hold our four-year-old son’s hand, who is too lost in the chocolate he’s eating to care that we’re arriving late to a party.
“The invitation said that the party starts at four, but it’s almost six,” I tell him as we walk to the front door of Sofia’s and Matteo’s mansion.
It seems that everyone’s already here, judging from all the cars parked in the driveway.
We’re the last ones to arrive. “Why did you insist on going to the store in the opposite direction, Roarke?”
He chuckles, leaning down and brushing his lips over my forehead. “I’ll tell them it was my fault and take all the blame,” he says, letting go of me to ring the doorbell.
“I’m not throwing you under the bus, even if it was kind of your fault.” I take in a deep breath and slowly let it out. I don’t like being late for anything, and the fact that we’re nearly two hours late has me nervous. “Everyone with kids knows you can never make it on time to a party.”
Yes, I’ll blame the kids. My big sister, Sofia, seems to have a soft spot for them and will not be upset if it’s their fault.
My heart jumps when the door opens since I’m expecting a butler. Instead, I’m met by my sister’s grinning face. “You made it!” she beams, throwing her arms around me. “Come on in. Everyone’s here already.”
“It’s the boys,” I blurt out as she pulls me inside. “They’re the reason we’re late.”
She stops to look at me and laughs. “Nicely played, Elena, but I’m not mad that you’re late.” She pulls me through the wide foyer and down the hallway, then stops in front of the ballroom door. “Close your eyes.”
I turn to stare at my sister with surprise before turning to glance at my husband. “W-what’s going on?”
“There’s that suspicious mind of yours at work again. Just close your eyes, Elena.”
“But—”
Roarke’s hand comes around me and covers my eyes. “She’s always suspicious, this one,” he says from behind me, and I hear my sister’s laugh followed by the sound of her opening the door. “Now, baby, are you ready?”
Ready?
For what?
“What the heck is going on?”
Roarke’s hand falls from my face, and I blink my eyes to adjust to the light as I try to take in everything at once. The flowers, the decorations, the waitstaff, and…family. Everyone’s staring at us, holding wine glasses and smiling like we’re the guests of honor or something.
“Surprise,” Sofia giggles as she reaches out to take the baby from my husband’s arms and reaches for the older one’s hand, who gladly goes to his aunt. She takes our kids and walks in to join her husband and their kids.
“What is this?” I ask, confused yet by what’s happening.
“Happy fifth anniversary, baby,” Roarke rasps hotly into my ear, his arms circling my waist. “Your sister thought it would be a fantastic idea to throw a surprise party for you—us.”
I turn to look at him, confused. “But our wedding anniversary isn’t for a few months yet.
” Unless…my eyes widen with surprise when I realize that he’s talking about our rushed courthouse wedding.
We have always celebrated the one that happened months later.
His mother did love me as Roarke promised she would.
But she absolutely refused to believe that her oldest son was married at some courthouse by a bored clerk, so she planned a huge wedding where all the families were invited.
My parents-in-law, Patrick and Moira, were the opposite of my parents.
They were warm and loving, and Moira was the mother I had always wanted.
A fiery little mama bear with green eyes and red hair that seemed to terrify all her boys in the household into submission but went all mother hen when someone needed her.
Suddenly, I was wedding dress shopping with mother hen one second, and the next, my brother-in-law Matteo was walking me down the aisle and into the arms of the love of my life.
Five years later, and I couldn’t have wanted a better life or family for myself. Couldn’t have found one.
The night after our courthouse wedding had me convinced tension would erupt between Matteo Rossi and Alexei Balshov and that somehow, Roarke would be at the center of it all, but the opposite happened.
After arriving home from his honeymoon, Roarke and Matteo talked things through before leaving to deal with my father. Matteo didn’t kill him, as a favor to Sofia, but he came close.
And everything was perfect.
Roarke quit working as a bodyguard to focus on the business and consulting side of their firm. I finished my PhD without having to worry about being married off to a homicidal maniac, became a professor of art history at Columbia University, and then had my babies.
And it was all thanks to that day five years ago. In that courtroom, with my bodyguard, his siblings, and the bored clerk.
“Come on now, it’s time to party!”
I find myself pulled into the ballroom, a wine glass in my hand, with family circling me, each talking over the other, but I can’t help the grin.
The kids are ferried off to another room as the adults drink and dance.
Finally, I’m in my husband’s arms, spinning on the dance floor.
Then, another hand grabs me, and I turn to see Sofia’s grinning face.
“Feel familiar?” she asks as we dance in circles.
“Your surprise wedding on the island,” I say with a laugh. “You seemed so in love with Matteo, and I asked you if you were happy.”
“Now, it’s my turn to ask the same thing.”
I turn around and seek Roarke’s face in the crowd, unsurprised to find him watching me.
He hasn’t been my bodyguard in a long time, but he’s never taken his eyes off me from the second he met me.
Even back on the island, as my sister and I danced, his eyes were on me, as they are now. As they always have been.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” I say, looking at my sister again. “I don’t think I could be happier, Sofia.”
“Well then, I’ll take that as a challenge,” she laughs, reaching into the pocket of her dress and taking out a card and waving it in front of my eyes. “I bet you could be happier.”
“What is that?” I ask even as it clicks. I recognize the keycard as the access card for the security gate of Matteo’s private airstrip outside the city.
“How do you feel about a second honeymoon for you and your bodyguard?” she giggles, a mischievous glint flashing into her eyes.
“The boys will stay with us, and you two can fly to the island, swim naked, and enjoy your anniversary as you bake in the sun. But don’t worry, I packed you some sunscreen. ”
I’m floored, touched by my sister’s effort as I wrap my arms around her shoulders. “Thank you,” I mumble into her shoulder.
“Of course,” she laughs, patting my shoulder affectionately. “Now, go have fun with your husband.”
***
Roarke
Five years ago, I received a file on the Marino sisters, and the moment I saw her face, I knew somehow that the girl staring back at me would change my life. I just never quite knew to what extent.
I haven’t had a nightmare in over three years, and even before then, they were few and far between—only happening when work kept me from our bed—and they were never violent.
Before her, I never imagined anything being more important to me than work or my family.
At some point, the darkness would have consumed me, and I would have lost both.
She was the light—the one who chased away the shadows and the demons that hid in it.
My entire world is seated across from me on a private plane flying across the ocean. The soft glow of the cabin lights shimmers over her face, highlighting the curve of her cheekbones and the way that beautiful, chocolate brown hair falls over her shoulders.
She looks absolutely stunning, and I feel my cock harden as I watch her, still dressed in that dusty-rose-pink cocktail dress.
I’ve been picturing taking it off of her all evening and licking her breasts that seem to have grown with the birth of our second son.
All night, I watched her, picturing her red heels digging into my back as I licked her pussy until she was all soft and wet for my cock.
Christ above but I want her.
“It’s been forever since we took time for ourselves,” she says, her eyes sparkling like the champagne in our glasses, oblivious to the fire burning through my veins.
Something akin to worry crosses her eyes as she delicately swirls the golden liquid, light catching the subtle movement of her hand.
“I’m going to miss my babies. Do you think they’ll be alright without us? ”
“You know how much your sister adores them. They’ll be fine,” I say, reaching for a chocolate-covered strawberry and tipping it toward her. “Besides, we’ll call them every night so you can talk to them. Relax, baby.”
“You’re right,” she says, her lips curving into a smile as she leans forward and bites the strawberry off my fingers, her eyes flashing mischievously at me as she licks the chocolate off my fingers. Oh, so maybe she isn’t that oblivious to my need for her.
The flight attendant tops up our champagne glasses before quietly excusing herself, indicating she’ll be in the front and asking us to press the call button if we need her, but I don’t think we will. We’re not going to need her for several hours. Not until we land anyway.
I climb to my feet and take my wife’s hand, helping her up from her seat. “I think it’s about time we joined the mile-high club, don’t you?”