Epilogue
One Year Later
Colin
24 Years Old
“Knowledge, pacing, skill, productivity, communication, and overall.” Colin snapped his hips forward with a thrust as he listed off each category on their sex chart. “I want fives on everything.”
“Make me come again, and I’ll give you whatever you want,” Scarlett gasped underneath him. She was completely naked besides the gold band and emerald wedding ring adorning her ring finger and sparkling in the morning light. Her hands had heated up enough to touch him. Cool metal against his skin, they had learned, was a mood killer.
He rocked into her again, hitting as far back as he could and lacing his fingers in hers to feel her even closer. “Tell me what you need.”
“Compliment me.”
“The dancing painting you did of my parents is so pretty that I pause to look at it every time I go hang out at the house,” he panted.
“I meant about what we’re doing right now, but that’s nice.” She arched her back, and he watched her breasts heave with her, jiggling with his persistent thrusts.
“You’re so tight, Red.” He switched tactics and meant it. Her walls were hugging him so well that he would come in no time. “And you did so good with your legs tied. I like it when you need my tongue but you can’t move so you have to just take what I give you.”
Scarlett moaned on another thrust as he pushed into her so hard that each jerk of his hips slid her back until the crown of her forehead was hitting the headboard. He knew when she was coming because she always told him, and it was no different this time.
“I’m there,” Scarlett whined, arching her back more. And so was he, emptying himself inside of her as waves of pleasure wracked his body. He had barely finished releasing when Scarlett threw off the covers and clambered out of their bed. “We have no time left.”
“You’re the one that wanted me to try another knot trick.” Colin followed after her into the bathroom.
“You really gotta learn to tie faster,” she laughed out as she hopped in the shower. Colin wiped himself down with a wet wipe and deemed himself clean enough since it was just after he had gotten out of the shower when Scarlett loosed the towel from around his waist and started things off by dropping to her knees to suck him off.
“Rings, Red,” he called out in a monotone voice, holding out his hand to the glass shower box. The door opened, and her hand popped out to drop her rings into his palm. She had lost one in the sink once already, and it had taken forever to get it back out of the pipes. He watched her happily for a moment as she used the oatmeal and honey soap they shared, scrubbing the suds into her wet, freckled skin. He was pretty sure he had kissed every freckle on her body at this point, but his view had him second-guessing himself and vowing to map her body with his lips more often. He stayed in the bathroom long enough to brush his teeth and left the bathroom before he was hard again.
Once Colin was fully dressed and ready, he waited in the living room with a water glass for Scarlett and Pepto in his lap, happily purring as he stroked her back. It hadn’t taken Scarlett much longer before she was chugging the glass of water and sitting beside him as they both eagerly stared at the clock. Eden was four entire minutes late, and Colin couldn’t fathom being more than two minutes late anywhere. Except to graduation, if you were otherwise occupied in the backseat of a car.
Soon enough, the doorbell rang, and Colin rose to his feet, ditching Pepto on the floor as he and Scarlett walked through their fully decorated apartment filled with plants that Scarlett over- or underwatered and colorful artwork covering each and every wall.
“Ready?” Scarlett asked, hand on the doorknob.
“Ready.” He nodded.
When she swung open the door, Eden and Theo stepped into their home, Theo with a suitcase dragging behind him and a partial sign of I hate being late . Leo had been teaching Theo ASL any chance he could, but with his new film project starting soon, Colin and Scarlett had hired someone else for the job: a deaf girl from Texas who had recently moved to the area and happened to be Carter’s roommate. Finley Moore was starting on Monday afternoon once Theo was out of school so she could teach them all how to communicate better with him.
“Want to see your room?” Colin asked, gesturing down the hallway. Theo nodded, and everyone followed Colin to the door on the right. What he once thought would be his office was now a second bedroom for their foster kid and the newest addition to the family—only in location, because Theo had practically been theirs for months. After they had taken all the foster care classes, gone through a routine home inspection, and gotten the necessary paperwork done, it was finally official.
Scarlett stood beside Colin, and he could tell by the way she sucked in a breath and he didn’t hear it release that she was waiting for Theo’s reaction. It wasn’t going to be the same room that he had seen a bunch of times before. Piper had designed it specifically for him, with a sensory swing and, of course, an easel with a stack of canvas at the ready.
Theo immediately started to sprint happily around the room, pointing at things and grinning. Colin felt his wife finally release her anxious hold on his arm, and they both stepped into the room after him.
“It’s official. You’re foster parents. How do you feel?” Eden asked.
“I feel like that.” Colin pointed to the almost-completed painting on Theo’s easel, a portrait of his and Scarlett’s wedding day at the lookout during a setting sun. It had been a small group, but perfect in every way.
“I feel like that, too,” Scarlett said, folding herself under his arm as Theo ran up to the both of them, arms raised and expectant. They both stooped to his height and hugged him the way everyone deserved to be hugged: with a firm pressure and so much love behind it that when Theo pulled away, he told them they had practically suffocated him before he went to work at his easel.
The End