Epilogue
Present Day Massachusetts
Fifteen minutes until the party…
“The end,” his father said with flourish as he shoved a bite of pizza in his mouth, making Jason wonder when they’d ordered pizza and how he’d missed that.
“Hey!” Trevor gasped in outrage when Jason reached over and snatched the slice that he’d been seconds away from devouring out of his hand. “You bastard!”
“Thanks,” Jason said, finishing off the slice of pizza quickly before he wiped his hands off and gently picked up the necklace that was finally finished and placed it in the small wooden box that had taken him less than an hour to make and stain.
“About time,” his father grumbled as he stood up and grabbed two pizza boxes off the counter and headed for the door. “I’m starving.”
“We would have been done a lot sooner if you hadn’t embellished the story,” Trevor pointed out, grabbing the other two pizza boxes and followed him.
“I didn’t embellish a damn thing!” his father snapped over his shoulder.
“Really? Not even when you said that Robert wasn’t nearly as good-looking as you?” Trevor asked, chuckling.
“I had to give you a visual! A good storyteller does that sort of thing!”
“Grandpa did a better job of telling that story,” Trevor pointed out as Jason reluctantly followed after them, his attention on the small box in his hands as he prayed that he did it the justice that it deserved.
“You ungrateful bastard!” his father snapped in outrage.
“Ungrateful? You made me pay for lunch and then you wouldn’t even share the chicken fingers!” Trevor snapped.
“I needed sustenance!”
“No, what you need is-”
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” his father suddenly demanded, cutting Trevor off. It took Jason a moment to realize that his father was talking to him and that both men were now frowning at him.
“To the party,” Jason said, returning the frown. “Where else would I be going?”
His cousin and father both shook their heads, sighing heavily as his father gestured for him to sit his ass down on the couch. “You’re not going to the party.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jason demanded, wondering what the hell was wrong with the men in his family. For the past two hours, they’d been snapping at him to move his ass so that they wouldn’t be late for the party and now they were purposely trying to make them late.
“This party isn’t for you,” Trevor said, giving him a gentle, okay, not so gentle shove towards the couch. “Your job is just to sit here and wait.”
His father nodded in agreement as he gestured for Trevor to leave. “We’ll check on you from time to time,” his father said, opening the door. “We’ll bring the kids and Haley’s grandmother back in a week unless you think that you’ll need more time.”
“More time for what?” Jason asked in confusion as he watched his father head out the door.
“Don’t worry about food. We start taking shifts tonight. Just make sure that you leave the door unlocked so that we can get in to fill the fridge,” his father said, but before Jason could ask him anything else, he was gone.
What. The. Hell?
Deciding that they were screwing with him, Jason got to his feet with a sigh and headed for the door, but he didn’t get far before the door opened and the most beautiful woman that he’d ever seen was walking in.
“Haley,” Jason said, smiling as she stepped inside, looking just as beautiful as she had five years ago when he’d married her. “What are you-”
Before he could get the words out, she was running towards him and jumping in his arms. Her arms and legs quickly wrapped around him as her mouth found his. She kissed him like she hadn’t seen him in years instead of hours.
“I love you,” Haley said against his lips as she reached down and started tugging his shirt out of his pants.
“Haley?” Jason said, wrapping his arms around her so that she didn’t fall.
“Bedroom. Now,” she demanded as she kissed her way down to his neck and when her lips reached his favorite spot, she suckled, making him groan in pleasure.
Somehow, Jason forced himself to focus on something besides the wicked way that she licked his neck.
“What about the party?” he asked even though he’d much rather take his wife up on what she was so sweetly offering him.
His entire family was waiting for them. His mother had been cooking since last week and they needed to-
“I want you naked, Jason,” Haley said, shattering what little control he had.
With a growl of approval, he carried her to the bedroom, kicking toys out of his way while making a mental note to build the kids another toy box.
Along the way, he paused here and there to help rid his wife of her clothes, leaving her in the matching lace lavender panties and bra that he was going to tear off with his teeth, her glasses that made her look utterly adorable, and that sexy little smile of hers that had his cock twitching with the need to be inside her.
“On the bed, sweetheart,” Jason said, giving her one last kiss before he placed her on the bed and gently tossed the box by the pillows.
As soon as her bottom touched the soft comforter, Haley was getting on her knees and wrapping one arm around his shoulders so that she could pull him down for a hungry kiss that had him struggling not to come in his pants like some kid.
Even after all these years, it still amazed him that she could manage to get him this hot from a simple kiss.
He had no idea what had gotten into his wife, but he wasn’t going to complain.
He couldn’t remember a time when he’d wanted her more.
He moaned in pleasure when she cupped him through his pants, squeezing and tugging on his erection as he reached down and undid his pants.
As soon as the zipper was down, Haley was reaching inside his pants with one of her small hands and pulling his hard shaft out.
Wrapping her warm hand around his length, she gave it a tug that had him sucking on her tongue.
The sexy little whimper that she released let him know just how desperate she was to have him.
“On your hands and knees,” Jason said, pulling back so that he could kick his shoes off.
As he finished undoing his pants, he watched as Haley turned around and got on her hands and knees so that her beautiful bottom was facing him.
He shoved his pants off and stepped out of them as he moved closer to his little grasshopper.
Reaching out, he gripped the sides of her panties and drew them down, loving the way her ass wiggled in an effort to help him.
Once he had them down to her knees, Jason left them there and stepped up behind her, letting his shaft tease her bottom as he reached over and undid her bra.
He let it fall off her, knowing that she would pull it off while he tended to other things.
With one hand, he gently gripped her hip, keeping her in place as he traced his fingertips down her back, taking in every beautiful inch of her as she pressed back against his cock, letting him know that she wanted more.
Since he never denied his wife anything, Jason stepped back just enough so that he could reach down between them and take hold of his cock so that he could do the one thing that he knew would drive Haley out of her mind.
He slowly ran his hand up and down the shaft, making sure that the tip was pressed against her wet slit so that she could feel what he was doing, knowing just how much this turned her on.
When she began whimpering and panting his name, he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut and grind his teeth together as he struggled not to come.
He’d slept with a lot of women before her and he couldn’t remember a single one that had ever loved to play in the bedroom as much as Haley did.
The woman was insatiable and he loved every goddamn minute of it.
He wouldn’t trade her for anything in this world.
He loved her so much that sometimes he feared that this was all a cruel dream and that he’d wake up and she would be gone.
“Jason, please!” Haley said, begging him to take her a lot sooner than normal and letting him know just how turned on she was.
This wasn’t going to last long, Jason realized as he stepped back and released himself.
Without a word, Haley got back on her knees and turned around.
He reached out and took her hand in his as he sat down on the edge of the bed, his gaze never leaving hers as she moved around him and straddled his lap.
He leaned in and kissed her, only pulling back seconds later so that she would follow after him.
Her lips never left his as he laid back and wrapped his arms around her.
As he kissed her, Jason slowly shifted his hips from side to side, taking her in a way that he knew would drive them both crazy.
It wasn’t long before Haley was mimicking his motions and taking it to a whole new level.
When he felt her tighten around him, he gently pushed her up so that he could latch onto one of her large nipples with his lips.
He gently tugged on her nipple as she arched her back to take him deeper inside her.
Her movements became wild as she rode him.
When he reached up and cupped her other breast, she lost it.
She’d barely finished screaming his name when he’d flipped her onto her back and ground his cock as far as it would go inside her.
Instead of pulling out and thrusting back in, he continued to grind himself against her, knowing that he was hitting her clit in the process and loving the way her nipple hardened even further in his mouth.
Just when he didn’t think that he could hold back much longer, he felt her tighten around him and he let go. He licked and sucked her breast with abandon as he finally moved, praying that he wasn’t hurting her even as he had to admit that it felt so damn good.
Growling her name around her nipple, he slid back inside her one last time as he felt the last tremors of his orgasm leave him.
As he leaned up to kiss his wife, he felt the exhaustion that he’d been fighting for the past few weeks finally catch up with him.
Before he could manage to roll away from her, he felt himself drift off and he couldn’t help but smile. That is, until the pinching began.
“Ow!” Jason snapped when it became obvious that she had no plans on stopping.
When he raised himself up so that he could glare at the little bully, Haley merely grinned that huge grin that she was known for and asked, “Where’s my present?”
“Present?” Jason asked, frowning until she went to pinch him again. “Ow!”
“Don’t make me break out the fists of fury!” Haley threatened, looking so damn cute that he couldn’t help but chuckle as he reached over and picked up the box that he’d made her.
“We wouldn’t want that,” Jason teased as he moved off her so that he could sit up.
“No,” Haley said with a sniff, “we wouldn’t.”
“Will this keep your violent ways under control?” he asked as he placed the box on her beautiful stomach just above the light stretch marks that now marked her body from giving birth to their three amazing children.
He loved kissing those marks. Every time Haley complained about them, he showed her exactly how much he loved them.
“Maybe,” Haley said with a pleased little smile and an excited squeal as she sat up.
With a smile and a prayer that he wasn’t about to disappoint his wife, Jason reached down and grabbed the quilt that Haley kept folded at the end of their bed and pulled it up until it covered them both.
He sat back and got comfortable before he reached out and gently took the case from Haley’s hands.
He waited until she was lying down tightly against him with her head cushioned on his shoulder before he opened the box.
“It’s beautiful,” Haley whispered reverently as she looked at the stone necklace with something close to awe.
“Yes, you are,” Jason said, looking down at his wife as she sent him a shy smile. Unable to help himself, he leaned down and pressed a kiss against her lips, savoring the sweet taste of her before forcing himself to pull back.
“There are so many stones,” Haley said, reaching out to trace her fingertips along the bottom row of beads.
“Four hundred and fifty-six beads, to be exact,” he said with a smile.
“That’s a lot of beads,” Haley said, snuggling up closer to him.
“You gave me a lot of wonderful memories, my little grasshopper,” Jason said, unable to help but smile just thinking about all the wonderful memories that she’d given him over the years.
“What’s that white rock?” she asked, turning her head slightly so that she could press a kiss against his shoulder as she pointed to the first rock in the necklace.
“That would be from the tree where we first met.”
She pulled her hand back. “You mean the one where you peed?” Haley asked, sounding amused.
“I had a lot of soda, woman, and the realtor lied about where she’d left the damn key!” Jason snapped defensively.
“So touchy,” Haley mumbled as she pointed to a little gray rock at the three-quarter section of the necklace. “And this one?”
“This one is from the parking lot of your doctor’s office when we found out that you were pregnant with Joshua,” he said, smiling at the memory of holding Haley in his arms when the doctor shared the news with them.
“And this one?” Haley asked, pointing to a dark grey rock close to the beginning.
“This one is from the hotel in Boston where I got to hold you in my arms for the first time.”
“And this one?” she asked, pointing to the next rock.
“Is from the same hotel,” he said, looking down at her.
“Why did you get two from the same hotel?” she asked, looking adorably confused.
With a smile, Jason leaned down and brushed his lips against hers as he whispered, “Because that’s when I realized that I never wanted to let you go.”
And this is only the beginning…