Epilogue
Cal
J ules cries out in ecstasy. “I’m so close.”
She’s bent over the back of the chair in the den, skirt flipped up over her round ass, shirt and bra pushed up so I have access to her glorious tits.
My shirt is somewhere across the room where she ripped it off me, and my pants are around my ankles as I drive into her.
We took advantage of Charlie’s afternoon nap to get a quickie in between the shop’s downtime and when she’s scheduled to wake.
I knew exactly what was up when I saw Jules throw the lock and flip the front door sign to the one that announces she’ll be right back.
She’d barely stepped foot into the apartment, and we were all over each other.
Didn’t even make it to the bedroom. And now, the sight of my dick sinking in and out of her is nearly enough to put me over the edge.
I pull her up against my chest with a hand around her throat. My other hand falls to the bud that will send her over the edge. “You can take more,” I growl, knowing how much she loves it when I say the words. “Don’t fucking come.”
She tightens around me, and my hand closes around her slim throat at the sensation. My balls draw up tight as the explosion builds at the base of my spine.
I push her back down to the chair and grip her hip, driving both of us to the edge of oblivion. One swipe of my thumb across her clit, and she explodes, taking me with her as I bury myself deep and feel her pulse around my cock.
I let go on a curse. “Fuck.”
“Fuck,” a tiny little-girl voice parrots behind me.
“Jesus Christ,” I shout.
“Oh my god,” Jules yells.
I pull out of her and spin, covering myself with a hand as Charlie sprints from her bedroom doorway to her toy box across the room.
Jules stands, pushing me back a step. We’re a cursing hot mess of flying hands and clothes. I can’t get covered fast enough.
“Please tell me my niece didn’t just see me naked,” I beg.
Jules’s bright laughter fills the room. “Uh, I could tell you that, but I’m pretty sure I’d be lying.”
“Juju, color.” Charlie toddles over to Jules, holding out a pack of crayons.
“In a minute, sweetie. It’s almost time to talk to Mommy.”
“Mama!” Crayons forgotten, Charlie snags Jules’s phone and holds it to her ear. “Hi, Mama.”
On cue, my phone blares with Dani’s ringtone.
“There she is now.”
I accept the call and point the phone at Charlie so she can say hi first. “Hi, Mama. ”
“Hi, sweetheart.” My sister’s voice fills the room. Charlie holds up the crayons and repeats, “Hi, Mama.”
“When’s she gonna start talking for real?” I ask.
Jules shoots me a knowing smirk. “Are you sure you’re up for that?”
I send her a wink.
“Uh, hello? On a monitored timed call here,” Dani says, and I realize I’ve let the phone drop while being distracted by my beautiful fiancée.
“Sorry, Sis. How’s it going?”
“Well, I passed my final test, and I’m waiting on my squadron assignment.”
Dani and I finally came to an agreement.
We started the guardianship agreement for me to formally take Charlie, and Dani went into the navy.
From the moment she signed her recruitment paperwork, her attitude about life changed.
She morphed from a girl with no plan to planning her education and military-service route.
“Dani, that’s awesome. Congratulations,” Jules exclaims. Me? I’m too proud and emotional to speak.
“You guys are going to be here for graduation, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
We firm up travel plans, and all too soon, we’re ringing off. I’m staring at Charlie, finding it fucking hard to catch my breath. Jules slips her arms around my waist and presses her cheek to my chest. Like always when she’s near me, I wrap mine around her and pull her tighter.
Dani needed to start her life over, and in a way, I have too. It’s just two vastly different ways to go about it. She needed the space and freedom to make something of herself, and I needed the grounding of having a family.
“It’s gonna work out and be okay,” Jules whispers .
“I hope I’ve done the right thing. That Charlie won’t hate me and Dani later,” I voice my latest round of worry.
“She’s going to understand. And she’s going to love you and her mom for it. You’re a good man, Cal Johnson.”
I give her a grateful squeeze. This woman always seems to know what I need to hear and when to say it. One of the many reasons I proposed to her immediately upon her waking from the surgery that removed the bullet she took to keep my sister and Charlie safe.
She shifts, planting her chin on me. “Have I thanked you lately for doing such a quick cleanup job on the coffee shop? I honestly don’t know how we could’ve opened if you hadn’t been so fast with the repairs.”
In truth, I busted my ass to get the damage from the fire corrected before Jules was even fully recovered. But I did it.
I kiss the tip of her nose. “Every day. Gotta do what it takes to keep my woman happy.”
Charlie runs to our huddle, and I release Jules long enough to scoop her up in one arm.
“Like I said, you’re a good man, Cal. And I love you.”
I didn’t think, with my past, that anyone would ever say those words about me. But with my arms around these two and my heart full of pride for my sister, I believe her.