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Epilogue
One year later
Natalie
I rolled onto my side, watching Luke as he slept, taking in his chiseled features and long lavish eyelashes as they fluttered gently against his high cheekbones. I’d missed him, and it felt good to have him back in my bed, but gazing across the bed at him, I wasn’t sure what the future held for us. It had been a big year for him, and in some ways for us.
Just back from a five-month world tour, Luke looked and seemed different. More mature and worldly. Not that he had been immature and naïve before that—he was by nature the opposite of those things. Still, the exposure to new things, places and people had clearly agreed with him, and I had no complaints about the man who had returned to me. Luke 2.0 was a keeper.
I snickered quietly at my goofy thoughts, but the sound was loud enough to wake Luke. He stirred immediately, eyelids fluttering open. He seemed confused at first—maybe as result of waking up in a different bed, in a different hotel, in a different city for months on end. But his gaze quickly met mine, and a sloppily sexy smile of recognition spread across his face. Fuck he was cute, even groggy with much-needed sleep.
“Hey.”
“Hey rock star.”
“Don’t call me that.” His lush eyebrows knitted together in consternation at the nickname.
“Why not? Newsflash: you just came back from playing to thousands of screaming fans in packed arenas around the globe. If that doesn’t make you a rock star, I don’t know what the hell will.”
“Yeah, well when I’m home and with you, I wanna let it all hang out and just be Luke. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because I had an amazing time on the road, but a lot of what goes with it is literal crazy fucking bullshit. It gets old real fast, you know?”
I didn’t, but I nodded just the same. If nothing else, I could feel the difference in his manner between last night when we’d reunited, and this morning. Of course, a good night’s sleep made a big difference to a person’s overall vibe and demeanor, and from what Luke had told me, there hadn’t been many full nights in bed on the road, especially when changing time zones were a factor. The jet lag alone stole hours of sleep, even when he was bone tired.
More than just being well rested, it was as though a whole lot of tension had drained from him overnight as he slept. When he’d stalked into the apartment the night before, apart from being a sexy sight for sore eyes, my overwhelming thought was how tightly wound he seemed. He was like a powder keg ready to blow.
With a few notable exceptions—like the moment before he left for the tour, when I’d told him I was okay with him sleeping with other people while he was on the road, because “what goes on tour, stays on tour,” right?—he was the a pretty laid back guy. He’d lost his shit at that suggestion until I managed to talk him down from the ledge, and explain that I wanted him to have the best possible experience for his best tour. I wasn’t telling him to sleep around. I was telling him to go with his gut if that was what he wanted.
Other than that time, he generally tended to leave the angry alpha routine to Arlo, and honestly, Arlo had more than enough to cover both of them, and several other people.
Yesterday had been different. He’d had zero chill when after barely saying hello, he scooped me into his arms and walked me backward to the wall, kissing me ferociously as he went. He was the furthest thing from relaxed when he shoved his knee between my legs, widening them so as to be able to better grind his erection against my sweet spot.
I wouldn’t have described him as laid back when he’d pulled at my clothes, indicating the need for me to rid myself of them while he divested himself of his own. Similarly, his vibe was far less than cool when he’d tightened one hand around my neck, squeezing hard enough to send waves of pleasure ricocheting around my body, but not hard enough to hurt.
Nothing about his demeanor was easygoing as he used one hand to pull my leg so that it was bent around his waist, and moved the other hand down to delve inside me.
When he spoke, his tone was anything other than casual.
“Fuck.You have no idea how much I’ve missed this. Shit, Nat.”
Except I did have an idea. In fact, I had every kind of idea. I’d missed him too. A lot. And while I’d been relieved that him dropping out of his course to tour the world had meant that we were free to be together like a regular couple, without having to watch our backs, and without the constant fear that I might lose my job; the relief had been tinged with regret that I wouldn’t be seeing him for the best part of six months.
Despite having given him carte blanche to enjoy the full on the road “experience,” the truth was I didn’t even let my mind wander for a moment to the reality of what that might mean. The less I knew about the endless possibilities that may have presented themselves to him, the better.
When he’d looked down at me long and hard, allowing me to read the naked emotion in his intense jade stare he was the antithesis calm and collected. He was intense and impatient. The look of hunger in his eyes tore through me, heating my blood, igniting my soul, and setting my already smoldering libido on fire.
When I handed him the condom I’d slipped into my pocked on the way to let greet him at the door, he was anything other than serene. He sheathed himself impatiently, wasting no time or energy in getting the job done.
“I want you so bad, I’m fighting the urge to go all cave man, and give it to you rough and ready.”
I stared him down, as serious as I’d ever been.
“Why fight it? I can take it. But more importantly, I want it.
As he pushed into me, feverish with desire, his breath came in short staccato beats, punctuating the hair close to my ear. I was similarly impatient, meeting him thrust for deep thrust. My orgasm built quickly, as I’d known it would, and as we sped toward release we were rampant and wild.
I didn’t try to fight the inevitable. There was no more likelihood of stopping my climax than there was of controlling a runaway train. Besides, there would be plenty more orgasms between us today, tomorrow, and into the future.
Back in the present I swept a stray curl from Luke’s forehead with my finger, then smoothed his furrowed brow.
“You okay? What’s bothering you? You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.
He shook his head, smiling widely. “Not at all. I was just thinking about how far we’ve come, and where we’re going now that I’m back.”
“And?”
“And I don’t have any concrete answers, but right now I’m just glad to be home, and so grateful we don’t need to fight to be together anymore.
I lent forward to place a feather light kiss on his lips.
Amen to that.
