11. Epilogue - One Year Later - Christmas Eve

Epilogue - One Year Later - Christmas Eve

Cole

“ Y ou’ve got a little something…” I gestured to West’s face.

He wiped at his cheek, further smudging flour on his cheekbone. “Here?”

I reached out and wiped it away with my thumb. “Got it.” I grinned and leaned in, kissing him quickly. Instead of pulling away, I lingered, lengthening the kiss more than I’d intended, deepening it, parting my lips and letting our tongues slide together. I wrapped my hand around the back of West’s neck and held him close as we kissed.

A few moments later, West groaned and pulled away. “We’re never going to get these cookies baked if you keep that up.”

I shrugged and kissed him again, lightly. My voice was a whisper when I spoke. “Who cares?”

He leveled me with a look. “You wanted to take cookies to your mom’s place for Christmas. Homemade cookies. You know she’s going to love them.”

With a sigh, I turned back to the table. “Fine. We have the dry ingredients mixed. Now what?”

I watched as West mixed the dry and wet ingredients and the mixture became a dough. “See? Now that this is together, we just break off pieces to roll into a ball, and then coat it with the cinnamon sugar mixture.”

He demonstrated the first one, and once he had, I was confident I could do the same. “Got it.”

It didn’t take long until the snickerdoodles were lined up neatly on a baking sheet and ready to go into the oven. Once he’d closed them in and set the timer, West leaned back against the counter. “That’s all there is to it.”

I gave him a wicked grin and took a few steps forward until I was pressed against him. “Now what?” I murmured.

“Usually I clean up the mess while they bake.” He sounded calm except for the hitch in his breath when he said “mess” at the same time that I’d palmed the front of his jeans.

“I can think of something better to do.”

“Cole,” he said, half admonishment, half moan as I pressed kisses to his neck. “I promised you a year ago I’d teach you and we’re only just now getting around to it. I don’t want them to burn and ruin everything we’ve done.”

“How long do we have?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen timer. “Eight minutes.”

I hummed. “I can do a lot of damage in eight minutes.” Dropping my hands to his waist, I worked to unfasten his jeans.

With a groan, West pushed me away. “Let’s make a deal. We get the cookies out of the oven when they’re done and then I let you ravage me.”

“Right here in the kitchen?” I asked hopefully.

He gasped, pretending to be scandalized. “Not in front of the cookies, darling.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I know. Now, help me clean up.”

I did as he’d asked, helping to wash the dishes we’d dirtied while he cleaned up the counters and put away ingredients. Soon enough, the timer beeped, signaling that the cookies were ready. The second West had put them on the cooling rack, I sidled up behind him, wrapped my arms around him, and kissed his neck again.

“ Now can I ravage you?”

He groaned, dropping his head forward, and rocked his hips so his ass pressed against my groin. “Yes, please. But make it quick. We have less than an hour before we have to leave.”

I didn’t have to be told twice. With that, I kissed his neck once more and grabbed his ass. “Meet me in the bedroom.”

Laughing, we raced each other to West’s bedroom, and the moment we crossed the threshold, we turned to each other, kissing each other desperately. I stripped West of his clothes and shoved him onto the bed. As he scrambled onto the mattress, I took my own clothes off and joined him the second I was naked. We kissed and touched each other for several moments before I pulled West on top of me, straddling my hips.

He took the cue and reached out, grabbing the lube off his nightstand and coating my bare cock with it—we’d ditched the condoms a few months in. My breath hitched as he slicked me up, and the next thing I knew, West was lining us up and settling down onto me, my erection breaching his tight hole.

I gripped his hips hard and set the pace quickly, thrusting deep into him, causing him to moan and reach for his own leaking erection. He was so beautiful as he rode me, rocking back and forth as I thrust into him. The heat of his body around my length quickly drove me to the edge, and before I knew it, my cock was pulsing, releasing deep into his body.

A moment later, he followed behind, spilling over his hand and on my chest and stomach, the contractions of his hole around my cock dragging out the final remnants of my orgasm.

When he was spent, he pulled off and collapsed onto the bed next to me, groaning. We lay together, catching our breath, until I was composed enough to grab a spare shirt and unceremoniously clean us off. Once we were clean enough, we hurried to shower and change before heading to my mom’s house for Christmas Eve celebrations.

Once we’d arrived at my mom’s house, I knocked on the door twice before pushing the door open and calling out.

“It’s us.”

“Andy, they’re here,” Mom said by way of response, sounding delighted that we’d arrived. A moment later, once we’d stepped inside the house, she was wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me tight. She turned to hug West and stopped when she saw he was carrying two tins, one in each hand. “Oh, now I thought we’d agreed that we weren’t doing gifts.”

“I made cookies,” I announced.

“ You made cookies?”

I nodded proudly before pausing. “Well, West helped. A lot.”

“Still, it’s the thought that counts.”

As we gathered in the dining room to share our family meal, nerves started to overtake me, my stomach quivering. I shoved my hand in my pocket and toyed with the key on the chain I was hiding, my gift to West.

“Cole, you’re awfully quiet tonight,” Mom pointed out as we were finishing dinner.

“Sorry,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” Andy agreed. “What’s with you?”

I took a deep breath and pulled the key chain out of my pocket, placing it on the table between me and West.

“I have an announcement.” Everyone fell silent and all eyes were on me. I turned to face West, the man who had quickly become the love of my life. “I love you. More than I ever expected. Last year for Christmas, we agreed to start a semi-long-distance relationship, and this year has been the best year of my life. But I’m tired of all the driving back and forth. I’m tired of living in the city where I can’t see you every day. So I rented a house, just around the corner from the coffee shop. I’d like it if you’d consider moving in there with me.”

West looked at me, brows furrowed, lips slightly parted, as he processed what I’d said. “You want me to move in with you?”

I nodded. “I do. I love you and it feels like the right next step.”

A smile broke over his face. “I love you too.”

“So is that a yes?”

“Of course it is,” he practically shouted, leaning in and pulling me into a hug. Mom and Andy broke out in applause and cheered and West released me and turned to them. “Did you two know about this?”

Mom shook her head. “I suspected something was going on, but I didn’t know anything, not for sure. I’m really happy for you two.”

“Me too,” Andy said. “Glad you’ve finally seen the small-town light.”

We all laughed and once the conversation settled, Mom cleared her throat. “Well, let’s have some cookies, shall we?” When everyone agreed, she got up and brought the tins in from the kitchen.

As we passed the tins of snickerdoodles around and ate our cookies, which were imperfect but sweet and delicious anyway, I smiled, warmed. My life was much like the cookies—imperfect but sweet. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The End

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