Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Two Months Later

It might have been Bex's birthday, but Faith was just as excited—if not more so.

"I don't want anything big," Bex had insisted, but Faith had organized a small group of people to come help them celebrate at the loft. It was made up of some of the Rawhide friends they'd made—Mandi, Amelia, Tay and Chef Guilia—but somehow, she'd managed to sneakily liaise with Riley too.

It would have been impossible to hide the fact there was a party going on, considering it was being held in Bex's loft, but Riley and Wendy flying over from the UK was one surprise Faith had determined would not be ruined.

"What're we doing again?" asked Bex, coming from the bedroom into the open plan loft space. She was wearing a suit, the jacket unbuttoned, and her shirt open at the top. Faith still wasn't entirely sure how Bex managed to contain her curves within the shirt, and considering how some of the buttons were straining, she thought there might be a mini fashion emergency later.

Or rather, she hoped that there'd be a mini fashion emergency later.

"A dinner party seemed too formal," said Faith, "and as Chef Guilia's coming, I didn't want my cooking to be placed under her scrutiny. So it's drinks—we've got cocktails, mocktails, and beers—nibbles, and boardgames."

She'd managed to get her hands on a copy of Rapidough , which she thought would have the whole group in hysterics, and Unstable Unicorns , which she thought would entertain the Littles.

"Sounds amazing, love," said Bex. "You really do spoil me."

Faith wasn't quite so sure about that. Ever since they'd gotten back from Rawhide Ranch, she and Bex had been almost inseparable, to the point where Bex had cleared out a bedside table and a couple of drawers of her dresser for Faith to keep her things in.

If anything, Bex was the one spoiling Faith.

"Faith?"

Faith spun on the spot, and saw where Bex was frozen, staring at the table. "What? What's the matter?"

"Where on earth did you…? How did you…? Faith," Bex said finally. Maybe she'd finish a sentence this time. "Faith, you can't get most of this food over here. Is that Ribena? Did you get me Ribena ?"

Faith sent a silent prayer of thanks towards Riley and Wendy, who'd shipped goodness only knows how many British goodies and treats to Faith's work over the last month.

"I mean, I had some help, but yes."

Bex came around the table and caught Faith up in her arms. "You, rainbow girl, are the best girlfriend ever ! What would I do without you?"

"I'm not sure you want me to answer that," said Faith, who truly wasn't.

"Neither do I," said Bex, and kissed her.

Kissing Bex never got old. In fact, Faith was convinced it got better every time their lips met. She leaned into her girlfriend and savored the moment. The quiet before the storm.

Eventually though, she had to pull away. "People will be here soon," she said, and right on cue, the elevator dinged.

"Happy birthday!" chorused the group they found inside. And then Mandi and Tay were bounding through, followed by Amelia holding a pile of presents and Chef Guilia with what looked like a birthday cake.

Bex hugged each of them, and her mouth dropped open when she saw the traditional Italian birthday cake Chef Guilia had made. "That looks incredible !" she said.

"The rest of the food is less exciting," said Faith, pointing towards the beige spread that had sent Bex into raptures. "But I have it on good authority that it's yummy."

"You'd better believe it!" said Bex. "There're stuffed Yorkshires, Amelia."

Amelia looked a little nonplussed. "Isn't Yorkshire a place? How can you stuff it?"

Bex slung her arm around the older woman's shoulder and walked her over to the spread, talking about savory pancakes and roast beef fillings.

"I put here?" asked Chef Guilia, and quietly went and set up the cake.

"Everything still in place for the big arrival?" asked Tay.

Faith nodded. "And I don't think she suspects a thing, either."

"Brilliant," said Tay. "Wow, this is exciting. Surprises are so much better when you know you're not going to get punished for them after."

"Those aren't surprises though, Tay," pointed out Mandi. "Those are pranks."

"Oh yeah," said Tay, and they grinned mischievously. "Pranks."

The sound of a phone cut through the hum of conversation, and Bex grabbed hers from her back pocket and apologized to everyone. "So sorry, it's my best friend, she's in the UK. Hey, Riley!" she said, answering the call. "Faith surprised me with a… wait a second. Is that…?"

She fell into silence and ran towards the elevator. There was a ding and the doors opened slowly to reveal two women, holding hands, and beaming at Bex.

"You fucking arsehole," said Bex as she threw her arms around Riley and burst into tears.

"It's okay," said Riley, patting her friend calmly on the back. "She gets a bit emosh when people are nice to her. That's why it's important to have good friends, isn't it, Bex?" she added. "So that you get used to it." Riley seemed as nice in person as she did over the phone, and Bex was clearly delighted to see her. Riley's partner, Wendy, was an older lady, with white hair and a trim figure.

"Hello," she said quietly. "It's lovely to finally meet you, Faith. I'm Wendy."

"Hi, Wendy," she replied. "Shall we leave the two of them to it for a bit?"

"That might be a good idea," the older woman agreed, and came over to meet the Rawhide Ranch crowd.

As Faith made the introductions, she kept an eye on where Bex and Riley stood, reunited. She was so pleased the plan had come off so well, but there was a small part of her that feared that seeing Riley would highlight to Bex quite how much she missed home. Faith wanted her girlfriend to be happy, more than anything, but she also wanted her here, in Billings.

Faith's routine, her schedule, helped her regulate. She didn't think that she could face moving to another country, even to be with Bex.

When the two of them came over, Bex gave her a big smacker of a kiss. "I can't believe you managed to plan all of this behind my back," she exclaimed. "You're a sneaky one, rainbow girl. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on you."

Riley hugged her too, and as everyone else went to raid the food that had been laid out, came and sat next to Faith on the couch.

"She's happy, you know?" Riley said, after a long pause. "After her dad died, and all that bullshit with her family, I don't know, it just felt like she was never going to be happy again."

Faith looked at the other woman, who smiled sadly. "You don't sound happy about it."

"I am," said Riley, "truly I am. I'm just a little sad that her life is here now, so far away. That's not"—she added hurriedly, seeing the look on Faith's face—"my way of saying her life shouldn't be here, or that she should move back home. She shouldn't, I know that. It's just hard because she is my best friend, and she's so far away."

"Well, you're welcome to visit whenever you like. And Bex has enough airmiles with her job she should be able to fly back and see you more often."

"If we can persuade her to take time off, that is," said Riley.

Faith agreed. "We'll work on her together," she said. "Maybe for Christmas?"

"Christmas would be perfect ," said Riley. "Thank you, and thank you for looking after her. She's shining from the inside out, and I've never seen her like that before."

The boardgames were an undeniable success.

Even after fifteen years of teaching pottery to children, Faith had never seen such ridiculous sculptures. It was hysterical, although one particular rose had lips that bore a remarkable resemblance to labia. Faith was tempted to take it to work to replicate and cast it.

Finally, Bex stood to make a speech. It was short, and brief, and very much to the point. "Thank you for coming," she said. "There have been some sneaky plans concocted, for which I'm very grateful, and I am very glad to have you all in my life." She looked straight at Faith. "Especially you, rainbow girl. Thank you for a wonderful day."

"You're welcome," said Faith.

When everyone left—Mandi, Amelia, Tay and Chef Guilia for Rawhide Ranch, and Riley and Wendy to their hotel to sleep off their jetlag—and Faith and Bex were left alone, Faith decided it was now the perfect time to give Bex her present.

The best thing about working where she did was that there were artists everywhere. One of her colleagues had agreed to take the photo of their rainbow flogging session and get it printed on glass.

When light shone through it, it looked like the paint on Faith's skin was glowing.

She'd wrapped it carefully, and handed the parcel to Bex now.

"What's this?"

"Your birthday present," she said.

"But you organized all of this," Bex said. "That's more than enough birthday present, rainbow girl."

"I can take it back," said Faith, but Bex had taken it out of her hands already.

"I don't think so."

The sound of ripping paper filled the loft, and then a sharp inbreath. "Fuck, rainbow girl, it's beautiful."

The colors on the glass shone and appeared to almost ripple as Bex moved it back and forth, getting a good look at it.

Faith flushed. "They've done a really good job, that's for sure."

Bex leaned across and bit Faith's lower lip, tugging it into her mouth and deepening the hold until Faith squeaked. "Exactly. Say thank you for the compliment."

"Thank you for the compliment." Faith couldn't resist, and hurriedly corrected it when Bex looked at her. "I'm joking, I'm joking! Thank you, Bex."

"It'll look great against the window in our bedroom. Come on, rainbow girl, I want to see if it paints your body with colored light when I put it up."

Well, that was certainly an invitation Faith wasn't going to pass up. She got up and followed Bex, only stopping when Bex paused in the doorway.

Her girlfriend looked at her with eyes that shone with desire and love. "Thank you, rainbow girl. Making my home with you feels right."

There was an answering feeling in her body that Faith couldn't ignore. "I love you."

"I love you too." Bex strode into the bedroom and Faith followed her again. The main window was to the side of the bed, and light shone across the coverlet and pillows. Bex grinned wickedly, and carefully leaned the colored glass against it.

The bed was suddenly awash with color.

"Come on, get your arse up onto this bed."

Bouncing up onto the mattress, Faith presented her arse and grinned as Bex pulled down her jeans and underwear with next to no ceremony.

She ran a finger between Faith's pussy lips and it came back wet.

"You're wet, rainbow girl. Why's that?"

"Because I want you," she said.

"I want you too," said Bex, and nudged Faith's knees apart. But instead of fingers notching themselves inside, Bex slipped between her legs and smiled up at her. The colors from the glass danced across her face, and made Faith wonder how her pussy had looked, exposed and covered in the rainbow from their flogging session. All of a sudden, she felt like art once more.

"How does it feel, being on top?" Bex asked.

"Heady," said Faith, feeling the intensity of a subspace rush over her, even in an instant.

"Good," said Bex, and then tugged on the back of Faith's thighs until she sat on Bex's face.

Her mouth was warm, her tongue teasing against Faith's clit and she gasped. "But…"

"You want me to eat your butt too?" teased Bex, and laughed at how flustered Faith got. "Come on, rainbow girl, I wanna taste you so damn bad. Treat me, it is my birthday after all."

"Fuck," said Faith as Bex hummed in approval as she started to ride her face. Her legs trembled and she had to use a hand to brace herself against the wall, in case she accidentally fell and smothered the other woman.

Her orgasm broke over her so quickly it almost felt painful, cresting with an intensity that made her shout out suddenly.

Bex carefully lifted her up, and Faith fell to the side and looked at her girlfriend next to her through eyes still clouded by desire.

"You okay there?" Bex's British accent was tinged with amusement.

Faith nodded. "Yup. Words gone."

"Your words are all gone? Well, isn't that the most adorable damn thing that I've ever heard." Bex rolled over, and straddled her waist. Slowly, she took off her blazer, and then popped each button on her shirt until her breasts fell into view, heavy and pendulous.

Shrugging her blouse off, she leaned forward until one nipple kissed Faith's lips. Faith opened her mouth and sucked it in.

"That's right, rainbow girl. Just like that."

Bex didn't even undo her pants, just ground herself against Faith's pubic bone, and then sliding down to grind on her thigh. "Fuck, rainbow girl, you feel so fucking good."

"Use me," whispered Faith, locking eyes with her. "Use me to get off, Bex."

Bex groaned then, fisting her fingers in Faith's hair and moving fast, grinding harder and harder until she came with a shout that echoed the one Faith had cried out.

She fell forward, pants still on, and rested her brow against Faith's collarbone. "Fuck, rainbow girl, that was…"

"Yeah," said Faith. "That was pretty freaking awesome." She considered continuing to lie there, the silence between them comfortable. Comforting.

But she had one final surprise.

"Hey," she said, jumping up, and then sitting heavily back down on the bed. "Got up too quickly," Faith said.

"Oh, rainbow girl," said Bex. "Come on, let's get you some water."

Faith padded after Bex back into the main room of the loft, Faith pantless, and Bex topless. They made a pair, the two of them.

Bex poured out a glass of water and stood over Faith to make sure she drank it.

"I can look after myself," protested Faith, but Bex's arched eyebrow implied otherwise.

"What was so urgent that you had to jump out from our bed anyway?" asked Bex.

"I had an idea," said Faith. "Just a small one. One last surprise."

"Go on then," said Bex.

"I'd like to make you feel like art," she said. "Not by flogging you—I think we both know that isn't really my forte—but by photographing you."

"Where?" asked Bex. She didn't seem enthusiastic, but she wasn't shutting down the idea either.

"Here," said Faith. "Here in our—your—home."

"Our home," said Bex. "You want it to be our home?"

This wasn't at all where Faith had envisioned this conversation going, and she really wasn't entirely certain what to make of it. She'd planned on talking about sexy photos against the window, the setting sun in the background. And by her calculations, she didn't have much time to capture it.

"Faith?"

"Yes, of course I do," she blurted out. "Of course I want to stay here with you and never leave. You're amazing. Who wouldn't want to? But right now I need you to get undressed and stand by the window so that I can take the perfect photo."

Bex didn't argue, didn't push her point, just stepped out of her pants and walked toward the window. "Where do you want me?"

Faith scampered over and shifted Bex's position so that she was looking out across the city. "There, just like that." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Bex's shoulder, felt the other woman shiver, and then stepped back.

The sun was just starting to set and the sky was magnificent. The colors painted Bex's skin, just like she'd painted Faith's, and the parallels took Faith's breath away.

She got out her phone and started snapping, adjusting angles, moving to capture the scene.

And then Bex looked back over her shoulder, right down the camera lens, right at Faith.

" We're home," she said. Not Bex, not Faith, but the both of them. Faith's heart lurched in her chest and her eyes filled with traitorous tears.

Here and now, the two of them. They were home.

"Yes," she said. "You're my home."