Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Isaac

5 years later

“Babe?” Jamie called from the living room.

“One sec!” I shouted through the closed door to our bedroom, taking one last look around.

Tonight was our five-year anniversary, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. When I was satisfied, I slipped out of the room.

“Dare I ask?” Jamie arched his eyebrow at me as I came into the living room.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I shot him my best innocent face. “I was just getting ready for our night out.”

“Sure you were.” He smiled fondly.

I dragged my gaze down his body, blatantly checking him out. “You clean up nice.”

He’d put on a pair of dark blue pants and a white and blue gingham shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his incredible forearms, and his hair was perfectly styled.

“So do you.” He licked his bottom lip and traced his eyes over my body. “Is that my shirt?”

“And your pants.” I grinned. “It was either steal your clothes or go in my sweats.”

“Do you hear me complaining?” He smirk-smiled. “You look good in my clothes.”

I’d put on a pair of black pants and a white shirt. I’d also borrowed his spare pair of dress shoes. It was handy being the same size as him.

“That’s the one thing no one tells you when you date a guy,” I said to distract myself from how good he looked and how much I wanted to skip the party and drag him into our room so we could start the second part of our night. “Your wardrobe doubles.”

“It’s a pretty great perk.” He held out his hand.

I took it and let him tug me toward him until our chests bumped.

“Hey,” he whispered, slipping his arms around my waist to hold me close.

“Hey.” I pushed my chest against his, needing to feel his warm, solid body against mine. “Happy anniversary.”

“Happy anniversary.” He pressed a soft kiss against my lips. “Remind me again why we’re going to a party and not just spending the night in our bed and fucking until the sun comes up?”

“Because we’re adults, and adults stick to the plans they made with their family and friends.” I gave him a soft kiss but pulled back before either of us could get too into it. “And because the party is for us, so we kinda have to be there.”

“Fine.” He sighed dramatically. “But I’m blaming you for the boner I’m going to have all night. You know what seeing you in my work clothes does to me.”

“I do know because it’s the same thing that happens to me when you walk around with your sleeves rolled up. Forearm porn is a thing, you know.”

Jamie chuckled affectionately. “Why do you think I do it?”

“Evil.” I kissed him again. “Okay, we really need to go before my dick gets any harder and busts right out of your pants.”

“Or we could take care of these and then head out.” He bumped his hard cock against mine. “I bet I can get you off in only a few minutes.”

“Ugh.” Groaning, I dropped my forehead on his shoulder. “I’m trying to be the responsible one here. We both know we’re not leaving if we start now.”

“True.” He rubbed his cheek against my hair. “Okay. You win. Let’s go be adults.” He gave me a tight squeeze, then let go and stepped back.

Taking his hand in mine, I brought it to my lips so I could press a soft kiss against his knuckles. “I love you.”

Jamie smiled, his eyes soft and so full of love it set off a flurry of butterflies in my stomach. “I love you too.”

“Ready?” I asked.

He nodded and squeezed my hand. “Lead the way.”

“You look nervous,” Asa said, coming to stand next to me. “Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“Liar.” He grinned.

“Maybe a little,” I admitted.

“Why?”

“Because I’m a dumbass who’s probably going to screw this up.”

“You will if you keep thinking like that.” Asa upnodded Zander as he came to stand with us. “Tell him he’s being an idiot.”

“You’re being an idiot,” Zander said without hesitating.

“You don’t even know what we were talking about,” I protested.

“No, but are we wrong?” He arched one eyebrow at me.

“No,” I grumbled.

“Relax,” Zander said in a soothing tone. “You’re fine. Everything is fine.”

I blew out a breath. “Yeah. You’re right.”

A burst of laughter drew my attention to where Jamie was standing with Andy and Johnny. The three of them were laughing about something, and from the way Johnny was gesticulating animatedly, I imagined it had something to do with one of his latest mishaps.

Jamie glanced up like he sensed me looking at him, his eyes meeting mine and another of those soft smiles tilting his lips.

I smiled back, my nerves settling. Zander was right. Everything was going to be fine.

Jamie held my gaze for a few more seconds, then winked and turned his attention back to Johnny and Andy.

I took a moment to look around the small space. I’d rented the private room of a restaurant near the garage, and it warmed my heart to see all the important people in our lives having fun and sharing the night with us.

Jamie’s sisters and parents, along with Emma’s husband, were standing with Nate and Devon. I had no clue what they were talking about, but they were laughing and smiling and having a great time.

Jesse and Sebastian were on the other side of the room with Adam, Quinn, and some of the guys from Jamie’s work and their partners, and a group of Jamie’s high school friends were talking hockey with Luka near the bar. Cass and her girlfriend were chatting with Delilah and her husband a few feet away. Nate’s two youngest kids were set up at a small table with Cody and Sophia doing crafts with the sitter I’d hired so their parents could have a break and enjoy the party with the other adult guests.

It wasn’t a huge crowd, but the people who mattered were there, and that meant the world to us.

Things had changed a lot over the past five years. I’d gone no contact with my mother, which hadn’t been nearly as dramatic as when I’d told off my dad. Instead of confronting her and saying all the things I’d been holding in for years, I just stopped calling her. It wasn’t like she’d listen to anything I said, and I was done trying to make her care about me.

My father still wasn’t a part of my life, and that was entirely his fault. He and Bri had broken up shortly after my little brother was born. She’d made out like a bandit in the divorce settlement, and my father had pretty much washed his hands of another kid and was back to his old ways of tossing money at him instead of being an actual father.

Bri and I weren’t on great terms, but I kept in touch with her so I could be part of my brother’s life. I didn’t get to see him often since they lived in California now, but I loved the little guy, and Bri had redeemed herself a bit by accepting that Jamie and I were together and we were a package deal.

Jamie’s family, on the other hand, had been nothing but accepting of our relationship. Emma hadn’t been surprised at all when we told her, and neither had Laura. Their parents were a bit shocked, but they welcomed me into the family with open arms and showed me more love than my own parents ever had.

We came out to Jamie’s friends after telling his family, and most of them had taken it well. A few of his old hockey buddies hadn’t, but he’d cut them out of his life without a second thought.

Another big change was that Jamie quit his job at the bank about six months after the layoff scare. The environment was toxic, and his hours had been cut down to part-time. Jesse had helped hook him up with Quinn, who’d been looking for an office manager for his construction company, and he’d been working there ever since.

He loved his job, and he’d made friends with everyone at the company but was especially close with Quinn and his original crew, who also used to work with Quinn at the strip club back in the day.

I still worked at Legacy Mechanics and had no plans of leaving. I loved my job and really loved the family we’d created there.

It might not be the life that my family had envisioned for me, but I was happy. I had friends who loved me, and I had Jamie. And that was all I needed.

“Feel better?” Asa asked. “Or do you need Zander to keep using his phone sex operator voice on you?”

I spluttered out a laugh and tossed Zander a grin. “I mean, I’ll never say no to hearing some sweet nothings if you’re in the mood.”

“How do you even know what a phone sex operator is?” Zander asked. “Aren’t those before your time?”

Asa flashed him an innocent-looking smile and shrugged mysteriously.

Before I could wonder what that was about, a flash of color caught my attention. I glanced toward the door as April came into the room, her yellow top bright under the dim lights.

“Heya, stranger,” she greeted as she came to stand with us.

“Hey.” I leaned in to give her a hug. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” She shot me a conspiratorial grin. “Especially since I’m the reason all this happened in the first place.”

Asa, who’d just taken a sip of his drink, spluttered and started coughing.

Zander slapped him on the back a few times as Asa composed himself, looking between April, me, and Jamie a few times with a knowing grin on his lips.

The guys at work all knew about the threesome, but they hadn’t met April.

“I like to think we would have eventually figured it out on our own,” I said as Asa finally stopped coughing.

It wasn’t often that he was taken by surprise, and it was funny to see him all flustered for once.

“Probably,” she agreed, waving at Jamie, who’d looked over when Asa started choking.

He grinned and waved back.

“I’m happy for you,” she said, turning to me, her expression serious. “It’s sad to see you cross over to the dark side and couple up, but it’s really nice to see you both so happy.”

“Thanks,” I said.

We’d told April about us around the same time we’d come out to Jamie’s friends. We figured someone in the group would tell her and thought it would be best if she heard it from us.

She’d laughed her ass off and told us she wasn’t surprised. She’d noticed how distracted we were by each other that night but hadn’t said anything because of how hard we’d tried to pretend like nothing was going on.

We weren’t super close or anything, but we tried to meet up with her when she came to town for visits, and it had worked out that she was in town this weekend.

“Are you okay?” she asked Asa.

“Yeah.” He toasted her with his glass. “All good.”

She flicked her gaze to Zander, her expression shifting to one of appreciation. “Hi,” she practically purred. “I’m April.”

“Zander,” he said, shooting me a quick look.

“He’s taken,” I said, cutting off her flirting before she could get too into it.

“Pity.” She sighed. “I’m going to grab a drink and go say hi to Jamie and the guys.”

“So that’s the famous April,” Asa said as soon as she was out of earshot.

I nodded. “That’s her.”

“Only you would invite the woman you and Jamie had a threesome with to your anniversary party.” Asa shook his head.

“You know us, just one more crazy story to add to the list of crazy stories,” I said.

“You definitely keep us entertained,” Zander said.

“Glad to be of service.” I tossed him a cheeky grin.

He just shook his head and smiled.

My gaze returned to Jamie, and the flutter in my stomach had nothing to do with nerves. Tonight was going to be perfect. I just had to get through the rest of the party, and then I could put step two of my plan into action.

“That was fun,” Jamie said, closing the door to our apartment behind us and flipping the lock. “But I’m glad we’re home.”

“Me too.” I took his hand. “Ready for part two?”

“Part two?” he asked, letting me tug him along behind me as I headed to our room.

“Yup.” I tossed him a grin over my shoulder.

When we reached the door. I let go of his hand and made a dramatic sweeping motion at the door. “After you.”

Jamie shot me a confused look but pushed the door open.

“Z…” he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper as he stared into the room.

The three-dozen battery-powered candles I’d set up around the room flickered, the soft light illuminating the bed and the message I’d written on it in rose petals: Will you marry me? I’d also used a ring box to dot the I to make sure I didn’t lose it by carrying it around all night.

Slowly, Jamie turned to face me. “Z?” he repeated, his expression cautiously optimistic.

I sank down on one knee.

“Oh my god,” he whispered. “Holy shit.”

“Jamie,” I started, taking one of his hands in mine. “The past eight years have been the best years of my life. I’ve loved you since I first met you, and I can’t imagine my life without you. You aren’t just my best friend. You’re also the man I’m madly in love with and the man I want to keep on loving for the rest of our lives.”

“Holy shit,” he repeated on a whisper, squeezing my hand tight.

“Jamie, will you marry me?”

Instead of answering, Jamie dropped to his knees and threw his arms around me, kissing me with so much passion my toes actually curled like we were in some rom-com.

“Yes,” he said between kisses. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Joy and elation filled every part of me as the man I loved, my future husband, kissed me like he never wanted to let me go.

“I can’t believe you did all of this,” he said when he finally broke our kiss. “The party, recreating our first date.” He paused. “You’re not wearing a plug, are you?”

I shook my head and laughed. “Nope. Figured a party full of our family wasn’t the place for that.”

“Good call.” He gave me another sweet kiss, then tugged me to my feet.

I swiped the ring box off the bed and handed it to him. “I hope you like it.”

“I know I’ll love it,” he said, opening the box.

Nestled inside was a simple black tungsten ring. Gently, he pulled it out and slipped it onto his finger. “It’s perfect,” he said, holding his hand up and staring at the ring with a big smile on his handsome face.

“Yes, you are.”

He smiled and cupped my face in his hands, stroking his thumbs over my cheekbones. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pressed a kiss against my lips, but instead of deepening it, he pulled back and chuckled. “I have something to show you.”

“What’s that?”

He dropped his hands and went to his bedside table. I waited as he rooted around inside it for a second.

My heart skipped a beat when he turned around, a ring box in his hand.

“Jamie?” I looked between him and the box.

He grinned and came to stand in front of me again. “I was trying to figure out the best time to propose to you, but you beat me to it.”

I shook my head, a laugh bubbling out of my chest. “Really?”

“Yup. Open it.” He handed me the box.

I flipped the top open. Inside was an identical ring and another one that looked like it was made of black silicone.

“One for everyday and one for work since you can’t wear rings at your job.”

Suddenly the rings looked very blurry in the box. Clearing my throat, I pulled the tungsten one free and slipped it onto my finger.

“I love you, Isaac.” Jamie took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together.

“I love you too.”

“Now, how about we celebrate our engagement by messing up your message,” he suggested with a sly grin.

Instead of answering him, I let go of his hand and dove onto the bed, sweeping the petals aside and landing on my back in a dramatic flop.

Laughing, Jamie crawled over me, blanketing my body with his and pressing me down into the mattress. His kiss was slow and sweet and absolutely perfect.

Tonight was the best night of my life, and I knew it was just the beginning of a lifetime of amazing nights together.

Things might have started out complicated between us, but now they couldn’t be simpler. Jamie was mine, and I was his.

Forever.

What happens when Zander and Luka realize they’ve been unknowingly sexting with each other on an anonymous kink app? Find out in In Plain Sight . Get your Copy HERE

What happens when Jesse’s childhood rival moves back to town after touring with his band for seven years, and now they can’t seem to stay away from each other? Find out in Flipping the Script . Get your copy HERE