Over the last couple of days, we both had the chance to get tested and sort out birth control, so now, tonight will be the first time we make love bare. I can hardly wait, but I want to take him with my mouth first. Holding the base of him steady with both hands, I lower my head to his lap.

“Emery, you don’t have to . . . Fuuuuuuck .” Hayden curses when my tongue makes contact, licking up the length of him like he’s my own personal lollipop.

“Don’t have to what?” I purr, my tongue teasing the top of him.

“Shit. Do that again.”

He pushes my hair back from my face and lightly cups my jaw in his large palms. I feel the love, adoration, and desire rolling off of him in waves. It only makes me want him more.

I open wide and take in as much of him as I can. Hayden’s hips rock up in gentle thrusts as my mouth moves over him. My hand slides over him as I suck. Up and down. Up and down.

“Baby,” he says on a grunt, his hand tightening at the back of my neck. “Come here.”

I let him pull me up off the floor to straddle his lap. His erection strains against me, hot and eager. I pull my panties aside—I’ve been soaking wet for hours—and rock my hips, feeling how much he wants me back.

“Emery . . .” He pants, grinding back up into me. “Jesus, you’re so . . .” At a loss for words, he pulls me into a hungry kiss and rocks his cock against my folds.

No more waiting. I need him now. I sink down onto his cock inch by inch, as fast as I can take it. The hot fullness as he pushes inside me—almost pain, but definitely not—takes my breath away. He’s so thick and long, stretching me, rubbing against every sensitive spot. We’ve barely moved and I’m already panting.

Then he snaps his hips up hard, pounding right into the best spot of all, and I damn near scream. “Fuck!”

“That is, in fact, what we’re doing,” he says with a chuckle.

How can the man wisecrack at a time like this? I guess that’s one of the many reasons I love Hayden . . . which all too often overlap with reasons I want to slap him.

“Then stop talking about it and do it,” I gasp.

When he starts thrusting in earnest, another cry tears itself from my throat. I brace myself on his shoulders, slamming my hips up and down, still barely able to keep up. He groans into my mouth and I can feel his adoring smile against my lips. He’s just as swept up as I am, just as overwhelmed by love and lust.

When I first arrived in this new life, I was warned that this silly, cute, cocky, infuriating man was my enemy. I became his friend instead. And now . . . he’s just plain mine.

Epilogue

Hayden

Emery and I are seated across the dining room table from Beth and David. Gracie sits beside me. The kids have been put to bed, and the dinner dishes sit undone on the kitchen island.

It was an amazing sight to watch Beth and Emery cook together in the kitchen, preparing two versions of the paella we had tonight—one vegetarian and one regular. Gracie even joined Emery in eating the vegetarian option. A move of solidarity or something. It’s cool both of my sisters are accepting her. But why wouldn’t they? She’s smart, funny, and all around a cool person.

My hand finds Emery’s under the table, and I give it a squeeze. She looks over at me with a healthy glow on her cheeks and love radiating from her eyes. I’ve told both my sisters privately, as well as Hudson, that I was in love with Emery, and after the initial shock, they were thrilled for me. For us.

Gracie leans forward, putting her elbows on the table. “You guys are so cute together.” She’s always been a romantic, my little sister, even though she’s never had a serious boyfriend. “Hayden, when did you first know you were in love with Emery?” she asks.

Emery’s gaze snaps to mine and her smile fades. “Don’t you dare answer that.”

A smile quirks up my lips. “It was in our hotel room in Omaha.”

A sharp jab to my ribs steals my breath. “Seriously, I’m warning you,” she says.

“Emery did this really cute thing in the morning, and I knew right then.” I grin at her.

She rolls her eyes, but her expression is playful. “And then your jackass brother got scared and ran.”

Beth and Gracie both make grunting noises of disgust. But they know this story; they know I groveled my way back into her good graces. I’m done running.

“Are you mad?” I lean over and whisper to Emery.

She leans close to my ear, so only I can hear, and whispers. “You have a nine-inch cock, and you know where the G-spot is. I love the fuck out of you, flaws and all.”

And just like that, my heart soars. Her love feels so good. Like putting on your favorite T-shirt and lying in bed all day watching funny movies good.

“I love you too,” I whisper back, kissing her forehead. I am so in love, and so fucking proud of my sexy, kick-ass girlfriend.

I lean in close again and tease her by making a quiet farting sound into her ear. She punches me in the arm, but we’re both grinning like love-struck fools.

“You’re screwed later,” she teases right back, narrowing her eyes.

“Promise?” I ask, giving her a flirty wink.

A deep, throaty laugh tumbles from her mouth, and Emery slaps a hand over it. I squeeze her knee under the table, unable to keep my greedy hands to myself.

It’s weird how easily she fits into my life. Hudson loves her. She and Roxy are still good friends, and now it’s obvious that my sisters love her too. There’s no way I’m letting her go . . . after all, I’ll never find another girl with cuter farts.