Relief.
The certainty that what they'd found together was worth fighting for.
When they finally drew apart, neither of them moved very far. Their foreheads rested together, their breathing uneven, his thumb still stroking the back of her hand.
“I missed you,” he murmured.
She sniffled and laughed. “I missed you too.”
More than she'd thought it was possible to miss another person.
He smiled—the genuine smile she'd fallen in love with—and her heart felt lighter than it had since the night everything had unraveled.
“I love you,” he said. “I think I fell in love with you the moment we met. It just took me a while to figure that out.”
Fresh tears filled her eyes, but they came with a smile. “I love you too.”
He brushed a kiss across her lips.
“No more secrets.”
“Never again.”
He kissed her again, and this time there were no walls between them.
Only a future waiting to be written.
Epilogue
One year later...
* * *
“Damn, woman, you’re killing me!”
Seth leaned his head back, his spine pressed against the shower’s cool tile, his body tense with need. A ragged groan escaped him while Shylo knelt on a soaked towel at his feet, taking his cock deep into the heat of her mouth. His fingers threaded through her wet hair—not to guide her, but simply because he needed something to hold on to while she set the pace.
Each passing moment pushed him closer to the edge, stealing his ability to think about anything except her. He wanted to watch her, to memorize the sight of her beneath the spray, but he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
What he’d expected to be a quick shower to wash away the dust and grime from a long day at the rodeo had become something else entirely. Moments like this reminded him how lucky he was. After years of avoiding serious relationships, convinced they weren’t worth the complications, he’d never imagined finding a love this deep or a partner who fitted him so completely. Now, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
When they’d first become lovers, Shylo had let him take the lead while she discovered what she enjoyed. Over the past year, her confidence had grown until she initiated their intimate moments as often as he did. Every time she reached for him first, he was reminded how completely she trusted him, and that never failed to make him fall a little more in love with her.
Releasing him, she lifted her gaze, and he tilted his head to meet it. She smirked. “Ready for me to blow your mind?”
He huffed out a laugh, loving her playfulness, but needing her to continue what she’d started. “Like you haven’t already? Uh... yeah!”
“As you wish.”
Wrapping her hand around his length, she drew him back into her mouth, abandoning the slow, teasing pace she'd kept until now. As she cupped and rolled his balls while devouring his cock, his eyes slammed shut again as his head fell back against the wall with a thunk. His body hurtled toward a climax with an intensity that threatened to shatter him. With a roar, he bucked his hips and came hard. She swallowed in rapid succession, refusing to waste a single drop.
His mind short-circuited, and he slapped a hand against the tile as if it could keep his shaking legs from giving out. Every muscle in his body quivered in the aftermath, his chest rising and falling in ragged breaths.
He was barely aware of her standing, but when she pressed against him and nuzzled his neck, he wrapped his arms around her.
After a few moments, she shifted to step beneath the shower spray, but he growled. “Uh-uh. I’m not done with you.”
She let out a squeak when he spun her around and gently guided her flush against the wall, face first. He held her there with one hand splayed across her back while the other slipped between her thighs, finding her drenched—and not just from the water.
