Epilogue
Winter
It was hard to concentrate when my husband was lying outside by the pool in a tiny swimsuit. His long, lean form glowed honey tan in the late summer sun. Every time Doran’s dog dropped his nasty tennis ball on Gent’s bare back, I snorted out a laugh.
I was making guacamole because the football game was about to start, and I’d learned early on that Gent and I shared a fanatic love of football and football snacks. I was a Broncos fan, and he followed the Houston Riggers. Today we were starting with the Riggers’ game against Kansas City. It was always easy to convince our non-football-loving friends to come watch with us when gorgeous Tiller Raine was starting. The winningest wide receiver in the league was a Colorado hometown boy and the first out starter in professional football.
We all adored him and were proud fans. Whenever we got to watch Raine and the Riggers play, Gent was beside himself with excitement.
Not that you could tell from his corpse-like form spread out on the chaise lounge.
“Babe!” I called out the open french doors. “The game starts in like five minutes!”
He waved a hand idly from beside his hip and then went still again.
I heard the front door open and Summer’s voice call out. “I brought friends. Hope you’re decent!”
I glanced back out at Gent’s tight, rounded ass in the Speedo. The elastic band on one of the legs had ridden up, exposing his tan line and a pale strip of butt cheek. God, he was hot as fuck. I wanted to bite that ass. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I realized if the swimsuit rode up any more, it would reveal that I had, in fact, bitten that very ass last night.
Multiple times.
“Decent enough for the likes of you,” I called back. I transferred the guac to a bowl and took it over to the overflowing coffee table. Summer walked in with two women I recognized from the hospital. They were nurses who must have befriended Summer when she started working there a few months ago. I was glad to see her with other young women in town. I selfishly wanted her to stay in Aster Valley permanently, but I wanted her to have a full life outside of me here, too.
I dropped a kiss on her cheek and turned to the ladies. “Hey, Vicki, hi, Diya. Welcome. Make yourself at home. Let me grab Gent.”
They tittered with excitement as I walked out to the pool deck. I sat on the edge of Gent’s chaise and rubbed his sun-warmed back. “You gotta get up. Everyone’s arriving for the game.”
He turned over and stretched, arching his hips up and showing off a very impressive package. I scrambled to cut off the angle to the house so no one saw Gent’s big-ass erection. “Jesus! Put that thing away,” I hissed.
His lazy smile made my stomach flip. “That’s not what you said last night.”
I laughed. “Last night we didn’t have two young nurses already swooning over being at Gentry Kane’s mountain mansion. They’re going to post GUS dick on social media if you’re not careful.”
“Gentry Waites.” His eyes flashed up at me as he corrected me the way he always did. These days, he was only Gentry Kane for work. “I have this problem because I was daydreaming about hiking Rockley trail and fucking you up against a tree in broad daylight.”
“We already did that,” I said in a low voice. “And stop talking about it or it’s going to be double-dick-day at the Waites house.”
He ran a finger along the outside of my leg and up into my shorts. “Double-dick-day is my favorite. Especially at the Waites house.”
I shivered and tried to stay focused. “Tiller Raine,” I said, clearing my throat. “It’s been a long spring and summer with no hot Riggers receiver to lust after. Today’s the day. We don’t want to miss kickoff.”
He sat up and leaned in to kiss me. I got a little confused about what I was supposed to be doing. Gent’s mouth usually had that effect on me.
Doran’s laugh cut through my haze. “Pim, put down your phone camera. Bill, rein in your husband. Gent hasn’t manscaped in weeks. It’s like the jungles of Borneo down there.”
I turned to see Doran standing with the pair of older men who owned Mustache Diner. “Hey, guys. You finally decided to suffer through some football with us?” I asked.
Pim waved his hand through the air. “Not a chance, hotcakes. I’m only here to perv on your husband in all his hirsute glory. You know how much I love some hair on a man.” He tweaked his husband’s thick salt-and-pepper mustache.
I stood up and reached out to give Pim a big hug. He’d become a good friend in the year and a half since he’d rescued me on the side of the road by my dead jeep in the middle of a snowstorm. Gent had been furious at the danger I’d been in. He’d tried several times to buy me a new vehicle, but I’d been too stubborn to accept it. At the time, I’d still felt weird about the student loan payoff. But now… now Gent and I were equal partners. His money was my money and vice versa. It hadn’t been an easy transition for me, but it had been important to him.