“I’m not going to last very long,” I moaned, realising how close I was to the edge of an orgasm again as I rocked against him. This man. It wasn’t just about the sex; it was this man that had my insides turning into fireworks.
Dax’s deep voice chuckled low in my ear as he pressed deeper inside me, my walls already beginning to flutter against him.
“Honey, I’ve been wanting to make you come since you threatened to murder me in a wood chipper. We’ve got forever to enjoy it.”
His lips sucked rough kisses along my neck as he thrust deeper inside me again. My back arched, and I pulled myself to him, our bodies moving together as I hugged him close.
“Forever?” I moaned out a breath and enjoyed the way Dax growled at the sound.
“Got a problem with that?” he asked, reaching a hand behind me, rubbing a finger around the entrance of my ass, pressing it against the sensitive skin and undoing any control I had left.
I shook my head as the walls of my world began closing in around me. Dax groaned, increasing his pace as he felt my muscles pull tightly around him.
“Riley—” he grunted.
“Come for me,” I whispered as I hugged him closer than I’d ever hugged another human, shuddering through my own orgasm. Everything in Dax clenched me tighter, moved harder against me until he began to jolt forward too. I rocked my hips against his, milking his orgasm as he groaned and a fresh wave of ecstasy hit me. Was this what sex with someone you really cared about felt like?
We moved together, as close as any two humans could be, until gradually the waves passed and Dax chuckled, his body still curved over mine and his head lolling at my ear. He raised his head to look at me again before peppering kisses across my eyebrows.
“If you keep doing that, we’ll have to do this all over again,” I teased, pulling his lips down to mine.
“Promise?” he mumbled, still inside me. I wiggled beneath him, and he groaned again.
“What do you think you’ll do with the place now?” he asked a while later, his arms still wrapped around me, the early light colouring the horizon.
“Do you know Mark Arjay from Sotheby’s?”
“The flashy fella? Yeah, I do.”
“He reckons the council will be keen to buy the land back, since most of the street is theirs. He’s eyeing a nice commission if they agree to my clause.”
“You and your clauses,” Dax chuckled. “What is it this time?”
I smiled, watching the sky blush. “A memorial.”
EPILOGUE
"I can't believeit's official," Breeze said as she placed a flat white in front of me. "No takesies backsies!"
"Wouldn't dream of it," I replied, raising the cup to my mouth. The smell of coffee never failed to relax me.
It had been a month since the fire on Bellamy Lane, and the sale of the land back to the council had just settled. My bank account now bulged with more money than I had the sense to manage. I wasn’t a millionaire—not even close—but anyone who’s made every decision of every day under the weight of financial stress knows the relief that even tens of thousands can bring. I’d grown wary from years of pressure, and I knew someone else who could benefit from my good fortune too.
"What's the first thing you want to do as the new part-owner of Steamy Sips?" Breeze asked, draping a tea towel over her shoulder.
"Do you think we could use that space in the front courtyard to sell flowers? Maybe a little veg stand? I'll do all the gardening, of course," I said, already picturing it. A dream that once felt like fantasy.
"Ooh, I love it!" she replied, her gaze drifting to the space I was pointing at. "Though it feels kind of weird calling it SteamySips Flowers. It needs its own name. How aboutRiley’s Greens?You know, to cover flowers and veg."
I snorted. "That sounds like we’re selling weed."
"You come up with a name then!" She whipped the tea towel at my shoulder.
"Ow, witch!" I glared at her. "I already have a name."
"You do?"
"How aboutDaisy Meadow?"
