Epilogue
Sebastian
Balancedon a ladder in the kitchen of my mom’s house, I tightened the screws of a brass ceiling canopy Georgina and I had found to match our latest purchase, a vintage lighting fixture. I set my tools on the top cap when the front door opened and closed. The familiarclick-clackof paws and nails sounded on the hardwood floors as Opal and Bruno came bounding in, wagging their tails and zigzagging around theladder.
Georgina entered the kitchen in a green Tartan button-down tied at the waist and jeans that made me want to take a bite out of her ass. “Wow,” she said, surveying the ceiling. “That fixture turned out so well. Not only handy, but you have an eye for designtoo.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “You picked itout.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Shegrinned.
“Will you testit?”
She flipped the light switch and the lamp lit up. “My work here is done,” Isaid.
“Not quite,” Georgina said. “But we’re gettingclose.”
Opal barked at the base of the ladder. Feeling a tinge of nostalgia over what was to come, I brushed my hands off anddescended.
“You’d think they hadn’t seen you just this morning,” Georgina said as the dogs jumped on me. She opened the back door for them to sprint into theyard.
“Mmm, speaking of this morning,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to me. I wrapped my arms around her waist. “I’ve been thinking about it since I left theapartment.”
“Don’t get used to it,” she said. “It’s nothealthy.”
“But it’s so fucking good.” I kissed her and could’ve sworn I still tasted the cinnamon bun frosting from ourbreakfast.
“We’re not in our twenties anymore,” she said. “We can’t eat like that every day. I only got them to celebrate the fact that the house is finallydone.”
“Ah,” I said. “I thought celebrating was the reason for the blowjob.”
She shimmied closer to me. “I don’t need an excuse for one of those, doI?”
Remembering the real reason for my great morning—Georgina’s smoking-hot smirk a moment before she’d ducked under the sheets—made my jeans tight. She squeaked as I lifted her by the waist onto the counter and made myself at home between her knees. “I think it’s only fair we christen the house before we list it,” I said, nuzzling herneck.
“Wehavechristened it,” she said. “Several times. Once on this very counter, not long after it wasinstalled.”
“I couldn’t help myself,” I murmured into her hair. “The way you haggled over the price per square foot got me so fuckingexcited.”
She laughed softly, wrapping her legs around me to pull me in. “Then there was that time in the laundryroom. . .”
“That’s one thing we’re missing in our apartment,” I said with a sigh. “A large vibratingmachine.”
“Ohh.” She moaned. “Imagine if we never had to go to anotherlaundromat.”
I fingered the plaid collar of her shirt. “Does this choice of outfit mean what I think itdoes?”
She smiled. “Flights are booked for the whole family. We’re spending Christmas inDublin.”
“The Irish won’t know what hit them,” Isaid.
“TheIrish? We’ll be lucky if we come home in one piece. We’re going to drink our weight inGuinness.”
I chuckled, glancing out back when dog tags jingled. Bruno rolled onto his side as he and Opal sunbathed on the freshly lain concrete patio. “They feel pretty at home here, don’tthey?”
Georgina bit her bottom lip as she seemed to get lost in a thought. There was something she wasn’t saying. Before I could pry, she put her hands on my chest. “Should we do what we came to do?” Sensing my hesitation, she added, “We don’thaveto do it today. There’s norush.”
“But we had the cinnamon bun and blow job celebration already.” I helped her off the counter, even though what I really wanted to do was drop to my knees and return this morning’s favor. “It’s been longenough.”
