Not long ago, the knowledge of that would’ve shaken me to my core, worried I’d fuck it up. But now, with Sutton in my arms and Laurel making this house her home, I finally felt like everything had clicked into place.
I pressed my mouth to Sutton’s, grateful I had the privilege of doing so. That she’d let me back in. That she wanted me to be hers.
The kiss was gentle, unhurried. Just a slow meeting of lips and tongues, the rest of the world fading out as we enjoyed each other without the urgency that had weighed on so many of our encounters before.
Because, it turned out, we had all the time in the world.
EPILOGUE
ATLAS
I could saywith absolute certainty that the past few months had been the best of my life. And that included the months I’d won the Big Game. But there really was nothing better than knowing Sutton and Laurel were mine forever.
The first family dinner after Sutton had really,trulymoved in with me, my mom had been smug as hell, giving me thatwhat did I tell you?stare. And I didn’t even mind. Why would I, when what she’d told me had given me the kick in the ass I needed to get back the woman who had my entire fucking heart?
Sutton and Laurel fit right in with my family, just like they had since the first night I’d brought them over here. Not to mention, my mom loved adding two more girls into the former testosterone-overload zone.
“Sutton, that book for book club came into the library, so I grabbed it for you,” Mom said.
“Thank you.” My gorgeous girlfriend smiled, accepting the book from my mom. The cover featured a shirtless man wearing a Ghostface mask holding a bloody knife.
Raising a brow at her, I murmured in her ear, “Discovering a new kink, trouble?”
“Maybe. Probably not knife play, but I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to you in that mask.” She bit her lip as she trailed her gaze down my body, and fuck if my cock didn’t twitch behind the fly of my jeans at just that look.
You bet your ass I was going to order that mask just as soon as we got home. And when the fuck would that be anyway? We’d already eaten dinner, and now we were just waiting for my brother to show up.
“When the hell is Xander supposed to get here?” I asked, shifting in my seat.
Sutton shot me a smirk, as if she knewexactlywhat my problem was. And I had no doubt she did.
“Any time now,” Mom said. “Just need to have a little patience. No one’s more anxious than I am!”
“I very much doubt that,” I grumbled under my breath, earning a snort from Sutton.
“Well, I’m excited to meet him,” she said.
Mom beamed. “I’m excited too. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
She was excited for my girlfriend to meet my younger brother? That was weird, but that was Mom.
“Oh, Laurel,” Mom said, “I grabbed a couple of books for you too. One of the college girls who was home last weekend went on and on about how good the series is.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Though I’m not sure how spicy your mom lets you read.”
Laurel snorted and slid a glance to Sutton. “The one I finished last week had three dudes and two women in it.”
“Oh!” Mom stood up straight, her eyes wide as she darted them to my girlfriend.
Sutton shrugged. “I’d rather have her read sex written by women that explores consent, pleasure, and sexuality than have her look to mainstream porn that generally only focuses on the man’s satisfaction.”
“Good point.” Mom nodded. “Well then, perhaps this one won’t be spicyenough.”
“Damn, I didn’t know they had allthatin them,” Lincoln said, brows raised. “Can you hook me up with one of those, Mom?”
“If you think you’ll read it,” she said, as if she didn’t care one way or the other, but I saw the self-satisfied smile before she turned around.
“How long is Xan staying?” Declan asked. “He hasn’t responded to a text in, like, two weeks.”
Lincoln rolled his eyes. “You’re a fine one to talk.”
