“We should probably let my brother back in before he freezes to death,” I said.
“Probably.” T.J. didn’t move. His arms stayed wrapped around me, solid and warm. “Or we could make him wait another five minutes.”
“T.J.”
“Fine.” He pressed one more kiss to my forehead, then released me with obvious reluctance. “But after he leaves, I’m taking you back to that bedroom and showing you exactly how much I want more than your body.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “Promise?”
He grinned, slow and wicked. “Promise.”
I opened the door to let Dagger back in, and as the three of us settled around the kitchen table with coffee and the quiet hush of falling snow outside, I realized something.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t running from anything.
I was running toward something.
And it felt like home.
EPILOGUE
CHARISMA
The uniform still fit.
I couldn’t believe it. Giving birth to two beautiful boys—now three and one—had pushed my already generous curves to new heights. I seemed to have gone up a size in everything else, but this uniform from The Naughty Fork looked great on me. And I couldn’t wait to show my husband.
Tonight was rare alone time for the two of us. T.J. had gone to play pool with my brother, so he was getting home late. The kids were long asleep, but I had a baby monitor in each room to alert me if one of them made even the slightest noise.
Keys in the door. The click of the doorknob. And then it was open, revealing my husband—the love of my life.
I was seated on the table where I’d lost my virginity that night. I smiled every time I looked at that table, but the thought of the “scandal” that had driven me here had always made me a little sad. Sure, it had died down after a couple of days—the internet moving on to the next outrage—but something had always bugged me about it.
Tonight, wearing this uniform, I was reclaiming my story. And T.J. was going to help with that.
My husband froze in the doorway, jaw dropping as he stared at me. Chilly February air blew in, but no snow like we’d had that first February night. That wasn’t very common in Wildwood Valley, I’d since learned.
“Holy fuck,” he said as he kicked the door closed behind him. It made a little too much noise and I winced, but the baby monitors remained silent. “What’s the special occasion?”
“Our four-year anniversary,” I said. “Of the night we met, anyway.”
We’d married in the summer, so our wedding anniversary was months away. Our wedding had been in this very cabin, and in just that short time, T.J. had become part of the community where he’d lived alone for three years. He’d joined a local construction crew and made friends. It seemed meeting me had brought him out of his shell.
I’d worked at the roadhouse for a while, waiting tables, but when I got pregnant with Chase, my focus shifted. Now I was mainly a mom, but I also sometimes helped out at the daycare in town. That let me socialize the kids while also fulfilling my need to give back to the community that had brought me so much.
T.J. shrugged off his coat and hung it on the hook by the door. “The kids?”
“Asleep,” I said, pointing to the baby monitors on the table behind me. “We’ll know right away if that changes.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away as T.J. crossed the room, yanking his flannel shirt over his head as he went. It landed somewhere near the sofa. His boots came off next—kicked aside without him ever breaking that heated stare—then the belt, the jeans, and the black boxer briefs that did nothing to hide how hard he was for me.
By the time he reached the table, he was completely naked, every muscled inch of him gilded by the soft blue glow from the baby monitors. My thighs clenched at the sight.
I was already so wet that the thin cotton of my shorts felt obscene, clinging to every swollen fold. Seeing him like this—raw, hungry, mine—only made the ache between my legs sharper.
I tilted my head, sliding right into the fantasy we’d been teasing each other with for weeks. “Evening, sir,” I purred, keeping my voice low and sweet. “Welcome to The Naughty Fork. I’m your server tonight.” I let my gaze travel down his body and back up, slow and shameless. “And you, handsome, are definitely my favorite customer. I’ve been watching you cross the room from behind the counter…wondering how it would feel to touch those muscles.”
T.J.’s mouth curved into that slow, dangerous smile I loved so much. He braced his hands on either side of my hips, caging me against the edge of the table.
