by Ivy Summers
As she got closer to yet another release, she flattened against me, burying her face into my shoulder as I dug my heels into the bed and thrust hard into her, my lap slapping against her ass. I wrapped my arms tight around her waist, everything tightening as our climaxes grew nearer.
She whispered in my ear, “Give it to me,” and that was it. I came hard as she arched and shuddered against me, riding out our orgasms until she collapsed.
“Fuck, Jade, you’re amazing,” I whispered once I caught my breath. She propped herself up on an elbow, looking half drunk from pleasure. I put a hand on her red cheek and said, “I can’t get enough of you. I never will.” I pulled her in close to say in her ear, “I love you.”
She looked over at me, a myriad of expressions flashing on her face, until she settled on a big smile and whispered, “I love you too.”
Hearing those words come from her was like a revelation. The words freed me from any other worry or desire I might have had, and I held her close once more.
Epilogue
Griffin
It was nearly six months to the day that I had purchased the council’s stakes in Calhoon. I only held the title of town owner for a few months, though, before I worked out contracts with most of the business owners and residential tenants to let them buy the properties from me at a fair price. Now I mostly only owned the utility companies and the newspaper.
Thomas quit as soon as he learned who his new boss was, hightailing it out of town in protest. A premature response, considering I wasn’t in the newspaper business anyway and had been looking to sell it to a new owner.
No, I was still very much in the commercial real estate business, and now things were moving along smoothly, with much of the construction underway and looking to be finished in the next three months.
But today, I was taking the day off. Today, I had something special planned for Jade.
“I don’t know what your obsession is with this broken pinball machine,” she said as we walked the short distance from our apartment to the local bar.
“Just wait and see,” I responded, opening the door to the dark saloon.
She stepped inside, seeing Madison, Courtney, and James sitting at the bar. “The hell’s this?” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth, eyeing me suspiciously.
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
Madison spotted us first, and she hopped off her bar stool to give her best friend a massive hug. Courtney and James left their stations too, greeting us with the tired energy one would expect from two parents of a newborn. Jade asked about Avery, who Courtney assured her was safe with their parents. “Okay…” Jade began, looking at all of us with suspicion now. “So, why are we all neatly gathered here?”
I waved her over to the pinball machine, popped a quarter in, and said, “How about you play a round?”
“I’ve never been very good at this,” she said, then took her position in front of the machine. She tried the paddles and gasped when she discovered that both worked. “You fixed it!”
I smiled, motioning at the table. “Give it a whirl.”
She pulled back the plunger and sent the ball out, draining it almost immediately. “Crap.” She pouted. “I’m rusty. I haven’t played this one since it broke.”
I shrugged. “Well, you have two more balls.”
Madison whispered from behind us, “That’s what she said.”
Jade snorted as she sent another one out, and right down the drain it went after a few good hits.
“Wow,” I said. “You’re terrible at this.” But that was what I had been counting on. She’d really screw up my plan if she beat any of my top three scores.
“Oh yeah?” she said with determination, then sent out her third and final ball.
We all watched as she hit all the right ramps to engage the multiball trigger, which she hit like a pro. I gulped as she kept all four balls in play, racking up points and getting ever closer to the third top score. Madison, who was in on the plan, shot a worried look my way, and I knew I had no choice but to sabotage the game.
I pretended to trip, grabbing onto the pinball machine and tilting it just enough to set off its tilt sensors. It locked up the paddles, and the balls drained just before Jade could break a score of ten million.
“Aw, I was on a roll, Griff!” she whined.
I nudged her aside, saying, “Let me enter your name.”
“Why?”
I didn’t answer, just hit the paddles until I got to the first letter: “M.”
Jade frowned at me.
I then entered the next letter: “E.”
“Did you forget my name, or…?”
The next character I entered was a question mark, finalizing the fourth top score as: “ME?”
“Cute, I guess?” she said, then all four of the top scores flashed on screen.
1: WIL 2: YOU 3: MRY 4: ME?
Jade gasped so loud she almost choked, then she punched me in the arm. “You sly little devil!” She shot a look at Madison and Courtney. “You guys knew!”
I lowered to one knee and pulled out a ring box. “Well?”
Jade said through a tearful laugh, “Yes. Of course, yes.”
I slipped the ring onto her finger, then stood, bringing Jade in for a warm kiss as the room broke out into applause. I had become so familiar with her warmth, her softness, her taste, yet it all felt new again, and I nearly forgot we had an audience until Courtney cleared her throat.
I laughed and pulled away, taking the warning to not get too handsy with Jade when her sister was present. We’d have to save that for when we returned to the apartment.
Madison shot up both of her hands and said, “Shots! Shots! Shots! Woo!”
We returned to the bar, where we had our celebratory shots. As I downed the first one, I noticed Mrs. Salisbury in the corner, setting aside her tipsy knitting to feverishly send out messages on her phone. Soon, the knitting circle would know all about the engagement, and not long after, so would the rest of the town.
Bad news travels fast, but in Calhoon, good news travels faster.
And I couldn’t be happier with Jade at my side.
The End
* * *
Sign up to my newsletter to get a free (and spicy) bonus scene between Jade and Griffin!
Click here for your free chapter! »
I hope you enjoyed my debut novel! If you have a moment, would you consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads? Reviews are very helpful for indie authors like me, and for fellow readers. I’d really appreciate it!
- Ivy Summers