by Haley Travis
“Come for me, sweetheart,” I groan, every long stroke pounding deeper.
Her wordless squeal tells me how close she is, just as much as the rippling of her tight passage. Ramming in and out of her heat, our kisses dissolve into panting and moaning.
Seeing my beautiful, brilliant, proper girl devolve into a sweaty, groaning mess is sexy as hell every single time.
“Oh God…” she rasps, as I feel the bone-shaking orgasm start to overtake her. “Yes, Felix, yes!”
Her hot little pussy clamps down on my cock with a vice-like grip, yanking the come from my balls as I explode inside her.
“Baby,” I growl as I nibble along her throat.
Her beautiful eyes are unfocused as she tries to come back to Earth.
“I love you, baby,” I scatter kisses all over her face, holding her close as she finds her balance.
Blinking hard, Tanis smiles up at me. “I love you too. Husband to be. Housemate to be. Coworker to be.”
Rocking her in my arms, I feel her tremble, then pull back to study her face. A fit of giggles renders her incapable of speech for a moment.
“All of those romance books that Becca had us read...” she chuckles. “All of those happily ever afters seemed so ridiculous. Yet here we are.”
“You’re right, baby. Here we are. Right at the edge of everything.”
“I wish everyone in the world could have such an incredible connection,” she says thoughtfully. “Someone to belong to. Someone to crawl into their heart and make a home there.”
“Now you really sound like one of Becca’s books,” I laugh.
Then I stop, staring into space for a second. “Becca. She reads a lot, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
Tanis gives me that look that I’ve come to realize means she’s just going to wait for me to make my damned point.
“Let’s go on a double date with her and Oliver. I just have a feeling.”
“Spread the love? It’s perfect.”
My fiancée kisses me again, as our love-dizzy smiles simply won’t fade.
EPILOGUE TWO
~ Tanis ~
~ Seven Years Later ~
Opening the curtains, I angle the laptop and arrange two chairs, thankful it’s a sunny day so we have natural lighting. Propping up a reflector in the corner, I pull down a blue panel backdrop.
For once, the lighting and arrangement doesn’t matter at all. But I still like a simple video call to look nice, and since I have all of the equipment handy at a moment’s notice, why not?
I still can’t believe we have a studio in our house, as well as all of the facilities at the station. Plus, I’m still able to do the odd freelance gig on location now and then.
My heart is full as I realize that as well as a wife and mother, I’ve truly become “one of those artsy creative types”.
Just as my alarm chimes, I set up the call and make the connections. Two windows pop up immediately as I adjust the volume.
“Tanis!” Claire squeals, waving wildly at the screen.
I can see over her shoulder that Shane is on the couch, reading a book to Aiden with little Lara in the crook of his arm. He looks up and waves, and the kids follow suit.
“Hey guys,” Diana says, waving from her box. She’s sitting in her backyard, “Milo took Lila and Cory inside for a little while. Cory has just learned how fantastic it is to scream at the top of his lungs.”
“Yikes. That’s a fun stage,” Claire laughs. “Wait until he gets to the point where he finds out that screaming in public brings a lot of attention.”
Diane rolls her eyes. “Please, don’t even go there.”
A ping sounds, as Elizabeth joins the group.
“I don’t mean to alarm you, but there’s a creep behind you,” I laugh.
Dan waves into the camera, kissing Elizabeth on the cheek. “Hey guys,” he says, plopping himself in a chair right beside Elizabeth. “Hello from Greece.”
Before we have a chance to comment on their constant global travels, another window lights up, and Becca’s bright pink nails wave wildly from the screen. “Hey!” she says brightly.
“Becca, where are you?” Diana asks.
“Just outside of London, but we’re only here for a week. Oliver is researching something for his next book.”
I can sense Felix’s presence before I can even hear him. He sits beside me, bouncing our eleven-month-old daughter Jasmine on his knee.
“Tell Oliver I actually read his latest book,” Felix chuckles.
Becca swings the camera to show Oliver sitting beside her. “Hey everyone,” he says, waving almost exactly like Becca always does. “Sorry I only have a minute, but I’m in the middle of a key chapter.”
Felix and I glance at each other wide-eyed. Oliver took a break from his writing just to say hello to the group? Wonders will never cease.
“We’re all super proud of your writing, dude,” Dan says. “And we expect autographed copies for Christmas.”
“I’ll make sure it happens,” Oliver smiles, kissing Becca on the cheek. “If she’s not too busy with wedding planning, maybe my girl can remind me.”
He waves as he leaves, then Dan says, “I actually have a personal training session in twenty minutes, so I have to jet as well. Great to see you all, even if only for a minute. So glad you ladies still have these every month.”
I love watching the way his hands skim over Elizabeth’s hair as he kisses the top of her head. Such an unlikely pair on the surface, but they’re perfect together.
“I’m out too. I’ll leave you to it,” Felix says, standing up.
“Not until we see little Jasmine for a second,” Claire says, waggling her fingers at the camera. “Hey there, teeny face.”
Jasmine gurgles and coos, making sounds that nobody can understand, yet she seems convinced that she’s speaking. After a moment, Felix gives me a kiss and then goes to put the baby down for a nap. We wave goodbye to Shane as he takes their kids away.
“Wow,” Diana says slowly. “Who would’ve thought that we would still be having book club meetings all these years later?”
“It’s amazing,” Becca says. “Even though I’m sure I’m not the only one who misses Henry more than a bit.”
“Oh! He said to tell you all hello,” Claire says. “I was there yesterday. He says that if we’re all back in town for Christmas, hot chocolates are on him.”
We all laugh together. Even though our meetings have shifted to just the first Sunday of the month, and are barely about the books at all these days, our little group is as strong as ever.
The books were never the point. But they were the catalyst for conversation and growth. They kickstarted our friendships. They helped us dream bigger and ask more questions.
While poring over these stories and characters, we learned to ask the big “What If?” questions.
What if everything went right, and we all ended up with our very own happily ever afters?
With husbands and kids and dream jobs and amazing lives, we are all so busy that our reading time is cut down quite a bit. Yet we always make time for our book club friends without fail.
“So...” Claire asks, as we all lean in to grin into our cameras, “What’s everyone reading lately?”
*** The End ***
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About the Author: Romance author Haley Travis lives in a charming (old and rundown) little house with an old fashioned (overgrown and crazy) garden and just the right amount of books (six giant overstuffed shelves, the floor is starting to creak). She enjoys writing quirky, sexy modern romance, and loves creating interesting female characters who are at a turning point in their lives.