Page 113 of Catch My Fall

He pulls back. “As much as I want your hands on me, right now is all about you.”

“Are you gonna finish what you started that night at my birthday party, husband?” I ask, gripping the waistband on his pants, tugging him closer.

He pulls up the skirt of my dress until it bunches around my waist before lifting me, my legs wrapping around him. “I’ll have you falling over that ledge so fast your pretty little head will spin, princess.”

“So long as you’re there to catch my fall.”

Epilogue

Eight Years Later

“Don’t get too close to the edge, baby,” I call to Asher.

“Okay, Mommy!” He’s playing with his little fishing rod on the edge of the dock, his black hair glinting in the late afternoon sun as I watch him from the picnic blanket in the back yard.

Alec and I moved into the house in Maine the day after the restoration work was complete, we couldn’t wait a moment longer. Structurally, the house was a more complicated job than first thought. A large proportion of the fire damage was to the foundations of the house itself which added months onto the rebuild. The majority of the work made sure that the overall layout was the same, the decor as close to what it was originally in order to make it seem as though there had never been a fire.

Now, it’s a home again and it’s more beautiful every day.

“Sorry about that, babe,” I say into my phone. “How’s Ivy doing?” I ask Reese, hearing her sigh through the other end of the phone.

“Ugh, fourteen going on forty. She’s driving Rafe crazy, which is kind of ironic considering she takes after him so much.”

“A real Daddy’s girl, huh?”

“Through and through. Thank god I have my little man, here’s hoping he’s a mommy’s boy.” Reese and Rafe married a few years after Alec and I did after finding out she was pregnant. Unfortunately, three months in, she miscarried. It crushed her, crushed them both and up until last year they hadn’t spoken a word of trying again, that was until she took a test last summer to find it positive. Now, I have a new nephew, Evan, the cutest baby boy I’ve ever seen, except for Asher, obviously.

“Have you spoken to Gage or Della recently?”

“Nope, but my guess is they’re trying for baby number four because three apparently isn’t enough. I swear they’re trying to fill every single room in that house with a baby.”

“If they’re onto number four they’ve got like what? Six more to go?”

“Yup, I’m surprised his dick hasn’t fallen off with all the se—”

“Ew! Shut up! I’m gonna stop you right there. We are not talking about my brother’s dick, thank you very much!”

She cackles down the phone. “Sorry not sorry, babe. Couldn’t resist.”

“You’re evil.”

“We should all meet up soon, I miss you, and that handsome hunk of a husband of yours.”

“We were actually thinking of heading down the weekend after next.”

“Really? Oh my gosh! We can have a barbecue or something?”

“That sounds lovely. I’ll text you with the details.”

“Okay, babe. Look, I gotta go, Evan needs feeding. I swear, this kid is insatiable.”

I laugh. “Love you, give Evan a kiss from me.”

“Will do. Love ya!”

I place my phone down onto the blanket and scan over the food in front of me.

“Ash, I have all of this delicious chocolate cake and nobody to eat it with! Shall I eat it all myself?”

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