Page 76 of The Final Beat

“Stuff to do at this time of night?” he asked. “What kind of stuff?”

I had nothing to do. No stuff at all. I just couldn’t be next to him and not think about how his arms around me felt or what it was like having him inside me. It was hard being able to smell his woodsy aftershave and not be able to run my nose up his neck so that I could inhale him.

“Just stuff to get ready for the tour.”

Joey nodded, swallowing hard and making his Adam’s apple bob. “You need any help?”

His eyes were darker than usual, almost black as he stared at my mouth. Need pushed between my thighs as his long fingers stretched out on the table and began to drum. I could practically feel them touching and stroking me, bringing me to climax. I moved in my seat, trying to get some sort of release from the want.

“You can’t go yet, anyway,” Joey said. “Beau hasn’t done his speech yet.”

“He’s doing a speech? Beau, who generally dislikes people, has not only invited almost a hundred people to celebrate hisengagement, but is also going to speak to those hundred people en masse?”

“Yep. He did say it’s not going to be very long, but it will be soppy.”

“Wow,” I replied with a smirk. “I guess it’s worth waiting around for then.”

Joey’s shoulders sagged as he nodded. “Yep I suppose it will be.”

“And so,” Beau said, gazing lovingly at Simone, “Sim, all I can say is I love you, baby, so damn much. You brought a light back into my life when I was sure it would remain dark, and you brought me happiness when I was sure I would forever remain in misery.” He swallowed hard as he ran a finger down Simone’s cheek. “I’m so lucky to have had two great loves in my life and even luckier that one of them is you.” As Simone drew in a quiet sob, Beau turned to Ethan who was gazing up at him. “And as for you, my buddy, my little man, I am so proud to be your dad.”

When Beau crouched down and drew Ethan into his arms, there wasn’t a dry eye in the restaurant. Even I, the woman with a heart of ice, felt a little dampness at my lashes. But when Ethan threw his arms around Beau’s neck, I could barely suppress the sob that tore from my throat.

“I love you, Daddy.” Ethan’s voice was loud and proud, and it was beautiful.

I turned to look at Joey, expecting to see a look on his face that showed me I’d made the right decision about us. It wasn’t there, though. Not the wishful, dreamy look of a man considering his future as a parent. Instead, he had a huge smile of pride and happiness for his friend and his new family. Hewas the one who started the applause, grinning the whole time, and he was the one who started the whooping. I should have believed him when he said he didn’t want kids, because it meant I’d wasted a lot of time.

Joey’s gaze then fell on me, and he frowned. I had no idea why because I was smiling. Smiling so hard that I could feel the beginnings of an ache in my cheeks. After a few seconds, though, the furrows on his brow disappeared and his features softened. He was looking at me like he recognised something, and I wondered what it was. When I looked at Joey I saw peace, and realisation, like he’d suddenly understood what it was he wanted. Then it struck me, I felt the same way. Seeing and speaking to Wes had cleared my mind of the crap that had been building in it. I could almost feel the walls I’d built dropping brick by brick. I finally felt at peace. There was a ceasefire in the war I’d been battling in, and it was time to take some control back.

“Hey,” I said, moving up next to him as the applause petered out. I pulled on his arm, beckoning him to move closer. “Do you want to make sure that I get home safely?” I whispered in his ear.

He only paused for a second before he wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me closer. His mouth went to the shell of my ear, and he whispered, “I will, but you should know I won’t be leaving until the morning.” He nipped my earlobe. “How does that sound?”

“Perfect,” I replied, feeling my nipples harden against the lace of my bra.

“Good,” he growled, “so be prepared for me to fuck you all night until we both collapse exhausted.”

I knew then that I was in trouble, but I would think about the consequences once we had both collapsed with that exhaustion that he’d promised.

CHAPTER 32

JOEY

Destiny’s hand against mine was a stark contrast. It was tiny as opposed to my huge one and it was porcelain white against my olive skin. We were palm to palm, both of us looking at them as we lay in her bed.

There hadn’t been much talking, once we’d decided that we would spend the night together. There never was between us, we weren’t typically talkers, we tended to pass a look which said everything. That was what had happened at Beau and Simone’s engagement party. I’d looked at her and finally seen into her soul. Like the shutters had been opened and my expectations had risen to a level we’d never reached together before. That was why we’d had a night together without blame, shame, or compromise. I knew, though, we did have to talk at some point. I had to tell her how I really felt. How I’d missed her. How I’d craved her for the last six weeks wishing I could just have five minutes, even if it was to argue with her.

“Why 96?” she asked, touching the numbers tattooed on my middle two fingers.

“Do you know anything about me?” I smirked, turning my head to kiss her quickly on the lips. “It’s the year I was born.”

She groaned, burying her face in my shoulder. “Now I feel older than ever. I was born in 83.”

“Wow, you are old.” I laughed, trying to back away from the hand which reached out to smack my bare chest.

I pulled her closer, wrapping my arm tighter around her and kissing her forehead. It was something sweet that I would never normally do, especially with her. She usually hated that kind of thing, cute kisses, hand holding, lying in bed, and laughing together.

Our usual thing was to fuck and then get dressedifwe managed to undress in the first place. Often we were too desperate to do much more than push our jeans down and go for it. The night before had been different. As for the morning after, well, that had been unlike anything we’d ever done before. It had been something that I could see as a new normal. A good normal.

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