It takes only a second for the kiss to shift from one of love and relief to one of desperation. If it had words, it would be screaming,don’t leave me again, don’t ever leave mefrom both sides.I tangle a hand in his hair, tugging the strands like I want to punish him. Or keep him, forever.
I pull back, and my breaths come in pants. “If you let me down again, I will cut off your balls and flay your dick. And I’ll do it with pleasure.”
His eyes narrow, head tilted to one side. “That sounds like something Amy would say.”
I can’t help smiling. “It is. But that doesn’t mean I won’t do it.”
He pulls me to my feet so we’re both standing and kisses me again. The glide of his tongue against mine makes heat unspool low in my belly like ribbons of fire. He breaks away and says, “I’d prefer if you just sucked them. I guarantee it would be better for both of us.”
Laughter filters through me, unfettered joy mingling with relief.I love him. He’s mine.Seb starts to laugh too, squeezing me tight against him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Matt’s voice booms from the other side of the restaurant, and I glance over to see him racing towards us while simultaneously beckoning us with both hands. “You need to get out of here. You’ve kicked off some serious shit. The board are demanding that Dad step down. His career isover. You fucking killed it.” Aries appears behind him, sees Seb and I embracing, and claps like a giddy school kid.
Seb tugs me by the hand. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Home?” he asks. “Will you come back with me? I have this really huge apartment and it misses you.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah. A lot, actually. I thought we could go there and eat cherry tomatoes all night.”
Matt scowls and rolls his eyes. “Come on.” He waves us to the door again. “I have a driver outside. We’ll take you.”
Seb looks eagerly at me. “Will you come?”
“Yes.” I grip his hand and squeeze it tight. “Yes, yes, yes, yes,yes.”
He smiles that beautiful smile, his glorious dimple popping, and everything in the world feels right.
Fuck it, it doesn’t just feel right. It feelsperfect.
EPILOGUE
We’re lying in my bed the morning after the London premiere ofTaming the Beast. Erica’s dress lies in a heap on the floor, alongside my black tie suit. She wore one of the dresses Dominic DeLacey sent over for the occasion. He called her a few weeks ago, profusely apologised for throwing champagne on her at the Tate Modern, and begged her to wear one of his designs to the premier. He sent masses of flowers and more clothes than she could ever wear, as well as ten different ballgowns for her to choose from. Erica, not wanting to hold a grudge, chose the one she liked best and wore it. She looked incredible in it too. It was hard to keep my hands off her all night.
The film was better than I could ever have imagined, and Erica’s performance had me desperate to get her home so I could have her to myself. Which I did, many,manytimes. I coaxed as many orgasms from her body as I could, relishing every tremor and whimper, eating them up like treats, before we both fell asleep in a tangle of sheets.
Erica, her hair mussed and eyes heavy with sleep and sated desire, kisses my hip, where there’s a tiny tattoo of an infinity symbol. She traces it with her tongue, and a burst of arousal pumps through me, right to my dick, but we’ve already fucked twice this morning, so I try to contain myself. I disabled all the cameras in here, seeing as Erica’s pretty much moved in and I no longer need to hide the huge picture of her in the bathroom from anyone anymore.
She teases the tattoo again with her tongue and my dick jerks. She looks up at me, brow rising as she deliberately looks between me and my dick. “You like that, huh?”
“Pavlovian response. You lick me, my dick’s gonna jump.”
She runs her tongue over the tattoo again. “I love this. I didn’t think you were a tattoo kinda guy.”
“I’m not. But I thought I was going to live my life without you, so I got it done to keep you with me.”
She smiles, then leaps up and slaps a hand over my bare chest. “Why not on your heart then?”
I chuckle. “Because I’m not a tattoo kinda guy. Besides, you were already in there. You’ve been in there since I first saw you in that high street catalogue. You don’t need to be on the outside too.”
“I still think you should have put it on your pec,” she says, her tongue sliding out and licking my nipple like she’s some kind of sun-soaked reptile.
“Nah. I should have got it on my arse. Then you’d be licking that all the time.”
She laughs. “You’re ridiculous.” She might be mocking me, but there’s an indulgent gleam in her eye as she dips and gives the tattoo another long, lingering lick. “But this is sexy as hell.”