Epilogue
One year later
Luke
I stood in front of the mirror, tying my tie around my neck. When it was straight and I was happy, I shrugged into my blazer and looked at the full picture. The suit I’d chosen was black with satin in the weave so that it shimmered a little when I moved. My tie was the color of champagne, matching my hair, and I felt like a million bucks.
I was taking Alexa out to Nobu tonight, a Japanese restaurant with what I heard was the best sushi in town.
I walked to the chest of drawers and reached into the back of the sock drawer, retrieving the little black velvet box I’d bought over two months ago. I’d been waiting for the right opportunity but it hadn’t come up, so tonight I was making it happen.
Alexa was still at work. She would arrive soon. I’d picked up her favorite dress from the dry cleaners earlier. She didn’t know that was what she was going to wear, but she looked spectacular in it.
Over the past year our relationship had evolved into something great. We had come to an understanding of who we were and what we could expect from each other. Alexa was stubborn, strong-willed. She didn’t buckle easily and we often got stuck.
But at the same time, she was completely submissive to me the moment we started foreplay. It was like a different side of her came to the front and she brought a different side out in me, too. I could explore the BDSM scene completely with her. She brought a very dominant person out in me, and the harder I was on her, the more she seemed to like it.
What made it that much hotter was that I was the only person she’d been with. I’d taken her virginity a year ago and we’d been together ever since. No man had been where I’d been, and that gave me a very thrilling sense of possession over her. She was mine in every way possible. No one else had had any part of her.
I had a few ideas that I wanted to try with her next, too. Slowly, Alexa had let me do more and more to her. We explored the border between pleasure and pain often, and she was all for being restrained. It made me feel fantastic. Not only did she make me feel like I was in charge, but she let me know that she trusted me completely by doing it.
Being a submissive was all but weak. Alexa was strong, being able to let go completely and trust that I wouldn’t hurt her. She was possibly stronger than I was.
I would never let her know that of course.
The rest of our relationship had been going just as smoothly. We worked well together in the same house. Alexa didn’t let me get away with treating her like the woman who had to be stuck in the kitchen cooking and cleaning all day. She worked full time, too, and she expected me to pull my weight around the house.
So I did what she expected of me because she was right. Being together like this was all about teamwork. I wanted that with her forever. I wanted her to be my wife.
Alexa King instead of Alexa Starr. I liked the sound of that.
Speaking to her dad about marrying her had been nerve-racking. I was very close with her mom, but since her parents had gotten a divorce, I hadn’t seen her dad as much. I hadn’t known if he would approve.
He’d grilled me about how I intended to care for her, what my long-term plans were, and if I thought I could stick with her if she didn’t have the same plans. He asked how I would handle kids. I hadn’t thought about it all—I just wanted her to be with me forever—but I knew we could get through anything together, and I’d told Mr. Starr that.
He’d given me his blessing.
“You’ve been like a son to me for as long as I’ve had children anyway,” he’d said.
So, with his blessing and the ring, a future, I was armed and ready for Alexa to come home.
“I’m home,” she called a moment later, and I heard her put her bag and keys on the little table by the door.
I walked out to meet her. She kissed me.
“You look great,” she said. “What’s the occasion?”
“We’re going out on a surprise date night,” I said. “Your dress is ready for you to put on in the bedroom. Do something nice with your hair and makeup. Put on some silver jewels.”
She frowned, but then she smiled.
“You’re all secretive,” she said.
I nodded and kissed her again before I nudged her in the direction of the bedroom.
I stuck my hand in my pocket, turning the ring box over and over. I looked out the window, thinking.
Over the last year, a lot had happened with Dalton’s murder. It was still not taken care of completely. The investigation into Koby Mason and exactly what he’d been up to as the president of the Samurai MC was still pending, but he had been denied bail, so he was off the street for the foreseeable future. That set me at ease.
Sherry had already been tried and found guilty of aiding and abetting kidnapping, assault, and murder. She’d been put in a women’s penitentiary and wouldn’t be free to walk around for at least eight years.
Alexa and I both kept up with the news, but we barely spoke about it otherwise. We supported each other through it in silence.
“I’m ready,” Alexa said behind me. I turned around and took in the sight of her.
She wore the dark blue dress we both loved so much. It was tight around her body, hugging her curves and pushing up her breasts just enough to be tastefully sexy. It had capped sleeves and flared out at the bottom. She’d done up her hair in a style that allowed loose strands to brush her shoulders, and it made me want to kiss the skin at the hollow of her neck. Silver earring and an understated necklace completed the look.
“You look fantastic, babe,” I said, and she blushed. Her eyes were dark and beautiful given the color of her dress.
I’d reserved a table for us at Nobu. A valet took care of our car and a seating hostess took us to a two-seater table in the dining room. The place was decorated stylishly with wooden floors, big teardrop chandeliers, and red accents that gave the place an oriental feel.
“This is amazing,” Alexa said when we sat down.
Our waiter came to take our order. We ordered everything authentic from the menu. I wanted tonight to be special, different.
Alexa ordered sushi for starters and we spoke about our day at work, making small talk, talking about anything that came up.
The main course was stuffed lobster with an interestingly arranged salad, and it was amazing. For dessert, I asked the waiter for their special. The waiter nodded and appeared a little later with a silver platter. The velvet ring box was on the platter, open. The waiter bowed and presented it to Alexa.
“What?” she asked. When she looked at me, I was kneeling on the floor in front of her. She clapped her hands to her mouth.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew it a long time ago. It gets stronger every day. Alexa Starr, will you marry me?”
Her eyes welled up with tears and she nodded.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Some of the diners around us made approving sounds, a few of them clapping. Alexa smiled through her tears. I took the box from the tray and stood up, taking the ring and putting it on her finger. Alexa stood up and hugged me, kissed me, crying and laughing.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too,” she answered, finally letting me go. She sat down and I took my seat, too. She studied the ring. It had three large diamonds with smaller diamonds all around them. I’d paid for it over a few months.
“How did you know my size?” she asked.
“I asked Ariel to help,” I said.
Alexa laughed. Ariel had taken Alexa out shopping one day with the promise that she would make a fuss about rings, finding out what size Alexa was. She’d told me that evening and I’d started shopping for a ring the next day.
“You’re sly,” Alexa said
I shrugged. I knew what I was doing.
The waiter brought us dessert menus and a bottle of champagne. It was very Western, but we were going to celebrate our engagement the right way.
We ordered dessert—something to do with ice cream that Alexa really wanted—and poured champagne, toasting to our future.
We’d come such a long way, Alexa and I. Sometimes it felt like only the other day that I’d held her on the porch at her mother’s home, telling her I would be there for her. I had promised Dalton I would look out for her, and I was making good on that promise every day.
Thanks to my friend, I had found the woman who made me happy, who had taught me how to love.
Dalton was the first person I would have told the news to. He would have been the first person I would have told when I’d decided to ask Alexa to marry me, too. He would have been the first I would have asked for permission.
God, I missed Dalton. We would get married and he wouldn’t be my best man. He wouldn’t see his sister walk down the aisle. It was so sad. But Alexa and I were together and we would celebrate Dalton’s life by keeping his memory alive, by talking about him and thinking about him and keeping him in our hearts every time something big happened.
Alexa looked at me, and I saw on her face that she felt the same, that she’d thought about him, too.
“He’s with us, always,” I said to her, holding out my hand. She took it, nodding.
“I know,” she said.
We sat in silence for a moment, honoring the dead, before we returned to the happy celebration of our engagement, of our future. Of the life we could live together.
It was what Dalton would have wanted. It felt right, good. Complete.
***
END OF THE SECOND STORY