Epilogue

It was the most bizarre form of foreplay, but neither seemed to care.

“Oh God,” Paige moaned. “More. Harder.”

Dylan chuckled. “Baby, if I go any harder you won’t have any skin left on your ankle.” She had gotten her cast off and was enjoying being able to scratch her foot after six weeks. “And I really enjoy you having skin on your ankle so…” He went from scratching to caressing and then held his hand out to her. “Your turn.”

Coincidentally, he was able to get his cast off at the same time and was enjoying the freedom of scratching at his own wrist. And right now, Paige’s nails felt fan-freaking-tastic. They were in the back of a town car he had hired to take them to their appointments because neither could drive—at least not to the appointment. Now he was thankful because they could relax and indulge in this…whatever this was.

A few minutes later, Paige looked out the window and frowned. “I thought we were going to my place.”

“We will.”

“But…we’re going in the opposite direction,” she said.

“We’re taking a slight detour. I wanted you to see something first, and then we’ll go to your place.”

“Oh. Okay.” Then she paused. “What are we going to see?”

He laughed. He loved how impatient she could be and this was one time he wasn’t going to give in. “You’ll have to wait and find out.”

With a slight pout, she pulled her hand from his so she could cross her arms. He mimicked her pose and she shot him a look. “No fair.”

“Extremely fair,” he countered. “You know the old saying: ‘You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours’? Well, that applies here. But…you know…with ankles and wrists.”

“Dylan,” she whined, but he wouldn’t be swayed. He did go back to gently scratching and caressing her ankle—it was almost as much for his enjoyment as hers—and he fought the urge to grin when she reached for his hand and gently resumed her scratching.

They made quite a pair.

The past two weeks had been a bit on the wild side. There had, of course, been a little fallout from their interactions with her father. Robert had temporarily disowned Paige. She hadn’t seemed too bothered by the whole thing, but Dylan had been ready to strangle the man. Her reasonable nature won out, and it had been less than twenty-four hours before Robert had called her, begging for forgiveness and for help. And Paige being Paige, she had agreed to help.

As a consultant.

The little minx had managed not only to stand up for herself, but had also found a way to stay in control of the situation.

Dylan was beyond proud of her, and when she had gotten back from their meeting, the sex had been off the charts. His girl liked being in control, and he had been more than willing to let her have it to her heart’s content.

There were so many things he loved about Paige, but it was her ability to transform that turned him on the most. In the three months he’d known her, he’d watched her go from a quiet and meek woman, who totally had a badass side she didn’t let people see, to this sexy and confident woman who refused to take any prisoners.

He was a lucky man.

The car turned and drove through a pair of gates, and Paige stopped what she was doing and stared out the window. “Whose house is this? Is this Mick’s new place?”

His manager had bought a new place in the city—he already owned one at the beach but wanted a smaller place closer to the office. “Nope. Mick’s got a condo downtown.”

She turned to him with those perfectly arched brows furrowed. “Then whose is it?”

The car came to a stop, and Dylan climbed out and helped Paige to come and stand beside him. “Right now, it’s no one’s home. It’s new construction, so I guess it belongs to the builder.”

It took her a minute to catch on to what he was saying. Then her eyes went wide and those luscious lips formed a perfect little O.

He took her hands in his. “I know we haven’t talked about it, but I’m tired of living in a hotel and you living in your town house. I’d like us to find a place that’s ours. If I’m jumping the gun here and moving too fast, tell me and we’ll leave. We’ll put this on the back burner until—”

“Oh, no,” she cut him off. “I want to go inside and check this place out. It looks amazing from out here.”

It really does, Dylan thought.

The exterior had a bit of a Mediterranean look and the inside had five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and forty-eight hundred square feet. Honestly, it was much bigger than what they would need, but…he was hopeful about filling that space up.

Soon.

They walked through the front door, and Paige looked at him quizzically. “Is the agent here?”

“He unlocked the place for us and he’ll meet us here in thirty minutes. I asked if we could have a chance to walk around alone.”

“That was generous of him.”

“He’s a friend,” he replied as they both stopped to admire the hardwood floors and the high ceiling in the entryway. “Wow. This is way more impressive in person than it was in the pictures.”

“I love this space,” she said wistfully. “I always wanted a grand entrance, a transitional space that doesn’t immediately take you to the living area. It’s beautiful.”

They marveled at the first of three living rooms and then the gourmet kitchen. The master bedroom was on the main floor, and this was the space Dylan couldn’t wait to show her. Taking her by the hand, he led her into the massive bedroom, which could easily fit a king-sized bed and had two walk-in closets, a sitting area, and a fireplace. One wall was comprised of glass doors that slid open to take you out to the pool.

Paige slid open the doors and gasped. “Oh my God, Dylan. This is amazing! And look! There’s a hot tub right here!”

It was a private hot tub for the master suite and was well hidden from the pool area—something Dylan knew he’d love to take advantage of with Paige if they bought this place. They walked around the yard and commented on the seating area and where they could grill and entertain, and he had to admit, her excitement level about the whole thing was making him feel better.

He led her back into the bedroom and toward the master bath.

This was the make-or-break room and he knew it.

Paige took one step in and looked to her right, where there was a glass shower that had two showerheads and about ten different jets. In the middle of the room was a massive soaking tub he knew they’d both fit in. To the left were dual vanities, so they’d each have their own space.

She crossed her arms and frowned, and he was confused. How could she not love this? It was perfect. It was everything she had said she wanted!

“Well, this sucks,” she said.

He almost choked at her words. “Excuse me?”

She nodded and looked at him, her expression bored. “You heard me. This. Sucks.”

“I… Paige, come on. This space is incredible! It’s even better than the one at the hotel!” His voice echoed as he stepped into the room. “The floors are heated and so are the towel bars. You see the blinds on the window there? They’re remote-controlled. And did you see the shower? It’s got more bells and whistles and jets than the one at the Beverly!”

“I know,” she said simply.

“Um…what?”

She smiled slowly, sweetly. “I said, I know.”

“Then…what sucks? I don’t get it.”

Then she sighed dramatically. “It sucks because now I don’t want to leave here. I want to move in right now!” she said excitedly. “How am I supposed to go back to my tiny, little town house after seeing this place?”

“So you like it?” he asked, still unsure of her reaction.

“Yes!” she cried. “Dylan, I love it!”

“We can look at other houses,” he explained. “I just thought this was a great way to get us motivated to start. I wasn’t expecting you to fall in love this quick.”

Then she stepped in close to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Something about you makes that happen for me,” she said.

Now that’s more like it, he thought. “Good,” he murmured and kissed her.

“Don’t get me started,” she said when she broke the kiss a minute later. “I’m already tempted to strip down and test out the hot tub. If you start kissing me, we’ll be testing out a lot more than that.”

“You know it’s going to be like a sexual circus when we get home later, now that we’re cast free,” he said with a lecherous grin.

Swatting him away playfully, she laughed. “I know. And I can’t wait!”

They toured the rest of the house, and with each room they walked through, they talked about what they would do with it. There were enough bedrooms and bathrooms that having guests wouldn’t be an issue.

“I don’t think any of them will work for a studio space,” Paige commented as they made their way down the stairs. “I really liked the setup Matt and Vivienne had in North Carolina.”

Dylan smiled serenely and led her outside again, to the backyard. In the far corner of the property sat a guest cottage. “I know it’s supposed to be for guests, but…I have some plans for this place,” he said when they walked inside. There was one room that was a combination living area/dining area/kitchen on the main floor and one bedroom upstairs. “Technically, we can still keep the upstairs as a guest room, but I’m picturing redoing the downstairs to soundproof it and set up equipment and doing a smaller kitchen.”

“I think that sounds perfect,” she said beside him, her hand still in his. “But it also sounds like a lot of work. It would take some time before you could realistically move your guitars in here.”

He shrugged. “Most are in storage, so I can wait.”

Paige let out a small laugh, and when she went to move away from him to explore, he held her back.

“What was that laugh about?”

“I was thinking about how you apparently excel at waiting.”

He looked at her quizzically.

She laughed again. “You took your time and made me wait before kissing me for the first time, you were fine with waiting it out before sleeping with me, and need I remind you about how long you waited before coming to see me after the accident!”

She was still laughing as she roamed the room, and Dylan stood and watched her. She had a point; he did take his time a lot more now than he ever had before. But he was finding that it made everything that much sweeter when it happened. There wasn’t one thing he would change about the pace he and Paige had with one another.

Walking over to her, he gently spun her around and kissed her until she was boneless in his arms. And when he lifted his head, he smiled down at her. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

“But…what about the agent?” she asked breathlessly.

With her hand in his, he led her out of the guesthouse. They were halfway across the yard when the agent in question came out to greet them.

He could wait…

Or he could be a man of action.

“Hey, Brian,” Dylan said, shaking his hand. “Draw up the papers and make a full-price offer.”

“Oh…um…I didn’t think—”

“I’m going to want to do some extensive renovations on the guesthouse and a few things inside, but I’ll send that all over to you tomorrow,” Dylan said as he led Paige back to the house. Looking over his shoulder one last time, he said, “And thanks for letting us look around. We love it.”

“Uh…great!” Brian stammered, clearly flustered at the quick decision.

And once Dylan had Paige in the car, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her again. His hands began to roam, and she playfully swatted them away.

“Dylan!” she whispered with a giggle. “Stop! We’re not alone.”

It was tempting to keep kissing her and touching her, but he knew she was right. And besides, they’d be back to her place soon enough.

And he knew once they were alone, it would definitely be worth the wait.

For more Samantha Chase check out
the Montgomery Brothers series

Until There Was Us

On sale May 2018