Epilogue: Stella
“All packed?”
“Yup.” Stella pointed to the bags waiting by the bedroom door. “Everything but what I’ll need in the morning.”
“Including your ten thousand art supplies?”
Stella returned Nate’s grin. “Including those.”
Nate pulled her in and kissed her. “Good.”
In the morning, they were going to Belize.
Stella could hardly believe it was happening. Two decades ago, she’d wanted to do this, and her life had taken a sharp left turn. She’d thought that dream was lost, but...now it was here again. She felt like she might overflow with happiness.
“Hey, so,” she said to Nate, “it’s still too early to go to sleep, I think.”
He raised his eyebrows, smiling. “Is it? But we’ve already said all of our goodbyes and packed all our things. Whatever will we do with our time?”
“Hmmm, I don’t know.” Stella leaned forward and kissed him, drinking in his warm, masculine, familiar scent.
That was one of her favorite things about having Nate with her forever, for always. The way she was starting to learn him, to know him. Know what he smelled like when he was aroused, know how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed...she couldn’t wait until they were finishing each other’s sentences all the time.
Stella pushed him towards the bed, and he went willingly, laughing softly. He let her strip off his clothes, and sprawled out naked before her, happy and warm and exactly what she needed.
It was amazing, how her life had changed since Todd had been arrested. Stella hadn’t fully understood how thoroughly the pall of fear had influenced her life. Looking back, she almost couldn’t believe how timid she’d become, how hesitant to try new things.
Now, it was like the color had come flooding back into her life. Everything was bright and exciting again. And the brightest and most exciting thing was Nate.
She had an ongoing project where she was trying to learn every inch of his body. Tonight, she focused on his flat stomach, the lines of abs, salt-and-pepper hair tracing a line down to more interesting territory. She bent and kissed his hipbones, one after the other, and he groaned. The skin was thin there, sensitive, and she licked slowly inward.
Nate groaned low in his chest as she teased him with her tongue, tasting his inner thighs, his lower stomach...everywhere but where he wanted. “Stella—” he said in a strangled voice, and she finally gave in and took him into her mouth.
This was a part of his body that she hadn’t wasted any time learning, and she knew how to bring him right to the edge if she wanted. For now, though, she took her time, enjoying the taste of him, the way the scent of his arousal was thick and intoxicating, the velvet-soft skin under her tongue. She could feel wetness gathering between her legs, a heat building in the depths of her abdomen. She shifted in place, fighting the urge to slip a hand down and press against her clit. She wanted to focus on Nate.
Nate, though, had other ideas. As Stella pulled back and sucked fast and hard on the head of his cock, a move she knew drove him crazy, she tasted the first quick burst of salt on her tongue—and Nate’s hands closed on her shoulders, pulling her away and up.
“Hey,” she protested, laughing, but then he was kissing her hard, his hand sliding under her skirt, and she couldn’t bring herself to protest any further.
He stripped her dress over her head, dealing with her bra and panties with quick efficiency, and then paused. For a long minute, he just looked at her.
“What?” Stella asked quietly.
He shook his head slowly. “You’re just so beautiful. I love seeing you happy. I love making love to you. There’s nothing about you I don’t love.”
Emotion rose in her chest, filling her up and almost spilling out her eyes. “I love you,” she whispered.
He kissed her again, with a ferocity and depth that lit her on fire. Gasping, she clutched at him, wrapping herself around him, feeling his heat and his desire against her entire body.
Eventually, though, she wanted more. She twisted her hips, trying to communicate the message to Nate, and he tilted them so Stella was on her back, letting her thighs fall open, feeling his eyes on her like that gaze was tangible. Her nipples were hard points, her pussy slick and open. Wanting him.
Nate slid inside her in one long, slick thrust. Stella arched her back in pleasure, reaching for him, needing to feel him close. He buried his face in her neck, panting, the rasp of stubble igniting the sensitive nerves, providing a sharp counterpoint to the deep pleasure she felt as he started to thrust.
Stella had never realized before how close two people could really get. When Nate was inside her, he aroused more than just physical pleasure. It was like she could feel their two souls combine, their animals entwine, as pleasure inflamed her and love overwhelmed her.
Nate groaned, “I love you—Stella—” as he sped up, driving into her with ragged breaths echoing between them. Stella caught his cheek and pulled him in for a kiss, breathing him in. His cock filled her with excruciating, exquisite pleasure, and she could feel the pulses of climax starting to build.
“Oh,” she heard herself saying involuntarily, “oh, oh—” and then orgasm ripped through her body, leaving her shuddering and moaning and wanting the moment to continue forever.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, Nate was poised on the edge—she could tell by the way his fingers dug in, the way his lip was caught between his teeth. His eyes were bright. “You’re so beautiful when you come,” he murmured.
Stella grinned happily. “You too,” she said, and started chasing the last weak aftershocks, clenching her muscles, lifting her hips. It was too much for him, and she reveled in the sight of her mate dissolving in pleasure, climaxing because of her, inside of her.
It took a while for them to catch their breath.
Eventually, they’d stretched out together under the covers, Stella pressed against Nate’s side. “You ready for tomorrow?” he asked.
“So, so ready.” Stella could feel her whole body yearning to get out, to see the world. “Part of me wishes Eva were coming with us,” she confessed.
“She has school.” Nate sounded a little wistful, too. “Maybe we can go somewhere over winter break, bring her with us then. And meanwhile, Ken and Lynn will take good care of her. Not that she needs it, she’s practically a grown woman.”
“And I suppose having a teenager around might cramp our style a bit,” Stella said thoughtfully.
One of Nate’s hands curved over her breast. “I can’t imagine what you mean.”
She grinned into his shoulder. “Sure you can’t.”
There was a moment of quiet, and then Nate said, “I’m glad you’re happy, Stella.”
She kissed his shoulder. “The happiest I’ve ever been.”
End