Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
EPILOGUE
DAMIAN
One Year Later, Christmas Day
“Thank you so much for dinner, Mariella,” I tell Celine’s mother.
Mariella beams at me, Thomas smiling too, his arm wrapped around his wife as he sees us to the front door. When Celine’s parents returned from their holiday trip last year, I was terrified they’d scream at me to get away from their daughter.
They’ve known me all my life. Helped me after my parents’ crash. There are almost fifteen years between Celine and me. But once they saw the love that touches every single part of us when we’re together, they wouldn’t deny it.
We were made for each other.
“I love you,” Celine says in the car. Reaches across and takes my hand, weaving her fingers between mine.
“I love you too,” I reply, voice husky. “But you’re driving me nuts…”
“Oh, really?”
I swallow, studying my girlfriend. She’s wearing a silly green Christmas dress, ornaments shaking each time she moves, green pantyhose to match. Staring at her thick legs in those tight pantyhose almost made me feral, even while Thomas was carving the turkey.
We drive through the snowy city toward my house. No longer rundown on the outside. I’ve had it renovated, the modern and bright inside matching the outside.
I wrap my arm around Celine as we walk up the pathway to the front door.
One year has made me a new man. Cracked me open and flooded me with warmth and love and belonging. One year has even made me a Christmas lover.
I’m taming the mob, making the city a better place. And Celine is working her ass off to progress in her career and save lives.
In the entranceway, she turns to me, her cheeks flushed and beautiful. “This is where we first kissed, remember?”
I press another kiss against her lips. Love the way she sucks in a frantic breath as though she can’t take it for long or she’ll melt into slick and ready lust.
“How could I forget?” I growl.
“That’s why I wanted to give you a special gift here…”
She reaches into a coat pocket on the rack. Takes out a small box wrapped with a bow.
My heart thunders. I’ve got a surprise gift for her too.
I open the box, stare at the pregnancy test.
“Positive,” I whisper.
She clutches my arms desperately. “Is that… okay?”
“Okay?” I groan. “It’s fate, Snowflake.”
“Yeah?” she murmurs.
I lay the box aside and pull her into a long, passionate kiss. She clings to me, moaning through the press of our lips. A moan that surges straight to my base and threatens to make me lose it.
I gently push her away.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I need to show you why this is fate. Why we’re meant to be. I’ve got a surprise gift for you too.”
I take her hand and lead her into the living room. The whole house is bright with decorations, more Christmas joy than this Grinch could’ve conceived of just one year ago.
“It’s the small one under the tree,” I tell her.
“Where?”
“You’ll find it. It’s not wrapped.”
I lower myself to one knee. Stare as love and lust burn through me in equal measure. When she bends over, her dress rides up and shows her round, thick ass in the Christmas pantyhose.
She finally finds the box, turns, and gasps when she sees I’m kneeling.
“Damian,” she murmurs, tears pricking her eyes.
I reach up, take the jewelry box from her.
She clutches her hands to her chest. My woman. My soulmate. My Snowflake, shaking me up, rearranging my world. For the better.
“I love you, Celine. I love every single thing about you. How you changed me. How you challenged me. But more than that, I love you for you. For the difference you make and the warmth in your heart and your optimism and the joy you take in the simple things.”
I pause, getting choked up. “I’ll never stop loving you.”
I open the box, showing a snowflake-like diamond, unique and big, glistening from its silver band, flanked on both sides by red and green jewels in Christmas gift shapes.
“Celine Moreau, will you marry me?”
She blinks, her eyes glistening like snowflakes in the sunshine. “Yes,” she says, without a single moment of doubt. “Yes, yes, yes!”
I slide the ring onto her finger and then jump to my feet. Pull her into my arms and kiss her with more passion and more hunger than I have in our year-long relationship so far… and that’s saying a lot.
She leans back in my embrace, lips red from our kissing, joy making her even bubblier than usual. “This is beautiful,” she says, holding the ring up.
I kneel again. Kiss her belly. “A baby. A marriage. I never thought… God, I love you.”
I touch her belly, and then she makes that special moaning noise. The one I’ve learned well over this past year. And yet it hasn’t lost its appeal, not even a little bit.