Heart Breaker (Break on Through) (17 page)

Epilogue

Four months later—Vienna, Virginia

At first, I thought what I felt was part of my dream. The swipe of a tongue. The sting of a bite. I realized, as the sensations were moving from the undersides of my knees up the curve of my thighs and, finally, a long, strong lick right in between my legs, this was no dream.

Or actually it was. I was being woken up in the most delicious way possible. With Kyle in my bed. And my man was in the mood to feast on me and my warm, wet center. Like I was made of pure cane sugar. Or slow-dripping molasses. I opened my eyes and lifted the comforter.

“Morning to you too,” I cooed, unable to help my mirth.

“Mmmm,” was his only response, as he rolled my clit between his lips while flicking the head of it fast with his tongue. Lightning speed. Making my orgasm build in me quicker than usual. I had fallen asleep naked because we had been going at it all night. And to be truthful, I didn’t know if I had another one in me.

Kyle always loved proving me wrong.

I cupped both my breasts in my hands and took my nipples between my fingers. And as I rode the pleasure wave building in me, I pinched them—hard. Unrelenting. Just as Kyle sucked deep, making my orgasm rise and crash like a storm. It was glorious and heady and never-ending.

I could barely catch my breath as he climbed over me and kissed me. The taste of me heavy on his tongue. Then his gorgeous cock slipped inside me. Seamless. A perfect fit. And we began to move together.

I rolled over him and got on top. Something he rarely let me do because my man liked control. But this time, he encouraged me to take over. While holding on to his shoulders and not looking away from his gaze, even for a moment, I shimmied my body up and down his length. He cupped my behind and held on, enjoying the friction I was making for us.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he hoarsely whispered, his throat thick with his emotions. He got like this sometimes, ever since my kidnapping, getting choked up while we were making love.

“Love you, babe,” I whispered, as I moved myself faster, wanting for him to release deep inside me. His grip tightened, his nails digging into my skin. He closed his eyes while his sumptuous lips parted. His chest rose and fell with his quickening breath. I knew my man. He was getting close.

“I’m gonna come, Sam,” he groaned, wrapping his arms around me and bringing me to his chest. I cradled him and then he rolled me to my back again. Holding on tight. Pummeling his dick so hard into me, I just knew I was going to come with him again.

“Ohmigod,” I cried out, as our bodies thrust together.

Fast. Deep. Perfect.

He buried his face in my neck and practically roared his orgasm into me. And I fell off the cliff right along with him.

Floating. In a new kind of ether. There was no sadness. Just us in a cloudless blue.

He waited until our joined heartbeats slowed. Then, as usual, Kyle got a dampened washcloth and gingerly cleaned between my legs. As he brought it back to the bedroom, I found myself staring off, admiring the newly framed poster on my wall, from what I used to call “the play from hell”. What started off as a personal nightmare for me had evolved into one of the triumphs of my career.

Everyone was shocked that I insisted on performing as scheduled in
Stupid Fucking Bird
. My sister, my friends, Kyle and even the trauma therapist who met with me the morning after the kidnapping, urged me to take some time for myself and bow out of the play. But what I knew—and they finally understood—was that performing would be the reparative elixir my soul needed. Instead of hiding my pain inside the four walls of my childhood home, I poured my fear and my rage into my performance. Chekhov’s Nora became the conduit for my healing and the audience was the witness to me laying my soul bare.

And in doing so, I became clean again.

I finished that run to sold-out crowds, winning a Helen Hayes Award for best actress and snagging a national commercial for, of all events, Super Bowl Sunday. Kyle and I laughed when I landed that one, considering we met at a Super Bowl party. Never would I have considered football the foundation for finding the love of my life.

Kyle walked back into the bedroom, wearing his jeans low on his hips with the top button opened. He grabbed one of the button-down shirts he now kept in my closet for when he stayed with me for weekends.

“Come back to bed, babe.” I smiled while reaching for him, trying to entice him to crawl back under the covers with me. I glanced at my bedside clock. It was only eight in the morning. “It’s early still.”

He shook his head and that crooked smile of his emerged. The one he got when he was up to something.

“My woman’s being lazy this morning,” he teased, buttoning up his shirt. “Why don’t you throw yourself together and let me take you to breakfast.”

“You are high if you think I’m getting outta bed so early on a weekend! Especially after keeping me up all night with that magic mouth and cock of yours.” I half-laughed, half-barked back, crawling on all fours across my bed away from him.

All of a sudden, the sound of some kind of construction kicked into gear. It must have been close by because it was rattling the windows, almost as if a wrecking ball were coming toward my house.

“What the hell…” That changed my direction. I hopped out of my warm, love-strung bed, threw on a robe and went to my bedroom window.

“Well, look at that…” I said more to myself than to Kyle.

“What, babe?”

“The house across the street? The old McFerguson place? Someone must’ve finally bought it and is tearing it down.”

“That dump? ’Bout time. It was a hell of an eyesore.”

He was right. Jessica and I had known the McFergusons growing up. They had been old back then, and by the time we’d grown up, they were ancient. Anyway, first the missus died and her husband followed shortly after. Which was kind of sweet when you thought about it. Unfortunately, their three kids could never get along, nor agree on what to do with the place.

So they let it sit. Getting older and even more decrepit. My parents and the rest of the neighbors weren’t too pleased. This was a house-proud block and no one wanted to be on the same street as an abandoned home.

But that was all changing, it seemed. “Well, good for whomever got that lot,” I said while not taking my eyes off the demolition. “There’s so much room,” I mused, still staring out. “Someone can build far back and still have space for a garden and for kids to play. Could be perfect, with the right people and the right vision.”

I looked back to see Kyle putting on his shoes.

“Let’s go check it out and then go to breakfast,” he answered while using his fingers to comb his hair into place. And of course, he was genetically gifted enough that the simple maneuver was all that was needed. “Curious to find out if the crew knows anything about the build.”

I stood there and blinked. “What are they going to know about it?”

He just gave me a wink. “C’mon,” he drawled, his Southern accent always stronger when he wanted something out of me. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

I rolled my eyes and stomped over to my closet. “Fine,” I called out over my shoulder. “Let me throw something on.” Even though it was barely after eight o’clock, it was already getting too warm for me. But this was August in Northern Virginia. Former swampland turned suburban sprawl for the nation’s capital. So I chose a light cotton, pale-blue shift dress and some ballet flats. Then did a quick brush of my hair and teeth and went to find my man.

Walking into the main area of the house, I was surprised to find Jessica up as well, sipping her coffee and trying to keep some dumb-ass grin from spreading all over her face.

“What are you two up to?” I asked, my hands on my hips, reminding me in a heartbeat that my mama used to say and do the same thing with Jess and me. One look at my sister’s face and I knew she was remembering the same thing.

The moment passed quickly for her because she gave a slight shake of her head and barked out, “Well, good morning to you too! What a lovely way to greet your family first thing in the morning!”

“What are you even doing here? You’re usually out the door, working with Piper by now.”

“Now don’t you both start already,” Kyle interrupted. He took my hand and practically pulled me out the front door. “I haven’t got all day and I want to do this right.”

Suddenly, it hit me. Like a wheelbarrow full of bricks right on my head. I could feel my hand in his. I could sense my legs moving forward, following his lead. But I wasn’t fully in my body anymore.

I was in shock. Because I knew what was about to happen.

We were now standing in front of the construction site. Kyle gave a harsh whistle by blowing with his two forefingers between his teeth and, immediately, the crew stopped all their work. And it was totally quiet.

He took a step toward me, the gravel scratching under his feet as my heart pounded so loudly, I thought Kyle would be able to hear it. He took both my hands in his and started talking. And it took me a full minute to tune in to what he was saying because my ears were buzzing.

“I’m sorry, baby. I need you to say that again.”

He laughed and so did some of the crew. I blushed and looked to the side to see my sister, Jackson and Lauren, Max and his daughter, Piper, along with some other neighbors, all standing there, watching us. One of them even had a video camera.

“Can I get your attention for a couple more minutes?” he teased me. “Trying to propose to you, baby.”

I took in a big gulp of air and nodded. Tears were already flowing from my eyes down my cheeks. I was shaking too, my adrenaline spiking fierce.

“Knew I wanted in the first time I saw you onstage. Knew I was in love with you the minute I saw you with Patrick at that benefit. But I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live without you when you were taken away from me. That was the worst and the best day of my life, Samantha. Made a vow to myself once I had you in my arms that I’d spend the rest of my time here on earth making you happy. Keeping you safe.”

He shoved his hand in his pocket and took out a small black velvet box. Then he opened it to reveal a stunning round diamond, surrounded by smaller lavender stones.

“It’s-it’s beautiful, Kyle,” I whispered while he took my left hand and placed it on my finger.

“Had it made special for you. Wanted something to remind me of your eyes.”

I laughed and squeezed his hands, moved by his emotions and thoughtfulness.

“But there’s more,” he added.

I looked up, already overwhelmed and happier than I ever could imagine.

“Breaking ground here today. This is where you and I are going to build our dream house. Where you’re going to grow a garden and where you and I are going to make lots of gorgeous and brilliant babies.”

Then, just like out of a script, my man got down on one knee.

“Samantha Brooke Lockhart, will you be my wife?”

My tears went from charmingly sentimental to an ugly cry in point-two seconds. All I could do was nod my head, crouch down and throw my arms around him, burying my face in his neck. He chuckled and rubbed my back, and I heard the small crowd clap and whoop loudly, congratulating us.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and received a ton of hugs and congratulations. The last one being Jessica, who was beaming as brightly as a thousand suns.

As she embraced me, I couldn’t help but ask her something. A question only she would have the answer to.

“You think Mom and Dad would’ve liked him?” I asked her after most everyone had gone back to their own homes and Kyle was chatting with Jackson and Lauren off to the side.

Jessica glanced over at Kyle, studying him with that penetrating schoolteacher gaze of hers. Then she met my eyes. “No, they wouldn’t have liked him, Sam-Sam.”

I quietly gasped, my mouth falling open. “What?”

Then her face broke out in another big-ass smile, which she covered with her hand as she laughed. “They would have
loved
him, sweetie! They wouldn’t have been able to help themselves.”

“And why’s that?”

She smoothed my hair with her hand and tugged at the ends, just the way she used to when she was a little girl. “Because you look at him the way Mom used to look at Dad. And when I catch Kyle looking at you? It’s like he can’t believe his luck. And that’s exactly what they both wanted for you.”

“For you too, Jess,” I added, wishing she could find someone as wonderful for her as Kyle was for me.

She bit her lip and her eyes snuck a peek over at Max and Piper, slowly walking back arm in arm toward the house they were renting from Lauren.

“Anything you want to tell me?” I asked, my tone coy and inquisitive.

Her gaze darted back over to me and she shook her head. “Oh please,” she answered, a bit too vehemently in my opinion. “Max is all wrong for me. He’s too…too…”

“Scrumptious?”

“No!” She slapped me on my arm, looking truly offended. “He’s just too rough around the edges is all. Although Piper is truly amazing. I have loved working with her this summer.”

“And what about Henry?”

She scrunched her nose, as if she smelled something funky. “Uh, no…Henry’s out of the picture.”

“What happened?” I asked, feigning concern, but I was secretly thrilled. Henry was a putz.

She bit her lip and looked toward his house again. “Remember I was staying with Max for a while?”

“Uh, yeah. Of course I do. It was because of that…well, you know.”

“Right, well…”

“Well? What?”

“Max kinda chased him off.”

I raised both my eyebrows. “He chased him off.”

“Um…yes.” Jess nibbled her lower lip, and I could tell she was desperately trying to appear peeved by Max’s action. But that glint in her eye didn’t lie.

“Oh no,” I answered, starting to laugh from deep in my belly. “This is too much.”

“Forget about Max,” she ordered, waving her hand as if she could discard the notion of him that easily. “It’s
you
who’s getting married. And you’ll be right across the street from me!”