Pack, Stella mouthed. She’d never thought of her and Lynn like that. But now that it was her and Lynn and Eva and Ken, and Nate...
Nate’s arms had tightened around her. “I always thought I didn’t want to settle down in one place,” he murmured. “But I never realized how it would feel to have...a home base. A real one. I want that with you.”
“I do, too,” Stella said wonderingly. A home base. From which they could go...wherever they wanted.
It was funny, to finally realize exactly what she wanted, only to discover that she already had it. Right here in her own home.
She kissed Nate again, warm and happy. “I love you,” she whispered.
He pulled her close. “Stella. I love you, too.”
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.