Epilogue

Alissa

I leaned my shoulder against the cabin’s back door, gazing out to the cliff. Dakota’s mother and three sisters were putting the finishing touches on the Christmas Eve dinner that we’d be feasting on in just a few minutes.

Dakota and I had found a nice little house overlooking the city of Portland, and we’d settled in. We got married in September in a beautiful ceremony. And I have the sisters I always wanted, and we’ve all bonded and are completely in love with each other.

“Are you ready, Alissa?”

Dakota slipped his arm around me and I snuggled into his warmth.

“Get a move on, you two. Pay your respects and let’s get to eatin’,” his grandfather said. He was a gruff, craggy old man, but he was all bark and no bite. I smiled at him and he winked at me. “Get on with you, you beguiling little pixie.”

“Pixie magic,” Dakota whispered into my ear.

I giggled.

We stepped into the frosty air, the heavy snowfall creating a beautiful white Christmas, but I couldn’t wait to snuggle up into that big warm bed with Dakota and give ourselves to each other…just as we had been doing for the eight months we’d been blissfully and awesomely happy.

I was working for the city and he was loving his job at the hospital.

We ambled toward the cliff, arms around each other’s waists. “How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m doing great. I miss him so much, but I’m happy to know that he’s free. We’re both free. I feel so strongly that Charlie brought me to this spot, so that I could pay it forward and help you, just as Charlie helped me. I found, in you, the man I was destined to be with. So Charlie hasn’t left me alone or abandoned me as I’d been afraid had happened when he’d died. Instead, he has given me his final gift. You.”

Dakota stopped and pulled me against him, just holding me in a tight embrace. When we finally got to the edge, I remembered falling, falling, falling in love with Dakota. I turned to him, and as our eyes met I heard laughter on the wind. Thank you, Charlie. I wrapped my arms around Dakota. I looked toward the cabin and saw six faces peering through the windows. “Your family is so wonderful.”

When I inclined my head, he glanced at the cabin and laughed. “They love you, too.”

“I love you so much. You’ve not only given me yourself,” I looked down and twisted the gold band butting up against my beautiful engagement ring, “but you’ve given me a close and loving family, too.”

As Charlie’s faint laughter continued to dance on the breeze, and Dakota covered my hand, his ring winking in the sunlight, my heart was so damn full. For a moment I paused in my bliss and recalled Charlie’s dark hair, his wonderful smile, his expressive and beautiful eyes, the joy and love that he had always given me…and my love for him mingled with my love for Dakota as I kissed my husband until I was sure he, and his endearingly nosy family, knew just how much I did love him.

Dakota

Christmas Day dawned clear and bright, and I opened my eyes to gaze at Alissa beside me. She was on her stomach, her arm thrown over her head, the other one along the bed so that the underside of her forearm was exposed. I saw the faint traces of her scars, and I remembered how open and genuine she’d been with me when she’d told me about her cutting. She was such a brave woman, whether or not she acknowledged it.

The sheet curled around her tiny waist, the edges of her breasts flattened by her weight against the mattress. The strands of her pale hair lay across that creamy, tantalizing back.

Tears gathered in my eyes. I blinked against the strong emotion. Love. It was the ultimate feeling.

I didn’t think that I had ever felt such intense joy. The hard work that I had to do to get to this moment was behind me. The flashbacks were rare, and now they had diminished to remnants that barely plagued me. Alissa surrounded me so completely with her love that I never doubted myself anymore, never doubted that I deserved her.

And my family had embraced her like she was their own. My mother loved the way she handled me, gave as good as she got, and loved me. My mother especially loved that part the most. My grandfather was a besotted fool for her, and my father wasn’t far behind. My sisters thought she walked on water.

And I? I just loved her. With everything in me.

She stirred and opened those blue, blue eyes. When she saw me watching her, she smiled. “Good Christmas morning,” she whispered hoarsely.

I moved my hand across her back and she shifted, slipping up against me. I brushed back the tangled hair around her face.

“Merry Christmas, babe.”

She pressed her mouth to mine and sank against me with a sigh. I opened my mouth over hers and caught her against me in a viselike hold, unable to stifle a ragged groan as she took my mouth with a kiss that shattered my senses. My hand supporting the back of her head, I locked my other arm around her hips, hauling her beneath me. My mouth opened hungrily against hers, feeding the need that raged in me, and Alissa lifted her hips against mine, the frenzy in my chest making it hard to breathe. Thank God we didn’t need any more condoms now Alissa was on the pill. Just searing heat, and bare skin to bare skin.

She pressed her tongue into my mouth, drawing me in deeper and deeper as she took me. I was completely hers. Another guttural sound was torn from me when she moved against me, her hand reaching down and sliding along my dick as I jerked in her hand with a thick, heavy need. Alissa hummed her pleasure, and I absorbed the vibration, the feel of her grip making me lose focus on her mouth. I threw my head back as hot, pulsing desire slammed though me.

She twisted against me, and my desire exploded, my hunger turning desperate, my need raging out of control.

And then passion claimed us both, consumed us, pulling us under. Down, down, into a storm of love and blinding intensity.

Awareness returned in fragments—like slivers of light infiltrating my mind—and she tightened her arms around me, burying her face into my damp neck. The body of my beautiful Alissa beneath me was my only reality.

A tremor coursed through me, the rush of emotion so intense it was almost unbearable, and I clenched my jaw against it.

“I know,” she said. “After being so bereft of love from my parents, I still get choked up when I think how blessed I am to belong to you and your wonderful family. You’re everything I could ever want, could ever need.”

She slid her hand up the back of my neck, cradling my head against her with infinite tenderness. I shuddered and pressed my face against the curve of her shoulder, my hold on her tightening convulsively. I closed my eyes, waiting for the ache to ease a little; then she stroked my head and pressed an infinitely tender kiss against my neck.

“It was worth every moment of pain and healing to be with you, Alissa.”

She nodded. “You weren’t only brave, my beautiful, beautiful Dakota. You are my hero.”

And I was her hero. I believed that now. Completely.

For the rest of our lives.