Page 148 of Fall of a Kingdom

Flynn took a moment to digest my words and then he said, “You were scared. To have the surgery.”

“Yes. I didn’t like my odds of survival with the surgery. The recovery process is going to be a nightmare. Chemo, radiation, tubes and wires sticking out of me. I didn’t want the boys to see that. I didn’t want you to see that.”

“Because you thought you wouldn’t be the outlier and live past the year mark.”

“Yeah. I wanted to choose. How I was going to die. At home, with my family, with all my hair.” I flashed him a sad smile. “Versus a skinny living corpse.”

He flinched.

“Well, what’s done is done, and I’ll see it through now.” I stared at him. “I can’t have this between us. Please, Flynn. Tell me I haven’t lost you.”

He rushed to my side and gently cradled my cheeks in his hands. “You could never lose me. Ever.”

“Then kiss me, Flynn. And remind me that we’re both alive. Remind me that there isn’t anything we can’t overcome together.”

His eyes darkened. “Woman, you are my everything. And I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

Epilogue #1

ASH

A few days later

I sat in the study,a drink in my hands, waiting for my husband to say something. It had been days since we’d had any time alone together, and to be honest, I was afraid for what was to come.

He looked tired.

He looked worn.

He looked…older.

“Before you say anything,” I blurted out, disturbing the silence, “I want to say that I love you. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t want to lose you or our family and the life we’ve built together.”

Duncan took a sip of his drink, his gray eyes glittering in the firelight. “I don’t deserve you.”

“What? That’s not what I—”

“Woman, let me speak,” he said, his voice low and rumbly. It made my stomach cartwheel with excitement every time he took that tone because it meant…well, it usually meant a round of rough intimacy that cemented us back together.

“I’ve been a stupid git. I thought I wanted… I don’t know, something else. A different life. A different purpose. Hell, a purpose I recognized.” He frowned. “But all this shite with Barrett, I realize how lucky I am to have you. I wouldn’t trade what you and I have for anything else. I swear, Ash.”

He set his drink down on the coffee table between us and then he stood up and came to me. He gently took my glass from my hands and set it down next to his. And then he was hauling me up into his arms.

This was the man that I knew. The take charge, commanding, confident man I’d married.

He dragged me in front of the fireplace and then his lips claimed mine. I was delirious with want. I wondered if there was ever a time I wouldn’t want this man.

We pulled apart so we could remove our clothes. We stared at one another and then Duncan’s hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs teasing my nipples. He leaned forward and kissed the hollow of my throat.

My knees weakened and I collapsed onto the rug in front of the fireplace.

Duncan followed me down, covering my body with his.

I stared into his eyes as I traced the lines of his jaw, his forehead, his hair line. I studied him like I was memorizing him because if life had taught me anything, it was that you didn’t know when or if these moments came ever again.

I brought his mouth to mine and kissed him with all the longing and love I had in me. For the years of our marriage, for the children we were raising, for the milestones and the heartaches we’d lived through.

And when he slid into me, achingly slow, I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of us being one. My skin flushed from the heat of the fire, our bodies writhing in tandem as we brought each other to the peak of pleasure.