Page 23

Epilogue

James

My alarm rang, for the first time in weeks, before either Llywelyn or I had woken. I reached over to my phone and switched it off, stretching and smiling. Today was the day.

The sun was streaming through the windows of my flat - my flat, though in all honesty, it was more of a base for renovations.

I had bought a bed, TV and a freezer for food but otherwise spent most of my time living between Nain’s and Llywelyn’s.

I had been putting far more effort into renovating the cafe and getting set up as a permanent resident of Hiraeth than I had into the living space above the cafe.

Llywelyn and I had only ever stayed in the flat on nights where we had worked on renovations so late into the night that we could imagine nothing worse than the drive back to his cottage…

or on the nights where painting and DIY had transitioned to horniness before we could get back to his.

But last night had been the night before we opened up, and we had both fallen into bed with thoughts of nothing but to get rested.

Though the cafe was primarily on my mind, so was something else…

I looked over at Llywelyn where he lay, breathing heavily.

I marvelled at his face, hair and beard messy from going to sleep fresh from a shower.

I moved the covers down slightly. My eyes drank in his body, one I didn’t want any less than the first second I had clapped eyes on it.

Curly dark hair ran across his chest and down his stomach.

His shoulders and arms were defined not like a bodybuilder but it was obvious he worked hard for a living.

The last three months had proven to me that Llywelyn wasn’t just a fling, and our feelings for each other had deepened.

I was still a bit scared of saying the ‘l’ word first, but I knew it would come in time.

I reached one hand out to stroke Llywelyn’s arm.

Once I had reached his hand, I moved across to his stomach and downward.

I was surprised when I didn’t encounter a waistband, just more skin.

I lifted the bedding further and looked down.

Someone had obviously collapsed into bed after his shower naked and I’d been too tired to even notice.

I could rectify that. I kissed at his neck, then trailed further kisses across his beard to his mouth.

“Oh, this is what we’re doing?” Llywelyn said groggily. He opened his eyes and looked deep into mine. “Do we have time?”

“Such a romantic,” I said. “I’ll make it quick.”

I kissed him for a moment longer then crawled on top of him, snaking my arm between us to hold our cocks together.

“Fuck, you know I like it like that.” Llywelyn squirmed underneath me and I used my other hand to hold him down at the base of his throat.

I gave a few slow and gentle tugs which made him moan and wriggle even more.

“Keep still,” I whispered. Llywelyn, as ever, did not listen.

I started tugging faster and harder, both heads slick with precum that made the experience even better.

I leaned down again to kiss Llywelyn. “You love it when I’m in charge,” I said right into his ear, one hand still tugging and the other squeezing at his throat.

It had taken a couple of months for Llywelyn to come out of his shell and try many new things, but this was something he had taken to.

“You think so?” In one swift movement, Llywelyn reminded me that I was never really the one in charge by grabbing my arms and flipping us so he was the one on top. He pushed my legs upwards and apart and rutted against my hole. “You know what I want and what I like.”

“Yes,” I replied. When Llywelyn took control I struggled to speak.

He grabbed my hard cock and jerked it as he continued to push against my hole, the slick head never quite going in but still giving him pleasure and me the feel of complete submission.

I knew I wasn’t going to last long, but when Llywelyn pushed down on my chest and leaned down to take my mouth I ended up spilling out all over his hand.

Within seconds he had finished all over my arse and then collapsed on top of me in a heap.

“Well, that was a nice morning surprise,” he said.

“You’re telling me. I was not expecting that .” I wriggled out from beneath him and grabbed at a t-shirt on the floor to mop up.

“Come on, cariad , let’s get you cleaned up for the day ahead.” Llywelyn stood up and held his hand out for me. I took it and got out of bed and we walked together to the bathroom with the little shower cubicle just off the bedroom.

We showered together, as we had many times before. The little shower cubicle was a tighter space than Llywelyn’s bath back at the cottage but we made it work anyway. Another alarm went off in the other room and I grinned up at Llywelyn, the water dripping off his beard as he lathered himself up.

“It really is today, isn’t it?”

“Well, today is today, yes. That’s how it works.” Llywelyn smiled and I splashed some water back in his face.

“Don’t be sassy,” I replied. “That’s my job.”

I stepped out of the shower, leaving Llywelyn to wash his much bigger and furrier body.

I dried off and checked myself in the mirror quickly.

I’d gained a little bit of weight — happiness weight, Nain called it — over the intervening 3 months and had relaxed into a style of comfortable clothes far removed from the ones I wore in my office job.

I picked out a soft burgundy jumper I’d knit myself and a plain white shirt and some jeans, perfect for the slightly colder April sun.

I was looking forward to spending my first spring and summer in Hiraeth.

With the weather already heating up, there had been plenty of chances to take Dinky for long walks along the beach and for us as a couple to take long walks along the cliffside.

I heard the bathroom door open behind me and Llywelyn enveloped me in his big arms, wetting the shirt I’d already pulled over my head. “Twat,” I muttered playfully as I perved on him getting dressed in front of me. “God, I want that ass,” I muttered to myself, just loud enough for him to hear.

“I’m working on it,” he replied. “Til then you’ll just have to put up with me using yours.”

“However will I cope? “ I grinned. He smiled back.

“Almost nine o clock,” he said as he pulled his jeans on. “Are we ready?”

I didn’t know when I had become we in this whole process, but I had zero complaints.

In between the numerous bigger projects he had taken on and a couple of courses I had pushed in his direction to get qualified in all of the DIY tasks he was already amazing at, Llywelyn had been instrumental in helping me get the cafe and community hub organised.

He refused to take a penny, of course, as that wasn’t in his nature.

But he’d been getting better at asking his worth, and it had led to security for him.

“Oh, the central heating people texted,” he said, right on cue. “They’ll be coming round to quote in the next few days.”

“Does that mean I can finally take a hot bath in your house?”

“It means you can if you’re paying half the bills, yes.”

“Welshmen being tight with money really is an accurate stereotype, isn’t it?” I dodged the topic yet again. Despite us living in each other’s pockets near constantly, every time Llywelyn mentioned moving in with him I managed to move the conversation elsewhere.

“Not tight, I just wouldn’t mind you making the four nights a week you already stay with me more official.” Llywelyn had walked to the door that led down to the shop and was waiting for me to pass him.

“I’ll think about it.” I had been thinking about it, and I wanted nothing more than a life living with the man who had so effortlessly made my life better.

But I worried it was too soon, and if it didn’t work out how I would show my face around the village afterward — whether it would be too messy to move in with Llywelyn and then out again.

It seemed sometimes like all the oomph to make big changes in my life had been used up by my initial move to Hiraeth, and now I was stuck in a funny new status quo.

We descended together into the shop, and I had to take a second to stop myself from getting too emotional.

Months of work had paid off well. With most of my money taken up with paying off my old landlord and buying this place, we had to do a lot ourselves and stick to a strict budget when renovating.The same old coffee bar had been polished to a sheen and stained a lighter colour, the front covered in sanded driftwood from the beach.

There was a brand new coffee machine on top of it as well as a grill to one side, my biggest expenses.

An old laptop I’d once used for crunching big budget financial equations in the city was now in use as a cash register.

Llywelyn had found some old railway sleepers and attached them as shelves to the walls, which now held jars of coffee beans and fancy teas that we had sourced locally.

The tables and chairs were a higgledy collection of those sourced from charity shops across the west of Wales.

I’d bought bookshelves from locals and from the school, as Llywelyn had replaced all theirs, and lined them all against the opposite wall.

They were filled with donated books and those sourced from charity shops.

Llywelyn had worked his magic with a sander and wood stain so that they all looked at least somewhat coherent.

On one hand, the place was a bit of a mess but on the other it all worked so well together and looked so homely that I was glad I’d had to stick to a budget.

All that remained to be seen was whether the locals and the few tourists would provide enough income to the place to keep it going.

My love for the place coupled very well with the anxiety that I’d fall flat on my arse and have nowhere to go back to.