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EPILOGUE

ASHTON

10 Years Later

"Listen, I don't care what the shareholders think. We're not only backing the land trust, we're also sponsoring the cleanup project as well as the playground and facilities. It's not like they weren't warned about the initiatives I planned on taking. It’s not my problem if they didn't take me seriously."

After taking over AJames Enterprises nearly six years ago, you'd think they'd have realized I'm not fucking around. Quite a few shareholders jumped ship when my father announced he was training me to take over, then we lost more when I made it clear I intended to turn my family’s company into something other than a mecca of corporate greed. The coffers definitely took a hit those early years, but with the work we've done to repair our relationship with the community, and the investments I've made in clean energy and the local community, our profits are now higher than they've ever been. These assholes expect to hang on to every cent the way they did in the old days, but they're slowly catching on.

My assistant drones on about putting together a presentation to show the Board of Directors and shareholders, again, how my giveback initiatives benefit the company in the long run. I barely hear more than static, though, because my attention is caught on the beefcake walking out of the Charlotte Hornets’ Performance Center.

Flanked by two of his friends and fellow Hornets players, Marcus is throwing his head back in laughter at something one of them said. He doesn't notice me right away, so I have a chance to study him. It's in these candid moments that I remember the man he was and see how much he's changed. Not in the looks department so much, although the years have only made him more handsome, his changes show in the easy way he laughs, his laid-back posture and confident stride.

My fucking god, he's so fucking sexy. I'll never get over the fact that he's mine.

"Mr. James?" My assistant, Lana, breaks through my stupor. I might as well be drooling, like it's the first time I've ever seen him walk out of a practice, curly hair wet from the shower and looking like sex personified.

"Sorry, Lana."

"Are you stalking your husband again?" She asks playfully.

"Maybe."

She laughs. "Well, I'll let you go and let you know how the presentation is coming along when you get back on Monday. Enjoy your long weekend."

"You, too," I say absentmindedly, even though she's not the one about to head to the mountains for a four-day weekend retreat. I hang up and change my settings to turn off all notifications and only allow emergency calls.

One of Marcus' teammates gestures to me with his chin, alerting him of my presence. He looks over his shoulder, then slowly turns, his gaze turning heated as it rakes up and down my body. I haven't changed out of my work clothes, but I shucked my jacket and tie in the car. Marcus bites his lip and grins, waving at his teammates as he makes a beeline in my direction.

He walks up to me and presses his body against mine where I'm leaned against the car hood. His lips brush against mine. "What are you doing here?" he asks between slow, sensual kisses that have my pants tightening more than they already were. He smells like shea butter body wash and spicy deodorant. I want to eat him up in every conceivable way.

"I thought your renewed contract deserved a little celebration, and since you have a break for the next few days, I'm taking you away."

"Away?"

I nod and bend down to kiss him some more, pulling him in closer. You'd think after all these years I wouldn't be as affected by him, but I swear every kiss, every touch, is better than the last. I'm just as obsessed as I was when we were fifteen and I went to bed dreaming of getting that very first kiss.

"And you thought standing in the parking lot outside my place of work, dressed like that, would be the best way to entice me?"

"Yes. But what do you mean by dressed like that?"

"All slutty, with your sleeves rolled up. You know what that does to me." He runs a finger down my throat. "And how many buttons do you have undone here? Three?"

"Just trying to please my man," I rasp, groaning when his tongue and lips follow the trail his fingers just made. "You need to quit before I start humping your leg in front of everyone."

He hums appreciatively, covertly running his hand up my inner thigh, brushing along the hard ridge of my rapidly lengthening cock. "What time do we need to be on whatever plane or boat or other wild transportation you have planned for us?"

"Forty-five minutes," I say, a slight whine in my voice. "Taking the jet."

"Good. Get in the car and get your cock out. I'm going to edge you until you cry for giving me a boner in front of my team—again. And when we get in the air, I'm going to fuck you so hard the pilot will have to adjust for turbulence."

"Yeah... The way you smell, the plug in my ass, and the way your cock is tenting those shorts, pretty much guarantees I'm going to blow my load the moment you so much as breathe on my cock."

"Hmmm." Marcus licks his lips. "I suppose I do owe you one for this morning."

He was so worried this morning over what he wanted to do about his contract with the Hornets, I felt like he needed some stress relief. Some deep throat action and a little prostate massage with a vibrator had him spilling down my throat in almost record time. I say almost because I currently hold the record for the quickest cum shot, and considering how hard and sensitive I'm feeling right now, I'm ready to go for gold.

"Car," he says gruffly, pushing me towards the driver's seat.

I scramble to obey, undoing my pants and letting my cock free before the door slams shut. Marcus' hand dives between my legs, pushing past my cock and balls. I lift my hips and spread my thighs as wide as I can to give him better access, throwing my head back with a gasp when he finds the base of the plug with his fingers. He plays with it, turning, pushing, and pulling it just enough to give me a moment's reprieve before letting it get sucked back inside me.

"Marc—"

"How long have you been wearing this, Princess?"

"About an hour," I say with a groan.

"Such a big one, too."

"Not as big as you," I rasp, sucking in a deep breath, his scent filling my lungs. "God, Marc, please."

"Thank fuck for dark tinted windows," he says, diving into my lap and taking my cock into his mouth.

The wet heat of his tongue rubs on the sensitive notch on the underside of my cockhead, and my hips jerk up, forcing more of me into his perfect mouth. He moans appreciatively and takes me deep, bobbing up and down my shaft only a few times before I can't hold back any longer. I let out a long, low moan as I erupt into his mouth, and he sucks me like he's drinking a thick milkshake through a thin straw.

"Fuck me!" I shout, my legs shaking as pleasure continues to rocket through my body.

"If there was any more room in this ridiculous car, I'd at least fuck your face right now." My vision clears enough to see he's pumping his cock, hard and fast. "Come over here," he says, leaning back against the passenger side door and turning his body towards me. "I need somewhere to put this, or you'll need to get the car detailed again."

It's a little awkward to fold my six-foot-ten frame across the center console, but I'll be damned if I'm about to miss out on getting my lips around him and drinking him down. The moment I'm close enough to reach, Marcus threads his fingers into my hair and grips a handful at the back of my head, pushing my head down as he juts his hips up. Relaxing my jaw and my throat, I let him take control, pumping into me as best he can in the small space. He takes longer than I did, lasting a few minutes before flooding my throat with his load. I swallow most of it, reserving the last spurt to roll around in my mouth, savoring it before lifting my head and pressing my lips to his. He opens, and I thrust my tongue into his mouth, feeding him his own release. Moaning, he laps it up, kissing me back greedily.

"Let's go before I get all worked up again. I really don't want to get fired before my last season because I get caught bending you over the hood of the car in the parking lot."

"Wait. Last season?"

Marcus nods. "I decided to take the coaching job. After this season, I'll take over for Burke at CVU."

My heart swells. We've been discussing the potential of moving back to our hometown or possibly buying a house in the mountains close to where we went to college. Marcus has been going back and forth about retiring ever since Coach Burke called him to discuss his own retirement. With the way Marcus helped the team as a college player, then seeing him in action as a guest coach at CVU's basketball camp and during multiple visits to the school, there was no one Burke wanted more to fill his spot.

"I'm so fucking proud of you, baby." I kiss him hard, not able to wipe the smile from my face. "I love you so much."

It's not long before the kiss grows heated all over again. Ten years, and we're still so hard for each other.

"Drive, Princess. I need you."

MARCUS

Another Fifteen Years Later

Leather creaks as I lean back in my chair, looking around at the mostly empty space. The large glass-topped desk and comfortable new chair were a surprise I found waiting for me in my new office when I arrived an hour ago. That's not all that was waiting for me. There was also a very tall, very sexy, and very naked Ashton bent over said desk to welcome me to my new job. It's my first day working behind a desk, which I haven't been sure about, but I'm admittedly feeling much more comfortable with it now.

Ash walks out of the private bathroom attached to my office and hands me a warm washcloth.

"I could have done this," I say, trying to hide the fact that I'm still panting.

"You put in more than your fair share with that one," he laughs. "Shit, I might be getting too old to keep up with you. Maybe now that you've got a desk job, you'll be less fit."

Laughing, I shake my head and clean myself up. It was definitely athletic. It's been a while since we flip fucked on every available surface, none of them soft. These days we're a lot tamer and keep it to the bedroom, although we're still just as needy for each other as we were in our twenties.

"We're not old."

"Tell that to our kids."

"They're five and seven. Anyone over high school age seems ancient to them."

Our daughter Ashley and younger son Rome are our entire world these days. Even just bringing them up in conversation makes me smile, and I can tell Ash is getting choked up.

"Are we sure they're going to be okay for a whole weekend? I know your mom and Greg can handle them just fine, but what if they miss us?"

I chuckle and stand to wrap my arms around my husband's waist. "They'll be fine. They know they can video chat us anytime, and I'm sure they know their daddies will drop everything to come get them if they need us to."

The best part of being dads is getting to see Ash give his daughter and son the childhood he never had. He's so incredibly tender and sweet with them. I'll never forget the day the nurse placed our daughter in his arms for the first time. She looked so tiny. Despite assuring me he wanted kids just as much as I did, I could tell he was apprehensive. It took what felt like forever to file all the paperwork with the adoption agency, and for the longest time we worried it would never happen for us.

We'd planned to adopt an older child, but when our adoption agency called and said there was a baby born less than an hour from us that needed a home, we were there. The moment we saw her, we knew she was ours. Then, two years later, we got another call. Ashley's birth mother, Renae, was going to have another baby. She was in a bad situation and had made the decision that she couldn't care for the baby. I have so much respect for the woman that not only brought our babies life but was aware and compassionate enough to make sure they were taken care of. After Rome was born, with a little extra help from her new family, Renae was able to escape her abusive boyfriend and go back to school. These days, she’s still a close member of our family. She keeps in contact and visits on holidays and for special events.

Ash takes a breath. "I know you're right. And this is a big day! What time are they getting here?"

"Their flight doesn't get in until one, so I imagine they won't be here until two-ish. You scheduled the car service, right?"

"Lana did."

"How excited are you to meet your celebrity crush? I'm surprised you aren't primping right now."

"Oh, shut up."

"You shut up. We both know you're going to drool all over the poor man while he's here."

"I'm pretty sure his husband is coming along with them. Besides," he says stuffily, straightening his shirt cuffs. "I'm a professional."

I snort, unable to help myself. "However professional you are, I know you're going to be picturing him in baseball pants the entire time."

"Like you're not."

He's not wrong. Gabe Rodgers and his business partner Elliot Hope are both gorgeous. But my husband has a long-standing obsession with bubble butts, and the former catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays has more junk in his trunk than even I do.

"You forget I've already met with him several times. Unlike you, I can control myself. And I'm not the one on trial here."

"Why am I on trial again?" He asks, pulling me against him tighter and trailing his hand down my back to cup my ass.

Pressing up on my toes to deepen his teasing kiss, I nearly fall prey to the magnetic pull between us. We haven't had this much time alone in so long, it's hard not to want to fill every spare moment with all the touches and wild sex we rarely have time for anymore.

"I forget what we were talking about," I mumble against his mouth. "How much time do we have again?"

"Maybe enough to try out the ensuite shower. I made sure it was big enough for two."

"Fucking sold."

Another hour later, we stand side by side outside the doors to the newly renovated sports complex we purchased almost a year ago, waiting for the next chapter of our lives to begin. It's been a slow process getting it to where I wanted it to be and meeting the specifications of our sister-business in Florida. EGE Sports started as a baseball training facility, but the owners Gabe and Elliot were looking to expand. Some connections, phone calls, infinite video conferences, and two years of planning later, and we're standing in the brand-new James-Vell Sports Complex, an extension of the EGE Sports program. Ashton initially didn't want his name on the project at all, but considering AJames Enterprises is our biggest sponsor and he's my husband and business partner in this venture, I insisted. Besides, after everything we've been through in this life together, it's nice seeing our names together on more than just our marriage certificate.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just thinking about how we got here."

"You realize Rome is the same age we were when we first met?"

"I still can't believe you remember that."

He chuckles and kisses my temple. "Who'd have thought that you'd ever fall for my bullshit?"

"Not me," I laugh. "I suppose I'm thankful that you're a spoiled princess used to getting his way."

"If I'd gotten my way, we would have been attached at the hip from that very first meeting. I would have gotten that first kiss and never hurt you."

"It all worked out exactly how it was supposed to," I tell him, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Everything that happened brought us together and led us to where are, and who we are now. And I wouldn't change a thing."

The End