Unspoken Epilogue(11)

"No sex until she's thirty, though," I said.

Noah shook his head. "Let's just hope they avoid teenage pregnancy."

"I swear you are trying to give me a heart attack here and then AnnMarie will kill you, destroying Freedom Funds and making our kids orphans."

"Thanks, Disaster Dave." Noah clapped me on the shoulder. "Let's get the captain up here doing what I pay him two-hundred dollars an hour to do and you and I drink some Evan Williams 23 bourbon I brought."

Later that night when AnnMarie and I were both boneless from our lovemaking, she rolled to her side and propped her head up on her hand. "Did you see Nathan staring at Charlotte today?"

"Yes," I grunted. The thought of it still got my blood boiling. "Can we send her to a nunnery? Mal's in Dubai. I think Charlotte would look good in a burka."

AnnMarie pinched me. "No nunneries; yes, let's visit Mal in Dubai; no to the burka. We aren't Muslim."

"I don't like those answers."

"Seriously, though, is this new? I've never seen him act like that around her," AnnMarie said.

"Like what?"

"Awkward, confused, a little mean." She dropped down next to me and placed her head on my shoulder. I pulled one of her legs over mine and savored the warm feel of her wrapped around me. I liked positioning AnnMarie so that her softness was artfully arranged around my body.

"A little mean?"

"Yeah, when they got out of the water, she was shivering and Nathan threw a towel at her saying she should wear more material in her bathing suit if she didn't want to be cold."

Huh. "So he's just now developing feelings for her and it confuses him. How long do you think the mean stage lasts?" I pulled my fingers through AnnMarie's dark hair, marveling at the shininess. I liked wrapping it in my fingers and around my cock. Having it hang on either side of my head like a privacy curtain as she moved on top of me, her little hands pressing into my chest as she moved up and down.

"Why?"

"If it lasts a long time then maybe Charlotte will start avoiding him."

"You can't keep her a little girl forever."

"I don't want to. Just until she's like thirty or so."

"We had sex in our twenties."

"Okay," I acquiesced. "Twenties then."

"You feel really magnanimous, don't you?"

"Yup."

AnnMarie laughed.

"Do you know how much I love you, Bo?"

"Yeah, but I like to hear it. How much?"

"I would give up Freedom Funds if I had to, to keep your love."

"A half-billion dollars, huh? That's it?"

"No, that's not it. I'd give up everything in my life but you and Charlotte. I feel like we could be happy as long as we were together, no matter what."

I hugged her. Security meant so much for AnnMarie. The money meant security for her. It meant she didn't have to rely on anyone but herself but I liked that she felt she needed me. That I was her security because she was my whole world. Her and Charlotte. For all my complaints to Noah today, I wouldn't trade my girl for a thousand Nathans, that little shit. I loved the both of them. They completed me in ways I didn't even realize I needed completing. I'd been aimless before I met AnnMarie and I thought I was living a satisfactory life. Fighting and random women were all I needed. But she came into my life and made me realize that all that was worthless. I shuddered when I think of how different my life would've been without her.

"I love you more than Freedom Funds. More than my need for security," AnnMarie said. "I'd love you even if you left me, even if you had another family that you found to take care of." Hot tears hit my shoulder and I know she was thinking of her mother who had never married and had always loved a man who couldn't leave his wife. "I'd love you if the world came to an end and all we had was each other because you, Bo Randolph, are enough for me. I don't need anything in my life other than you and Charlotte. When I met you in Central I was so afraid even though I pretended like I was strong. Your silent strength made it easy for me to face my enemies. Knowing you always had my back made me feel stronger, braver, like I could conquer the world. Your steady and unwavering love has made me reach farther and higher than I could've on my own. I don't think that the English language is powerful enough to express my love for you. Love isn't even the right word. You give me life, Bo Randolph. You are my life and I can't wait to live out the rest of it by your side."

Well, shit. The only way I could respond to that was by making love to AnnMarie again. And again until the only sounds in our bedroom were our bodies affirming the promises we'd made each other.