Epilogue
RILEY
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Hey,” I called into the office and walked in to see my wife hunched over the keyboard, typing away furiously. “You told me to come get you in an hour. We need to get ready.”
She looked up at me with a pained look. “No!!!! I got to a really crucial part of this draft. Let me just finish this chapter.”
I chuckled at that. Fi was working on her fourth book, a completely new thing from what she had written before. A romance! I had teased her about it a lot, but I had read some things over her shoulder, and holy fuck, my wife could write a sex scene. Considering the amount of…ahem, ‘research’ she needed to do for this book, I didn’t care what she wrote about.
The last book in her sci-fi trilogy had done pretty well, even though some people really hated the ending. I forced her to not read the reviews and read them for her to tell her what constructive criticism to look out for in her next book. She got mad at me for doing it because she said that’s what she had an agent for. I didn’t mind doing it, though; I loved that I could support the woman I loved.
I texted Dinah that we were going to be late and went back into the bedroom to go fix my hair again. I had gotten lazy lately, and now my hair was getting a little longer than I normally liked. I wasn’t sold on cutting it back to the short, cropped style I usually kept though, mostly because my wife liked to pull hair, and it was kind of a huge turn on. Not that I would ever admit it.
ME: Ugh…I’m sure you understand. Fi’s in a mid writing rage right now.
DINAH: HAHAHA! Omg, I so do. Don’t worry about being late. I TOTALLY understand.
“Did you tell on me?” Fi yelled from the office.
A few minutes later, Fi came into the room and reached up to push my hair out of my face. “So are you growing out your hair to get that hockey flow again?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Hmm,” was all the answer I got as she rummaged through the closet, looking for something to wear.
Things were going so well with Dinah and Noah that he was moving out of his condo with TJ and moving into Dinah’s place next door. A lot of the guys had raised their eyebrows and thought it was too soon, but Noah had been in love with the woman for two years, so I didn’t think it was soon enough for either of them. They were having a housewarming party to celebrate. Although, I felt like it was more a celebration that both Dinah’s and Fi’s books had been released last week.
It kind of worked out because after Benny and Stephanie broke up, he needed a place to stay. We had offered him the guest room, which he took us up on until the season officially ended. I think he thought he was cramping our style, though, because as soon as our season was officially over, he high-tailed it back to his abuelos’ place in Boston. When Noah announced he was moving out, TJ offered Benny the now spare room, and he had moved in yesterday. TJ was off to play in the Worlds competition tomorrow, so Benny would get to settle in quietly for the next couple of weeks.
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?” I asked. I sat on the edge of our bed and didn’t make it a secret that I was watching her change into a pair of skinny jeans and a low-cut blouse that showed off her assets.
“I kind of like it,” is all she said. For a woman who wrote for a living, she sure didn’t give me a lot of words to work with.
I ran a hand through my hair again. It was a bit too long for me, but if she liked it, I was thinking about keeping it.
I patted the box in the pocket of my jacket and contemplated giving it to her now. It felt like an anchor weighing me down, and I was still unsure if she would take what was inside or not. I glanced over at her brushing out her red hair and decided to wait until after the party.
I stood up from the bed and walked over to her, dropping a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Are you almost ready?”
She nodded. “Come on, let’s go.”
The drive was short, but I fidgeted the whole time, wondering if Fi would actually take the engagement ring I bought her. We never were engaged, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve a nice ring. But she still wouldn’t let me buy her a new wedding band, so maybe I could get away with this. If she noticed my anxiety, she didn’t say anything about it, and as soon as we got to Dinah and Noah’s, I was off the hook. I smiled and watched the two women hug each other tightly while I slunk away into the kitchen to find Noah and TJ.
“Hey, man!” Noah greeted me, and we fist pumped. TJ and I did the whole head nod thing.
“How was Italy?” TJ asked.
“You see much outside of the room?” Noah joked.
I slid my thumb across my bottom lip and gave them a knowing look. They both erupted into laughs, and I swore Fi heard because I felt her glare from across the room. I noticed TJ’s gaze move across to the dining room, and I turned to see Benny failing really hard to talk to a tall, curvy woman with black hair. She had her arms crossed and a look on her face that said, “Don’t fuck with me.” She looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place her. I winced when she threw her drink
