AJ’s Fire (Hampstead Valley #3)

Epilogue

Jackson—Three Years Later

“Holy fuck, if I have to hear the word ‘wedding’ one more time! …” AJ had just hung up the phone with his stepmom, but it was me who was yelling. “She. Is. Obsessed! I don’t know how they’re handling it. Seriously, AJ! We talk to her every day.” Yes, I said we because if AJ didn’t pick up the phone, Nat knew his loving boyfriend was rarely far from him and would never show Natalie the disrespect of not picking up when she called.

And AJ and I were rarely apart. We still worked together, thanks to an understanding chief and lieutenant and some very clear human resources guidelines laid down by the FDNY. We had basically lived together since those first few months, eventually giving up AJ’s apartment when the anniversary of the lease that neither AJ nor the property owner had paid any attention to in about ten years approached.

We spent every holiday together, juggling the forces of nature that were Natalie Marchetti-Gordon and Mandy Dorso as we carefully planned our time off and where we’d spend each holiday. We still helped with Vera and remained her primary adults for all things dance related. The dance moms were equal parts disappointed for their single friends and thrilled to have a queer couple in their mix, and I’d attended many practices and recitals. I even dragged my mom to one, one time. Big mistake as I’d been hearing about all of her friends with grandchildren ever since.

My parents and I had come to a compromise, and Emily Wyecrest and I both held seats on the Dorso Electronics and Dorso Foundation boards. Emily was currently president of the Foundation board. I was happily a member-at-large on both. The merger had gone through, and Dorso Animation began working with Wyecrest Entertainment on movies and other entertainment.

Jamie and Devon were getting married, and we were planning to head up to Hampstead for the ceremony. This turn of events had Natalie on the phone with us and other members of her family—Every. Single. Day.

I loved Natalie, but she was officially overboard with color palettes and menus and tuxedo fittings.

AJ put the phone down and slumped on the couch. “And we’ve still got weeks to go. I don’t know how Jamie and Devon are surviving.” He huffed. “I’m ready to go out, find a wedding planner, and curse in their unsuspecting face just to relieve all the tension.”

AJ and I rarely kept anything from each other, but a thought crossed my mind. I opened my mouth but then reined it back in.

“What.” See, I couldn’t really keep anything from my love.

I crawled into his lap and kissed some of the wedding-induced stress away. Then I buried my head in his neck, not wanting to look at him as I said, “Can you imagine when it’s our turn? There’ll be fucking headlines when the only son of the great Riley and Mandy Dorso marries his firefighter boyfriend, son of the poet Clifford Gordon.” He’d kept his hands splayed on the couch, but after my mumbled thought, he wrapped his arms around me.

“No, I absolutely cannot imagine that. Your mom and Nat battling for wedding supremacy? And I hadn’t even thought about the press. But Riley Jackson Dorso the Second’s wedding is going to be like some American version of a royal circus. Holy shit, Jax, how are we going to survive that?” He lifted my face to his with a gentle finger under my chin. Face-to-face, centimeters apart, he whispered, “We’re barely surviving Jamie’s.”

“You’ve thought about it?” I asked.

“A wedding? No, clearly not nearly enough based on how much time Nat is putting into this one. But getting married. Of course. I maybe even talked to Jamie about where he got Devon’s ring, and …” I kissed him then so thoroughly that it was the question and the answer all in one. Not that either of us had come out and asked.

“And I’ll sign a prenup. Whatever you need.” I glared at him, but he continued. “I know you and I know you don’t need it, but if it gives your parents some comfort, I’ll sign whatever their lawyers throw at us. Don’t get all up in your head about it. It’s not a big deal. I don’t get the Dorso fortune, and you don’t get my collection of vintage vinyl.” I glared again, but AJ stuck out his hand. “Shake.”

“You’re ridiculous, Alexander Jeremy.”

“No, I’m not. You can buy me a car for the wedding, though,” he said.

After I’d shaken his hand, he ran to the guest bedroom as I yelled at the fluttering hair on the back of his head, “You hate to drive.”

He returned with a tiny box.

I went to stand up, but on his way down to one knee, AJ put a hand on my thigh, keeping me in place. “I’ve been trying to get you up to the cabin for months.”

“We’ve had a lot going on. Tuxedo fittings, dance recitals, board meetings, your promotion ceremony, LT.” I smiled at AJ, marveling at him down on one knee even as we were our usual joking selves.

“Riley Jackson Dorso, will you not have a ridiculous, expensive, anxiety-inducing ceremony with me but still pledge to be with me forever as my lawfully wedded, no-rights-to-your-inheritance husband?”

I knelt in front of my love in turn. “Alexander Jeremy Gordon, I will absolutely not pick a fancy menu, or a designer tux, or a too-rich cake with you. I will also vow to ask before playing one of your records, and I will share my life with you, for richer or for cut-off-from-my-parents’-money-on-some-crazy whim.”

AJ nodded. “I do.”

I smiled back. “I do.” He opened the box. “We’re gonna need another ring.”

“Yeah, no rush. I mean, we will need to pick a date, and what, go to the courthouse or whatever?” AJ questioned.

I wiggled my hand in front of him, but he hesitated before putting on the ring.

“I know we’ve been done with secrets for a while, but I really hadn’t thought about us getting engaged as a media event. Maybe we should wait until after my brother’s wedding to tell everyone? I wouldn’t want to steal his thunder.”

“Unless you would prefer Natalie’s head to explode, I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed.

We were able to order another ring in AJ’s size, and that night we researched what we had to do to legally and uneventfully wed in the state of New York. I called one of our family attorneys, swore her to secrecy, and had her draw up a prenup that would make my parents happy.

We made an appointment at the courthouse, obtained our marriage license, and were quietly married a few days before Jamie and Devon’s wedding.

We left two days early and arrived at the cabin. My grandparents would be attending the wedding and were with my parents in the Hamptons. They would be taking the private jet up to Hampstead Valley and had offered for us to go with them, but I had convinced my parents that AJ and I were looking forward to the drive.

I’d called the caretaker who did handyman work for my grandparents at the cabin, and by the time AJ and I arrived on a balmy summer day, the hot tub had been checked and left warming. When we pulled into the driveway, AJ started to go to the back of the car to grab our stuff, but I couldn’t wait for all that. I took him by the hand and led him to the back of the house. He tried to ask what I was up to, but I didn’t answer, silently leading him around the privacy screening. I dropped his hand and stripped down. AJ smiled and did the same. With one thing and another over the past few years, we hadn’t spent as much time as I would have liked at Cedar Lake. Much of the time we had spent, my grandparents had been there, which didn’t leave us much private time. AJ and I had had many sexual adventures since we’d realized that we wanted to have those adventures with each other, but we’d never made it back to the cabin to play in the hot tub.

I climbed up, purposely flashing AJ as I did so. I’d placed a butt plug for the ride up.

“Holy fuck, Jax. You’re ready to go.”

I turned and stood in the warm, bubbling water. “You gonna fuck me in this hot tub or what? I’ve only been waiting years.”

“Yes, yup. Absolutely.”

“There’s a little thing of lube in my shorts pocket. Hurry the fuck up, LT.”

“On it.” I sat in the water, trying to relax but really watching my man scramble with my clothes until he found the lube. He greased himself up outside the tub, a nice little show for me as he stroked himself to hardness. As he climbed into the water, I turned myself around, knees on the bench, water tickling my ass and balls.

AJ gave me a little slap, not something we normally did, so I turned to look at him in question. He shrugged. “Wanted to hear the sound it made on your wet ass.”

I dipped down, then back up, offering my ass to him. With a little wiggle, I said, “Do it again.”

He did. Fuck, looks like we’d found a new game to play. Next his fingers were at the flange and pulling the toy out. He dragged it across my ass for a second before handing it up to me. “Put this up there. Don’t want to lose it in here.”

“My practical husband,” I teased, and as I reached forward to set it down, AJ snuck a lubed finger into my ass.

“Fuck, you’re so ready for me, cari?o .” He quickly spread more lube in me before pushing inside me in one swift motion.

“Yes,” I moaned, my body alight, warmth emanating from below while a summer breeze kissed my damp back and head. We were motionless for a few beats, like always before I told him I was good to go by rocking my hips side to side. “ Cari?o ,” he growled out before pumping in and out, “So good,” and, “So hot,” escaping him as he fucked me from behind.

Then the fucker slapped me again. I jumped at the surprise, and I could tell AJ liked the motion based on the feral sound that escaped his lips. “Do you mind, cari?o ? I love that fucking crack.”

“As it happens, I don’t mind at all.” He swatted my other cheek, then he pulled out. I grunted as his tip escaped my ring.

“Ride me,” AJ explained as he sat on the bench. Water bubbled to his nipples, which were hard and pointing out further than I’d ever seen them, the hot-cool, turned-on combo really doing it for them. I positioned myself in AJ’s lap, and we both grasped his dick, guiding it to my hole while I was a little preoccupied with kissing my way to AJ’s nipples, sucking on each one before giving them both a little nip.

“That’s for the spanking.”

“Fair enough,” he grunted as I bottomed out and sat on his thighs. “I’d do it again, but it won’t have the same effect under water,” he teased.

“Oh, but I can do my thing again.” I leaned down and licked from one to the other before biting down on one nipple. How I loved hearing a new sound come out of AJ’s mouth after all our time together. I placed my hands on his shoulders then and got started. Bouncing up and down, the water doing some of the work as I rocked and swayed and flicked my hips in all the ways I knew AJ liked, in the ways we both liked, my body extra sensitive in the rolling, warm water.

Without stopping, I leaned down to kiss my husband. “Need you,” I grunted, and he knew what I meant. He started to stroke me, keeping up with my rhythm and motions until we were both coming, screaming each other’s names into the evening air.

We’d packed food, so we grilled a quick dinner before spending the rest of the night in bed. We’d be up and out and on our way to Hampstead early in the morning, but we had something to do first.

I was in bed alone when I awoke, the sun streaming through shades that AJ must have opened on his way out. A note lay on AJ’s pillow: See you out there, whenever you’re ready. I was so beyond ready.

Four suit bags hung from the closet door. I grabbed one and dressed as quickly as I could.

I ran down to the kitchen, but then I paused. I couldn’t see AJ from my vantage point, but I knew where he was, out on the pier, the expanse of the lake behind him. I took a deep breath and headed that way.

It was just the two of us, but we’d both thought it important, or right, to wear our dress uniforms. And though we’d seen each other in them numerous times, including recently for AJ’s promotion ceremony, it still took my breath away to see AJ on that dock, standing at attention, waiting for me to travel down our makeshift aisle on the way to our private wedding.