Poinsettia Lane

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

ASIM

One Year Later

Asim can’t tear his eyes away from her. Everly is stunning in a shimmering gold dress that looks like it was poured over her, and he relishes the sense of pride and satisfaction that bubbles up in his chest every time the ring on her finger glints under the massive chandeliers spanning the ballroom of the Sioria.

He wasn’t surprised at all when she broached the subject of the annual holiday party a few months ago, stating she wanted to change it this year. She’s been working tirelessly on being the kind of person she wants to be, which is what led to the charity ball she’s hosting this evening. Instead of a private party at her family’s mansion, the love of his life decided to invite her parents’ wealthy friends, as well as extend an open invitation to all the locals here in Stone Ridge, to support her chosen cause—sea turtles.

Asim thinks back to when they took their first vacation together over the summer, when he proposed. He needed a break from the frustrating process of rebuilding, and his contractor said there was nothing he could do in person anyways, so they took a week off and escaped to a literal paradise.

They stumbled upon a beach that was blocked off, with signs warning it was a protected area for hatching sea turtles. Naturally, Everly turned her irresistible, big brown doe eyes on him and asked if they could stay to watch, and he couldn’t say no. He carried beach chairs and towels and set them up a short distance away from the protected area, and while her eyes were fixed to the sand, he couldn’t take his off of her.

Asim smiles to himself, remembering the tingle in his chest when he saw her face light up at the first tiny sea turtle she spotted waddling across the sand toward the water.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts and back to the charity gala by Everly’s hand on his lapel .

“What are you smiling about?” Everly asks, pulling herself into him.

“You," he says, dropping a kiss onto the tip of her nose. Everly rolls her eyes, but her cheeks pink beneath her makeup even though she tries to hide it by scrunching her nose to the side. “It looks great, love.”

“You think so? There aren’t too many poinsettias?” she asks, eyes scanning the room, then answers her own question with a snort. “Nah, that’s not a thing.”

Her smile is blinding when she turns it on him, and he wishes this party would hurry up so he could stop restraining himself. He wants to hike her dress up and devour her with his tongue, or rip it off completely and taste every inch of her skin. Giving himself a mental slap, he refocuses and takes a look around, ensuring there aren’t any last minute details he can help with. Addison and Frankie are speaking casually with the party planners and decorator, so he assumes everything is taken care of, and he turns back to Everly.

“Ready?” Asim asks.

“Ready.” She nods in emphasis, straightening her shoulders and looking him straight in the eye. His heart swells with affection for this incredible woman.

A short time later, the entire town turns up to support her. He greets many as they come in, welcoming them and wishing a happy holiday. Mr. Williams, from the senior apartments, shakes his hand with a proud smile on his wrinkled face. José Garcia, who works for the Parks and Recreation department, gives him a firm nod over the shoulder of his wife as he leads her into the ballroom with an arm around her waist. Fay, the owner of the sunset boat cruise, was here earlier but must have left for some reason as she comes striding back in with her shoulders thrown back and an air of surety about her that Asim can only admire. Chantel from the local handmade shop, Alex Gomez and Cindy Smalls, the baker and candy maker, respectively, come in like a storm trailed by a group of other locals, all laughing and joking together as they hang their coats and scope out the party.

Everly’s parents’ friends, local city council included, appear thrilled to be there, which is a relief. Everly had been worried they wouldn’t like the change, but they don’t seem to mind in the slightest; if anything, they seem to enjoy the opportunity to meet the locals and be a part of something bigger than any of them individually. He’s even caught a few murmurs of how proud her parents would be, if only they were around to see the woman she’s grown into, and he hopes someone who knew them tells her as much. Asim marvels at Everly’s ability to pull together so many people from all different walks of life.

Asim keeps an eye on Everly as she flits around, ensuring everything is running smoothly and everyone is in their places. She organized every bit of this, but she doesn’t want any of the credit. Instead, Addison will be the face of the event, acting as emcee and announcing each prize before the silent auction begins for the night. As drinks and hors d’oeuvres are floated around on trays carried by straight-backed servers, the music providing a soft backdrop to the elegant gathering, Asim checks his phone for any updates from his family.

Just as he’s starting to worry, he sees his parents and sister, Farah, walk through the doors, eyes wide as they take in the grandeur. Asim slips along the wall to meet them, kissing his mother and sister on the cheek and thanking them for coming. They don’t have time for much more before Addison is taking the stage.

Asim can’t help but watch his future wife off to the side as she clasps her hands together, eyes bright and wide with cautious optimism as the main event of the night begins. Asim wants to be there next to her, holding her hand, but he also knows this is something she wants to prove to herself that she can do on her own, so he stays on the outskirts, ready to jump in if needed.

“This is very impressive, Asim," his father’s low voice rumbles next to him.

“It is, I wouldn’t have believed she did it all herself, but I know she’s capable of anything she sets her mind to.” His words are laced with reverence, and his mother reaches around to squeeze his arm.

“She’s wonderful.” She beams at him, full of pride for her future daughter-in-law.

Addison announces each donated auction item, and there are some good ones. Mrs. Langdon didn’t show up in person, but Crooked Books donated a monthly special edition bestseller book for a full year, surprising everyone with her interest and contribution. Turns out, she’s passionate about more than just cats and books, the support reflected in the donations of many other local business owners are too.

The sunset boat cruise is donating an entire boat to the auction, the owner of the candy shop is a retired ski instructor and they’ve committed to a full ski kit and private lessons for a weekend in the mountains, Roasted Coffee House donated a free daily coffee and pastry for a year, and the Sioria is auctioning the venue for any event in the next three years (there aren’t many open dates in the next two, which he firmly believes is a good problem to have, even though Everly wanted the prize to be more immediate). Some of her parents’ friends showed up with prizes to contribute as well, much to Everly’s dismayed delight and last minute panic.

Addison finishes up and everyone wanders around the prize table to enter their bids, so Asim makes his way toward Everly.

He snags her around the waist, relishing the feel of her soft curves under his hands, and pulls her back into his chest. He leans forward, grazing her ear.

“Look what you’ve done," he says, angling her toward the prize table. “This is you.”

She looks up at him, and he decides she needs to hear it one more time.

“You did this, Ever.” He puts all the strength and conviction he has into the words, and she shudders against him. Asim swipes her hair off her neck and kisses her, trailing his lips down to her shoulder lightly before backing off. “I will never stop being impressed by you.” He says, and he sees his words resonate through her.

After Addison announces the winners and the final tally comes through, they’ve raised thousands of dollars. Asim feels his chest puffing out and his muscles are practically bursting the seams of his suit as he holds himself back from Everly. There is nothing on this earth that could make him more proud of her than he is right now .

This is her moment, and although she didn’t want to be in the spotlight, everyone still recognizes the work she put into it. He stands slightly behind her, one hand resting on her back tracing soothing circles, alternating with trailing up and down the back of her arm as everyone bustles about at the end of the evening. Everly reminds everyone to take a poinsettia as they leave, and many do so, their faces lit up with delight. People exchange hugs and handshakes, and nearly everyone thanks or congratulates her as they trickle out of the ballroom, wandering to the elevator and their respective rooms, or out the door to their homes.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Everly says, greeting his parents and sister.

“We wouldn’t miss it,” his mom replies, pulling Everly in for a hug. “What an amazing night, so impressive.”

“Oh, thank you,” Everly stammers, turning to Asim for help, still not comfortable with compliments, though he’s working hard on normalizing it for her.

Asim sweeps an arm around her, tugging her into his side.

“I couldn’t be more proud.” He drops a kiss to the top of her head and his sister takes pity on her, rescuing Everly so she doesn’t suffocate from praise.

“Alright, alright.” Farah links her arms through their parents, shooting him a wink. “We’ll let you two celebrate in private, we’re still on for brunch tomorrow, right?”

“Of course!” Everly’s voice is about an octave higher than usual, and Asim has to hold in a laugh.

“Great! Have a good night!” Farah tugs their parents along with her as she turns and sweeps out of the ballroom. The three of them have a set of rooms reserved for the night, and they’ll all spend some time together tomorrow.

“You’re adorable.” Asim drops his mouth to Everly’s ear, grazing his nose along it and smiling at the shiver that courses down her back. “And very impressive.” He kisses her neck, a light peck, but it’s enough to have her melting into him.

Finally, the last of the guests leaves and the staff begins to clean up. Asim tightens his hold on his future wife and looks down at her.

“Ready to head home, darling?”

“Yeah," she sighs, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “Let’s go.”

They walk out to the car and Asim reinforces how proud he is of her going out on a limb and giving this a try. Every word is true, and he wishes he had more of them to fully express the depth of his feelings.

An unexpected chuckle slips from his lips as an image of her a year ago pops into his head. Everly looks at him quizzically as he starts up the car.

“Remember how flustered you were before last year’s party?” he asks.

“You mean when you showed up at the crack of dawn and I was in my robe?” she deadpans, unimpressed. “Yes, how could I ever forget.”

He does his best to hold in the grin, but his memories have taken hold and it’s such a sweet picture, he doesn’t want to let it go.

“Why do you look like that?” Everly’s eyes narrow at him, and he tries to adopt an innocent expression. “What’s your face doing? What are you thinking about?”

Asim doesn’t want to keep anything from her, so he shrugs and decides to share.

“I was remembering how you kept reaching up to smooth your hair back.” He looks at her out of the corner of his eye as he drives, easing around a corner. “I don’t think you realized that every time you reached up, your already short robe inched up your legs a little bit more. It was tantalizing and torturous.”

“What?!” She shrieks at him and he laughs. “You… you," she splutters for a moment, then shrieks again. “Tantalizing and torturous?!”

“Well, I was trying to be a gentleman but you were really doing your best at making it nearly impossible.”

“And I suppose that’s why you kept making me stay.” She huffs out a breath and crosses her arms, not realizing all she’s doing is accentuating her perfect breasts. This woman has no idea the hold she has over him. He catches her shooting a glare at him, but he can tell she’s trying her best not to laugh.

“Why would I want you to leave or put more clothes on? You were intriguing and gorgeous. You are gorgeous. I wanted every single second I could get with you," he says, and it’s the truth.

At first he just thought it was cute, the way she was embarrassed to be in her robe. Asim grew up with sisters; he didn’t care that she wasn’t all done up. He knew he should have let her get dressed, but he didn’t want her to go. Once they started talking though, his world tilted on its axis and everything changed. He liked seeing the real her, he could tell the person she was used to hiding came out in those moments. Plus, well, he can admit to his baser urges too—each extra inch of enticing skin he saw made his blood hum. He wanted to cover her up and protect her and strip her naked all at the same time.

It was confounding.

“Why didn’t you ask for my number?” she says, watching him turn onto Poinsettia Lane.

“I’ve asked myself that every day for a year," he replies, and she raises her eyebrows at him as they step out of the car and onto the driveway. “I truly don’t know. I think you short circuited my brain. As soon as I drove away, I couldn’t believe I left without any way of contacting you. I considered showing up at your house again many times, but I didn’t think that move would get me very far.” His voice is wry, and she giggles.

“I don’t know, I was trying to figure out how to avoid stalking you too, so maybe it would have been okay.” She pokes him in the side as he closes and locks the front door behind them.

“You little miscreant.” He scoops her up in his arms, relishing her shrieking laughter as he carries her up the stairs to their bedroom before dropping both of them onto the bed.

Asim kicks off his shoes and slides down her body to remove hers, placing them carefully on the floor beside the bed. His eyes trail up her glittering golden dress, heating with every curve, when his gaze snags on her engagement ring. Asim lunges up the bed, almost feral in his need for her. He scoops her up again, putting her on her feet and removing her dress with shaking fingers, containing his need as best he can so he doesn’t ruin a dress that holds such precious memories for her. His groan is animalistic when he sees she wasn’t wearing a bra under it.

His own clothes he couldn’t care less about. He rips his jacket and shirt off, buttons flying, and Everly’s gasp has his already hard cock turning to steel in his pants.

“I need you," he says, and her rich brown eyes lock onto him, nearly as needy as his.

Shucking his pants to the floor as she drops her panties and reaches for him, he wraps his hand in her hair and backs her up to the wall. Her energy matches his perfectly, and she climbs up his body, her lips leaving a blaze of heat up his chest and neck, her legs wrapping around his waist as he grips one ass cheek, loving the feel of her in his arms. He pushes her back against the wall and takes a pointed nipple into his mouth, scraping his teeth along the soft flesh of her breast and sucking until she’s writhing against him.

Asim squeezes the base of his cock, mentally telling himself to keep it together before angling it toward her center. He throws his head back, clenching his jaw as he slides home in one long, slow thrust, relishing the tight, wet heat of her surrounding him. His groan of satisfaction matches hers, and he drops his head forward again, looking down at her.

Everly’s face is flushed, and the pink travels all the way down to the tops of her perfect breasts. He leans in and sucks on the spot she goes crazy for, where her neck angles into her shoulder, and she clenches around him.

He picks up the pace with her urging him on, both of them a frenzy of lust and need and want, until their desires are fulfilled and they come together, sweat slicked bodies slumping against each other and he slides them to the floor.

They breathe heavily, and Asim flips them around, sitting with his back against the wall and pulling her sideways into his chest so he can rest his head on top of hers. He kisses the top of her head before leaning his cheek against it, murmuring into her hair.

“You’re mine forever, my darling, perfect, Ever.”