Epilogue

I rolled over onto my back, trying to catch my breath. Freeing herself from the last of the restraints, Molly took her blindfold off and surveyed what I’d done to her. She rolled half onto me, throwing one arm and one leg over me and kissing me on the cheek.

“Holy fuck.” I weakly wrapped one arm around her.

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

I touched her cheek just above her jawline, where the straps from the ballgag had left an imprint. “Not that I let you have any words for a while.”

“What, you couldn’t understand MUH BUH BWAH FAH?” she mumbled.

“Ha! It’s okay, I think I got the idea. Mostly it seemed like you were trying to say ‘Holy shit, I’m coming’ a whole lot.”

“That was about it!” she laughed.

I ran a finger through the streaks of come I’d left on her chest, now mostly dried. She shuddered as I brushed one of her breasts and snuggled closer to me.

We’d been dating – like, actually dating – for several months, and even though we didn’t actually get to see each other every day, I’m not ashamed to say I was enjoying every minute. Molly was a constant surprise, whether it was showing up with flowers or suddenly diving deeply into a topic I had no idea she was interested in. It kept me on my toes, and definitely kept me grateful to have her around.

We’d also continued playing out some of my stories that Molly particularly liked, although we did it less often than we used to. Tonight we’d gone all the way back to the story that caught her attention in the first place, which had been pretty intense for me, given that I’d basically written it as wish-fulfillment about the two of us.

“Now I know what I want for my birthday,” she said.

“Oh?”

“You remember when I first read Careful What You Wish For, and I said you’d found ways to push all sorts of good buttons that you had no right to know were kinks?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, I’m telling you right now, the idea of getting tied up and left in a room for an anonymous stranger to come fuck me is insanely hot.”

“This isn’t another one of those things you did with an ex, is it?”

“No, not at all. I’m getting better at telling you in advance when I want to play with something like that.”

“You are! And I appreciate it.”

“This has been a fantasy of mine for a lot longer than that. But it’s never felt safe to even think about trying. I mean, I’ve done some stupid stuff with people I shouldn’t have, but this always felt like a step too far. But you and I ... would you do that for me? Tie me up like Natalie did and then find me a present?” Her voice turned syrupy sweet, and I wasn’t sure if she was teasing me or pleading with me.

Either way, the thought made me pretty uncomfortable. “I don’t know, Molly. We don’t exactly have a big circle of kinky sex fiends for friends that I can tap like Natalie did.”

“Aren’t you always telling me that restaurant people are way kinkier than the average Joe?”

“True. And I’m sure you’ve got a bunch of friends from the club that would love to get their hands on you. But there are two good reasons I can’t be your Natalie.”

“And what are those?”

“One, I’m really not interested in tying you up and then sitting in the next room and listening to some other dude fuck you.”

“Oh, Nick ... you’re not getting possessive, are you?”

“I mean, maybe a little. I’m not going to stop you from fucking other guys, but I’m also not volunteering to go find you new partners. You don’t need my help with that anyway.”

“Okay, that’s fair. What’s the other reason?”

“I don’t have her hair.”

“Ha! Well fine, I’ll just have to find another Natalie then.” Molly got a thoughtful look on her face for a moment. “Have you met my roommate yet? She’s hot. And a redhead, come to think of it.”

“Sure, but is she any good at tying you up?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“You’re the worst.”

“You love me!”

I knew what the next line was supposed to be. Even after we’d started ‘officially’ dating, Molly kept insisting she wasn’t ready to hear me say I loved her. So my cue here was to say something like ‘I’m not so sure!’ or even just ‘uh huh’, and move on. But that wasn’t what I said.

“I do, you know.”

“I know.”

I thought I might surprise her, but she reacted more quickly than I expected, and that threw me off instead. “Wait, really?”

She smiled and poked me in the ribs. “Of course, dummy. You almost said it the first night we slept together.”

“Except you stopped me.”

“I did. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel it, or that I don’t know it. Or...”

We both let that hang in the air for a second, until I prompted her. “Or?”

“Or that I don’t feel the same way.” She buried her head in my shoulder, which was ridiculously cute, so I patted her head and played with her hair. The sentiment wasn’t a surprise; she knew it, I knew it, it wasn’t a secret. She just didn’t want to hear the words. So hearing her say it out loud, even obliquely, was novel.

“Ah, I see. Actually, I think I’ve felt this way for a long time. In that way that sometimes you hear people talk about their best friends with the same kinds of words that most people use for their spouse.”

Her head popped back up. “Nick, I swear to god, if you’re about to—”

I laughed loudly enough to surprise her. “No! Fuck, no. Furthest thing from my mind, I swear.”