Dirty Seduction

That didn’t make his family’s struggle any easier though, and I got that.

Knowing Julian was with me, a twenty-one-year-old girl from the dregs of Worcester, would be a very hard thing to witness in person. It’s one thing knowing it from the sidelines, but another thing entirely seeing it in the flesh.

It was almost midnight when the cake finished baking in the oven, and Julian helped me ice it, sticking one solitary candle in the top and lighting it up at the exact moment that the clock struck twelve.

I pushed my glasses up my nose, eyes on him as I blew the candle out, and then the emotion came over me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him tight before he’d even put the cake back down on the side. I still struggled to believe sometimes that this man, this saviour was mine, and I was going to be his wife.

Crenham felt like a million miles away, and had done from the moment we left it behind. The only stairs I climbed to my saviour now were our own, carpeted to perfection.

Julian gave me his cock that night, like he’d promised. He fucked me so hard and it hurt so bad it was mind-blowing amazing, my wrists shackled in the same red twine he’d used from the very start. A memento I’d treasure for ever. When he loosened the bonds and held me tight, I counted my blessings for the millionth time as I floated down from the high.

Every day was a special day for me, birthday or not.

And every night was sacred in his arms.

My saviour. My love.

My man upstairs.

JULIAN

I HAD PLENTY OF SURPRISES LINED UP FOR ROSIE’S TWENTY-FIRST birthday. I watched her as she woke beside me, stretching her arms wide before settling back down with her head on my chest as I stroked her hair.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

The day was just beginning, and it was going to be a long one.

The first surprise came when we were in the kitchen, preparing for the party ahead. There was a knock at the door as the baker delivered a two-tiered piece of chocolate brilliance with her name in creamed letters on the top. She was still fawning over it with thanks when the second knock came a few minutes later the florist’s assistant handing over twenty-one red roses, in a glorious bouquet.

“I’m so spoilt,” she told me. “Way too spoilt!”

“You could never be too spoilt, princess. You’ll never be spoilt enough.”

Jayden and Amy arrived first, in the car I’d handed Jayden the keys to when we’d left Crenham. It didn’t have the sprayed green dick on the bonnet anymore, which was a shame. It would have been an icon all on its own.

Lola and Peter arrived an hour later with Beverly and Tom, with party poppers, and hugs and kisses, and Molly showed up a just a few minutes after that, with her mum and Jacob in tow.

We were all there, enjoying the buffet on the kitchen island, laughing and joking happily, or so it seemed. But my heart was pounding, nerves jangling as the final surprise of them all loomed ahead of us.

Only Rosie didn’t know about it.

She had no idea.

The doorbell sounded while we were preparing to cut the cake, in fact. Earlier than I’d anticipated. I’d expected it to be a flying visit, a simple hello, not a full on joining in at the party.

Rosie wasn’t the only one getting surprises today.

She looked quizzical, then she grinned at me.

“Not another present?” she asked. “Julian! Seriously. You’ve given me enough already!”

“Go see,” I told her, trying to hide the emotions churning in my gut.

I followed her as she bounded to the doorway, my steps slow behind hers. I held my breath as she opened the door, knowing she was expecting another courier, only to find a group of people waiting for her.

A group of people she’d never met before.

She jumped back in shock, and I joined her there, with tears in my eyes.

Emily stepped up first, my adorable five-year-old granddaughter, with a hand drawn birthday card that she’d scribbled for Rosie herself. Grace looked relatively serene as she set eyes on my fiancee for the very first time, and Ryan was quiet, but ok. He managed a happy birthday as she stared at him with tears of her own.

And there was Michael, too. Suited like he was set for a business meeting, with a smile and a tip of the head.

“Hello, Rosie,” he said. “It’s nice to be meeting under better circumstances.”

“I can’t believe it,” she told him, and neither could I. It was finally here. It was happening.

My family was here, along with hers.

My family was here to celebrate the birthday of the woman I loved. The woman they’d struggled to accept, but were beginning to manage it. Just. I had no doubt they’d adore her when they got to know her.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

They’d have no choice. Rosie was a soul too gorgeous not to.

I’d been preparing for some awkwardness, or stuttering, but Rosie was too quick for that. She knelt down and accepted Emily’s card with a wow, thank you, and then she pulled the little girl into her arms, saying a true hello for the very first time.

But it didn’t stop there.

She didn’t wait for niceties, or the pleasantries of stilted conversation. Instead, she hugged them tightly, one by one, contented to cry with happiness in front of the people she thought would never accept her.

And I was crying, too.

“I’m so pleased to meet you,” she told my family. “All of you! I just… thank you! Really, thank you!”

Yet again, no thanks would ever be needed. They’d love her being my side, age gap redundant the very moment they saw the way she looked at me with pure love in her eyes, and I looked at her right back.

They couldn’t deny it anymore. This was love. Plain for the world to see.

“We’re pleased to meet you too,” Grace said, and hugged my angel back. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Yes, it had. But it had been worth it, every single step of the way.

It took Rosie a few moments to compose herself before gesturing through to our kitchen diner.

“Come in and, um, meet my family,” she said.

Only it wouldn’t be just her family for long. Not with my ring on her finger, and my heart in hers.

It would be our family, just like mine would be our family, too.

THE END.