“Never come near me again and maybe I won’t press criminal charges, but Mack and I will both be telling the media all about what a loser you are.” Sariah folded her arms across her chest. She wouldn’t mind Tyler serving time but she definitely wanted to make sure this man never represented her state in public office. She glanced up at Mack. With him by her side she could help spread the truth.
Sariah stared down at Tyler. It was just too coincidental that he had found her now. “Did you pay someone to follow me and take pictures of us the past two days?” she asked.
Tyler’s eyes widened with fear, finally he admitted, “You haven’t dated anyone since me so I thought someday we would be together again. When I heard you were dating Mack Quinn, and saw the pictures of you at Lily’s wedding, I knew I had to get you back.”
“You have no chance of ever getting me back,” she said. “Go away and know that your political career is over.”
“No,” Tyler protested. “You wouldn’t do that to me, Sariah. You have to still care for me.”
Mack bent down closer to him. “The lady asked you to go away. Unless you want your nose broken, I suggest you leave … now.”
Tyler’s face crumpled. He nodded and scrambled away from them in an awkward crabwalk like the insect he was, before jumping to his feet and running toward the bus station.
Mack turned to Sariah. “Are you okay?”
Sariah shook her head, tears pricking at her eyes.
Mack stepped closer to her. “Did he hurt you?” He glanced at where Tyler had disappeared, as if he would go after him and truly smash his nose for hurting Sariah.
“No.” Sariah wrapped her palms around Mack’s face and turned him back to look at her. “But I hurt you.”
Mack’s blue gaze softened. “I understand why you did.”
“Sorry I overreacted.”
“It’s okay. And I might even recover … if you promise never to leave me again.”
Sariah’s shoulders relaxed and she felt all lit up inside. Mack was here. They were back to their teasing. He was her hero.
“I might be able to promise that,” she said, “If you can tell me you forgive me, and kiss me until I forget what state I was born in.”
“That’s easy. I’ll always forgive you and kissing you is my favorite thing to do.”
“Well then, get busy.” Sariah grinned.
Mack laughed and wrapped his arms around her back, tugging her against him. Sariah arched up to meet him. His lips met hers and she was filled with love and acceptance.
Mack pulled back and traced his fingers along both sides of her neck, pushing her long hair further back from her face. She trembled under his touch. “I like your hair this way,” he said.
The last vestiges of horror from seeing Tyler and feeling like she wasn’t worthy of Mack disappeared. She could trust Mack and knew he’d embrace every part of her. “Do you now?”
He nodded. “I like all of you, in every way.”
“Well, that’s good because I love every bit of you too.” She looked him over. “Lots to love.”
“That’s right.” He grinned and softly kissed her again. “I love you back.”
No more words were needed as Mack lifted her off the ground and proceeded to kiss her until she was certain that he loved all of her.
Chapter Twenty-One
“You ready for this?” Mack asked, squeezing her hand.
“Bring it on.” Sariah winked at him, straightening her shoulders and pushing her hair behind her right ear. She’d broken the nervous habit of pulling it forward. The empowerment of loving herself was entwined in the beauty of how Mack loved her.
Mack looked devastatingly handsome in a navy-blue suit. She was wearing a sleeveless floral dress that showed off her shoulders and neck and hit just below her knees. Instead of feeling exposed and awkward, she felt pretty and light, but she always felt that way with Mack by her side.
Scarlett Lily approached them. She was on the show today as well.
“Are you on next?” Scarlett asked.
Mack shook the actress’ hand. “Yes, ma’am. This is my fiancée, Sariah Udy.”
Sariah also shook her hand. “It’s fabulous to meet you. I love your shows.”
“Thank you. So, you’re one of the smart women who snagged a Quinn boy.”
“Lucky women,” Sariah corrected. She tilted her head. “I hear you’re going to whip Griff into line for us.”
Scarlett gave a chortled laugh as Mack threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Nobody could whip Griff into line,” Mack said.
“I’m afraid he’s right.” Scarlett smiled, but it was strained. Her clear green eyes looked so sad Sariah couldn’t help but hug her.
“Are you okay?” Sariah asked, wondering if her angst was related to her disappearance a few months ago.
Scarlett shook her head. “No, but I’m happy for you two.”
Before Sariah could question her about whatever was going on, someone prompted from the side, “You’re on.”
“I hope we see you again,” Sariah said to Scarlett.
“Me too.” Scarlett waved.
Mack lifted his chin to Scarlett and escorted Sariah onto the stage. The lights were bright and the crowd loud as they cheered them on stage. Nerves had her stomach rolling. She had to fight against the urge to wrap her hair around her neck. Mack holding her hand and being by her side was the only thing that gave her strength to keep walking forward.
The host, Jessie, greeted them with air kisses and they took their seats.
“Now, we’ll get to this lovely mass of muscles and his stats in a minute, but we want to hear about you, Sariah. You have a message you’d like to share with girls around the world?”
“Yes.”
Mack squeezed her hand, giving her that smile that said she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
“You see, I used to think my scars were a deformity, but then I met the most amazing man and he taught me …” She had to swallow past the lump in her throat. “That I’m beautiful, not in spite of, but because of my scars. The hard things we go through in life give us character, and if we can keep on smiling through the pain, we’ll come out more beautiful on the other side.”
The audience went crazy, clapping, screaming how beautiful she was. Sariah waited until they quieted and then she tried to explain better, “Every woman is a unique beauty. Don’t compare yourself or concentrate on what isn’t perfect about you. Shine with your own beauty.”
The audience freaked out again, but Sariah was too busy staring at Mack. He tugged her close and kissed her, which made the audience go even more nuts.
“I love you,” he whispered against her lips.
“Thanks for that.”
He laughed, and ignoring the talk show host trying to question them, kissed her again.
Don’t miss Sariah’s sister Lily’s romance with Hyde Metcalf in The Loyal Patriot. Read on for a short excerpt.
Excerpt - The Loyal Patriot
She walked down the hallway and the stairs to the personal training office across from the main weight room. Poking her head in, she saw a tall, well-formed man standing with his back to her. Some men were just built well, and this guy definitely had some good genes. She looked over his broad shoulders and the sculpted lines of his neck, back, and arms, right down to his glutes and legs. The soft cotton of his T-shirt and the fleece of his sweats couldn’t hide any of his musculature from her trained eye.
Was he applying to be a new trainer? Lily’s competitive streak flared up. She was fighting to get enough clients as it was, giving deals for training and proving she was every bit as good as any male trainer. With her specialty in sports-specific training, she was building up a great clientele of high school athletes, and even some from the local colleges. Her dream was to someday work for a professional football team. A girl had to have dreams, even if they were monstrously big.
Her boss, Malee, stared at the man as if he were a sup
erstar. That didn’t bode well if she was hiring him to train here. Lily really liked Malee and she was great to shuttle clients Lily’s way, but this guy could steal her clientele just by being a walking billboard. Maybe he was a future client, though he didn’t look like he needed any body sculpting help—that was for sure. Their low conversation didn’t carry, so sadly Lily wasn’t getting any clues ahead of time.
Lily stepped into the office all the way. Malee’s head popped up, and the man turned to face her. Lily’s jaw dropped. Anybody with any kind of electronic device would recognize that good-looking face. “You’re …” She caught a breath. “Holy Toledo, you’re Hyde Metcalf!”
He smiled, and she honestly wanted to swoon right then and there. “‘Holy Toledo’?” he repeated.
She blushed.
On camera, Hyde Metcalf always had half a smile on his face, like he knew a joke everybody wanted to be privy to. But when he really smiled, wow, it was a good one. She didn’t have as much insight as she wanted to about his personal life because she tried diligently not to become obsessive about him, but she knew he had an African American father who’d also played pro football back in his day and a beautiful blonde mother. He was the perfect blend of his parents. His eyes were dark and framed with long lashes, and his face was just nice—the right amount of manly lines with enough softness to make him real.
Just because she didn’t allow herself to Google his personal life any more than once a week, or read every article put out by the gossip magazines about him, didn’t mean she didn’t know his every stat, watch his games faithfully, or follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook … really, wherever he had an account. Okay, truth be told, she was a geeky football fan and she was pathetically star-struck by Hyde Metcalf.
Her hands were trembling with nervous excitement, and she wasn’t sure what her face was doing. She wanted to touch him and make sure he was real.
“And I hear you’re Lily Udy,” Hyde said, extending his hand to shake hers.
“The one and only.” Lily gave him a firm handshake, liking the size of his hands. Of course they had to be big to snatch the ball out of the air like he did. Oh my goodness, he was real and he was standing right in front of her. She wanted to jump up and down, take a selfie with him, and call her brothers to tell them how amazing this was—she was meeting Hyde Metcalf and he knew her name. Her youngest brother, Josh, would go completely berserk.
“Malee is telling me you’re the best sports-specific trainer in Golden,” he said.
Lily cocked her head and tried to appear confident, though he could probably see the pulse in her neck jumping. “Maybe in the state of Colorado.”
He chuckled. “Oh, I like confidence. This is the girl I need.”
Need for what? Because she was totally up for whatever he needed. Lily! Her mother’s voice in her head told her not to be infatuated with him just because the guy was a big-time football star. But come on, she loved him. Well, not loved him, loved him, but he was the best wide receiver to play the game. He had 1871 receiving yards last year. Plus, he was always just doing cool things. He’d coordinated an event to raise money for juvenile diabetes research and—from the video footage she’d seen—spent time with many of the children one on one. He’d helped a single mom with the medical bills for her daughter’s cancer. He’d brought a young boy with spina bifida down on the field and had him throw in the game ball.
Keep reading The Loyal Patriot here.
The Tough Warrior
Chapter One
Griff Quinn clenched the back of the leather chair. He stared down his boss, Sutton Smith. Was it possible the enigmatic hero was lying to him? It would be a first. In the three years Griff had worked as one of Smith’s security specialists, Griff was certain Sutton had been incapable of untruth.
“You discovered this intel how?” Griff asked, stalling for time. If he could think for two seconds, he could find a way out of being assigned to this job. He suspected it was an impossible internal battle he was waging. Someone could kidnap and hurt the only woman who’d ever punctured his heart. The prospect was dreadful enough that he wanted to sprint out the door and find her immediately.
“Dark web. I haven’t pinned down who sent out the request, but it’s a million dollars to deliver Scarlett Lily.”
A million dollars. What kind of a depraved lunatic offered a million dollars to kidnap and surely do unthinkable atrocities to a woman? Anger churned in Griff’s gut. Some idiot had dared to put a target like that on the woman he had once loved—obviously this person didn’t know who they were dealing with.
Sutton looked Griff over as if sensing something was wrong. “Baron and Nessa will find the instigator and I’ll personally head up the team to take him down, but I need you on this one, Griff, and I need you there now.”
Griff looked away from Sutton’s penetrating gaze. “You know Scarlett Lily and I have … history.”
“I wasn’t aware of that. How long ago?”
“College.” Another lifetime. Before Scarlett became a household name. Before Griff had hardened his heart to love. “Back then, she went by Jane Monroe, and her hair was blonde instead of red.” Head over heels summed up their relationship—at least, it used to. Griff remembered what they’d had, and he had to bite back a smile and then a frown. He wouldn’t allow himself to be soft like that ever again. The military had opened his eyes to a harsh reality. Saving lives was his calling now. Love with anyone, including a now-famous actress, couldn’t factor in. Not when he faced the inevitable day he wouldn’t return from a job.
“Will it interfere with your execution?”
Griff studied his hands gripping the chair for half a second, then lifted his gaze to meet Sutton’s. Nothing had ever interfered with his execution. In college, he’d thought the sun rose and set on Jane. That was in the past. She’d gone on to become a renowned action movie star, and he’d gone on to kill his own soul. They had nothing in common, and there was no reason to worry that she might penetrate his armor and give him something to care about. The only people in this world he allowed himself to care about were his immediate family, his former brothers from the SEALs, and the man standing in front of him. That never needed to change.
“No, sir,” Griff said, resolute.
“Good. I’ll text her coordinates to your phone. You get there, and I’ll have the team in place to remove you both within the hour. Make sure you aren’t tailed. With a million-dollar offer, the rats will come out of hiding quick to take her in.”
Griff nodded and strode from the room. His heart beat in a weird pattern as his mind whispered the name over and over again: Scarlett Lily. But Griff knew her as someone far different from the notorious redhead. His Jane. Good thing staying strong and detached from assignments was never a problem for him.
Chapter Two
Scarlett Lily walked through her Newport Beach home, closing blinds as she went. She used to never close the blinds in her spacious living area. She loved the view of her infinity pool, her small, landscaped yard with flowering bushes and trees, hanging and potted baskets overflowing with blooms, and the beach and ocean beyond. But something had her unsettled lately.
Obsessed fans, occasional threats, stalkers, and paparazzi had been such a part of her life the last ten years that she hardly noticed them anymore. She didn’t think it was any of those normal concerns. Her security system was engaged, and the people hired to monitor the gate and her exclusive neighborhood were top notch. She was safe, but she had been a believer her entire life, and if the Lord put an impression in her mind, she listened. Right now the impression wasn’t Run, but it was definitely Be aware. Some might think she was simply being paranoid because she had been the lead in one too many action movies, but she never doubted her intuition.
Entering the kitchen, she pulled out a glass and a bottle of Fiji water from the fridge. Her throat felt sandpapery from all the concern. She poured the water into the glass and smiled. Griff Quinn had always made fun of her for
having to drink out of real glass, teasing her about being a princess. Ah, Griff. At the Georgia Patriots’ end-of-season celebration, she’d tried to plant some seeds with his youngest brother, Mack, with the hope that Griff would contact her again. She’d heard he was sometimes in southern California with the enigmatic Sutton Smith. It had been weeks and nothing had changed. She still longed for Griff, and he remained out of her reach. Ten long, lonely years. It was pathetic she couldn’t shut him from her memories as he obviously had done of her, but he was the love of her life.
She took a long sip of the water and stared at her spacious, top-of-the-line kitchen with slate flooring imported from India and quartz countertops from Brazil. She liked the contrast of the gray swirled countertop and flooring against the dark walnut cabinets. With all the light from the floor-to-ceiling windows and retractable walls leading out to the pool and patio, there was plenty of light to offset the darkness of the wood. Except for right now, when she had the blinds all tightly closed.
In the eyes of the world, she had it all. Money, fame, handsome men constantly chasing her. She could pick and choose which movies she acted in. She preferred action, but she’d dabbled in drama and rom-coms. She hated the rom-coms. There was inevitably a battle with the producer when she refused to do a love scene, but they always ended up cutting the on-screen intimacy because they wanted her name and notoriety. She also loathed pretending to fall in love, considering the man she’d always loved had ditched her for the military years ago.
The truth was that she was lonely. Most of her fellow actors, the ones who didn’t mock her for her morality, were great friends to her, when they were all on set. After the shooting ended, they went on with their lives. Her parents loved her and were very proud of her, but they were retired and spent their winters in Costa Rica. They’d come for Christmas a few months ago, met her in Aspen at her spacious cabin, but then they’d gone back to the warm weather. They would return to their home in Canton, Ohio, sometime in April. A month after that, they might come see her. She could fly to Costa Rica to see them. She had a break from filming for the next month. Newport Beach usually had great weather in March, but Costa Rica would be even nicer.
Quinn Family Romance Collection Page 40
