by Tyler, Q. B.
“Please!” I cheer and watch as she, Margie, and Grant disappear.
“You’re so nosy.” He pushes me up against the wall and presses his lips to mine. “I’m changing the safe number again.”
I roll my eyes and finger the necklace Cal got me after I broke the old one. The one that never came off without any exceptions. “Were you planning to ask me after graduation? That’s so cliché.”
His lips form a straight line. “No, I was planning to ask you while I was balls deep inside of you tonight, smart ass.”
“Oh.” I raise an eyebrow and my mouth waters at the visual. “Can’t wait.”
“You just couldn’t let me surprise you, could you?”
“What’s the fun in that?” He rolls his eyes and grabs my drink from me taking a long sip. “Sure you want to spend the rest of your life with me?”
“The last fourteen haven’t been too bad.” He winks and presses his lips to mine.
Two Years Later
The sounds of screams fill the room. Both Maddie’s and a smaller version of her with stronger lungs and warm brown eyes that match mine. “It’s a girl!” the doctor pronounces and I watch as Maddie bursts into tears.
“You did it, baby.” I kiss her sweaty forehead and she grabs my face, bringing my lips to hers.
“I love you,” she whispers and I smile, remembering the very different tune she was humming about twenty minutes ago.
“Enough to make another?” I ask.
She bites her bottom lip and shoots me a wink that sends a spark to my dick. “Okay, Mom, Dad, ready to meet your daughter?”
The tears are still flowing down her face when the doctor hands her to me in the exact moment she opens her eyes. I hold my breath and it feels like time is standing still as I watch her blink her eyes several times and open her mouth in a yawn. She has a head full of brown hair, with ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes. “Let me see!” I hear Maddie as she’s straining to see and I snap out of the trance brought on by our daughter.
“Sorry, I was just a little…speechless.” I look at her and our baby, back and forth several times. “We made a baby.”
She lets out a breath and takes in the small pink bundle in her arms. She gasps when she lays her eyes on our daughter for the first time. “Oh my God, Cal! She’s so beautiful!”
“Just like you,” I murmur as I kiss her temple. Her blue eyes are shining with love despite the fatigue I know is running through her after seventeen hours of labor. I push her hair back away from her face and kiss her again.
“I didn’t know it was possible to love someone you just met this much…” she trails off. “But I guess I did feel that way about you,” she whispers and my heart feels like it might actually explode with the love I feel for these two.
“Alright, Mom and Dad, any thoughts on a name for baby Grayson?” the nurse asks as she taps her notepad. Maddie and I had gone back and forth before we got married about whether we wanted to take my father’s name since technically I’m not a Grayson. Margie and Grant had gotten married, so she didn’t have that last name either. But in the end, I kept Grayson, not because I had any strong ties to the name, but because Cal Grayson was the best man Madeline Shaw had ever met, and that’s who she wanted to marry.
I shoot a look at her and she smiles with glee at the name we picked out if we had a girl. “Callie Amelia Grayson,” I tell the nurse.
“Callie! Oh, like your names combined! I love that.” She smiles.
“And Amelia was…my mother,” Maddie says, and I watch as the goosebumps appear on her skin. I rub her arms and press a kiss to her shoulder and stare down at the sleeping bundle in her arms. I didn’t think I could be any more in love with Maddie, but watching her with our daughter makes me fall even deeper for her. The room clears out leaving the three of us, and I sit next to her on the bed. She rests her head on my shoulder and a sigh leaves her lips.
“I can’t believe we got here. Everything I ever wanted…it came true.” I look down at her to find her beaming up at me, something she’s been doing ever since the day we met, if I’m being honest. “Thank you, Cal. You saved my life…and then gave me a perfect one.”
The End.
If you liked the tortured forbidden romance of Unconditional, then check out Bittersweet Surrender, part one of the Bittersweet Duet! Here’s a sneak peak!
* * *
I WAS A GOOD WIFE.
I was loyal to a fault, playing the perfect, doting wife to a man I married at the naive age of twenty-one, when I viewed the world through those rose-colored glasses they warn you about. I loved him, supported him, and I was undeniably faithful to him.
I was a good wife.
Until one day, temptation presented itself in the form of a broken marriage and the beautiful man whose job it was to fix it. I never imagined myself capable of infidelity until the man I married lost all interest in me, just in time for another to take notice.
Now, here I am opening my mind, my heart, and now my body to a man who isn’t my husband.
How did I get here?
I feel as if I’m having an out-of-body experience, my soul floating above my physical self as I watch myself in complete fascination. I watch as a man shoves me up against the wall of the large corner office on the fourteenth floor of a building on Clinton Street, in Midtown Atlanta. I watch myself wrap my arms and legs around him as his lips find my neck. I hear the clash of our teeth as our mouths ravage each other, our tongues intertwining furiously. His hands move out of my wavy tresses, down my face to grope my breasts. My hands slide down his torso, my fingertips dancing over every hard ridge hidden beneath his cashmere sweater. I watch as I fumble with his pants, desperate to get them down his legs. My body is on fire for his touch. I’m desperate to feel him inside of me, to feel the connection of our bodies becoming one. The arousal pumping through my veins is something I’ve never experienced. I’ve never had this kind of passion with anyone.
Not even my husband.
You may think you know my story, but you have no idea.
I was a good wife…until I wasn’t.
Buy Bittersweet Surrender here!
Full disclosure:
Unconditional was one of those stories that took hold of my soul and refused to let go. I was writing another book, and Cal and Maddie started speaking—loudly. I would jot down notes here and there but I tried to keep them at bay until they started keeping me up at night. When I finally started writing their story, I told myself I wouldn’t publish until late 2019. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to publish their story; I wasn’t sure if you as readers even wanted something like this from me. Truthfully, I was scared as fuck. Still am. But Cal and Madeline are on my heart so much still long after I’ve completed their story, that I don’t think I would have been able to focus on anything else until I put their story out in the world. So, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. For those of you that have been with me from the beginning, and would probably follow me over a cliff, I love you forever. You’re my home team. For those of you that are new to me and my books, a million thank yous for reading!
Xoxo,
Q.B.
This book wouldn’t… couldn’t have happened without some pretty fabulous people. Your input, your love, your support is invaluable to me. As I, (and Carrie Bradshaw) have said probably a million times—sometimes family is the one you’re born into, and sometimes it’s the one you make for yourself.
Carmel Rhodes, at this point, I’m fairly certain I talk to you more than I talk to half the people I see every day. Our “sis-mance” goes so much deeper than our pennames and I’m so lucky to have you on this journey. I love you for life. Thank you for reading every version of Unconditional. For being the first one I told I was ready for this story. For telling me to stop freaking out when I finally wrote it. And for holding my hand when I released it into the wild. I’m fearless because I’ve got you in my corner.
Helen Hadjia, Leslie Middleton, Melissa Spenc
e & Kristene Bernabe, my insanely thorough betas, you’ve been with me for quite a while at this point and I don’t think you even understand what it means to me. I love you guys so much for everything you’ve done and do for me every day. You continue to show up for me and for that I’m so grateful!
Erica Marselas & Danielle James, you were the first eyes that read this story from start to finish, and your feedback was everything! Thank you so much being that final push at the end that told me I could do this. You’re amazing!
Jeanette, where do I begin? Thank you for helping me bring Cal and Maddie to life. The cover is gorgeous and thank you so much for all the pretty things you made for me!
Kristen Portillo & Stacey Blake, thank you for making my books sparkle and shine every time. Your magic never ceases to amaze me!
Author Friends & Romance Rookies, I love you guys to pieces. I’m so excited to squeeze some of you in May!
To everyone in the Hive, my sassy babes! Some of you have been with me, what, almost five years? Where does the time go? Thank you for your love and your support and making me feel like I can. I love you!
And finally, to the readers: Thank you for going on yet another journey with me. You guys rock my world every day!
Write. Wine. Work. Repeat. A look inside the mind of a not so ex-party girl’s escape from her crazy life. Hailing from the Nation’s Capital, Q.B. Tyler, spends her days constructing her “happily ever afters” with a twist, featuring sassy heroines and the heroes that worship them. But most importantly the love story that develops despite inconvenient circumstances.
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My Best Friend’s Sister
Bittersweet Surrender
Bittersweet Addiction
CAMPUS TALES SERIES
First Semester
Second Semester
Coming Spring 2019:
Spring Semester
