WE ARE ONE: Volume Two

by Jewel, Bella

  I just wished they’d been alive to watch me propose to this one in a million girl.

  Vesper reached to rap her knuckles on the brand new smoky glass front door. However, I wrenched it open before she could.

  Reclining against the doorframe, fighting nerves, I did my best to ooze confident charm. “Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in.”

  “Actually, the kidnapping of a cat dragged me in.” She peered over my shoulder. “I got a note from the thief saying they’re here.” Her lips twitched. “If you don’t unhand them immediately, sir, I’ll be forced to go to the authorities.”

  I swung open the door, bowing for her to enter. “Oh, no threats needed, Ms. Fairfax. Please, come in and claim everything that I stole.”

  She rolled her eyes at my dramatics and pushed past me. Her gaze followed the curved staircases now carpeted with a rich chocolate rug, to the glittering chandelier, to the Kookaburra Kool white walls. “No cat or Chinese Crested in here.”

  I shrugged. “Wherever could they be?”

  She swatted my shoulder, brushing past to head into the lounge.

  Swallowing my grin, I followed her.

  When she entered the large octagonal space, now open plan with kitchen, window bay, and dining room, she gasped; her hands flew over her mouth. “Oh my God, this place is stunning.”

  I’d deliberately left this room until last, knowing when I was ready I’d hijack her furniture and blend it with mine in the room where we’d do most of our living.

  Her pieces sporadically plaited with mine, making this ours right from the beginning.

  After all, her sweat and occasionally blood from a nail or elbow scrape were on these walls, same as me.

  “You even installed my lemon daisy curtains.”

  I grinned. “Hey, those curtains have good memories. I couldn’t leave them behind.”

  They looked ridiculous hanging too short over the doors leading to the side deck, but hey. Fashion could take a flying leap because I fucking loved them.

  Visa careened from the kitchen, racing toward her owner.

  “Ah, there you are, titty tat.” Vesper scooped her up, only to be accosted by Barb as she skidded on the marble tiles where she’d been chowing on fresh chicken as a treat. “And you too, little Barberella. You decided to leave me for this luxury, huh?” She kissed both before setting them on the ground. “Not that I can blame you. Ryder has outdone himself.”

  Hippo trotted forward, shuffling in her signature piggy waddle, pushing both cat and dog out of the way for cuddles. “And you! Can’t forget about Miss Pigglesworth.” Vesper kissed Hippo’s pink head.

  I stiffened as her fingers found the ribbon around the piggy’s neck.

  Vesper’s back tensed as she followed the soft pink decoration. “Oh!” She swivelled in place, looking at me over her shoulder “Ryder?”

  I ducked beside her, untying the ribbon and holding up the diamond and ruby ring. “You didn’t think I’d just kidnap your furniture and pets and not steal you too, right?” The gold and glittering stones caught the light, bouncing rainbows onto the white carpet at our feet. “I love you, Vesper. I’ve loved you all my life even if you’ve only been in it this past six months. I don’t need time to know this is right. I don’t need validation from friends or family. And I don’t need society to deem it’s acceptable to propose.”

  “That’s what you’re doing? Proposing?”

  “Shush.” I placed my finger over her lips. “Let me finish.”

  Her eyes glossed with tears as I took her hand and ever so slowly slipped the engagement ring onto her finger. “Vesper Fairfax, you were my vet to start with, a patient the next, and then my soul mate. You are everything I could’ve ever asked for. Everything I never hoped to dream for. I’m not going to ask you to marry me because if you said no, I would just make you do it anyway. Your furniture and life is here now. Your pets are here. You’re here.” I looped my hand behind her head, pulling her forward until our lips met. “And that means you’re never leaving.”

  She smiled beneath our kiss. “And I have no say in this?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  “But what if I want to add a few clauses. Or share my declarations of love?”

  “The clauses are a no go but the declarations I’ll permit.”

  “Oh, so kind, dominant master.”

  I smirked. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. That’s for later tonight.” I leaned forward, whispering in her ear. “I went shopping after I ransacked your apartment. Let’s just say, the dog collars and kitty ticklers have been downgraded with the new toys we have to experiment with.”

  Her cheeks heated. “Does it include a riding crop you once said you had to use to keep your harem in line?”

  “Better. It has a nurse’s uniform which I amended to be a sexy vet. I’m going to be your patient tonight and then, if you make me feel better, I’m going to show you just who you belong to now you’ve stepped over the door and accepted my ring.”

  She laughed. “How am I supposed to say no to that?”

  “I already told you—you’re not allowed to say yes or no. It’s a done deal. You’re mine. We’re engaged. End of discussion.” I kissed her again, letting myself be swept away by her taste and heat, wishing to God Polly wasn’t in kitchen watching. I wanted to try out our new purchases straight away.

  However, wishes would have to wait as Polly couldn’t keep quiet anymore and carried three champagne glasses while being chased by Hippo. “Congratulations!”

  Passing the flutes to us, she kissed Vesper on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you, Vessie.” The affection between the two women glowed; I hoped Polly would one day strike as love-lucky as we had.

  My phone suddenly hammered with vulgar rap. I answered it with the video function to reveal my brother.

  “A little birdie just texted me saying you popped the ball and chain question.” He beamed. “So you’re a soon-to-be-married man, huh?”

  I scowled at Polly who stuck her tongue out. “Something like that.”

  Toasting me with a beer bottle, he said, “Have to consummate straight away before the girl can run away, you know. That’s how these things are done.”

  “Not binding until a celebrant forces her to say I do first, you idiot.”

  “Well, no harm in consummating then and now and every day in between.” Rupert chuckled.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I snorted.

  Polly blushed as I angled the phone her way. “Say hi to Pol.”

  Rupert’s voice changed subtly. “Hey, Polly. How ya doing?”

  “Good.” She took a hasty sip of liquor. “You?”

  “Singapore is hot. But not as hot as you.”

  “Okay, okay.” I faced the phone back to me. “This has been nice and all but I’m disconnecting you, kicking Polly from my house, and carting my kidnapped bride up the stairs. I agree with your conclusion of consummating at all times. Then no way can she get out of this marriage.”

  “There’s my brother. The forward thinker and obsessive planner.” Rupert laughed. “Keep me in the loop when the big day will happen and remember, don’t knock her up until after the ceremony. I don’t want my niece or nephew to be a bastard.”

  I hung up on him.

  Polly finished her flute of champagne with three massive gulps. “Right, I know when it's time to leave. My innocent eyes don’t want to know what you guys get up to.”

  Hugging Vesper, she whispered something in her ear before pulling away and waving. “See you at work tomorrow, engaged besties.”

  “I’ll share all the juicy details, Pol.” Vesper winked.

  I grabbed her wrist. “Like hell you will.”

  Trusting Polly to show herself out, I dragged my fiancé up the stairs. The moment we were in the bedroom that had both our mattresses pushed together to make one colossal bed and Scar’s memory was carved into the window seat with re-upholstered cushions, Vesper said, “You know, a better place to hide the ring would’ve
been in your pants.”

  “My pants?”

  “Yes.” Prying my fingers off her wrist, her hands landed on my belt buckle. “All those months ago, you gave me permission to touch it.”

  I sucked in a breath as she undid the loops followed by the zipper. “Then you gave me permission to look at it. You were really quite generous.”

  I swallowed hard. “I did. And I agree about the generosity fact. By the way, you can do all those things whenever you damn well please.”

  “I’m glad to hear that because you also gave me permission to lick it.”

  “I did indeed. You’re more than welcome to lick anything of mine.” I groaned as her hand vanished into my boxer-briefs and cupped me. The cool gold of her engagement ring seared into my hot, sensitive flesh.

  The knowledge that the ring marked her as mine forever made me rock fucking hard.

  “And now, you’ve put a ring on me which I’m guessing gives me one last thing I’m allowed to do.”

  My mind raced. “I can give you all sorts of permission. You can ride it, bite it, kiss it, fist it, cow girl it, wheelbarrow it. Hell, you can even motorboat it. All perfectly acceptable.”

  She laughed. “Thanks for the invitations, and I’ll keep a lot of those in mind. However, you forgot the most important one.”

  “Oh?”

  Wrapping her fingers around my length, she jerked me forward. My lips crashed against hers as she took control. She pumped me, making me see stars while her tongue shot into my mouth.

  When I could finally breathe without grunting and stand without wanting to thrust into her, she murmured, “Thanks to you, Ryder Carson, I now have permission to marry it.

  “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  Acknowledgements

  I hate acknowledgements because I want to write a novel to each and every one of my friends, family, readers, reviewers, and bloggers. But that isn’t possible. Obviously. Then I think, I’ll just list names with kisses beside them. But I get terrified thinking I’ll miss people who mean the world to me.

  So, I’m not going to do any of those things. You know who you are. THANK YOU. Without you, there would be no me. I wanted this book to be a secret because I wasn’t sure I would publish it.

  However, it turned out this story was a saving grace for me and because it’s dedicated to my lost little bunny, I had to claim it and love it forever. I decided to write about a vet as at the time, I hated them. I wanted to scream and bawl when my baby bunny died and demand the vet take responsibility for her passing.

  So, to prevent me being arrested for setting their practice on fire, I wrote a story from a vet’s point of view to fully understand just how hard it would be in that career. How upsetting every day would be, knowing your best sometimes isn’t good enough.

  It allowed me to forgive (even though there was nothing to forgive) and come to terms with a senseless death because all death is senseless.

  That being said, this was a healing exercise rather than an intended book to publish. With that in mind, I didn’t get it edited professionally (sorry for any pesky typos that my zombie eyes missed). I didn’t get a cover done (sorry if the DIY dude holding his magic wand offends you (then again, I say you’re welcome if you like the eye candy)). And I didn’t enlist my trusty tribe of beta readers (please forgive me, guys), because this was a book I needed to enjoy for me and didn’t care if it made sense or if the plot was stupid and I missed a few things. This was me having fun. This was me healing. And, instead of locking it on my hard drive, I decided to release as a surprise so you guys could laugh along with me.

  I hope it doesn’t bite me in the ass.

  But it’s done now.

  If you’re at this point, I’m guessing you read the entire thing. Just let me say THANK YOU for joining me on this silly ride of purity and fun.

  I hope you enjoyed it. Did you leave a review?

  And, if you did like it…do you want to read Rupert and Polly’s story? ‘Cause I’m kind of tempted to write it. Here is the blurb and cover (below)…just in case you’re interested.

  AND last but not least, if you keep scrolling and feel like reading another book from me, I’ve included UNSEEN MESSAGES for a strictly limited time as a THANK YOU for trying this new genre from me. It isn’t a romantic comedy so might not be your thing, which is fair enough, however it is a romance and set on a wild, deserted island which I find rather kinky.

  Author details

  Good places to stalk Pepper Winters / Tess Hunter

  (she’s the same person, FYI)

  To sign up for New ROMANTIC COMEDY Release Alerts CLICK HERE

  To hang out with Tess head over to her Facebook page CLICK HERE

  To visit her website CLICK HERE

  To hang out in a Facebook Group CLICK HERE

  To sign up for New DARK ROMANCE Release Alerts CLICK HERE

  To hang out with Pepper head over to her Facebook page CLICK HERE

  To visit her website CLICK HERE

  To hang out in a Facebook Group CLICK HERE

  Thanks so much for reading and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking a gamble on this little book and hopefully finding something worthwhile in its pages.

  Other Books by Pepper Winters

  Fair warning. Pepper Winters branded books are dark and not for the faint of heart. They have sex, romance, love, heartbreak, betrayal, and all the normal juicy stuff. However, there is also naughty stuff, bad stuff, and occasionally pretty gruesome stuff.

  If you’re thinking of trying one of Pepper’s books after reading Can’t Touch This, perhaps start with UNSEEN MESSAGES which is a survival romance set on a deserted Fijian island with a hot man and sexy singer.

  Then, if you’re brave, move onto TEARS OF TESS which is a kidnap story that will make you fall in love with the bad guy who does naughty things to the poor stubborn captive. (it’s also where I stole the Tess Hunter pen name from because I love that story).

  Buy Here (completed Monsters in the Dark Trilogy available)

  Then, if you’re REALLY game, try the INDEBTED SERIES. This is a multiple award winner, TV show (potentially), New York Times bestseller set in the UK that uses the medieval torture methods to extract a 600 year old debt from two families in a bitter feud. It’s a modern telling of Romeo and Juliet with a different ending, different middle, different beginning, and…eh, basically it’s star-crossed lovers and that’s about all it has in common.

  But you get the picture.

  I also have a standalone fighter romance that is more grey than dark called DESTROYED and a motorcycle romance that is about a tough teddy bear biker who falls in love with an amnesiac girl called RUIN & RULE.

  So, if you’re ready to enter the Dark Side, head HERE to see about reading order and recommendations. Or, if you’d rather just wait for more Tess Hunter books full of quips and kink, then keep an eye out for a new one coming soon.