by KL Donn
Being near her, breathing in the same air as her, it brings me peace in a way I’ve never known before. Kissing her forehead, I inhale her scent before whispering, “I’m home now, little phoenix. I’ll never leave you again.” She stirs a bit before sighing my name and draping one leg across my hips and an arm across my chest.
Content now, we settle in for a far sounder sleep than either of us have gotten since being split up by a bogus accusation that nearly ruined us before we had a chance to begin.
Delilah
* * *
Waking up, I’m warm, rested. There’s this anticipation flittering around my insides, and until I begin to tune into my other senses, it doesn’t compute. A pounding heart and sauna-like heat exist beneath my cheek.
“Crew,” I murmur, turning my head to kiss his chest. “You’re home.”
“Not fucking leaving you again.” The rumble of his sleepy voice makes me smile.
I gaze up at him. “I’d be okay with that.”
Brushing his hand through my hair, I close my eyes, savoring his touch. “You went on the fucking news for me, baby. What were you thinking?” Pride, anger, worry, they all linger in his tone.
“That I had to fix what I caused. I couldn’t leave you there, Crew. Not in a million years did I want to see another man I loved rot away in prison.” His grin is infectious.
“You keep saying that.”
Frowning, I don’t understand. “Saying what?”
“That you love me.” Shy, my eyes slide to the side.
Biting my lip, I force out, “You haven’t said it back.” I don’t want to pressure him, but with the way he’s pursued me and the things he’s said, I would have thought he’d be the first one to say it.
He grips my arms, and in a flash, we’re flipped over so that he’s lying above me. “Because I don’t love you, Delilah.” I bite my lip, trying to take the sting out of my heart. “What I feel for you is so much more than love. It’s obsession, possession, addiction. I can’t breathe without you, and when I’m with you, breathing that same fucking air, the world is brighter. I don’t think that I know what love is because I haven’t had it in so fucking long. But with you, what I feel right here”—he slams a fist against his heart—“it beats for you. Every breath, every pound, it’s all for you, Delilah.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond as his lips come crashing down on mine. His fingers bruise as they run along my body, squeezing and holding wherever they land. Pushing his shorts down his hips, I spread my legs wide for him. I’ve become addicted to the feel of Crew, and right now, I need the assurance that we’re both okay.
“You sure?” he groans as he pulls back. I can feel the heat of his cock against my lips. Flinching with every breath.
“Yes, please, Crew. I need this. We need this.” With one slick pump of his hips, he’s inside me, and my body turns to liquid for him.
Digging his hands through my hair, he holds me in place as he thrusts slowly, torturously. Taking my breath with each move until I’m gasping and clawing at his back.
“Fucking missed you, baby,” he moans into my neck, licking along the flesh, nibbling when he stops. Between his unsteady breaths and my shivering, I’m on the verge of an explosive orgasm.
“Crew,” I moan as he spreads his legs under me, and mine hike further up his thighs, giving him a deeper angle.
“I know, baby. I’ve got you.” His pounding grows erratic as our fingers clasp each other. Holding me down on the bed, Crew takes me to the tops of the mountains, and when I reach for the stars, I erupt. Crying out his name until my voice is hoarse and my body languid.
“You’re mine, Delilah, and real soon, I’m making it official.” Falling back asleep with those words in my ear and a smile on my face, I’ve never slept so well before.
Chapter 10
Crew
Staring across at my brothers and Zack, I’m shocked at what they’re telling me. “Why doesn’t he want her to know?” I ask.
“Because she won’t talk to him to begin with, and he doesn’t want her to feel like this is why he did it. According to him, it isn’t,” Zack states.
Early this morning, after a night of making love to Delilah until neither of us could move, Zack got the call that Oliver Henderson had spent the last day or so talking to the FBI about Brad Peterson and the people he’d killed and disposed of in Florida before coming to South Carolina. Fifteen women went missing in the sunshine state, and there were no clues as to where they were or what happened to them. Until now.
Here at home, there have been at least four women killed and discovered. They don’t know if there are more because once Peterson moved here, he cut off contact with Henderson. After finding his prints in Delilah’s house after the break-in, coupled with the assault on her and evidence found in his apartment, there is now a manhunt on to find the killer, dead or alive. Preferably dead, for me at least. The less Delilah has to worry about, the better as far as I’m concerned.
“I’m not going to keep it from her,” I tell my lawyer. “She has the right to know where the information is coming from, and it’s not like it won’t eventually get leaked to the public anyways.”
“What?” I bark at Cross and Crux as they share a heated argument under their breaths in the kitchen.
Startled, they snap to attention and shut up before coming into the living room. “You know how much shit was in the house that Ren and I have spent for-fucking-ever going through, right?” I nod.
“There was something left. For you,” Cross says. “For each of us, but the thing for you is…significant.”
Frowning, I stare between them. “You going to spit it out any time soon?” They share another look, and I’m about ready to smack them both now.
Reaching into his pocket, Crux pulls out a small box. “Pops left this for you.” Handing it to me, I know exactly what it is.
“Fuck,” I hiss, opening the lid. Emotion clogs my throat because I thought this was long gone. We talked about it when I turned eighteen but never again after, and when he died, I had no clue what had happened to it. I didn’t really care at the time either.
“You ready for this?” Cross’ voice has softened.
The matching white and rose gold wedding bands twinkle up at me as the sun casts a rainbow off the sizable engagement ring. In pristine condition, I’m shocked when Crux tells me, “Ren found them a couple of months back. I wasn’t sure when you’d be ready for them.”
“I’m ready,” I confess as I hear Delilah’s soft steps walking down the hallway. As soon as she appears, hair tussled, cheeks pink, bite marks on her neck, looking both well-rested and thoroughly fucked, she’s never been more perfect.
“Marry me,” I demand without moving as she’s mid-step. Nearly stumbling, her mouth drops open as I stand and stride towards her. “Be my wife,” I say again.
Delilah
* * *
Crew’s confident swagger as he holds out a little box steals my breath. Everything about this man turns me on and leaves me incoherent. Hearing him say the words marry and wife in nearly the same breath has me dazed.
“You don’t mean that,” I respond breathlessly. Even though I’m praying he does. There’s nothing I’d like more than to marry Crew Malcolm. To be his everything.
“Yeah, I fucking do, Li. There isn’t a damn thing I want more in the world than to have you tied to me for life.” Pulling the diamond engagement ring out, he slips it onto my finger. Stunned at the elegance and beauty, I can only nod my head.
“Yes,” I croak out. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Crew.” His mouth is on mine in an instant, and I’m so swept up in the moment that I don’t hear the front door closing as he picks me up and enters me in one quick, hard thrust.
“If you aren’t pregnant by the end of the day, I’m going to be pissed,” he mutters against my lips as his hips pummel, and I whine in his ears, needing so much more of this, us. I can never get enough of the way he builds my body up and brings me
to heaven and back with little effort.
“I love you, Crew Malcolm.”
“I’m obsessed with you, Delilah Malcolm.”
Just hearing the words has my world exploding.
Epilogue
* BREAKING NEWS * BREAKING NEWS * BREAKING NEWS *
* * *
“It’s official. The last Malcolm son has married and is looking forward to the birth of their first child in seven months. After being held in a jail cell for two days, Crew Malcolm has successfully turned his false arrest around and remains an advocate for men, women, and children being unfairly treated by the justice system.
His attorney Zackary Pine has devoted endless hours of his own time to help victims of “abuse of power” gain their lives back once again while also helping more children in the foster care system get their voices heard. We live not in a perfect world but in a world where we can continually learn to better ourselves.
In a twist of fate, Oliver Henderson, the Eighth Avenue Killer, passed suddenly in his sleep from a heart attack. The Malcolm’s had a small service in Florida, where he was buried next to his deceased wife, the only woman he seemingly loved.
And now, with the manhunt of Brad Peterson—the man proven to have been harassing Crew and Delilah Malcolm—ending in the death of Peterson, the happy couple has continued to build the reputation of Malcolm’s Restorations by donating their time and money to the beautiful state of South Carolina.
It is with great pleasure that we also announce the birth of Crux and Farren Malcolm’s second child, a little girl. From the entire team at Channel 44 News, I’m Lindy Swartz, and congratulations to the growing Malcolm family.”
* * *
The End!
* * *
Thank you for reading Arrogantly Obsessed. Watch for more news about Those Malcolm boys on my website. You can find a complete list of my books, along with series lists and reading orders on my website.
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What’s next?
Curious if there’s going to be more of the Malcolm boys or some of their friends?
YES!
Next up in the series is, Distort. A f/f college romance featuring Echo Pine, Zack’s sister, who you met in previous books.
Read on for more information and quick peek’s into the first 2 books in Those Malcolm Boys.
Distort
A Those Malcolm Boys Novel
Those Malcolm Boys 4
By USA Today Bestselling Author
KL Donn
* * *
I’m loved.
I’m young, wild, and free.
I’m in college and exploring who I am.
Learning what I want.
And what I want, I can’t have.
She smiles like she’s on top of the world.
But she cries.
She cries when he touches her, when she stares into my eyes as he makes sweet love to her. She cries because she can’t be as free as me.
Until I hold out my hand, spread her wings and show her what it feels like to fly.
We’re in love.
We’re young, wild, and free.
Until we aren’t.
Our love is a secret, distorted in its desire to be free.
* * *
ADD TO GOODREADS
Obsessive Addiction
Those Malcolm Boys Book 1
Chapter One
Crux
“Crux Malcolm, it is with our sincerest apologies that you are free and clear in regards to all previous charges and convictions in this case.” The bang of the judge’s gavel releases the smirk I’ve been holding back.
They had me.
Lock, stock, and smoking fucking barrel.
But he fucked up.
The prosecutor took a bribe three years ago and knowingly presented planted evidence. A single fingerprint that never existed. Not there. Not at that scene. They only found out about the bribe after he was caught taking another one from a murder case he was trying. I got lucky.
Warner got what was coming to him. Neither of us knew it then, but from the first time he touched her, he was dead.
Farren Hallewell.
Sweet girl next door.
Virtuous. Untouched.
Mine.
He thought he had a right; he was wrong. Before he took his last breath, I made sure he knew. I swore vengeance that day, and no matter how desperate his pleas for mercy were, I gave none.
The only regret I have is missing these years with her. Not being here to protect her. No one knew why I did what I did. They thought I was the hot-headed bad boy child of the Malcolm dynasty. I’m not. I wasn’t then either.
I was meticulous, smart. I plotted and planned.
I underestimated the lengths his brother Scott would go through for justice.
I know now. I may have a temper, but I can put it in a stranglehold, as long as I have her with me. Always with me.
I’ve watched Farren for years. She’s one of the shiest people I’ve never formally met in my life.
When I was eighteen and she was ten or eleven, she and her mother moved into Jeffrey Warner’s home. It didn’t take long to recognize that Farren’s mother, Leslie, didn’t give two shits about the girl. It took even less time for me to catch the way Jeffrey watched her.
Being sent to college was the worst thing to ever happen to me. For the next four years, I glimpsed Farren sporadically and each time, I knew. I fucking knew she was hurting. I knew he was monopolizing her, but I had no idea how to confirm it or even to stop it.
And then it happened.
Late at night, when my house was quiet, and I was outside, I saw him…Jeffrey’s shadow in the glow of a small lamp in her room. He stalked her across the room, and when I saw his disgusting meaty paw touch her chest, I began to plot and plan.
His death was coming by my hand.
Realizing I had to act fast, I climbed the tree in her yard and threw a stone through the window. Being the little bitch that he was, he ran and never looked back. That was the last time Warner touched Farren.
I found him drunk and stumbling down an alley three nights later. It was by pure accident that we were both there. In his drunken state, he didn’t recognize me, but when I told him why he was going to die, he laughed. Called Farren all kinds of nasty names that fueled my anger.
I had already planned to leak the brake lines to his car, seeing him in the alley had been a bonus. Killing him with my bare hands didn’t affect me as much as I would have figured. I didn’t feel guilt or remorse. I felt elation. Knowing she was going to be free was all I cared about.
It wasn’t until I found an article in the paper about Farren a year ago when she was helping an animal shelter, just before her seventeenth birthday, that I realized why I did what I had done.
My breathing slowed.
My pulse vibrated.
My heart skipped a beat.
Farren Hallewell had become an addiction I couldn’t quit.
I’ve grown obsessed with her in what some would call an unhealthy way. I call it personal drive. The public should see it as a bonus. If I’m distracted by her, I’m not going to be a menace.
Crew has his houses.
Cross has his bulls.
I’ll have Farren.
* * *
ONE CLICK HERE
Accidental Obsession
Those Malcolm Boys Book 2
Chapter One
Isabella
“You can run, you can hide, but I’ll find you, Isa.” I slam my hands over my mouth to hide my whimper. I know he’ll find me; he always does.
I keep running, though.
Always running.
“I’m getting angry, Isa.” I hear it in his tone. Anger means violence with Curtis Lindsay, always. A violence I can no longer handle.
As I gaze at my nearly nude body, I know I have to stay silent for a
s long as possible. I have to keep hiding. Continue to move. If Curtis catches me, he’ll kill me for sure this time.
“Isabella.” He sings my name. To the naked ear, it would sound loving. To me, it’s full of menace. “I’ll wait outside for you, dear. If you aren’t out here in five minutes, I’m burning this barn to the ground.” I shake violently in the loose bale of hay I’ve been hiding in for nearly an hour.
He’ll do it; I know he will.
Nothing scares Curtis. He’s an unstoppable force that I can no longer fight off. I’m tired of the daily beatings. The threats of rape. I know that just as soon as I’m healed, he’ll try to sell me at the brothel like he did all the girl before me.
The girl who died in my arms.
My sister.
My best friend.
I’m next in his sick game of God, and I can’t be.
His steps retreat out the barn doors, and I can hear the horses beneath me as they pace, sensing the sinister force that just left here is up to no good.
Once Curtis sets blaze to his barn, Cross Malcolm is going to hate me even more than he does now. They’re at an auction, presently, so when I chose to hide here, in the hopes that Curtis wouldn’t bother looking for me, I foolishly thought the horses would have gone with them.
