Craving Forbidden (Craving Series Book 8)

by Crave Publishing

  “Fuck, Carter. I had no idea that Kacey felt this way about you. All this time I’ve been standing in the way, keeping you two from being together. God, I’m an ass.”

  Carter chuckled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, man. I had no idea how she felt all this time, either. I could have been with her instead of wasting my time on meaningless relationships.”

  “So, what now? How do we convince my sister that you’re not a total douche and she should give you another chance?” Sam smiled at Carter, clapping him on his shoulder, and he knew that they were good.

  “How about you make sure that your sister is at your house for dinner? I’ll take care of the rest.” They finished making plans and deciding exactly how to get past Kacey’s stubborn streak to get her to Sam’s house. They locked up on their way out, and Sam headed home to get things ready. Carter decided he had a few errands to run, and then he was going to head over to Sam’s and claim the woman he had fallen madly in love with. Losing Kacey wasn’t an option. He just hoped that he was enough to convince her to give him forever.

  Kacey barged through her front door, her arms full of groceries. She was both relieved and sad to find her apartment empty. She decided that a nice quiet evening was just what she needed, although she couldn’t look around her tiny apartment without remembering everything that Carter did to her just hours earlier. The way that he controlled her body, as if he knew exactly what she wanted, when she needed it.

  She put her groceries away and decided to take a nice hot shower. She needed to wash her day away and have a good cry. Then, she would settle down on her sofa and watch some trashy television. It had started snowing again and she couldn’t really go anywhere, since her car battery was still dead.

  Her phone rang, startling her from the quiet of her bathroom. She dried off her body, wrapping the towel around herself. She sighed, seeing Sam’s number on the screen, debating with herself if she should answer it. Emma had gone to the doctor’s earlier, making answering less of an option.

  “Yes, Sam,” she all but whispered. “What’s new?” She wanted to laugh at her question. She was guessing that finding Carter spanking her ass red was probably pretty new for her brother. She absently rubbed her sore backside through her towel, thankful that Sam couldn’t see her wince in discomfort.

  “Kacey, thank God you answered. Em’s in labor and I need your help. I’m not home, and with this weather, I won’t get there for a while. An ambulance is on its way, but they can’t get to her as fast as you can.” Damn it, her car was still not running, and she wasn’t dressed.

  “Sam, I don’t have a car. Can’t you call your neighbor?” She knew she wasn’t being a good sister, but he did just see her naked and aroused a few hours ago. She needed more than just a few hours to recover from her embarrassment.

  “Our neighbor isn’t answering. Please, Kacey, it’s only a few blocks, you can be there in fifteen minutes.” She sighed, seeing no way out of putting clothes back on, and snow gear.

  “Fine, give me five minutes to get dressed and leave. Tell Em I’ll be there in twenty.” She ended her call and rushed around her bedroom, pulling on warm layers to face the raging storm. She wished she could layer up to face the storm raging inside of her, but she knew that would be impossible. She just hoped that with time, she’d be able to get over Carter, but she was pretty sure that would be impossible.

  She made it to Sam and Em’s house in thirty minutes. The snow was coming down in near white-out conditions, making it almost impossible to see just a few feet in front of her. She let herself into their little brownstone and removed her winter gear. The house was quiet, and she worried that something happened to Em.

  She rushed into the kitchen, looking for any sign of her sister-in-law. “Emma, where are you?” she shouted through the house, but no one answered. She ran upstairs and found no sign of Emma or Sam. She wondered if the ambulance was able to make it through the storm and feared that Em ventured out on her own.

  “Em, are you here?” she shouted from the top landing, her voice almost echoed through the house. She made her way back down to the kitchen and glanced into the adjoining dining room. She gasped, walking in, finding the table set beautifully with Em’s fine china, lit candles and roses filled the room. Had Emma still planned to have dinner and forgotten to blow out the candles before she left? Although, she heard that labor hurt like hell, so maybe poor Em was a little distracted.

  “Hey, Kace.” She turned to find Carter standing at the entrance to the dining room and Lord, he looked like sin. He was wearing a pair of jeans that fit him like a glove, with a black, fitted sweater. He made his way to stand in front of her and damn if he didn’t smell like heaven too. Behind Carter, Sam stood, smiling at her. He obviously wasn’t stuck in the storm, and judging from the smile on Emma’s face, as she stood next to him smiling, she wasn’t in labor.

  “Wait, you’re not having the baby.” Em rubbed her belly and shook her head.

  “Not tonight, sorry, Kacey.” Sam cleared his throat, taking his wife’s hand in his, and for a moment he looked so serious.

  “Kacey, I’m sorry about today, I should have knocked. Hell, I shouldn’t have tried to keep you two apart all these years.” He rubbed Em’s belly and gently kissed her cheek. A pang of longing hit Kacey like a punch in the gut. She wanted what her brother had, a person to love by her side and a baby on the way. “I should have never made Carter take that stupid bro code oath. I should have let him follow his heart and not have been such a stubborn asshole. Can you ever forgive me?” She crossed the room to where Sam stood, going up on her tip-toes to hug her brother.

  “There’s nothing to forgive, Sam. You have always protected and cared for me. I know what you gave up to finish raising me after Mom and Dad died, and I will never be able to repay you.” Sam released Em’s hand to pull his sister in for a full-on bear hug. He squeezed her until she groaned about not being able to breathe, causing them all to laugh.

  “There is one thing you can do to repay me, Kacey. You can marry my best friend.” Sam turned Kacey around to find Carter kneeling before her. He was holding a ring box with the most spectacular, cushion cut diamond ring, that she had ever seen. She gasped, covering her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

  “Carter, it’s beautiful,” she sobbed.

  “So, how about it, Kacey, you want to get married?” Sam sighed, shaking his head at Carter’s proposal.

  “Not like that, dumbass. If you’re going to sweep my little sister off her feet, then you need to put some heart and soul into asking.” Kacey laughed at Sam’s proposal instructions. She had a feeling that this was pretty much going to be her life, and she wouldn’t want it any other way. She would always have her two favorite guys around and they would always have each other’s backs.

  “I’m so sorry, Sam. I’ll try harder to live up to your standards.” Carter’s voice dripped with sarcasm, making them all laugh again.

  “How about Em and I take our pizza upstairs to our room? You two seem to do a little better without an audience.” Sam winked at Kacey as her cheeks heated. Just a few short hours ago, Sam was ready to kill Carter for what he walked in on, and now, he was joking about it? Sam kissed her cheek. “Say yes, Kacey. I want for you to be happy and I know that Carter loves you.”

  Carter cleared his throat. “I think that I can take it from here, bro. Maybe it would be better if I was the one to tell Kace how much I love her.” Sam nodded and pulled Emma out of the dining room with him. Carter pulled Kacey into his arms. “I do love you, Kacey. I don’t know why I waited so long to tell you how I feel. All I know is that I’m so thankful that you wrote that damn column. It gave me hope, hell, it gave me you. Marry me, Kace, start your life with me, and I promise I’ll never let you down.”

  Kacey couldn’t help her tears that were now freely falling down her face. She knew that Carter was the reason that none of her other relationships ever worked for very long. She was in love with him.

  She nodded
as he pulled her into his arms, swinging her around. “Yes, Carter. I’ll marry you. I love you, I have for as long as I can remember.”

  Kacey looked into Carter’s eyes and saw all the love that she could ever wish for, shining back at her. Who knew that her entire world was right under her nose this whole time? Her brother’s best friend had become her everything. Carter was her past, her present, and now he’d be her future, and she couldn’t ask for anything more.

  THE END

  About the Author

  K. L. Ramsey currently resides in West Virginia (Go Mountaineers!). In her spare time, she likes to read romance novels, go to WVU football games and attend book club (aka-drink wine) with girlfriends.

  K. L. Ramsey was born and raised in Maryland where her life changed when she signed up for a creative writing class. Knowing that someday she wanted to become a writer, K.L. received her BA in English from Salisbury State University.

  Somewhere in her mid-forties, K.L. decided to write her first romance novel, proving that dreams can be realized at any age.

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  Check out these other Craving Anthology’s by Crave Publishing. Just click on the title to purchase now.

  Craving Bad: An Anthology of Bad Boys

  and Wicked Girls

  Craving Soldiers: Who Doesn’t Love A Man In Uniform

  Craving Secrets: Everyone Has A Secret

  Craving Security: Trained To Defend & Built To Kill

  Craving Christmas

  Craving Country

  Craving Loyalty

  Craving One Night

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