Crazy, Hot Love
Page 27
I turn back to Rhett. “Maybe the perfect moment does exist. Maybe the perfect moment is now.”
The lines on his forehead smooth as my words sink in. “You mean right here…right now?”
“Why not? This is a perfect moment, surrounded by the people you love. Your family is here, along with Linc—although I don’t know where he went. Mo’s family is here, as are two of her best friends. What could be more perfect than this? Just think, you could go home tonight and make love to your fiancée.”
“My fiancée,” he says, with awe in his voice. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have waited this long.”
I clap my hands together and try to come up with something encouraging to say, but it’s not needed because Rhett is already striding off the deck with purpose.
Mo is standing at the back of the concrete pad, which I presume to be about as far away from the basket as a free-throw line. Coop, Trevor, and Tess are off to the side, waiting on her. She bounces the ball three times and shoots. The ball swishes through the net just as Rhett goes down on one knee behind her.
Everyone else sees it before she does, and there’s a collective gasp as she tosses her arms into the air and spins around. “Rhett, baby, did you see—ohmygod.”
Her hands fly to her face when she sees the man she loves kneeling in front of her, and good Lord, I wasn’t prepared to cry today.
I blink up at the sky, trying my best to keep from bursting into tears—something Mo is failing horribly at. My heart races as Rhett pulls a black velvet ring box from his pocket.
He casually lifts the lid and pulls the ring out.
“Oh my,” Mo breathes, looking down at the sparkling diamond.
Rhett takes Mo’s trembling hand in his, and although I can’t see his face, I know he’s looking at her as though she’s the most precious thing in the universe.
“Monroe Gallagher, I love you more than I’ve ever loved another human being. You are my heart and soul. You are my home. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I want to cook for you and spoil you. I want to watch your belly grow round with our babies. I want to grow old with you. But mostly, I don’t want to go another second without knowing that you’re mine forever. Please, Mo, say you’ll spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
There isn’t a dry eye in the backyard as Mo throws herself into Rhett’s arms.
“Didn’t see this coming,” Trevor whispers. He places his hands on the railing in front of me, caging me in. I have no idea when he moved across the yard; I was too engrossed in my friend’s engagement, but I’m happy he’s here.
“Liar. Rhett told me you knew he bought a ring.”
“I did, but I didn’t know he’d pop the question on your birthday.”
I smile. “I don’t mind.”
Vivian squeals, throwing herself off the deck so she can shower her soon-to-be daughter in law with as much love as she can, and I laugh when Rhett pushes his mom away.
Trevor lowers his head, and I expect him to make some offhanded comment about his mom, which is why I’m startled when he says, “Move in with me.”
The breath seizes in my lungs. Tilting my head back, I look up at him. His big, blue eyes are steady, warm, and full of so much love. This decision is one of the easiest I’ve ever made.
“Okay.”
He beams at me. “Yeah?”
I nod and smile as I look back at Mo. She tackles Rhett to the ground, peppering him in kisses, friends and family be damned.
“Soon,” Trevor adds.
“I’ll pack a bag tonight.”
I pull his hands from the banister in front of me and wrap his arms around me.
“I love you, Claire.”
Dropping my head back against his shoulder, I sigh. For so long I’ve looked at my life as one big missed opportunity, but not anymore. Now I have Trevor, and I’m going to seize every moment I can.
“I love you, too.”
“One day soon that’s going to be us. I’m going to ask you to marry me.”
I try to turn in his arms, but they tighten around me, holding me in place as we watch our closest friends and family celebrate.
“You’re going to say yes, right? When I ask you?” he says, his warm breath blowing against my ear.
I nod. “Yes.”
I feel his body relax against mine. I hate that I ever walked away from him, that even for a moment I led him to believe I wasn’t in this for the long haul. Forgiving myself for that night outside the warehouse fire has also been a struggle, but Trevor has been so supportive, and I’ve made a silent vow to show him each and every day how much he means to me. I want to prove to him that I’ll never hurt him again—which I won’t, because hurting Trevor is like hurting myself, and my pain tolerance is ridiculously low.
This time when I try to turn, he allows it. Draping my arms around his neck, I pull him toward me. “Just don’t make me wait too long, okay? Because I am getting old.”
“That’s right. You’re thirty now.” He gives me a look, and I slap his arm. “I’m just kidding, baby. Don’t worry, by the time I’m thirty, you’ll be my wife, and I’ll have you barefoot in the kitchen with one kid on your hip and another on the way.”
A year ago that image would’ve made me nervous. Today, it makes me hopeful. “Is that what you want? Me barefoot and pregnant?”
“I just want you, Claire, however I can get you.”
“I’m already yours.”
“Forever.”
“Forever’s a long time.”
“Not nearly long enough.” But Trevor barely gets the words out because I’m kissing him, happily losing myself in the man who loves and understands me, and wants me forever.
And he’s right; forever isn’t nearly long enough.
Also by K.L. Grayson
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Live Without Regret
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Crazy Hot Love
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A Sneak Peek of Crazy, Stupid Love
Lincoln and Adley’s story will be available on June 20th
Prologue
Lincoln
“Nice of you to finally show up,” Deacon says.
Grabbing the pitcher of beer from the center of the table, he raises his eyebrow at me. When I nod, he pours me one.
“Family shit.” I accept the mug and take a drink. I’m usually not a big drinker, but tonight it feels like I’ve earned it.
“Your dad?” Tucker asks.
“Always.”
Deacon wraps his hands around his mug. “How is he?”
“Same shit, different day.”
“Still sober?”
I shake my head. “Fell off the wagon again.”
“Damn.” Tucker grips my shoulder and frowns. “Maybe next time. I’m sorry, dude.”
“Don’t be,” I say, shrugging him off because I’m grumpy—the same way I always am when I leave Dad’s house.
“You okay?” he asks.
Fuck, no. I’m working my ass into the ground and taking care of a man who used to beat the livin’ shit out of me.
“Hell no, I’m not okay. I’m exhausted.” Taking my hat off, I run my hand through my hair and then put it ba
ck on.
“You know what you need?” Deacon asks.
Lifting my mug, I take another drink. “Something stronger?”
“Nah, man. You don’t want to get into the same shit your dad got into.”
My stomach sours at the thought, and I push my beer to the center of the table. The last thing I need is to turn into my father.
“What you need is a tight, warm pussy.”
That’s the other last thing I need.
I’m not one to sleep around. Mostly because as much as I don’t want to turn out like my father, I really don’t want to turn out like my mother. Haven’t heard from her in years, but mention her name to anyone in town, and they’ll think of one thing: whore. She slept with anyone willing to put a beer in her hand and a dick between her legs. And that’s a title I don’t want to keep in the family.
Which leaves me with two options: stay single and keep my dick in my pants, or find a nice girl, settle down, and commit—something I put the brakes on years ago.
In my world, people cheat, steal, hit, and lie. And the promise of love is nothing more than an empty declaration designed to bring down a person’s walls.
Once those walls are gone, you’re left exposed and vulnerable to a world of hurt.
I’ve had enough hurt in my life, and I refuse to bring a woman into my fucked-up world because it’s inevitable: one of these days I’ll lose what little strength l have and fall fast and hard into the life my parents lived—the life I grew up in. And God help the woman beside me when that happens.
Until then, I do what any good ol’ boy does. I watch porn, work the hell out of my right hand, and when the urge gets too strong, I get rip-roaring drunk, take home a nameless, faceless woman, and the next morning I vow to never do it again.
Tonight that urge is strong, but not overpowering.
“Nah, man. I’ve seen what this bar has to offer. I don’t need a buckle bunny attaching herself to me.”
The Broken Boot is the best damn bar in Houston. The leather seats are torn, the hardwood floor is scuffed from years of dancing, and the smell of stale beer hangs in the air, but there’s nowhere I’d rather be.
Except maybe on the back of a two-ton bull in the middle of a sold-out arena, but that dream died, and The Broken Boot is second best.
Here, money doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck where I come from or where I’m going. I’m just another bull rider in a town full of cowboys, and that’s how I like it.
“I’m not talking about a buckle bunny,” Deacon says. “I’m referring to a fresh face. Someone I’ve never seen in here before.”
Tucker lets out a low whistle. “Trust me, brother, this woman is just what the doctor ordered to pull you out of whatever funk you’re in. Perky tits, tight ass, and curves for miles.”
“If she’s so perfect, why the hell haven’t you hit on her?”
“He has,” Deacon says, laughing. “She shot him down cold.”
Tucker shoves Deacon. “She didn’t shoot me down.”
“You’re right. She smiled and patted your back. I think that’s worse.” Deacon’s eyes lock on something over my shoulder and his smile grows. “Don’t look now, but here comes the brown-eyed beauty.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up before I’m fully turned around. That’s only ever happened with one woman.
“Adley?”
Chapter 1
Lincoln
Five months later
There’s a special place in hell for a man like me—a man who shamelessly sleeps with his best friend’s little sister, knowing he’ll never be what she needs. A man who takes without giving anything in return, because the only thing he has to offer is a broken past that’s destined to destroy his future.
Adley Allen presses her naked body against mine and sighs. Her silky skin brushes against my chest, testing my strength—strength I’ve already proven I don’t have when I’m around her.
She looks up, her dark brown eyes finding mine. “That was the best celebratory sex I’ve ever had.”
“Damn right it was. We’re going to start celebrating everything. You wake up. We celebrate. You eat. We celebrate. You shi—”
“Don’t even say it.” She laughs, slapping at my chest.
“Fine, I won’t say it, but just so you know, we’re celebrating it.”
Shaking her head, Adley rests her chin on my chest. “I can’t believe this morning was my last final. No more college.”
“Believe it.”
“No more clinicals or homework. All I have to do now is take my state board, and once I pass, I’ll be a real nurse.” She blinks, and her face sobers. “Unless I fail. What if I fail?”
“You’re not going to fail.” Cradling the back of her head, I lean down and kiss her nose. “You have a big, beautiful brain.”
Her shoulders visibly relax. “You’re right. I’ve spent the last four years preparing for this. I’ll pass.”
“I know you will.”
“But what if I kill someone?”
“What?”
“What if I pass my boards, get a great job, and accidentally kill someone?”
She’s so cute when she’s flustered. I smooth the wrinkle out on her brow. “You’re not going to kill anyone.”
“You don’t know that. What if I give someone the wrong medicine or—”
My lips put a stop to her crazy words. Adley’s body melts against mine. She swings a leg over my hips, straddling me. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“If I was trying to distract you, I would’ve done this.” Curling my fingers around Adley’s hips, I roll her against my erection. Her eyes gloss over, the same way they did five months ago when I kissed her for the first time.
A kiss that never should’ve happened.
A kiss I couldn’t stop even if I’d wanted to.
You were supposed to be off limits, I think to myself, my mind drifting back to the warning Rhett gave me the first time I met his little sister…
“Who’s that?” I asked him, nodding to a girl at the end of the bar. She was perched on the edge of a stool, her long, dark hair falling down her back and a cherry red stiletto hooked on the bottom rung.
Rhett had followed my gaze and then glared at me. “That’s my little sister, jackass, and she’s off limits. She’s not even twenty-one.”
For five long years I managed to look past Adley’s soft curves and seductive smile, refusing to acknowledge the pull I felt every time she walked into a room.
That all changed last December when we ran into each other at The Broken Boot. We shared a basket of wings, a few drinks, and then I offered her a ride home from the bar. What should’ve been an innocent drive ended with a heated kiss that snowballed into an unexpected affair that neither one of us seems able or willing to walk away from—not yet, at least—despite our mutual agreement to keep things light and easy.
School has been Adley’s main focus, and I have way too much shit going on in my life for a relationship—I always will. That’s why whatever this is works. No strings. No commitment. Great sex. Can’t get much better than that.
Outside of the bedroom, our lives are entirely different. But get us stripped bare and under the covers—or against the wall, or on the kitchen counter—and the rest of the world falls away. Which is why, similar to that first fateful night, I’m unable to stop myself now.
Wedging a hand between our bodies, I slide two fingers inside of her.
Lips parted, Adley places her hands on my chest and drops her head back, exposing the porcelain skin of her neck. Skin I’ve spent countless hours exploring.
“I have a million things to do this afternoon,” she mumbles.
“What could possibly be more important than this?” I rub my thumb over her clit and prepare to tell her all the ways I’ll bring her pleasure if she stays, but the sight of her hips rocking against my hand and her breasts swaying in front of me dissolves the words right out of my mouth.
Sitting u
p, I capture a breast with my lips and suck her nipple deep into my mouth. Adley pushes her hands into my hair, holding me against her as my tongue falls into an easy rhythm with my hand. Her muscles contract around my fingers, and her breathing turns ragged.
I move from one breast to the other, teasing and sucking, and when I pinch her clit, Adley flies apart. She’s a gelatinous pile of moans and convulsions and sinful words. I continue to pump my fingers in and out until her body slumps lifelessly against mine. I release her breast with a pop, pull my fingers from her wet heat, and look up. Adley’s dark hair is a wild mess of waves from the hours we’ve spent celebrating. Her lips are puffy, cheeks flushed, eyes dilated, and she’s never looked sexier.
There’s nothing I want more than to flip her over, press her delicate body into the mattress with my much larger one and make love to her the way I’ve wanted to for the last several months. Our affair was supposed to have an expiration date, but somewhere along the way, we blurred the lines. We went from walking away after a round of hot sex to having sleepovers and breakfast in bed, and I can’t keep my hands off of her, which makes it difficult when Rhett invites me to his parents’ house for Sunday dinner.
I can’t pinpoint when my feelings for Adley started to shift. But one day it was just there, a little voice begging for something more. It’s that voice, that yearning, that drives me out of this bed before I do something stupid like make love to her, because I don’t make love.