“And one day, I might say yes.”
He smiles at me and nods his head before looking back to the ceiling. I keep my eyes on the side of his face for a little while, just looking at him. Eventually, I roll onto my back too.
We spend the rest of the afternoon laughing and talking about random things, all the while Rhett keeping his grip on my hand, and not once did I ever complain. A while later, I hear Linda yelling for me to come in for dinner.
We make our way down the wooden steps of the treehouse, and when we reach the ground, Rhett grabs my hand again. I spin toward him to look at him, but he’s looking at our hands. When he looks up at me, he has a smile on his face.
“Bye, M&M. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay. Bye, Rhett.”
He leans forward and kisses me right on the corner of my mouth. I gasp at the shock of Rhett McCoy actually kissing me, and he pulls back and gives me one more huge smile before turning and running toward his bike.
The rest of my night is a blur of random activity and daily routines, but when I lay in bed that night, I replay the events of the afternoon in my mind over and over again, making sure that I don’t forget a thing. I think about Rhett’s smile, about him holding my hand and kissing my cheek. But most of all, I think about him promising to marry me one day and how much I want that to be true.
About Morgan Nicole
We started out as strangers.
Two people in two different states, who shared a love of books.
Through group interactions and various messages, we talked for months.
Eventually, talks of our favorite fictional characters turned into talks of real life events.
As wives and mothers, we shared stories about our husbands and children. We’ve shared laughter, tears, and the deep frustration of fictional characters talking to us at the most inopportune times.
Over the years, our relationship has changed from strangers to best friends, and our love of reading has turned into a love of writing. Reading is what brought us together. The written word will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we’re ecstatic to be able to share our words with you.
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, to our families—our husbands, kids and even our parents. Thank you for putting up with our craziness. Thank you for (mostly) not interrupting our thousands of phone calls. Thank you for being our grounded support system through every moment of our lives, including this one. We love you, and we couldn’t do this without you.
To Danielle Wright. The Larry to our Curly and Moe. The Snap to our Crackle and Pop. The Stop to our Drop and Roll. Basically, you are essential to us. You have listened to us fuss, encouraged us to keep going, and helped us grow as writers. There are no words to express what you mean to us. Thank you for being an outlet, a sounding board, a partner in crime, and our sister in almost every sense of the word. We love you more than you could know!
To Wendie Williams. Lady, you rock our socks. You are such an amazing person. Thank you for being with us through every step of this incredible journey. No matter what is going on in your life, somehow you always take the time to be there for us. We cannot thank you enough for your support and for your friendship. It means the world to us. A thousand southern kisses to our gorgeous California girl.
To Janett Gomez. You, my dear, are a rock star. Thank you for being our guinea-pig beta reader. Your advice and guidance has helped us so much. We had no idea how our book was going to be received by betas, and you took that fear and crushed it. You have been a constant, and we owe you so much. Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough.
To all of our Controlled girls. Honestly, where would we be without you? Your love, support, and laughter has not only been something that has become a necessity in our lives, but it has transcended into our characters. You girls are our family, and we love each and every one of you. Not a day goes by that we aren’t thankful for the friendships we’ve formed with each of you. You are such beautiful, unique, smart, and sassy women, and we are lucky to count you all as friends.
To Jennifer Diaz. Thank you for your support. Thank you for giving Rhett and Emma a chance. Your feedback was invaluable, and we appreciate it more than you know.
To Najla from Najla Qamber Designs. You are incredible. Your talent is far beyond what we could have ever imagined. Thank you for putting up with our indecisiveness and our confusion. Thank you for your patience. Most importantly, thank you for our stunning cover.
To Murphy Rae with Indie Solutions. There are not enough words to thank you for your help. The time and energy that you devoted to editing our book pushed us to make it better. Your feedback was invaluable and vital to this endeavor. We couldn’t have done this without you.
To Wendi Lynn with Ready, Set, Edit. Thank you for your help in taking on the daunting task of formatting our book. You are absolutely amazing.
Check out this New Release!
Coming Summer 2015
Protecting My Hart
By Danielle Wright
Copyright © 2015 Danielle Wright
Blue.
The color of the sky on a perfectly clear warm sunny day.
Blue.
The color of the ocean on a tropical beach where the only word that comes to mind is Paradise.
Blue.
The color of the most mesmerizing set of eyes that belong to a man who has always seen me for who I am. A man, who for one amazing forbidden night, I was his. A man who I can never have because, I belong to someone else and I will never be worth the fight.
Blue.
The color of my heart, knowing that I can never have the man I choose, because I have already been chosen.
Blue.
The color that has just changed my entire life, as I stare down at the bold blue plus sign on the test.
SHIT.
Three Months Ago
Hartley
“How long are you going to be gone?” I ask softly as he gets out of bed.
“Not your concern.” His tone is irritated
“Sorry, I was just wondering.” I’m careful to keep the sheet wrapped around my naked body as I sit up carefully and wince, JD was rougher than normal this time and not exactly in a good way.
“Well stop wondering! What I do, where I go and how long I’m gone is not your fucking concern,” he snaps, getting angrier.
“Sorry, JD,” I whisper and scoot back on the bed.
“Just stay out of the way. Don’t bother the guys and don’t cause any trouble. I get any bad reports you’re gonna be sorry.”
I stay quiet, I never cause trouble. Truth is I stay in this room most of the time. I don’t like being left here alone. Never knowing who is here makes me nervous and JD refuses to put a lock on the door. Most of the guys here make me nervous. Some of them are ok, a few will say hi. Only one man here though, actually speaks to me like I really exist. He’s the only one who never makes me uncomfortable, truth be told he is the only one I really feel safe with and that’s including JD.
*SMACK* Hot pain spreads across my cheek. “Did you hear me, bitch?” JD yells.
“Yes, JD, I heard you. I won’t cause any trouble. I will stay out of the way I promise.” I do my best to keep the quiver out of my voice and the tears a bay. JD just gets pissed when I cry and crying only makes things worse.
“Don’t start with the mother fucking tears, I swear, Hart, you cause any problems and you’re going to be out on your ass living on the streets with nothing to do but try to sell your ugly pathetic self to whoever you can get to feel sorry for you.”
“I won’t, JD. I promise. I’m grateful to be here.”
“Good. Now I’m leaving and I mean it, Hartley. No Shit.” With that he walks out of the room slamming the door behind me. The all too familiar feeling of being alone consumes me and like so many other times, fear is its friend. I have no idea how long JD will be gone and I have no clue who’s left here to run things. I gi
ngerly crawl out of bed and put on pajamas, and since I’m alone my pajamas consist of an overlarge t-shirt and yoga pants. The less skin, the better. I curl up in my bed and listen to the noises from the other side of the door. No way in hell am I leaving this room tonight.
I hear footsteps getting closer to my room and my heart begins to race. They never bother me when JD is gone but the terror still increases. Pulling the blankets up further and tighter around me, I keep my eyes closed hopefully whoever it is will think I’m asleep if they come in here. There is a knock on the door and my heart begins to race. I hear the door open and I stop breathing.
“Hart? You awake?” The sweet softness of the most perfect voice reaches my ears.
“Slyde?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” His voice brings instant relief and relaxation to my body and I sit up as he closes the door behind him, and walks further into the room.
When I first got here I was uneasy but JD made me feel safe; he promised that nothing and no one here would hurt me. I believed him and for a brief time I felt safe with him, but like everything good in my life that didn’t last. I quickly discovered that some seriously bad shit went down here, also that JD didn’t like it if I knew anything about his business, and he really didn’t like it, if any of his men looked at me. Never blamed them though, it was always my fault. For whatever reason though he never got mad about Slyde. He’s the only one that I’m allowed to talk to or be around without JD getting pissed. Over the last five years I have fallen in love with Slyde. He is tall with dark skin, Hispanic. His hair is a deep rich dark brown that curls around his eyes, oh my, his eyes are the deepest purest blue that I have ever seen. Slyde’s body is solid muscle, broad shoulders and strong arms his torso doesn’t narrow, instead forms a perfect straight line from his shoulder to his hips, again all muscle. His legs are strong too and when he walks, he walks with a purpose, easy confident determined stride. It’s not just his looks though, Slyde isn’t like the rest, he doesn’t mess around with the women here and I know he doesn’t partake in the drugs in the house either. Once or twice I have seen him drink a beer or two but he never over indulges. I think that’s why JD trusts him. Regardless of what happens in this house and on their ‘trips’ Slyde is a kind man, he is good. He has always taken care of me been sweet and nice. I know it’s mostly because he feels sorry for me being stuck here. I’d love for him to put me on the back of his bike and ride away with me, but that is just a silly fantasy that will never come true. Why would he want someone like me? Someone who was abused by her father. Who doesn’t get treated much better by her boyfriend or whatever he is. I’m not exceptionally pretty or smart. Besides, I’ve been claimed which means I’m off limits. Even if JD got rid of me, I would just be trash again, and a beautiful, kind, man like Slyde Cardoane deserves much better than the trash that is me. Regardless I have spent the last five years falling completely in love with him, and I secretly live for moments like this when he is sweet and kind and I get his smiles.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Epilogue
About Morgan Nicole
Acknowledgements
Rekindle Page 20
