———
Drusilla was as cranky as hell when she got up the next morning. She knew why of course. She was tired and on edge. The dildo had not relieved the ache she felt deep inside and although she could have used her vibrator again it wasn’t the same as hot male flesh. How she got through the workday was beyond her ken. Everyone pissed her off and Drusilla knew her work was crap. Too bad—so sad. It was all Cormack’s fault of course. He had gotten her all tensed up then he’d left her. “Bloody man.” Drusilla decided to pay out her bad mood on him. She drove straight to his home after work.
“Hi, honey.” Cormack greeted her with a big smile as opened the door to her.
Why did he look so happy? Drusilla wanted him to be as cranky as she was. “I’ve been thinking about the wedding.”
“Oh yes?” He invited her inside with the wave of his hand. “A bit tense about the celibacy thing?”
Drusilla could feel Cormack close behind her. The heat from his body and the smell of his cologne was making her dizzy. Focus. “Not me. If I never have sex again I would be okay.” Pissed off, but okay.
“Me too.”
Liar. But then so was she. “Really?”
“Absolutely,” Cormack affirmed. “So why are you here? Not that I’m not delighted as always to see you.”
Lord, he was smooth. “Can’t I visit my fiancé?” On the drive over, Drusilla had the idea of trying another tactic—that of seduction. Make him all hot and bothered, get him to cave in and then see if he told her the truth when he was under pressure. And yes, while she knew the truth already, Drusilla wanted Cormack to admit what he had done. She stopped suddenly so Cormack ran into the back of her. Yum. “Oh, excuse me.”
“My apologies.” Cormack just smiled and moved around to face her. “How’s Arthur?”
“I have no idea.” For something that had once been so important to her, she had not seen the goldfish since she gave him to her niece. Drusilla had no doubt Hayley had given him a home as she loved all things animal. Fish included.
“I miss him.”
“He’s a goldfish.” What? Was he more interested in something with scales than herself? I’ll make him focus. Her hands went down to the top of his trousers.
“Arthur brought us together.” Cormack looked down at her hands as she unfastened the snap. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Drusilla slid the zipper down. His cock jumped out eagerly. At least someone is interested to see me.
“What about remaining celibate?”
Drusilla stroked the length of his shaft. Just the memory of it inside her was making her wet. Why were relationships so damn complicated? “Touching is okay—you said so last night.”
“Dru?”
“Yes?”
“I know you know.”
She stopped and looked at him. “About what?” Was he going to admit his deception?
“About Set in Stone.”
Finally. Drusilla squeezed his cock. “You are a bastard.”
Cormack winced slightly and his hand went down to hers to release the grip she had. “How so?”
“You were writing about me.” She withdrew the hold on his cock. There was no point destroying perfection. And who knows? I may forgive him. It would depend a lot on her mood.
“I never did.”
Every time Drusilla looked in Cormack’s eyes she wanted to believe him. “Seven Ways to Meet Real Women? In the suburbs? In a pet store? Could it be more obvious?”
“It may have started out that way but it changed when I met you.”
Drusilla realized she was still holding onto his cock. She pushed away the hand that covered hers to free herself. “I was just easy sex to you.”
Cormack laughed. “You are anything but easy, honey.” He pushed his stiff cock back inside his trousers and zipped himself up.
That had to hurt. Okay, maybe I feel a little pleased about that. “Anyway I just want you to know that I am aware of what you were doing.” And now what do I do? Do I walk away and never see him again? She hadn’t thought that far ahead. There was always the forgiveness thing. Drusilla was not big on that though. Once crossed she remained crossed for life. It was a Scorpio thing.
“And what? You hate me now?”
“Yes.” No. I don’t know.
Cormack put his hands on her shoulders, drawing her in closer. “Liar.”
“Am not and stay away.” She made a halfhearted attempt to push him away. He used me—and yet I love him. How does that work?
“You came to me, honey.” He lifted one hand and brushed the hair from her face. “Are you scared of how much you need me? If so that’s going to make our married life awkward.”
Drusilla scoffed. “I’m not marrying you.” At least I’m fairly sure I’m not. Marriage, after all, had been her idea, not his.
“I went and got you a ring to prove my commitment.”
She stiffened. “You did not.” I want to see it. No I don’t. Maybe just a peek?
“Do you want to see it?” He pushed back from her and kicked off his shoes.
Drusilla Camm was one hundred percent woman with all the hormones to prove it. Of course she wanted to see the ring. Seeing it did not mean commitment. “Why are you taking off your clothes?” Cormack did that a lot. It was usually followed by her clothes coming off too.
“Getting some rehearsal in for the wedding night.”
“Cormack—”
His trousers hit the floor. “What happened to ‘sweetie’?” He pulled his shirt off over his head.
“I don’t want this.”
“What? Us being naked? The craziness of real life? Making mistakes?” Cormack was naked and totally relaxed. “Come on. Hasn’t this been fun so far?”
“Yes. I mean no.” How was she supposed to concentrate when he was naked? It would try the resolve of any woman. “I mean how do I know you want me and not—”
“A headline?” His smile was soft and loving. “Because you know in your heart.”
And what was in Cormack’s heart was in his eyes and Drusilla was thinking maybe she had been a little rash. People did make mistakes. “I don’t know.” It was said more for her benefit than his. It was not like she hadn’t stuffed up before. “This has all been pretty sudden.”
“The best things are.”
“You have an answer for everything.” Drusilla shook her head in amusement. “Do you really have a ring?”
“Do you really want to marry me?”
Yeah, I do actually. Maybe a more rational person would not jump into matrimony like this but Drusilla was not one for following the rules. “I want to see the ring.”
Cormack chuckled. “I see, to prove my love to you?”
“Maybe.”
“I’d marry you tomorrow.”
“As spontaneous and romantic and very much over-the-top as that sounds, tomorrow is my nail appointment.” Drusilla could cancel it in a heartbeat but she wanted to make Cormack work for her. She was worth it. “What happened to the misogynist pig who wrote about picking up women? I read all your columns you know.”
“The Hunter Bride? Three Ways to Ditch a Date Fast? Shackle Me Not? Check out Her Mother Before You Buy?”
“Yes, I think that was my favorite along with the shopper assassin and how she targets men to pick up the tab.” When she had first read them, Drusilla had been appalled. Now that her anger had abated she realized how silly and tongue-in-cheek they were. Her pride had been wounded but not her heart. Therein lay the difference.
“It’s an act to sell newspapers.” Cormack dropped to his knee and searched his trouser pocket. Three condoms fell out. “I like to be Boy Scout prepared.” He searched some more until he pulled out a ring box.
It was one of those moments that Drusilla always wondered how she would react to. With Wayne it had been a forgone conclusion. They were together so why not marry him. Of course she had been seven kinds of a dummy to accept but there it was. She had. But luckily she
had gotten out of it before she got trapped. Thank goodness for finding Sharon repeatedly rising up and down on Wayne’s cock like that. “What are you doing?”
“Proposing.” Cormack flipped the lid of the box open.
Drusilla burst out laughing. The ring was huge, tacky and plastic. It looked like something that had come out of a gumball machine.
“Drusilla Camm, will you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage.”
“No.”
“What?” Cormack looked stunned and disappointed.
Okay, so the man loves me. Excellent. “I just wanted to see your reaction. Is this because we had sex?”
“A small part of it is,” Cormack conceded.
At least he was honest. “It’s killing you not having it, huh?”
“Hey, I’m not the one with the dark circles under my eyes.” He looked at her knowingly. “Losing sleep over me?”
Yes, and probably everyone in her office wanted her sacked or relocated. “Why this sudden need to marry me?”
“You started it by announcing the big wedding, honey.”
Oh yeah. “I was trying to freak you out.”
Cormack grinned at her honesty. “You did for a moment but only because I didn’t expect it, but I soon realized it was the obvious thing for you and me. We are meant to be.”
“Yeah well, I’m not holding you to it.”
He slid the fake diamond on her finger. “But I’m not having you breach your promise to me.” Cormack leaned in and kissed her hand. “The real one we’ll get tomorrow.”
“I like this one.” It had more meaning than any diamond as it was a turning point in their lives. Yeah, they would make mistakes and fight but they would always stay together. I just know it. “Are you serious?” Drusilla was on the verge of throwing herself into Cormack’s arms and rolling with the naked man on the carpet.
“It’s not every day I spend three dollars and twenty cents at a gumball machine to win you a ring.”
Drusilla looked down at him. Cormack was on his knees before her, honesty shone in his eyes—honesty with a nice blend of wickedness. “I don’t want to rush this.” Which was, of course, crazy, considering that was all she had done since meeting Cormack.
“So we won’t.” He looked satisfied with that. “But I need you and to be honest, I can’t do the celibate thing much longer.”
Honesty rocked. “Me neither.” The ring on her finger didn’t sparkle so much as weigh her digit down.
“It’s a promise ring.”
“Of more cheap plastic to come?”
“Of a life together.”
That sounded good. “You have silver tongue.” Drusilla dropped to her knees.
Cormack opened his arms in welcome. “Let me use it then.”
Snuggled against him, his hot body soothing hers, there was only one thing Drusilla wanted to do. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Cormack sounded keen to do that. He rose to his feet and tugged on her arm.
“To sleep.” Drusilla was so weary with spent emotion that the thought of sex, while fantastic, seemed all too hard at that moment.
Cormack lifted her into his arms, cradling her close to his chest. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’m knackered. Ever since I’ve met you I’ve had the worst sleep.” But at that moment, in his arms, she felt relaxed and relieved. It was probably not flattering for a man to have a woman fall asleep on him but now Drusilla knew where she stood in his life, she felt all the built-up tension release.
“I blame Arthur for this.” Cormack shook his head in amusement. “He brought us together.”
Drusilla knew she was probably the first woman who genuinely wanted to “sleep” with Cormack. He was taking it pretty well. His cock was hard but not his heart. She loved that about him. Cormack understood her.
“Maybe that’s what your next column can be about.”
“Arthur?”
“Yeah—forget about roses and chocolates—give a goldfish for Valentine’s Day.”
“You’re delirious.”
“And you’re delicious.”
“Come with me.” Cormack carried her to the bedroom.
“Maybe later.”
Cormack chuckled. “This is not what I had in mind.”
Drusilla kissed his cheek. “I promise I’ll ravish you with intent in a couple of hours.”
“Deal.”
Epilogue
Set in Stone—by Cormack Flint
Friday, 4:49 p.m.
This will be my last column as a single man. For all of those who have said my fiancée is too good for me—you are right. For those of you who are worried I will lose my edge—that will never happen. I’ll still write columns to piss people off. It’s what I do. I expect I will annoy my new bride and I will pay the penalty. But she is one of the few people I have ever met who can face me down and make me a better man. I like that. I love her.
A year ago if you had asked me about the perfect woman I would have rattled off the standard male formula and I would have been wrong. But love changes everything and any delusions I had are now gone. One thing I know for certain is set in stone—love is forever.
“I like it, especially the part about me being too good for you.” Drusilla spun the plastic ring around on her finger. Cormack had offered to buy her the real thing but she liked the one she had. It freaked people out when they asked to “see the ring”. They looked at her and then at Cormack and wondered. Let ’em. Drusilla did not feel the need to explain herself to anyone but the man she loved and even then she did so only when it suited her. A woman still had to maintain her secrets.
Cormack took her left hand in his. “I worry about your finger going green and dropping off.”
“Will you still love me if that happens?”
“Will I have a choice?” He grinned at her.
“Nope.”
“Then I will love you forever,” Cormack told her softly.
“Correct response.” Drusilla sighed. All was right in her world.
About the Author
Amarinda Jones believes anything is possible and sometimes just asking for the impossible will surprise someone enough that they will give it to you. Writing is like that. Put it out there and wait for a response. There is always the possibility you may fall on your ass, but after all, that’s what cellulite is for. Amarinda believes in taking chances, speaking her mind and aging disgracefully. Twenty years from now she plans on being the neighborhood witch who all the kids are scared of. But then, everyone has to have a hobby.
Amarinda welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
Tell Us What You Think
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Also by Amarinda Jones
Anyone but You
Because I Can
Decatur the Vampire
I Don’t Think So
Knock Three Times
Lickety Split
Mad About Mirabelle
Maid for Death
Marlow’s Curse
Maybe It’s You
Micah Blue
Penned Again
Prince Vampire
Rowdy
Run the Gantlet
Seducing Celestine
Shades of Gray
Shiver Me
Tantalizing Tilly
Thief of Mine
Thigh High
Unbreakable
Who Knew
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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