by K. M. Scott
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, turning away from her and all she stood accusing me of.
“It’s not ridiculous. We can have the life we’ve always dreamed of, and instead of being happy about it, you’re turning your nose up at it like it’s something you’re too good for. You’re a snob, Gage Varo.”
I spun around to face her. “And what the hell would I do in this new life of yours? What am I going to be? Your bodyguard?”
Jordan’s eyes grew wide. “This again? My bodyguard? How about my boyfriend or my husband, you fool? You were never someone to just protect me. I’m in love with you. What the hell is wrong with you that you can’t see that?”
Her shoulders sagged under the weight of her frustration, and she hung her head. I had to do something to diffuse the situation I’d created. “Maybe it’s because you’re screaming at me.”
“I wouldn’t have to scream at you if you weren’t being so damn stubborn,” she mumbled.
Lifting her chin, I saw the hurt in her eyes and hated that I’d caused that. “I thought my stubbornness was one of the parts of me you liked.”
“I love all of you, Gage. The stubborn part, the part that wants to protect me, and even the part that’s giving me a hard time about having more money than we’ll ever need in this lifetime. You’ve always been just the man I wanted, even though you make me work way too hard sometimes.”
“I make you work too hard? Name once other than right now,” I challenged her.
Her eyebrows went up in fake anger, and she pointed toward Tristan and Nina’s house, even as she smiled. “Don’t make me talk about all those days I tried to get your attention when you were living in the carriage house and got stuck talking to that old bastard West because you stood there like a statue.”
She wasn’t wrong. We’d known each other for a long time and I had been a difficult man to deal with too often.
“And even after all that, all you had to do was kiss me that night in my kitchen and I was crazy for you.”
It was time for me to accept the gift I’d been blessed with too, so I pulled her into my arms and kissed her just like I had that first night. Her lips tasted as sweet as they had then. Nothing had changed in that department, even though we had.
After giving her the kiss I’d waited months for, I leaned away from her and looked down into those beautiful green eyes staring up at me so full of love. “So I guess now we’re living next door to Tristan and Nina?”
Jordan smiled and nodded. “The house has fifty acres, so it’s not like we won’t have privacy. To me, it’s the best of both worlds. I get to live with the man of my dreams and next door to my best friend, the man of her dreams, and their kids.”
“It’s a long drive into the city for my business,” I said as I thought about riding up and down the Taconic every morning and night. “I can’t just be some househusband who sits around all day.”
Jordan looked around and shrugged. “Well, there’s telecommuting, and you did hear me mention about the fifty acres, fight? So there’s more than enough room for you to have an office here.”
“Maybe that could work.”
Pulling me to her, she ran her hands down my chest to the top of my pants and tugged on my belt. “And as for you hanging around all day, don’t worry. I can think of something for you to do each and every day.”
I felt myself getting hard at the mere thought of what she might have in mind. “How long is this party supposed to go on?”
Jordan licked her lips and grinned. “Another couple hours, but after that, I’m all yours.”
Nuzzling her neck, I closed my eyes and let the feel of her wash over me. “I can’t wait.”
Epilogue
Jordan
Nina hugged me close as the last of my guests began to filter out the door. “We should have gotten out of here by now.”
From behind her, Tristan slid his arm around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “Cara won’t be back with the kids for another two hours, so what do you say we get back to our own house?”
Giggling, she rolled her eyes at me. “I guess it’s really time to go. Call me, okay? And tell Gage we said goodbye.”
“I will. I promise.”
I loved seeing them still so crazy in love after all they’d been through. When things looked like Gage and I would never be together again, I thought about them and had to believe we would find the kind of happiness they had.
Closing the front door behind them, I headed to the back of the house where Gage waited in the master bedroom. After making polite conversation with my friends and apologizing to Nina for jumping to the wrong conclusion, he’d chatted with Tristan about business for a while before whispering to me that I could find him naked and waiting in my bedroom when the party ended.
I’d never wanted to chase people away more than at that moment, but nearly an hour had passed since then and I wondered if I’d find him not ready and waiting but nearly asleep watching TV.
Not that I could blame him, but it would put a damper on what I had dreamed of for our reunion.
I opened the door to my room and couldn’t stop the smile that spread from ear to ear. There he lay, buck naked and definitely ready, with his arms behind his head and one of those classic Gage grins on his way too handsome face.
“Should I take it personally that you made me wait here for nearly an hour naked in your bed?” he asked as he lowered his hand to pat the bed next to him.
Scanning his perfect body, my gaze fell on the muscular ridges of his abs and then slid down to where his cock stood at attention waiting for me. I looked up at him and shook my head. “I had to be the hostess with the mostess. I couldn’t just push people out the door because I had a gorgeous man waiting for me to ravage.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure he’s interested in whatever ravaging you have planned after waiting so long.”
I wrapped my hand around his hard cock and slowly slid up and down for a few strokes. “Your cock says differently. I’m thinking he’s the one I can believe.”
Gage looked down and shook his head. “Betrayed by my own cock.”
Straddling his thighs, I hiked up my sweater dress and lowered myself down to kiss him. “How about I make it up to both of you for making you wait so long? Would that smooth things over?”
He slid his hands over my hips and down my legs, moaning his pleasure at my suggestion. “It certainly couldn’t hurt.”
“Good. Just let me get out of this dress.”
I slid off him, but he grabbed my hand to stop me. “Let me.”
Before I knew it, he had the dress over my head and his fingers were unhooking my bra and tossing it across the room. Surprised by his urgency, I wriggled out of my panties and positioned myself on the floor next to the bed, like I knew he loved.
He stood above me like some kind of mythological god I couldn’t wait to worship. I raised myself to my knees and ran my palms up his legs, thrilled by the feel of their strength against me. Powerful, the muscles rippled below the skin as my hands inched higher and higher.
Gage smiled at me and gripped the base of his cock. “I can’t wait to feel that pretty mouth on me. It’s been too long since we could enjoy ourselves like we used to.”
I licked my lips and nodded as he waited for me to take all of him. “Now we have all this house to christen.”
“I’m liking this house more and more,” he said as he guided his cock into my mouth.
His skin felt like silk against my lips as they slid down to the base of his shaft, taking every delicious inch of him into me. Slowly, he eased out of my mouth, leaving only the head of his cock for me to suck, and then with a groan, he gently pushed his hips forward, filling my mouth again.
The entire action had an eroticism to it I craved and had missed for so long.
I closed my eyes and moaned against his skin. Above me, I heard him say in a low voice, “I think I want more after waiting so long.”
Confused, I opened my eyes as
he backed away and took me by the hand. I stood up, wondering why he had stopped. “I was enjoying that. What’s going on?”
“I was too, but I want you to be as happy as I am, so we’ll save the mind-blowing blowjob for later.”
As he climbed onto the bed, I giggled at the way he said things. “Was that a pun, Gage Varo?”
“No. Just a truthful description of your skills at sucking cock,” he explained as he pulled me on top of him.
I straddled his thighs and pretended to curtsy. “I try my best.”
Lifting his hips off the bed, he slid his cock through my wet pussy and groaned. “And I appreciate it. Don’t think I don’t. But I thought since this is our first time together in months that we both deserved to get off. Plus, it’s not like I’m getting second best this way, so I think it was a good choice.”
I leaned forward and kissed him as I took all of him inside me. “I like the way you think.”
With each thrust into me, my body surrendered to his as he inched closer and closer to release. I’d loved him for so long, and now that the madness in our world had subsided, all that was left was the sweetness that came from our lovemaking.
With my head on his chest, I listened to Gage’s heartbeat slowly return to normal and loved the thought that we’d now live a normal life. For so long, I’d wished for some extraordinary life full of action and adventure, but if I could just have him next to me every day like we were at that moment, I’d never want anything more.
“You’re quiet. Is something wrong?”
I looked up to see worry in his eyes and shook my head. “Nope. Everything’s just like I want it. Perfectly and extraordinarily normal.”
“That’s some kind of normal there,” he said with a wry smile.
“I guess it is.”
“So, I’m wondering what my answer should be to you asking me to marry you this afternoon,” he said as he lightly ran his hand up and down my back.
What was he talking about? Confused, I sat up and searched his face for an answer before I said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t ask you to marry me.”
With a smug smile, he shrugged. “Okay. If that’s the way you want to play it, I guess I’ll just have to be the one who asks. Will you marry me?”
I didn’t have to think twice before answering. Looking into those deep blue eyes that had enchanted me since the first time I met him, I saw he wasn’t sure I’d say yes, even after all we’d been through. Then I remembered he didn’t know what Dalton had promised his lawyers would do about my sham marriage to Justin.
“Yes, I’ll marry you Gage Varo. Of course I will! And just in case you’re worried about the whole marriage to Justin, don’t be. Dalton told his lawyers to get that taken care of and I heard from them earlier this month. I’m officially a single woman again.”
Gage pulled me to him and kissed me long and deep. Cradling my face, he smiled. “Not for long.”
“What about your family? How are they going to feel about you marrying me?”
“What wouldn’t they love about it? You’re an incredibly wealthy woman and I’ll be a kept man,” he said with a chuckle.
Every worry I’d had about his family came rushing back as the memory of what Denise did filled my mind. “I’m serious, Gage. Your sister helped the people who wanted me dead. Somehow I don’t think that translates into your family welcoming me with open arms into the Varo fold.”
My mention of Denise made him frown, and he looked away. “Denise is nothing to me now, and nobody in my family agrees with what she did to us. My parents still love you, and Lily and Shane’s opinion of you hasn’t changed.”
I hated hearing he’d cut out his sister entirely. They’d been close since they were children. I didn’t want our future starting out on such a sour note. Gently, I turned his head so he’d look at me. “Maybe you should consider forgiving her. Whatever her reasons were, I doubt she did what she did to be hurtful, especially to you.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive her for helping Hailey and Justin get to you. If I hadn’t gotten to you in time out there near the cabin…”
His sentence trailed off, and he swallowed hard. “I just don’t think I can forgive her, Jordan. She says they found out she was my sister and threatened to hurt my family, but even if that is true, I just don’t think I can.”
“Look around us at all we have, Gage. We want for nothing now that we have each other again, and it wouldn’t take a thing away from our lives to forgive her. You don’t have to welcome her back into your life totally, and I can tell you that I probably won’t ever be close to her, but I can forgive her. I don’t have to understand her reasons or even think they’re valid to forgive.”
Nodding, he gave me a smile, but I knew he still hurt from Denise’s betrayal. “So now that you know what kind of family you’re marrying into, do you still want to marry me?” he asked, his tone hopeful.
As if I wouldn’t jump at the chance to be the wife of someone like him.
“I can’t think of another man I’d want to spend the rest of my life with, and believe me, that’s how I see marriage. So if you’re looking for anything less than forever, you’ve asked the wrong girl.”
“The answer’s simple then. Forever it is.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Simple? Nothing’s ever been simple with us, Gage.”
Gage kissed me and pressed his forehead to mine. “No, it’s been the definition of complicated, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you, Jordan, you beautiful, sexy, intelligent, and complicated woman.”
After all we’d been through, Gage was still that same man I’d fallen in love with that first night in my kitchen as we talked and kissed. He was my hero, and no matter what happened or what life would throw at us, I’d be by his side.
Forever.
CONTINUE READING FOR DETAILS ABOUT MORE GREAT READS!
CLUB X
Meet the gorgeous men of Club X…
Cassian March, the face of Club X, the most exclusive nightspot in Tampa. One of the most eligible men in town, he can have any woman he chooses—and he does as often as he likes. Beneath his cool facade lies a desire for something more, but will his new assistant Olivia have what it takes to fulfill his darkest fantasies?
Stefan March, the manager of Club X, loves the single life. Women are his playground, and this man lives to have fun. Committed to never settling down, he may have met his match in Shay, a bartender at Club X who seems immune to his charms. Stefan loves nothing more than a challenge, though, so let the games begin!
Kane Jackson, half-brother to Cassian and Stefan, he handles the members’ fantasies at Club X. Big, bad, and dangerous, his style is hard, like the life he’s led. But you know what they say—the bigger they are, the harder they fall and Kane might just fall for Abbi, the one woman able to get beyond his hard exterior to the heart he hides from the world.
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I want her. I crave her. She’s my addiction.
The world knows me as Ian Anwell, New York Times bestselling author, but Kristina makes me want more.
Much more.
I need him. I love him. He’s my obsession.
Everyone thinks they know Kristina Richards, but I’m more than what they see on the screen.
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The Eleventh Hour
Poppy McGuire has always been a curious soul, but
it’s her life that’s usually the topic of conversation in the small town of Sunset Ridge. But now one of the town’s most important citizens has been found murdered, and everyone’s life is suspect.
What begins as a friendly wager with her old friend Officer Derek Hampton soon becomes far more for Poppy, and she turns to Alex Montero for help, but the enigmatic former Baltimore cop’s quiet way hides as many secrets as each suspect they encounter.
Everyone in Sunset Ridge has something to hide, but Poppy and Alex are determined to uncover the identity of the murderer. They just have to watch that they don’t become the next victims.
Chapter One
The town of Sunset Ridge hadn’t had a murder in almost a decade. Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth, but the town’s leaders had done everything in their power to make it seem like it was. In the world of small towns, perception is everything.
The awful whining sound of a Sunset Ridge police car’s siren jarred me out of a daydream about that trip to Ireland I kept promising myself I’d take, and I sat bolt upright in my kitchen chair as the thought that something terrible had happened to my father tore through my brain. Still groggy since I hadn’t had my first cup of morning coffee yet, I reached for my cell phone and called him. As usual, he answered in that casual way of his.
“It’s a little early to be calling, isn’t it, honey?”
“I heard a siren and just wanted to check that everything’s okay,” I said as relief washed over me.
“I’m okay, honey. It’s probably just Derek overreacting to some traffic issue.”
