by S. L. Scott
“She’s so beautiful,” she whispers only for the three of us to hear as the last of the nurses leaves the room. My wife is safe. My baby is healthy. My family is complete.
“She has your hair color and heart-shaped lips,” I point out. “She’s a lucky girl to look so much like her mom.”
I watch as Mallory smiles, admiring our daughter. “I can’t believe she was conceived on the hood of your car,” she says with a light laugh, making small adjustments so she doesn’t wake the sleeping beauty in her arms. “And no, we aren’t naming her Maserati or Grancabrio.” Mallory knows me too well. Her bright eyes look to mine and she smiles. “Congratulations, Babe.”
“Congratulations. You did good. You did great.” I laugh before the following words even come out. “How about Masi?”
“I don’t want any part of her name to come from Maserati.”
I sigh. “All right. I named Duke and Kai. You gave me the name Reef, so you get to choose this little ones name. I’ll go with whatever you want.”
“Really?” She looks amused by the suggestion. “Anything?”
“Any.Thing.”
“Don’t say that. That’s how we ended up here in the first place.”
I chuckle because she’s right.
“I always loved the name Emily, but Kate and Murphy claimed that one three months ago.”
“That name is good for them. It’s not us though.”
“How about Esther?”
“Esther!” I exclaim, my voice going two octaves higher than normal.
“Shhhh. Calm down. I’m kidding. I think since the boys all have Hawaiian names we should find something fitting for her. Keeping that same vibe.”
“This one is all yours. I promise. I won’t fight you on it. Whatever you want.”
Mallory looks at our little girl and smiles as she gently taps the baby’s nose and lips, which match her own, and then the baby’s chin, which is definitely mine. Mallory’s fingers slide around the little one’s ear and she remarks, “Lani. That’s her name.”
“Lani,” I repeat, glancing up from the baby into my wife’s eyes. “Means Heavenly.”
“Yes, just like our life.”
“Lani Ashford? I like it, but you know what I like better? Lani Masi Ashford?”
Mallory laughs so hard that the back of her head hits the pillow. She looks at me incredulously, then says, “I’ll give you Masi only because I kind of like the flow of the name.” She laughs again, looking down at the baby. “I can’t believe you’re being named after a car. I guess it was always meant to be.”
“Destiny. Like you and me.” I bend over and kiss my wife on the forehead before kissing the baby on her tiny forehead. “Welcome to the clan, Lani.”
Turn the page for a bonus Welcome to Paradise Series Outtake.
WELCOME TO PARADISE SERIES
Valentine’s Day Outtake
~ Evan ~
I’ve been standing in front of thirty different heart shaped boxes full of chocolates for a half hour. I grab a pink one with lace edges and head for the counter. While I’m waiting to check out, I look down at the box. It’s awful and cheap and common in the worst of ways—totally opposite of my wife.
I toss the box in a bin nearby and leave. I have a few days before Valentine’s and plan to get her something awesome. What she deserves can’t be found at a drugstore.
Driving home, I look out at the waves crashing at break point. It’s still early and I’m hoping to get in a few waves before dark. Once home, I click the alarm on the Maserati and head inside.
It’s quiet, too quiet. I like when Mallory’s home before me. I drop my backpack by the door and go to the fridge. After grabbing a root beer, I open a bag of chips and head for the couch. Right when I sit down, I see a note on the coffee table.
X marks the spot of ecstasy and mortified.
I reread the note a few more times, each time not making any more sense than the first time.
Standing up, I walk around looking for other clues. My phone beeps. I look down and see a text from Mallory: I’m lonely.
I text her back: Where are you?
Mallory: You have a clue. No hints.
With a huff, I pocket my phone and start walking around. I check the bedroom, then the bathroom, though I know that makes no sense. I stand in the middle of our living room again and think—hard.
“X marks the spot of ecstasy and mortified.” A riddle. I can do this. One piece at a time. Mortified is easier since, well, ecstasy is kind of everywhere for us. Mortified. Where have I been mortified with Mallory?
The video store! But it closed down more than a year ago, so that can’t be the missing piece of the puzzle. I grab my keys and hop in the car, sitting there thinking. This is about Mallory and has to relate to her. She wouldn’t want to go there again, so that’s out.
When was she mortified? The pool at the compound… think think think.
I look up when an idea strikes, and peel out, heading toward the hotel. I park in guest parking and run across the sand to the surf shack I used to work at when I taught surf lessons. It’s also where she was once mortified when a manager busted us having sex in the shack.
Tacked to the back wall is a small note that reads: Pride and Joy.
I rip the note down, knowing she means the Maserati. While walking back to the car, I survey the grounds. I haven’t been back here in almost two years and it feels like a lifetime ago. I had many good times back then, but they were worth giving up for the life I chose.
Just as I’m about to open my door, I spot a note on my seat. I pick it up and read it aloud, “I’d like to say it’s where it all began, but really, for me, it’s where the life I’d known ended.”
The airport. I have no doubt. Scanning to find whoever left this here, I don’t sense Mallory here. Sneaky. I hop in my car and drive in that direction, remembering how she was all big green eyes that gave away her innocence despite the bravado. I lied to myself that day. She wasn’t my next fuck. She was everything from the minute I laid eyes on her.
I don’t have many regrets—I got the girl, after all—but if I could have wiped my slate clean for her… if I’d known I’d meet her one day… Shaking my head, I realize it’s all our mistakes and regrets that brought us together, so I don’t dwell on the bad, I just remember the good. Pulling up to the curb between the pillars where I saw her sitting on her suitcase, I put the car in park and get out. An airport security guard comes up as I stand there looking around for my next clue. I don’t see anything, no notes and not her.
“You can’t park here. Move it or I’ll ticket you.”
“I’m looking for someone or something.”
“Aren’t we all? Maybe you’ll find it inside that expensive car of yours. Why don’t you get back in it and keep moving.”
“Have you seen a girl about yay high with really great—”
“Move the car!”
“Fine.” I turn around and walk to my car, but when I take one last look back, I see something on one of the pillars. I make a dash for it and yank it down. I hear whistles blowing behind me as I discover it’s just a cab service number. When I turn around that guard is writing me a ticket. “Fuck!” I run. “I’m moving. I’m moving.”
“Too late,” he says, laughing.
I roll my eyes and snatch the ticket from the windshield, ball it up, and toss it to the passenger seat.
He steps up on the curb and waves. “You have a nice day now,” he says sarcastically.
I flip him the bird and drive off.
Before I get back on the main road, I sit at the stop sign trying to think what she meant in the last note.
My phone buzzes and I look down: Did I mention when I was lonely that I’m also naked?
Mercy. Fuck me. I rub my hand over my cock just picturing her naked… and lonely.
Think. Think. Think. Maybe the chapel? I look in my rearview mirror at the airport behind me. I was positive it was the airport. Looking down at the tic
ket, irritation fills me knowing I’m going to have to deal with this shit tomorrow. The writing catches my eye, and I pick it up to open. Damn, she got me! She’s good. Very good, and sneaky. The note—go to where I met Heaven.
Easy. The beach.
A car honks behind me and I drive to the beach where she met Heaven, although I would think she was in Hell at the time. After I park, I sit in the car, watching the waves. I let my gaze drift to the spot where I carried her ashore. She wasn’t breathing and for that few minutes, I prayed. I prayed to a God who’d let me down and destroyed me several times over. But for Mallory, none of that mattered. All that mattered was her. I walk slowly over to the spot and sit down. With my knees bent, I rest forward, remembering too much of the bad. I close my eyes and remember her eyes opening and she thought she was in Heaven. She saw the good in me when no one else did.
I watch a seagull as it flies above, something in the sand catching the sunlight. Reaching over to see what it is, I find a miniature surfboard key ring. The board is broken in half. Now that makes me laugh. I bought her a board for her birthday this past year—a paddleboard.
There’s a little tag taped to the surfboard. Two words: Sex. Underwater.
I run to the car and text her: I’m coming for you.
Mallory: You will be.
Me: Dirty girl.
Mallory: You have no idea.
I gun it to my parent’s compound, utilizing the Maserati’s power and making it there in record time. After throwing my car in park, I kill the engine and grab the keys before taking off down the path toward the pool.
When I round the corner our eyes meet as I come to an abrupt stop at the edge.
“Looking for me?” she says with a smile.
“All my life.”
She swims closer. “You always did know just the right thing to say to get into my panties.”
Looking her over, I smirk. “Doesn’t look like you’re wearing any panties.”
“Exactly. Join me.” Dipping under, she comes up and her hair falls dark and long over her shoulders. She’s stunning, a water Goddess with bronze skin and eyes that shine brighter than the setting sun. And she’s mine. I kick off my flip flops and put my phone and keys on the grass before diving in shorts and shirt still on. The laugh that rings out when I come up for air is irreplaceable. Holding onto her, I kiss her hard, and we fall all over, breaking the surface and going under.
Her legs wrap around me and she leans her head back, relaxing in my arms. Pulling back up, we get air and move to the side. “Hi,” she says, her breath labored as she tries to catch it. “How was the hunt?”
“Worth the chase. Quite an elaborate plan just to get me to the pool.”
“This is more than just about swimming. I wanted to take you back—”
“I don’t need to go back. Life is too good now.”
She smiles and my heart races. I slide my hand down her body, between her legs, and touch lightly. Her eyes close as she leans her head back, a sweet sigh escaping her lips as I increase the pressure. Eye level with her boobs, I cover a nipple with my mouth and suck, nip, and squeeze with my other hand.
“Evan,” she moans, opening her eyes. “I want to come with you inside of me.” I don’t have to think, my cock is hard for her. Treading water, I release her and slip my shorts off and toss my shirt, moving back to her. “Kiss me again,” she murmurs and I do, entering her body.
Holding onto the edge of the pool, I start to move, slow at first, then pick up speed. Her fingers wrap around my forearms providing resistance and we find a rhythm of waves and groans, sighs, thrusts, and moans.
The warmth of the sun, the water around me, her body engulfing me, my thoughts lost to her in every way, I feel it—the tightness and the twisting beginning. I slip my hand underwater again, wanting to give her everything. I speed up, my hand and thrusts, getting us both closer. Mallory kisses me again and then wraps her arms tightly around my neck.
“Faster, babe,” she says, “harder.”
I give my all and feel the rise taking over. My thoughts start to scatter as I move faster and faster.
“You’re so sexy,” she whispers in my ear. “Take me.”
Moving my hand, I squeeze her breast, pressing against her. “You feel so fucking good, baby.”
“God, so do you. Come for me, Evan.”
With that, I fuck hard until she’s pulling my hair and biting my shoulder while moaning my name. Best sound in the entire world. “Fuck.” My thoughts jumble from the overwhelming sensation of being inside her. Her tremors send me over the cliff, abandoning all reason as I fall.
“I love you,” she says, rubbing my back, and I feel her love.
Lifting my head from her shoulder, I touch her cheek and push the wet hair from her face. “You’re beautiful.”
Light kisses cover my cheek. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
It blows my mind when she says stuff like that to me. “No matter how many years we spend together, I will always be the lucky one.” I kiss her again, long and slow, gentle with all the love she deserves. “I love you.”
“This time I’m draining the pool!”
Shit! Mallory jumps into my arms, clinging to me as I turn around to find my mother standing there with her hands on her hips.
“I thought you moved out?” My mother asks.
“We did,” I reply. “But Mallory wanted to go down memory lane and that put us right back in your pool, so she’s to blame.”
Mallory hits my chest. “You suck.” Peeking over my shoulder with a beet red face, she smiles and adds a wave. The wave is a nice touch. “Hi, Claire. Thought you were in New York?”
I whisper, “You’re doing great. Totally distracting her from the fact that we just had sex and I was still in you when she caught us.”
She hits me again.
“Mallory, I thought you changed him, but I see you two together are worse than ever.” She smiles. “The pool water can be changed, but never change how much you love each other.” She turns around and opens the back door. “By the way, your father is putting on his swimsuit. You might want to make a run for it before he gets down here.”
As soon as the door closes, we hop out. I slap her ass as she grabs a towel from the lounger. Wrapping it around her body, she laughs. “We need to get out of here fast. I don’t want your dad to see us. Your mom was bad enough.”
She takes off running up the path, but I catch her, pressing her against the house. “One day, we’re going to relive the time we had sex against this wall.”
She adds, “We had a fight. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. It was raining so hard that night.”
“You came to me, knowing that this, that what we share is bigger than the both of us. From the first time I looked into your eyes and every time since, I see eternity.” It doesn’t matter that we just had sex. As soon our lips come together, I crave her entire being and love her more.
With a soft smile, she asks, “What are you doing next Tuesday?”
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Resistance by S. L. Scott.
Available now!
PROLOGUE
I’m a fucking fool.
I’m not even sure how I got into this mess, but I know I need to get myself out of it. I look down at the hand on my thigh inching up higher and my stomach rolls. Squeezing out from between the tight confines of the third row in this van, a girl on each side wanting a piece of me, I fall over the seat into the cargo area and move away from their astonished stares. They’re speaking German and I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying, but I’ve been in this type of situation enough to know how it will end, if I let it.
Everything has changed… or sometime around my last birthday I changed.
I didn’t invite these chicks. Dex did. He’ll fuck’em all before the night’s through and the bad part is, they’ll let him. Thinking they’re special, that they’ll be the one to tame him. They’ll let him do what he wants just to be c
lose to him.
Beyond this set up being predictable at this point, it’s really fucking old or I am, probably both. I ignore their taps on my shoulder and them calling my name. I ignore everything to do with them and focus on my phone.
On the inside, I’m freaking the fuck out that I’m sitting in the cargo hold of a huge van in Germany with attractive girls willing to do anything I want them to, but I prefer to look at a photo of a little blonde with hazel eyes. Freaking the fuck out might be an understatement.
I’m a player or was, supposed to be, maybe still am. I don’t keep score or anything like that, but I’ve slept with plenty of women, sometimes more than one at a time. I used to blame my lifestyle, but more recently, I realized I’m the common denominator in the bad relationships I’ve had.
The car comes to a stop and the driver rushes around to the back to let me out. I stumble while climbing out, and hurry inside away from the sound of my name being called. The girls will be upset when they realize I’m not staying to play, but Dex will be thrilled—more pussy for him.
Cory hops out from the front, and follows me. “Wait up,” he says, jogging to catch up.
When we reach the elevators, we look back. Dex is helping the girls out of the vehicle one-by-one. With a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, he’s sloppy, already drunk. He never lacks for female companionship. By the way he acts, I don’t see the appeal, but I don’t think that’s why they’re hooking up with him anyway.
Cory looks at me and nods once. “What’s up? What happened back there?”
The elevator doors open and we step in, pushing the button for our floor. “Over it. Over it all.”
“The girl from Vegas?”
“She’s not from Vegas, but yeah, I’ve kind of been thinking about her.”
