by Cyndi Raye
Table of Contents
When Tomorrow Ends
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
About The Author
When Tomorrow Ends
by
Cyndi Raye
Romance in the Keys Series
Book #3
Copyright © 2014 www.CyndiRaye.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
To SL & AH...love endures, through hardships and trials, in fiction and real life. When two people are meant for each other, nothing can stand in love’s way.
Chapter 1
“You did it again,” Maggie told him.
“I’m sorry baby. It’s this project that keeps me here until late.” She heard the frustration in his voice and pictured him raking his hand through the dark hair she loved to run her fingers through.
Maggie sighed. This was the third time in the last week he cancelled dinner plans. “It’s good I didn’t cook anything or make reservations.” Even though she cooked a meal that was no longer fresh, she wasn’t about to tell him so.
Jake laughed. “Come on, Maggie. When do we make reservations? Everything we do is fly by the seat of our pants the way our schedules run.”
Maggie grinned because he was right. Her long hours at her computer, writing stories and his longer hours in board meetings and on the job didn’t leave much time for dinner, let alone going out much. They would grab something when hungry and keep going.
Except Maggie turned on the cooking channel the other week and to her surprise began to experiment with different recipes. She didn’t think she liked to cook because she worked with her nose to the grindstone for the last few years on her best sellers, who had time for anything else?
Maggie had a sudden desire to throw together some exotic dishes for him and she found herself in the kitchen more than she wrote. She wanted to learn something different and what better way to entice her man than with some great food.
Maggie sighed. She loved Jake with all her heart. He was the one to drop her to her knees with one look. “It’s all good, love. I won’t bother you any more tonight because I want you to come home soon and forget about work so all you have to think about is me.”
“Sounds nice, baby. What are you wearing?”
Maggie giggled in to the phone. “Who said I was wearing anything?” Then made it a point to hang up without another word. He would finish up and be home soon, she hoped. Jake was a hands on guy, he had to be there day and night with his crews and even in the boardroom to run his company. Now she hoped he’d come home with those hands and show her what they could do.
She missed his touch, it had been days since he held her in his arms.
J.H. RED Inc. was the second largest real estate developer along Florida’s coast. Jake worked at a frantic pace because he wanted to out rank his rival, Foster Corp, the number one company in the area. It was an older, more established firm but Jake didn’t care. Maggie knew he’d do it someday.
Except there were nights when she hungered for him to come home so she could fall in his arms. She wrote best sellers and her contract with the publishing house ended two weeks ago. Maggie was no longer obligated to put out a certain number of books. She wanted to celebrate her new found freedom and the next step in her career with the man of her life. Maggie had some extra time on her hands and she wanted to be with him before she got busy with her next project, self-publishing.
She began to clear off the kitchen table. The pan-seared scallops on linguine with tomato-cream sauce didn’t appeal to her at all now that she would eat them alone. The creamy texture looked as if it were drying out because it sat for so long. She set the dishes on the counter and shrugged as she grabbed the bottle of wine instead. As she kicked off her heels, Maggie straddled a kitchen chair, her legs spread and her arm in the air and tilted the bottle back. She sat there in the same spot for a long time and sipped on the wine until there was less than a third of the bottle left.
A dribble of wine ran down her mouth. She swiped it off and caught a reflection of herself in the glass door. How pitiful was she? Sitting alone wearing a sexy strapless short dress now yanked up high on her thigh. She wore it so it would be easy to remove. Except Jake wasn’t here, he was building the biggest company ever.
Her phone rang. “Hello.”
“Guess what I’m wearing?”
Maggie laughed, a bit intoxicated from the wine. He would call her like this and tease her before he was about to leave work. In reality, it would be several hours until he showed up because something always came up he had to take care of. He tried so hard to keep her content and happy because the hours he worked were extreme. But most nights she curled in bed and fell asleep before he got home. Maggie would wake up the next day to find him asleep in the living room, the computer in his lap.
“I don’t know, love. What are you wearing?”
“Turn your head this way and you’ll see,” he teased.
The glow of the moon portrayed a reflection of a shadow on the porch. She turned towards the door to find him standing there in nothing but his work boots. Surprised, Maggie jumped out of the chair and unlocked the door. It was good the house sat by itself in seclusion, otherwise any neighbors would have seen his full moon glow. The front door flew open and she fell in to his strong, tanned, male arms that wrapped themselves around her. He crushed his mouth to hers and picked her up at the same time, backing her against the kitchen table.
There was no time to welcome him home or ask him if he was hungry. Because she knew he was hungry. For her.
She didn’t try to think, she wanted those strong hands all over her flesh. He broke the kiss. “You smell like heaven,” he told her and began to place soft, desperate kisses along her neck. She shivered at the heat from his mouth. Jake looked at her with the intent of a man on a mission. “I’m sorry I’ve neglected you. I heard it in your voice tonight. Maggie, I don’t ever want you sad because of me.”
“That’s one of the sweetest things you’ve said to me.”
“I don’t want to be sweet, I want to rip off that sexy black dress and watch as you scream with pleasure, right now.”
Maggie smiled. “When you stood there in nothing but a pair of boots, I knew you were here to rock my world. Which I don’t want you to take off. There’s something way too sexy about this.”
Jake used to be so gentle when they made love until he found out she didn’t mind if he got a bit wild. When they were in the Pocono Mountains, he found out serious Maggie McCoy liked it rough at times too. He no longer treated her like a precious china doll every time. She leaned back on the kitchen table because he was about to take her right there.
He growled like a mad man and didn’t waste any time as he stripped the dress off in one desperate move. Jake didn’t mess around, he got right down to business and threw her legs over his shoulders as he leaned her back on the table and slammed in to her.
Maggie cried out his name as he drove in to her, relentless, until she could no longer utter another word. “Open your eyes baby, let me watch you explode,” he demanded. She reached out and gripped the ends of the table and opened her eyes to find his dark intense gaze on her as the tremors began and her world began to shatter in tiny pieces. Maggie didn’t realize she
cried out again and again until he silenced her mouth with his own.
She shivered and curled in to him as he picked her up off the table. “Maggie, I love you.”
“I feel like a rag doll,” she whispered.
“You love me?” he questioned.
He grinned when she nodded her head. “What’s wrong baby, can’t speak?”
She lifted her arm and punched him with the little strength left. “You render me speechless, love.”
He was a King tonight, who conquered his queen. She’d let him think so because every time he went a bit wild in the love department, she got rewarded. She couldn’t wait to see what he would do next time.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“If I love you? Of course I do. I love you.” He dropped her on the soft mattress in their bedroom and pinned her to the bed. As he looked down at her, Maggie saw the deep love in his eyes for her. He tried hard to please her and she realized how foolish she could be at times.
Maggie McCoy had everything she needed and could ever want all rolled up right here with this man.
“Say it again.” He pinned her arms above her head and nuzzled her neck. “Say it again.”
Maggie giggled. “I love you. You’re the man of my dreams, the one who has my heart, my lover, my best friend, my rock, my knight in shining armor, my-”
He stopped her with a long, slow kiss that stirred her insides again. She didn’t think she had anything left to stir up.
“I need you again, Maggie. I can’t help myself.” Jake did everything with so much intense emotions. He worked hard, played harder. His kisses trailed down her skin and across the tips of her breast. She shivered and opened herself to him again. He slid in to her, slow and easy, his movements a tease to her senses. He slowed even more and almost stopped when he found himself deep inside of her. Maggie moaned and moved her hips to urge him on.
He shook his head. “Nah, Maggie my love, I’m going to torture your sweet body until you cry out my name over again and again,” he said in a low, husky voice. He let her hands go and gripped her hips, so she reached down between them and began to stroke him there as he pulled away from her.
“I can make you cry out my name first,” she told him.
He groaned in her ear, his warm breath against her skin and his low moans heating up her flesh. The game was over when he began to move in a steady rhythm until they both escalated in to another dimension as their worlds shattered once again.
<><>
“Jax, get off of me!” Maggie went to push the setter away. Jax’s hot breath rested on her cheek and she knew the tongue would hit her in the eyeballs the moment she stirred. Even though he was almost a year old, old habits die hard. He always woke her up like this, with a wet tongued kiss every morning.
Jake came around the corner, a towel around his neck. Blue jeans hugged his hips. “Sexy as ever,” she said and licked her lips.
He placed a kiss on her mouth. “Good morning baby. I hate to run but work calls me.”
Maggie stretched. “I know. I better get moving myself, although I’ve been in a slump here of late. Seems like since I no longer have a contract, I can’t get moving to self publish.” She rolled over on her stomach. “What if I lost it Jake? What if I can’t write any more?”
Jake sat on the bed, reached over and pulled her on to his lap. “Baby don’t lose confidence in yourself. This is the best thing ever to happen to you. Now get downstairs and put your butt in that chair I bought you and write.”
Maggie kissed him, a short, hard kiss and jumped from his lap. “You’re right. Time to get to work.” She took a few paces then turned around. “I almost forgot! Oh Jake, do you have to go in to work today? Can’t you come along with me as I research for a new fiction story?”
He was on his phone, checking his texts. He looked up and nodded but she knew he didn’t hear a word of what she asked, back in Jake Hatfield mode, emperor of his kingdom.
She walked in front of him, and bowed down. “Your Highness, would it be possible to have a word with you, oh mighty one?”
Jake flung back his head and roared. “My little servant wench, I would say to get on your knees but you’re already there.” He slid off the bed and on his knees as well. He gathered her hands in his and took a long look at her left finger. “We need to put a ring right here,” he told her, serious.
“We haven’t had time. From the moment we got back from our road trip, you were on the go, busy at work, trying to make up for lost time. I’m not going to pick out my own ring, Jake.”
He brought her hands up to his mouth and kissed them, one knuckle at a time. “I am so sorry. Let’s start over. Tonight we go for a ring. I’ll work until 5:00 and when I come home, be ready for a night out on the town, you and me.”
“I’ll be ready. I do love you Jake.”
“I want to put a ring on your finger and marry you right now.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her so long she almost lost herself in him again. She pulled back before she was late for her appointment.
“Are you sure you won’t go with me?”
“I’m not sure where you are going baby.”
“Last week I told you about the ship they’re going to sink off Key West. When I explained I wanted to get some writing material they were happy to let me ride along. I’ll be on the boat with the explosive expert. I think my next book series is going to be about these alpha male bad boys and one of them plays with dynamite.”
Jake shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t, but you have a good time. I’ll see you here right after five, I promise I’ll be here. I’ll call you later.”
Maggie headed for the shower. Tonight would be another glorious love making session with her own alpha male. She shivered at the thought. Jake was coming around at last.
Chapter 2
Key West boomed with activity. After she secured the top, Maggie parked her pink convertible Impala in a space at the docks and wandered around as she looked for the demo team. Sail boats, small speedboats and any other kind of ship you can imagine appeared out of nowhere. They reached so far out in to the water, it looked like dots peppered the ocean.
Maggie hoisted her slick new camera over her head and checked the lens to make sure the cap was off. Photos always helped when she began her research. She snapped a few pictures while she stood on the dock and then spotted the demo boat. BKH Dive Team stood out in bold script across the side.
The testosterone dripped in spades when she got on the boat. Four men, all in dark dive suits, smiled at Maggie and welcomed her. They stood in a half circle, their muscular bodies surrounding her. Maggie couldn’t believe her good fortune. She stood smack dab in the middle of a sexy romance scene. The sinking of the ship was going to be a minor part in her next book, but all of a sudden she came up with a whole series that included four divers with sexy, drop dead smiles and muscles that made a lady drool.
“You must be Maggie McCoy?” one of the men said.
Maggie smiled. “Yes, I’m Maggie. Who is the demolition expert?”
“That would be me,” a deep voice said from behind her. She turned in time to see a larger man get on to the boat, his dive suit like the others except he wore a hard hat and a bright orange vest. He had the most disarming smile ever and when Maggie reached out to shake his hand, his warmth flowed over to her. He was to die for handsome with dark, steady eyes and had a body that would render most women speechless. Except Maggie had Jake.
“I’m Ben.”
“I’m here to watch the sinking of the ship and learn a few things about explosives.”
He motioned for the other guys to retreat. “Go find someone else to drool over,” he told them. “Miss McCoy is with me for this ride. She’s mine so back off men.”
She looked at him, surprised and worried at the same time. “I’m not anyone's. Well, I’m Jakes. I have a man.”
The demo expert placed an arm around her shoulder. “This way, Jake’s woman. Perhaps we can change th
at before the day is over.”
Maggie wondered if perhaps she should turn around and get off the boat right now. The guy was hitting on her, it became obvious as he spoke to her about how he placed the explosives to make the ship sink upright. Every time he pointed to something, he would brush his hand on her arm or get too close.
It was a bit disarming because he was so hot. But she loved Jake and even though another man made her feel like this, Jake was the one to make her tremble and shudder with his touch.
“How long will it be before we reach the site?” Maggie asked. She could see the vessel over the horizon but it looked so far away.
“It won’t be long now. Here.” He handed her a hard hat. “Wear the hat from this point on.” He placed it on her head and his fingers were gentle as he ran them down the side of her face, along her neck and shoulder and down her arm.
