“I’m guessing that’s why you didn’t tell me who you really were,” I mused.
Both dimples made a small appearance, his eyes flashing with the knowledge that he was getting through to me.
“At first it was that I was still technically in Witness Protection, seeing as José was still alive,” he explained, his eyes dimming slightly at what I knew was the memory.
“And then it was the investigation. I almost told you a million times, but Wade kept talking me out of it.”
Fucking Wade.
“Hmm, Wade,” I said noncommittally, but Danny could hear the meaning in my tone.
“Hales, he was doing his job. He’s not my blood Uncle, but he’s been my family since I was eight years old. He’s the reason I got involved in the Bureau. And he was just looking out for my safety. And yours. If I had told you, I could have been putting you in danger.”
I shook my head back and forth and exhaled a breath, knowing I had to give Wade some points back now.
“Believe it or not, Gulf View, or the surrounding area, really, is a hotbed for black market military weapon sales. We’ve been working our way into that group of scum, trying to make our way up the chain to the primary dealer for two very long years. The Leper, as you affectionately know her, is his sister. She was interested in me, and my superiors urged me to use it,” he explained, taking a huge breath when he was finished, likely bracing for what my reply would be.
“Did you sleep with her?” I asked, and then like always, started a rant before letting him answer. “Because that it seriously fucked up if you did. I mean thanks for wrapping your shit up, but I also effing slobbed your knob. You realize how douchebaggy that is to put me at risk? I mean how could you do that if you care—”
“Haley,” he cut me off. “I didn’t fucking sleep with her. She’s filth. They all fucking are. I was all about that job, but I draw the line at dirtying my dick. And you’re right, I would never put you at risk like that. My hands on her ass that night is as far as it’s ever gone, and it only went that far because I was getting desperate to end it and start my new life with you. Lucky for me, you just happened to witness it,” he finished sardonically.
We both sat in silence, letting everything process, just staring into each others’ eyes. I searched his for falsities, for some kind of sign that he was feeding me more lies, but I couldn’t find any.
“You’re telling the truth. About everything,” I stated on a throaty gulp. “You really feel the same way I feel.”
“My whole life has been a lie, Haley. I’ve been suffering, secret after secret. Knowing what happened to my family, living as someone else, and then finally choosing a profession of lies.” He reached out and tugged a strand of my hair, and then rested his open palm over his shirt-covered tattoo as he finished, “You’re it. The link to who I was and the biggest, boldest dose of honesty I could ask for.”
“Why didn’t you testify?” I asked quietly, knowing it was none of my business and that I was a selfish bitch for asking. But I just couldn’t stop myself.
“I was scared, Hales,” he told me roughly, and I felt a fresh wave of tears coat my eyes. “I was eight years old, and I witnessed things that, I’m sorry, I’m never going to tell you about. It’s bad enough that one of us has to live with the visual.”
I nodded my head in understanding, moving over to him and straddling his lap, my knees falling to the couch beside him and my hands moving up to cup his rough jaw.
“A couple years later, I regretted the decision, wished I had testified. But it was too late. At that young of an age, that many years later, I wasn’t a credible witness.”
“Well, fuck me,” I said simply.
A devilish smile lit up his handsome face, his anguish disappearing instantly, and the pads of his fingers flexed into the gap of soft skin at my hips. “I’d love to.”
He moved to pick me up, sweeping his hands down and around to my ass, presumably to carry me to my bedroom and see about breathing some fire.
I was totally on board, but I wasn’t quite done with the conversation. Pushing him lightly on the chest to stop him, I murmured, “No, wait.”
His head cocked to the side and his eyelids shuttered a little, no doubt surprised that he wasn’t completely in the clear.
“Don’t you think this is all just a little too perfect, a little too convenient? You’re the friend we lost in childhood and all of a sudden I just happen to walk into the bar where you are and fall in love with you?”
“First of all, I’m pretty sure you left out a couple of details,” he replied, his long, tan fingers tugging playfully on a loose piece of my hair.
“Saves time and energy.”
“Right. Well then, let me just take you on a little journey here. A woman can travel half way across the world to take a break from her fiancé, end up in a secluded house where the owner is there at the same time, end up practically living with him immediately, and end up falling in love, and you find that believable. But the fact that I’ve been on my own for almost twenty-two years, and then, after all that time, you and your mom come into the bar where I’m working and become my friend, and then fall in love with me after our fair share of hardships, is too convenient for you.”
Well, it seemed someone had been reading The Gamble.
“Okay, Danny. I guess I could see how maybe you could be right about this.”
Even though he had started as Ryan, I knew I could only really think of him as Danny. I fell in love with a Dan Smith, not a Ryan Parker, as unfortunate as that may have been.
“Haley baby, the Badass Alpha Male is always right.”
THE WHITE, LACE dress was tastefully hugging the curves of my body, the curly strands of my hair were draped over my shoulders, and I was in the middle of marrying the ruggedly handsome man in front of me.
“Haley Lilianna Whitfield, I promise, as your own personal Alpha Badass, to love you with zeal and kiss you with skill.”
Oh shit, I saw where he was going with this, and I wasn’t certain all of it was suitable in mixed company. Clearly, Allison knew what was going on too, her soft giggle drifting up to my ears with the slight breeze of the day.
“Taking my manly role seriously, I promise to protect you when you’re in danger and keep my mouth shut when you’re not. I promise to use my gorgeous, sexy, tattooed, hard body to romance you every day and my previous experience and “junk” to provide you with the x-rated skills and virility you desire,” he continued, his mischievous eyes roving over me in my dress as he spoke.
Oh my God. He just said “junk” in front of a minister. And then eye fucked me! Holy shitballs, I couldn’t believe this was happening, and it was all my fault. I had threatened him over and over again about making his vows live up to the amazingness of mine.
“I promise to not only understand your quirkiness, but value it and you for what you are, baby doll. In a quest to be perpetually young-hearted, I promise to embrace the laughter you mine from me and cause as much as I can for you. After spending my whole life wondering where you were, I promise to think smart and keep myself from danger even though it’s part of my aura. And last but not least, I promise to love you and only you until death do us part.”
I bit my bottom lip to keep from crying because really, I couldn’t think of a more perfect vow to hear him make at our wedding. His hands squeezed mine, his thumbs swiping out and caressing me with so much reverence that I lost the battle, one single tear gliding gracefully down my cheek.
Letting go of one hand just long enough to wipe away my tear, Danny started to whisper. And I knew he was saying this part just for me.
“All I’m missing is the name, but I’m begging you to let that one, little detail go, make me the happiest man alive, and promise to be in my life, in my bed, and in my heart for the rest of your ever loving life.”
“Until death, Dan Smith,” I whispered around the huge effing ball of emotion clogging my throat. “‘Until death. To the bottom of my he
art.”
Without permission from the minister, he leaned forward, sealed his plush lips on mine, and gave me the wedding kiss to end all kisses. It was slow, sensual, deep, and nowhere near appropriate for public viewing.
It was perfect.
Feeling the warm body behind me, I knew it could only be one person. He lifted the hair off of my shoulder, slid it gently over to my back, and let it fall away.
The crazy music and mayhem of our reception pulsed in the background, but I could feel every fiber, cell, and atom of his being like we were the only two people in the world.
His lips moved right to my ear, and I could feel the heat of his breath as he whispered seductively, “Hales baby, I want to dance.”
“Really? You do?” I questioned, absolutely shocked. Getting Danny to dance was a lot like getting a cow to lay eggs. Im-fucking-possible.
I turned my body to face him, snuggling in the warm embrace of his charcoal gray suit jacket covered arms.
“Yeah, but I want to do it horizontally, while I’m inside of your vagina,” he said so low that it sounded like he swallowed gravel, his arms squeezing while his hips thrust subtly into mine for emphasis.
“How was that?” he asked, lips tickling the shell of my ear strategically, and I knew he was referring to the creativity of his question.
“I think it was quite possibly the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me,” I deadpanned, my eyes telling an entirely different story as I pulled back far enough for him to see straight into their turquoise depths.
“Oh yeah? Does it make the inside of your thighs quiver?” he asked, trying to speak “romance novel”. He hadn’t stopped reading them. In fact, he spent more time reading them than I did, claiming he was doing “research”.
“I seriously created a fucking monster,” I fake grumbled, my eyes rolling back exaggeratedly into my head just before his soft lips met mine.
Author’s Note
I’m currently in the process of writing two books—CJ Cade’s story and a completely separate standalone. Though, I have to warn you, almost all of my standalones turn into Series because I fall in love with secondary characters!
In keeping with this theme, Allison will be getting her own book, which if I’m truthful, I’m working on currently as well. I’m probably going to write a companion novel for Danny too. I just feel like there is so much of his story that needs to be told from his point of view and that there are TONS of new experiences and conversations to be explored through him. If you agree that Danny needs a book, be sure to let me know!
I can’t thank you, the readers, enough for your support!!
~Laurel xo
A HUGE THANKS to my mom for reading and giving me feedback during the process. She kicks ass, just like Allison in this book, and I really can’t say enough positive things about her.
If I can contain my giddy fangirl tendencies long enough, I also have to thank Kristen Ashley. Thank you SO much for your permission to include you in this book, your time that you spent reading and approving, and your overall awesomeness!
Thank you to Chas Jenkins for being a go-between and overall source of information and assistance!
Thanks to my Oreos, my homegirls, the people that are almost always on the opposite end of my texts—Ricki Wieselthier and Shannon Fender. You girls rock my face off. Plus, Rickles, your book pimping expertise is an immeasurable help.
Thanks to Stephanie White at Steph’s Cover Design for making the fabulous cover to house all of the hours of work I put into the inside!
Also, thanks to all of the readers who read The One Series and Impossible, and then stuck with me for this book. Your loyal following means more to me than I can possibly express!
Thanks to all the blogs who read and enjoyed The One Series and Impossible. Your support and hard work does not go unappreciated. A special thanks to Three Chicks and Their Books and Reviews by Tammy and Kim. Being that you were two of the very first blogs to take a chance on me and offer your never ending support and advice, I can’t thank you enough!
And of course, my biggest thanks of all, to my real life dream men, my husband and my son. Thanks for believing in me!
LAUREL ULEN CURTIS is a mother of one. She lives with her husband and son (and cat and two fish!) in New Jersey, but grew up all over the United States. She graduated from Rutgers University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology, and puts that to almost no use other than forecasting for her friends! She has a passion for her family, laughing, and reading and writing Romance novels.
LAUREL’S SOCIAL MEDIA:
http://www.facebook.com/laurelulencurtis
http://Laurelulencurtis.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/LUCurtisAuthor
www.pinterest.com/Laurelcurtis/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6912103.Laurel_Ulen_Curtis
TITLES BY LAUREL:
The One Series:
The One Place
The One Girl
Other Works:
Impossible
A is for Alpha Male
Table of Contents
Dedication
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
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
A Is for Alpha Male Page 23
