“Ditto,” Todd replied. That one simple word echoed all that she said. Bree understood the significance. She understood that he was fulfilling her teenage dream of finding her version of love that Patrick Swayze’s character in the movie, “Ghost” had for his wife. He’d remembered how she’d cried over the movie and lamented about how it must be the greatest love ever to have existed, even though it was fictional. He was telling her that their love was the real version of that and that their love was the greatest love. Mostly, he was telling her that he was willing to give her that love if she wished to accept it.
Todd stood up and walked to the nearby cabinet. Picking up a ring box, he returned to her and kneeled in front of her. He took a beautiful princess-cut diamond set in a simple, elegant white band of gold and held it up to her. The girl in Bree saw the ring and squealed in delight at the ring and the proposal but the woman in her reveled in the man who kneeled before her, professing his love for her.
“Bree Tanner Ramsay,” Todd stated emotionally, seriously. “I promise to give you what you deserve, all that I am and all that I can be. I promise to love your heart, respect your mind, and worship your body. I promise to cherish our daughter and any other children you carry into our family. I promise to allow you to return those promises. With those promises meant from the depth of my being, will you fulfill my life and marry me?”
“Without any doubt in my heart and mind,” Bree answered before throwing herself at him and sending them to the floor, the ring forgotten.
xxx
“Wait,” Todd stopped their kiss.
“What now?” Bree grumbled.
“I love that you want me this much,” Todd grinned.
“A big ego is not attractive in a man,” Bree retorted.
“I can’t help it,” he replied. “With a beautiful woman like you wanting me this way, especially when I want you as much, how can I not have an enormous ego?”
Bree grinned, flipping her head to the side. “When did you become so smooth?” she asked, laughing at his expression of mock derision.
“When you became feisty,” he responded, kissing her then getting up.
“What are you doing?” she asked puzzled, standing up too.
“Got it,” he exclaimed, holding up the ring. He walked over to her and slipped it onto her finger. “This means that you and I belong to each other and I find that it’s a heck of a turn on. It’s to me what the hockey shirt is to you.”
“That good huh?” Bree smiled wickedly at him.
“Oh, yes,” Todd whispered, his lips touching her ear and sending shivers of anticipation through her. “I want to make love to you while all you are wearing is the scent of us and my ring on your finger.”
“You know what I want?” Bree cocked her head to the side, studying him.
“If it has to do with the purpose of that ring or your delectable body then the answer is yes,” Todd replied, kissing her neck as he spoke. The vibration of his voice against her throat, his breath caressing her skin and his tongue sending all rational thoughts away, Bree pulled back and stepped away.
“I have a final confession to make,” she said, stepping away from him. Bree ignored his scowl and smiled with wicked anticipation. “I had a feeling that you wanted me but I wasn’t sure.” She shook her head, “I see that I was silly to be unsure.”
She stepped out of her shoes and looked at him, allowing her gaze to travel down from his face, slowly over every inch of his body until she reached his crotch. “Yes, I was very silly to think so,” she admitted, her gaze purposefully lingering on that spot. She began to unfasten the long row of buttons that went down the front of her knee-length, black witch’s dress. “I was going to seduce you tonight,” she confessed huskily.
“Well, you’re doing it now,” Todd bit out, fighting the urge to grab her and rip the darn thing off. The fact that she was standing in his house - their house - and that she loved him was enough of a turn on. That she was wearing his ring was driving him wild. But the confident, sexy seduction that she was subjecting him to, stole his breath away.
Bree didn’t respond yet, but let her eyes rake over his body once more, as she strode towards him. “Remember how I told you that sex complicated things.”
“Yes,” he groaned. “And if you tell me that now, I swear that I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”
“Oh, I want you to be accountable,” Bree unfastened the last button and held her dress closed with her one hand. “I want you to be accountable because you’re going to make me scream and writhe and beg for your body. And, I promise to do the same,” she touched his shoulder with her free hand and whispered, allowing her lips to graze his ear.
Todd hissed then pulled air in through his teeth very slowly to maintain control of the hot, hard punch of lust that hit him.
“Well,” Bree continued with mock coyness, “I’ve decided that I like the complications that sex brings with it…” she trailed off before dropping her dress.
Bree had the satisfaction of seeing Todd’s eyes popped as his stared at her, unmoving and with raw, debauched want. Using his momentary immobility to her advantage, she turned and made her way for the stairs. At the first step, she turned around and sweetly stated, though her eyes only spoke of heat, “I like the complications caused by sex, as long as it’s sex with you.” Then she let go of the seduction routine and ran up the stairs to their bedroom.
Todd shook his head to break the stupor. He loved that woman, he thought, before giving chase with a determined, sinful grin.
Prologue
The tiny Cessna, bearing the name, Hunter Couriers, glided through the Alaskan winter sky as it made its way from Fairbanks to Devil’s Peak. Bree moaned at the jittery, jerky movements the plane made, willing herself not to vomit. Todd had decided to do the run as a treat for the family, which Amber had been only too willing to endorse. Because they’d both seemed so excited by the trip and insisted that it wouldn’t be a family trip without her, Bree had caved in to the idea. Now, she cursed herself for doing so, although she had to admit that shopping for Christmas gifts in Fairbanks had been a lovely experience. She’d also managed to get ingredients for a Christmas dinner that she wouldn’t have gotten in town and with Todd’s brother and sister joining them this year, it was important to her that she pull out all the stops.
They’d turned it into a mini-vacation and had spent the weekend at a hotel. Amber had been thrilled at the treat, loving that she had her own room with a door leading directly into her parents. Amber had been more delighted though, to Todd’s detriment when he got the bill, with the soft drinks stocked in the bar fridge. That would teach him a lesson for next time, Bree smirked to herself.
Thinking back to just two years ago, Bree marveled at the many changes coming home had brought. She remembered flying and feeling as terrified when she’d arrived with Amber, also during a snow-drenched winter. She recalled Amber’s excitement about seeing her grandparents and her nervousness about meeting her father.
Just two years ago, Todd and she were at odds with each other. They had been two parents, circling each other over their child and not trusting or open to love. As a couple, they’d gone through much. But, they had worked through things and had now been married for nearly a year. Even more so, they'd each had to undertake personal journeys of letting go of the past and moving forward.
The plane shook and Bree bounced in her seat as they went through a spot of turbulence. Closing her eyes and breathing in deeply, she ignored Amber’s excited chatter as she marveled at how high they were flying, how wonderful a pilot her father was and how tiny the web of rivers were below them.
“Are you okay, honey?” Todd interrupted Amber’s description of the high mountains that they were flying above.
Bree opened her eyes and looked at his profile. My goodness but he’s handsome, she thought. And he’s such a good, wonderful man. Shaking her head at her sentimentality, she shouted back, “I’m okay. I just need to get home
now.”
Amber, sitting next to Bree, looked over in concern then shook her head. “It’s fine Daddy, Mom doesn’t like flying.”
“I know sweetheart,” Todd responded. “Will you hold her hand for me?”
“Uh-huh,” Amber replied and slipped her little hand into Bree’s, squeezing her mother’s tightly.
Bree leaned over and kissed the top of Amber’s head. Leaning back into the seat, she thought back again. When she’d returned to Devil’s Peak, it was to confess to Todd that he had fathered a child and he’d been furious that he’d missed the first six years of her life. Surprisingly, he’d also been furious that he’d been robbed of the chance to be there for her during the pregnancy. Despite the feeling of nausea, Bree smiled. She wanted to get off the plane to be able to walk again on land. But, she also wanted to get off the plane so that she could experience one of many wonderful firsts yet to come with Todd and Amber. She’d do things right from the start this time, she smiled to herself. She’d tell them that their family would be one person larger in early spring.
As the plane descended, Bree thought of how she’d believed that she’d been coming home for good. Shaking her head at such utter nonsense, slanting her eyes first at Amber and then in Todd’s direction, she realized that she’d come home for love.
About The Author
Aneesa Price writes romance and lives it with her university sweetheart and husband. After having surmounted the challenges of being in a bi-racial marriage in the newly democratic South Africa, she now attributes her marital bliss to purposefully added spice and passionately resolved differences. After living in a variety of cities in South Africa, the cosmopolitan city of Johannesburg is the playground that she enjoys with her husband and two daughters.
She writes to give her readers the gift of experiencing the new and fascinating, something she strives for herself when she explores new places, reads, cooks with her kids or goes picking for antiques with her husband.
She welcomes new connections.
Facebook Author Page
https://www.facebook.com/AneesaPriceSugarandSpice
Twitter
www.twitter.com/aneesaprice
Amazon Author Page
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008NA62CO
Facebook Fan Club
Aneesa Price’s Fabulous Fan Club
https://www.facebook.com/groups/390755617667441
More By This Author
Coffin Girls, Elegantly Undead
(Book 1 of the Coffin Girls Series)
A Paranormal Romance by Aneesa Price
A sexy, female vampire with secrets. A sinfully-handsome witch prince on a mission. A formidable Vampire Council with something to hide.
A vampire descendent from the original Coffin Girls, Anais runs a successful event and wedding planning business from her majestic New Orleans plantation house. To the Vampire Council, she is seen as an exemplary hostess and household head of a misfit bunch of vampires.
When Yves, her maker and head of the Vampire Council requests her assistance in hosting the mysterious, yet dashing Prince of Witches, Conall, she has no option but to accept. But Anais is the keeper of secrets; secrets that can kill. Protective of her family’s undiscovered uniqueness, Anais is guarded, yet intrigued by the enigmatic witch prince.
Conall and Anais are drawn together when confronted with fatal encounters and an unimaginable destiny… if she’s willing to accept it and fight.
Finding Promise
(Book 1 of the Promise Series)
A Small Town Contemporary Romance by Aneesa Price
A woman striving for independence.
A man with a charmed upbringing.
A small town filled with welcoming and quirky characters.
Caroline had led the life of a high society daughter and wife, one that was filled with soul-destroying emotional abuse. Upon the death of her husband, she finds that she is financially incapable of supporting herself and flees New York without a plan or destination in mind. Her travels lead her to Promise, a small town on the New England coast.
Following instinct, she settles in Promise and begins to explore her new found independence and the pleasurable side of love with ruggedly handsome local, Luke Edwards. Her new-found contentment is shattered as past resurrects itself and she needs to find the courage to face it before she can truly re-build her life.
Ghosts and Lovers: First Confession
An Erotic Novella
By Aneesa Price
“I am female, I am a slut, and most days, I think I'm a loon too, but those are my secrets to keep except from you. … I ask you to play the role of a priest – nonjudgmental, understanding, and to atone me for my sins…” ~ Simone
Simone, the quintessential desperate housewife, is primarily absorbed on settling her family into their new home in the vibrant, metropolitan city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Unbeknownst to her, the greatest threat lurked not outside of the eight-foot walls and electric fencing but within the walls she seeks sanctuary. But the threat comes disguised as tantalizing pleasures of the most carnal nature that challenges her views of love, marriage and sex.
Can Simone resist and rescue her family from the evil she’s let into their lives?
This is her first confession.
Home for Love (An Adult Contemporary Romance) Page 18
