by Elle Boon
He tugged her back down, then opened his door. “Baby, if you don’t quit all that wiggling on my lap we won’t be able to get out of this pickup.” He thrust his hips, proving what he meant. “And besides, you and I both know the only hussy in this vehicle is me.” His mouth took hers in a possessive kiss that silenced anything else she would have said, proving his point, or at least making her forget what she had been thinking.
* * * *
“I’m glad you two could make it out to see us,” Rand said, his voice teased.
Hal felt his face flush. “Thank you for having us. It took a little time getting my truck and transfer settled.” He was officially transferring to the LA Fire Department as a temp. His family had money, and he’d invested wisely over the years, but he couldn’t imagine not working.
“We sure are glad you decided to move out here. The thought of our baby moving away didn’t set well with either of us.” Rand eyed him with respect.
“I love your daughter. She would be happier near you both.” This was his life now. Explaining to the in-laws what his plans were. He could do it for Felicity.
The women came out the patio doors, his wife’s beautiful eyes shining brightly. They’d agreed to wait until lunch was served before they broke the news. Hal wasn’t sure any time would be the perfect time.
A grin spread across Rand’s face. “You look wonderful, sweetheart. Hal must be taking good care of you.”
That damn flush was back again. Hal was sure he was too old to blush, but in the span of five minutes the older man had him blushing like a school kid. Yeah, he was going to kick Brax in the nuts for not coming with them when they’d asked. He could have used a little back up at a time like this. Though he’d never say it out loud, he was a little scared of facing her parents, and having them say he wasn’t good enough for their little girl.
He was saved from further embarrassment when Felicia finally noticed the ring on her daughter’s finger and the one on his. Her head went back and forth between them. Shit, he hadn’t thought of taking his ring off. He’d made a vow the day he and Felicity said they’d love each other till the day they died. If he could fuse the ring on his finger he would. Taking it off, even for a half hour hadn’t occurred to him, or Felicity.
“What is going on Fliss?”
His wife grinned. The world was so much brighter for having her in it. “Mom, dad, I know you will probably be mad, but we eloped.”
Rand shook his head. “That’s my little girl.”
“What?” Felicia asked with shock.
“Please, just listen mom.” Felicity explained to her parents why they’d eloped. After a few heated moments, they’d come to a compromise. Hal was fine with a large reception and he could see his wife really wanted to make her parents happy. Her father requested he get to walk her into the reception, and their vows be blessed. Again, Hal was willing to do anything to make the Evans and his wife happy. The saying ‘happy wife, happy life’ was one his father had said so many times, it was ingrained on his brain.
Her mother had kept Felicity out of the spotlight when she was growing up, not because she wasn’t proud of her daughter, or ashamed of how Felicity had looked, but because she had feared John would have seen. Although she didn’t resemble him, there was always a worry he would, in the back of Felicia’s mind that kept her from allowing Felicity to be in any magazines. To this day they weren’t sure who the biological father was as she’d delivered within eight and a half months after meeting Rand. Hal told Felicity he didn’t care either way as long as she was happy. He was deliriously happy and swore he’d do everything to make sure his wife was, too.
They left her parents shortly after eating, making a few phone calls as they went.
“Yo, Kea. I’m gonna need a best man. Well, actually, I’m already married but I’d really love it if you and Cammie could come down for Felicity and my reception. You could even bring the little one by then.”
“What the hell, man. When did you go off and get hitched, and why wasn’t I invited?” Keanu asked.
Hal explained about their impromptu wedding in Vegas.
Keanu whistled through his teeth. “Damn, Cammie would’ve kicked my ass, but your girl clearly has her own ideas. We will definitely be there for your reception, unless of course our little one is being stubborn.”
Hal would make sure they worked around the birth of Keanu’s child. His best friend would have to be at his reception, along with his wife Cammie, or he felt like he’d be missing part of his family.
Next he called Brax, getting his voicemail. “Brax, I need you to give me a call ASAP. I don’t want you to hear through the grapevine, so I’ll tell you now.” After giving a brief outline of him and Felicity’s nuptials, he hung up with a sigh.
“Okay, I’ve called a few of my friends. I really want to invite Myra. Do you know how to get ahold of her?”
The glow on her face when she looked at him made him feel like he hung the moon. It was because of him that she lit up like that. She was gorgeous and she trusted him, and he wouldn’t do anything to lose her trust.
They pulled into her parking garage. “Brax will know. Don’t worry about it. You just make the plans for how you want it to look and tell me what to do. I’ll do my best to locate Myra.” He’d move heaven and earth to locate the woman for Felicity.
Epilogue
Myra shivered from the cold. Having been born in the constant temperature of seventy degrees with no variation, then thrust into the balmy heat of California, she wasn’t sure what to make of Missouri in October.
There was a huge difference from where she’d come from and from where she was, not just in the weather, but in her surroundings. Lake of the Ozarks was absolutely one of the most stunning places she had ever seen. When she’d decided to leave her mom and grandmother and the other women who were rescued, she had taken a dart and tossed it into the map on the wall. They’d gone from one commune to another. Only in the underground world they weren’t looked at with pity, or as insects under a microscope. She couldn’t stand the pitying looks from the people she encountered, the knowing looks from many of the men, as if they knew what they had been trained to do.
They didn’t know anything.
She had a birth certificate and a social security card, and luckily for her, her grandmother had been smart enough to sneak money away from before she’d come down. Her grandmother’s family was very wealthy and she’d given Myra enough to get away. The small cellphone in her purse didn’t make much sense, its technology completely foreign to her. She felt dumb in the up-world. Wiping tears, she stepped off the bus, hefting her backpack.
Each night she texted them, but she missed their voices. Once she reached her destination she’d give them a call.
“Excuse me, do you need help?”
Myra jumped at the voice next to her. The man was dressed in conservative business attire, but Myra didn’t trust anyone. She shook her head, and walked away, sure she heard him say something about her being rude.
The only guy who didn’t make her want to vomit was the big one named Brax. His dark hair and even darker eyes drew her like nothing ever had. The Prophet had a way of drawing people to him, too. She reminded herself daily not to trust anyone, especially men who could get inside people’s minds.
Her body had come alive for him long before he’d turned his attention on her. Something that startled her, and so very different from the way she’d been expecting to feel toward the man she would bond with. This warmth that flooded her was completely alien, and unwelcome.
No, Brax McCay was better to be forgotten. She was a thirty-one year old woman who didn’t need a man. Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
How do you explain to someone you enjoyed a little pain? Myra could just imagine the look of horror that would cross his face as she told him she enjoyed being spanked. Sure, the elders thought they were punishing her, and she had to squeeze out a few tears, when in actuality she’d enjoyed the bite of their
lashes. At times they’d gone too far, because she would forget to show pain. From those occasions she carried scars, but her body still craved things no self-respecting woman should. She never shared her desires with another living soul, knowing she was not right in the head. Her shame was her cross to bear. Alone.
God, she didn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life.
Tears clouded her vision, making her stumble on the sidewalk. Outside a quaint shop with what looked like one of a kind outfits there was a Help Wanted sign. She squared her shoulders, made sure her hair was still in her intricate braid. She’d gotten really good at putting her hair into all sorts of twists and braids. The long black mass reached her hips, but she couldn’t bring herself to cut it. The outfit she had on was high quality and top of the line she knew, thanks to the money her grandmother had given her.
“Can I help you? Oh, I love that dress. Is it Marc Jacob?” The sales lady cooed.
Myra adjusted the hem of her outfit. “Oh, I don’t know. I saw you were hiring.”
She looked her up and down. “What are your available hours?”
Several other workers stopped doing what they were working on. “I’m pretty much available anytime.”
“Hmm, that’s what everyone says, but a gorgeous girl like you must have a boyfriend, or husband?” She tapped one perfectly manicured nail against her lips.
Myra wanted to laugh. She was sure she was older than the young lady talking down to her. “I’m new to town, and can assure you I have no significant other. I’m also older than I obviously look.”
* * * *
Brax was not a happy camper. How a tiny slip of a woman was able to not only leave their safe house, but the whole state of California was beyond his imagination. For crying out loud, the best of the best was supposed to be watching the women. The man they called the Prophet had escaped before the compound had become nothing more than rubble, and with tens of millions of dollars, if not more. With all that cash the man could be anywhere in the world, or hidden right beneath their noses.
He punched the heavy bag three times in quick succession.
“Whoa, dad. Who pissed in your Cheerios?”
When did his daughter get a smart mouth? “You do know I will wash your mouth out with soap, right Lita?”
His unrepentant child stuck her tongue out at him.
“Seriously, what’s wrong? You’ve been beating on that bag for over an hour.”
Brax was not having this conversation with his child. She was dressed in a bathing suit too skimpy to be called decent even for most people’s standards, let alone a father’s. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed her overnight bag by her feet.
“You going somewhere, sweet child of mine?” Brax asked.
Lita smiled, showing off her newly non-braces teeth. Of course she was also shuffling her feet, which meant she was up to something. He waited, knowing she was trying to come up with a half-truth. She was smart enough not to lie to him, but she was also creative enough to work around the truth. Luckily for him, he knew all the ways around her mind. Unlucky for him she was just like him, with a mind like a steel trap.
She rocked back on her heels and huffed a little. “Fine, Katie and Lori are having a pool party.”
He looked again at her bathing suit, seeing the turquoise piece of spandex for what is was. A decent piece of confection. Sure it showed off her young body, but no matter how tightly he kept the reins, she was still going to grow up.
Oh, he’d let her go, but he would make damn sure there was parental supervision. Starting tomorrow she was leaving with her mother for a two week vacation. He hated the thought of his baby growing up, it gutted him.
“You put something on over that, and you can go, with a few conditions.” He laid out what they were and she happily agreed. Okay, happy might be an overstatement.
After dropping Lita off at her friends he drove back home, thinking of where Myra could’ve gone. His Dodge Charger eating up the miles.
Once he was home he headed to his home office, settling on the floor, he focused on one woman. A dark haired beauty with crystal blue eyes. Her very being called out to him. For the first time in his entire forty years he couldn’t read a person, he wasn’t bombarded with their emotions. Brax was finally at ease, he didn’t have to work at shutting himself away from someone in order to just breathe.
He’d planned to give her a chance to adjust to life in the sun. To allow her to come to grips with the fact there was a whole world outside of the commune she had been brought up in, and then he planned to claim her for his own. Caveman? Absolutely. Brax may not have been able to read her mind, but he could read her body. He saw the way her pulse had escalated when he’d touched her, noticed the dilation of her pupils, and felt the way she’d tracked his movements when she thought he wasn’t watching.
His breath eased out of him. An image of her getting off a bus and bumping into a man came to him. The green eyed monster reared its head. She strode away from the soon to be armless man, saving him from Brax’s wrath, stopping at an upscale looking boutique. “Come on, sugar. Show me the name. Give me something to go on.” A standard Help Wanted sign hung in the window and then her eyes went up to the artfully scripted sign Ozarks Chic Boutique.
Brax wanted to continue seeing what she saw, but he felt the drain on his own body. He didn’t attempt the mind-walk often, and had never done it alone due to the risk to his health. As he settled back into his own mind, he was covered in sweat, blood flowed freely from his nose, but it was worth it. He had a direction to go. The Ozarks was not a huge place. If she was looking for a job, the chances were she was still in the area. God, he prayed she was still there.
Making a few quick decisions, Brax pulled himself off the floor. He felt positively ancient as he rose. He made his way to his master bedroom. He’d gotten in the habit of not bringing women home to his house, once Lita had been old enough to understand what was going on, and then when he’d bought his latest home, he’d made the decision the next woman to sleep in his bed would be his wife. Not that he hadn’t slept with his fair share of women. His dick reminded him often it was a living appendage that needed a warm, wet, and willing place to slide into. Brax snorted at his thoughts.
Tomorrow he’d get Lita shipped off with her mother on an extended vacation, then he was going searching for Myra.
The End
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About Elle Boon
I’m a wife and mother who is a retired stay at home mom of 2. I say retired because my youngest is 14 and my oldest is 21 eeek. When I was diagnosed with Cancer at 32, reading saved my sanity. As I recovered and realized how quickly life could change, I made a bucket list. The number one thing was to live. Check. On top of that list was to become a published author. Check. Now, I continue to add to the list and check them off as I go.
I live in the Midwest, but I’m a southern girl with only a slight twang who says y’all quite frequently, and am known to say “Bless Your Heart” A LOT. If you know what that means, you do not want to be the one I say that to, lol. I cuss worse than if a trucker and a sailor were put together, but I do it with class *WEG*.
I write what I love to read, erotic romance. My books are definitely full of lots of story, but I leave nothing to the imagination, in or out of the bedroom. My hope is that after readers have read one of my stories, they fall in love with the characters as much as I have.
The best part of my new journey is that I get to create new worlds, and have all kinds of stories in my head just waiting to be written. I truly love to hear from readers. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter or my website, but I’m on Facebook all the time, so find me. I’d love to you from you .
www.elleboon.com
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Author’s Note
I’m often asked by wonderful readers how they could help get the word out about the book they’d enjoyed. There are many ways to help your favorite author, but one of the best is by leaving an honest review. Another great way is spread the word by recommending the books you love, because stories are meant to be shared. Thank you so very much for reading this book and supporting all authors. If you’d like to find out more about Elle’s books, visit her website, or follow her on FaceBook, Twitter and other social media.
Other Books by Elle Boon
Erotic Ménage
Ravens of War
Selena’s Men
Two For Tamar
Jaklyn’s Saviors
Kira’s Warriors
Akra’s Demon’s, Coming Fall 2015
Shifters Romance
Mystic Wolves
Accidentally Wolf
His Perfect Wolf
Wild Wolf, Coming Fall 2015
Paranormal Romance
SmokeJumpers
FireStarter
Berserkers Rage
Mind Bender, Coming Spring 2016
MC Shifters Erotic
