Always Been You
Page 30
Indulgence softens his beautiful gray eyes. “Am I doing this all wrong?”
“I’m tweaking. I want to hear you say it. Ask it.”
“Should I get back down on my knee?” he asks, already sounding the ever dutiful fiancé.
Bemused, I shake my head. “Oh God, I’m such an idiot. But no, you don’t have to.” Not after I just made him stand up. But of course I want him to.
He must read that want in my expression because he lowers himself back onto his knee and looks up at me, love shining bright in his eyes. My hand is trembling so violently, I’m not sure he’ll be able to slide the damn ring on.
“April Rose Wheeler, my entire life, it’s always been you. I love you more than I can ever say. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?”
“Yes. Yes. Yesyesyesyesyes! Oh God, yes.” I hold out just long enough for him to slide the ring onto my third finger before I pitch myself into his arms, sobbing, “I love you too. So so much.” My heart and soul is in the kiss I press to his parted lips.
We’re both breathing raggedly when we finally come up for air.
“Happy tears,” he murmurs, brushing them away from the crests of my cheeks as he cups my face in his palms.
“The happiest.” Through a steady stream of tears, I’m smiling so hard, I’m afraid my face is going to crack.
“I hijacked your surprise.”
“Yes you did,” I say, sniffing. “Should I be worried how easily you can get my friends to turn traitor?”
“Hey, can you blame them? You of all people should know how persuasive I can be,” he murmurs suggestively, palming my ass and pressing me flush against him. My thighs instinctively part at the hard thrust of him and my center goes from tingling to a steady throb. Desire at its most basic.
“Which one of them sold me out?” I run my hands down the defined indent in his muscled back, enjoying the feel of him.
“All of them,” he replies, chuckling. “I went to Liv first, and she dragged Em and Rebecca into it.”
“So who tipped you off about my surprise?” I’m betting it was Em since she declared he’s the brother she never had when he’d told Graham that if he hurt her again, he’d wipe the floor with him.
Ah, fun times. So glad those days are behind us.
“You did.”
My hands go still on his lower back as I squint up at him in surprise. “Me?”
He chuckles softly. “Yeah you. You didn’t think I’d know something was up when you insisted I go out with Zach and Scott tonight?”
“What do you mean? You always go out with them.”
“Yeah, but how often do I go without you? And I’d already told them I wanted to stay in with you.” His voice drops an octave. “And when do you ever say no to a night to ourselves?”
Never. Football takes him away enough as it is. But I don’t think I was that transparent.
My bottom lip juts out in a pout. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“I don’t need surprises. You’re all I want. All I need.” Ducking his head, he kisses me, his tongue tangling with mine, whetting my already insatiable appetite for him.
To say we screw like rabbits is putting it mildly. There isn’t a day when I don’t want him and the feeling is mutual. And since he spends his nights in my bed, I’d been able to move all my sewing equipment into his room, giving me the craft room I always wanted.
“Do you like your ring?”
The question has me immediately holding up my left hand for inspection. As hard as it is to believe, the ring is secondary. My immediate euphoria is that I’m going to marry this gorgeous, brilliant, wonderful man.
“Oh sweetie, it’s beautiful. Perfect.” Set in a slim band of white gold, the diamond must be two carats. It was made for my finger.
“I know you said you didn’t need a ring, but I wasn’t going to ask you to marry me without one.”
We’d broached the subject of marriage once in the past year. Knowing the situation with his family and their finances, I’d made it clear that I didn’t need an engagement ring. Especially if my would-be husband couldn’t afford one. He hadn’t said anything then.
“Would you have asked me if you hadn’t been drafted?”
“Eventually. I’d have had to get a decent job first though,” he says, chuckling.
“Don’t be silly. I’d marry you whether you have two nickels to rub together or not,” I assure him lovingly.
His expression softens as he gazes into my eyes. “I know. But don’t you think it worked out better this way?”
I tip my head back and laugh. “Much better.”
To say the last year has been crazy is an understatement. Three months ago, Troy’s father was sentenced to seven to ten years in a federal prison. He’d taken a plea and pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and embezzlement, avoiding a trial and the risk of a much longer sentence.
They’d lost their house. His mother’s parents helped her buy a townhouse near them. And despite everything that happened, his mom and my mom are still best friends. Surprisingly, this whole ordeal has actually cemented their bond.
The bankruptcy trustee was able to get twenty million back by selling the company and most of their personal assets, which means the investors got back six percent of their investment. Not much but at least everyone got back something.
As for me, I’ll be starting at FIT in September and I’ve been modeling much more than I used to. Vic and I actually ended up doing that spread in Elle together thanks to the Bill Keets’ scandal—by the way, he kept his job—and the influence of her heavy-hitter agent, Patty Watkins. My sister signed with her last year.
And the last I heard, Troy is going to be a silent partner in her bakery when it opens next year. The way they explained it, Vic is going to buy him out eventually. But Troy told me he has no intention of taking her money but this was the only way she’d accept his. I have no problem with that. Vic more than deserves it and my fiancé’s contract is enough to keep us comfortable for life. With his new riches, Troy is trying to help everyone, and I love him even more for it.
“What happened to your gift?” I ask after another quick look around and coming up empty again.
“Em told me to tell you it’s in her hiding spot.”
I eye him suspiciously as I step out of his arms. “Did you see it?”
He shakes his head, crossing his heart with his right hand. “No. I swear.
He’s a regular boy scout.
Every time I don’t think I could possibly love her more, I’m proven wrong time and time again. Sometimes I think love is too mild a word.
I watch her as she dashes from the room toward the bedrooms. Light floods the room as she flips the switch along the way.
I rock back on my heels and rub my jaw. Holy shit, I’m engaged. I’m going to marry my best friend, my lover. The most beautiful girl in the entire world, both inside and out. I’m going to tie her to me for the rest of my life.
She’s all mine.
I barely have time to take it all in before she returns carrying two gift-wrapped boxes.
“First you have to sit down.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re bossy?” I ask dryly, lifting an eyebrow. She’s fucking adorable when she’s excited.
After I take a seat on the couch and she plops down beside me, she thrusts the small square box in my hand. I make quick work of doing away with the gold-foil gift wrapping. Underneath is an Apple box. Inside is the watch I’ve been eyeing since the big reveal last year. Black-leather band and a large rectangular face, it’s the one I planned to buy for myself after I received my signing bonus.
“Do you like it?” April asks, her green eyes wide and excited in her exquisitely beautiful face.
My response is a long, wet kiss on her pink, plump lips. When I break the kiss, her breathing is choppy and her face is flushed.
“Okay, now open this one.” She shoves the other box at me.
This one is the size o
f a shirt box but I have a feeling it’s not a shirt. April doesn’t buy me clothing. Instead she accompanies me on my infrequent shopping trips to weigh in on my fashion “choices”. Her words, not mine.
I don’t know what I expect to find when I lift the lid, but it’s not this. My breath catches in the vicinity of my throat and it feels like all the blood in my body rushes to my dick.
It’s impossible for me to take my eyes off the large, glossy picture of a scantily dressed April surrounded by fluffy white pillows.
Fucking breathtaking.
It takes a few seconds for me to come out of my lust-filled daze. There’s more than one picture and, without looking at my new fiancée, whose gaze is boring into me, I go through the other pictures slowly.
In the photos she’s wearing lacy lingerie—white baby dolls with a flyaway front. (I’ve known my fiancée long enough to have learned some of the terms).
“What do you think?”
The only reason I’m able to tear my gaze from the final photo in the stack is because I’m going from that to looking at the real thing. In all her mouth-watering glory.
I clear my throat. “I-Um-um.”
She smiles. My inability to form an intelligible response appears to please and amuse her. “They’re the pictures Playboy took. Don’t ask me how, but Catherine managed to get them for me since they’re not going to use them. I thought you might want them.”
I finally find my voice. “You thought I might want them?”
She smiles that sexy, coy smile that has my dick straining the fly of my jeans. “I couldn’t think of anyone who would appreciate them more.”
“You’re damn right,” I growl, placing the box of photos on the coffee table and hauling her into my arms. “They’re beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.” Pushing her hair away from her neck, I kiss and nip the sensitive spot behind her ear.
She tips her head back to afford me better access even while saying, “Wait. What about dessert? I made you tiramisu and chocolate ganache cake.”
My mouth works its way along her chin and to the corner of her panting lips. “I’d rather eat you for dessert.”
April lets out a lusty moan. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Okay,” I reply and cover her mouth with mine.
We never make it off the couch.
THE END
***
Thank you for reading ALWAYS BEEN YOU
I hope you enjoyed April & Troy’s story
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New Adult Romances
Unforgettable You Series
Book 1 - ONLY FOR YOU (Olivia & Zach)
Book 2 - ALL OVER YOU (Rebecca & Scott)
Book 3 - ALWAYS BEEN YOU (April & Troy)
Book 4 – FOREVER WITH YOU (Emily & Graham)
TBD
***
Connecting series
Trapped
Prequel - THE TRAP (Paige & Mitch’s Beginning)
Book 1 - TRAPPED (Paige & Mitch’s HEA)
Book 1 - TRAPPED Expanded Edition (Includes The Trap)
Book 2 - PLAYED (Erin & Josh)
TBD
* * *
Historical Romances
The Elusive Lords series
SINFUL SURRENDER (James & Missy)
A TASTE OF DESIRE (Thomas & Amelia)
ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION (enovella)
(Derek & Elizabeth)
AN HEIR OF DECEPTION (Alex & Charlotte)
Connecting series
The Temptresses
TWICE THE TEMPTATION
(Lucas & Catherine)
THE ROAD TO TEMPTATION
(Prequel – Meghan & Rhys)
TBD
A WICKED TEMPTATION
(Meghan & Rhys)
TBD
NEXT UP
FOREVER WITH YOU
Emily & Graham
Book 4 in the Unforgettable You series
Release Date TBD
They had an explosive beginning.
And a fiery end.
After spending years looking for him, she finds him.
And now they've finally come face-to-face.
Both older and wiser.
But he wants nothing to do with the person
whose lie nearly destroyed his life.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Blurb
Dedication
Acknowledgments
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
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
Also By
Next Up