by Sophia Gray
When you find that woman who puts a fire in your belly and an ache in your heart, give this to her. She’ll be the one to last forever, you just wait and see.
I’ve always loved you, my son. I’m with you, wherever else I might be.
Love,
Ma
If I’d found that letter a year or so ago, I would have thought she was crazy. I had written myself off as the kind of man who didn’t settle down. But when Elle walked into my life, I should have known she would have turned it upside down, and when I read that letter, I knew Ma was talking about her. She might not have known it at the time, but Elle was who that ring belonged to.
I just hoped she felt it, too.
Elle finished up her song, her eyes finding mine across the room. She smiled, reminding me I’d once been delirious and believed she was an angel sent straight from heaven. My opinion on that matter hadn’t changed much and every so often I just liked to remind her of that.
The crowd erupted in applause and I saw Elle blush at the attention. She was still getting used to it all, but I had no doubt she would grow accustomed to her adoring fans. Her dreams of becoming a famous singer were finally coming true and I was just happy that I got to tag along for the ride.
Six months ago an agent had given her a call. They loved her demo and sought her out. After that, things moved faster than either of us could have expected. She was doing shows like this and was even scheduled to open for a major band next week in Dallas. I could see by her wide-eyed expression that she still couldn’t believe it was all happening, but I wasn’t in the least bit surprised.
I remembered that soft song she’d sung to me when I’d been sick and feverish. It was no wonder someone else had heard what I had: the voice of an angel.
Elle took a bow, then laughed a little at herself. She hurried off stage so she could rush over to me. A couple of people stopped her to talk with her and I thought I even saw a young woman ask for her autograph. It was really happening for her and I couldn’t have been any happier.
I stood when she reached the table and pulled her against my body. Her hands went palm flat against my chest as I leaned down to touch my lips to hers. Part of this was a need to have her, a constant need. The other part was to let every asshole in this place know she was taken. That she was mine, period.
My tongue slid across the seam of her lips and she parted them eagerly, not caring who was watching as I slid it into her mouth to deepen the kiss. My hands couldn’t help but wander. One remained at the small of her back, holding her close to me, but the other slid along her side, trailing over her hips and around to grasp at her firm ass. I pulled her closer so she was pressed against my crotch, my growing need for her evident.
She gasped and I swallowed the sound, but it was a reminder that we were in public and no matter how much I wanted to take her right there on the table, I wasn’t going to get to do that. I’d have to wait until we got home.
But at least she’s coming home with me, I thought, pleased with myself.
“Hell of a show,” I murmured to her in a low voice I knew she liked.
She grinned at me. “Thanks. I do my best.”
I kissed her again, one brief, chaste one, then motioned with my head towards the door. “Wanna get out of here?”
She nodded instantly and let me lead her away. The boys weren’t here tonight, because I’d asked them not to be. The Lucky Skulls had taken a serious toll after all that business with Shane, but over the last year we’d been growing in numbers again. Elle was a favorite amongst them with her sweet disposition and her incredible singing voice. They liked her enough that most of the guys tried to show whenever she had a gig, but tonight I insisted I wanted her all to myself. Tonight I wanted to be special.
I led her out the side exit of the club, then escorted her to the truck. We drove it tonight since it was snowing again and I didn’t want Elle to be cold. I’d since gotten a new bike, but it wasn’t the most practical thing in the wintertime—and I’d had enough of freezing my ass off.
I opened the door for her and she slid in, flashing me a bright smile.
We drove for a while before Elle realized that we weren’t heading home. Frowning, she glanced over at me. “Where are we going?” She didn’t sound concerned or worried, just curious. Because she trusted me.
Pride swelled in my chest and I vowed I would never lose that trust.
Smiling a little, I said, “You’ll see. I wanted to take you somewhere special tonight.”
She laughed a little and shook her head. “Okay, you’re being weird. In fact, you’ve been kind of weird all day. You going to tell me what’s going on?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Like I said, you’ll see.”
Elle let out a huge, exaggerated sigh and pretended to be irritated with me for my secrecy, but I saw that little smile curling up along her lips and knew she wasn’t irritated. She was excited. My promise of something special had her eager to learn what it was. I was hoping she wouldn’t be disappointed.
The weather wasn’t great so I had to drive slowly, but it wasn’t so bad that I was worried. Elle kept glancing around, trying to figure out where we were heading, but there were virtually no signs. No markers. We might as well have been in the middle of nowhere.
After a while, I finally saw the turn off. Elle spotted it, too. She turned to look at me. Her eyes were shining with bright tears, but not the sad kind. “The cabin?” she asked in a small, quiet voice.
I didn’t say anything, but I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. She let out an excited squeal and then threw her arms around me, hugging me from the side. I laughed, playfully shoving her off. “You’ll make me drive us right off the road.”
She ignored me. “We’re going back to the cabin?”
I cleared my throat. “Today is pretty special.”
She thought about that for a moment, then asked, “Special how?”
Glancing at her sideways, I told her, “Don’t you remember? It’s been a year to the day since the night you dragged my sorry ass out of the snow and saved my life.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You remembered?”
“Kind of hard to forget when a sexy woman saves your life.” I winked at her.
We drove to the cabin and I parked around the back where there was actually a carport. It wouldn’t keep the engine from getting cold, so I’d have to make sure the temperatures didn’t get down too low, but at least we wouldn’t have to dig it out in the morning. Elle got out, then eyed the carport.
“Really?” she said.
I laughed. “Yeah, really. All we had to do was get your car around the back.”
She groaned. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, you know it?”
Shaking my head, I escorted her into the cabin, flipping on the light switch. The power was on and there was food in the kitchen this time around. I’d called the owners ahead of time to set this all up, wanting to make sure they got properly compensated, and that we had the necessary provisions to stay comfortably if we somehow got stuck out here. “I don’t know,” I finally said, putting a bag down on the floor by the couch. “I think it was lucky that we got stuck here for three nights.” I winked at her and she laughed.
“Okay, maybe.”
We took the time to unpack and I set up the fire. I made a point of getting the other parts of the cabin warm, too, including the back bedroom, which was a lot easier with the power on and the heater going. But I had a feeling we’d be spending most of our time in the living room.
When we got everything set up, I finally pulled Elle down onto the couch with me. She snuggled close, resting her head against my chest, and let out a contented sigh. “This is perfect,” she murmured.
I couldn’t have agreed more. But even so, I was nervous. The little black box was burning a hole in my pocket and I’d yet to figure out how I was going to ask her. I’d set this whole thing up—the weekend at the cabin, the romantic night at her show, the evening with just the two
of us—but even knowing how much she loved me, I couldn’t help but consider what it would feel like if she said no.
I’d be devastated.
Swallowing down my fear, I finally turned to her. “Elle?”
“Hm?” she responded contentedly.
I took a deep breath, then said, “I have to ask you something.”
She pulled her head up from my chest and looked up at me with huge blue eyes. “What is it, Ciaran? What’s wrong?”
Reaching into my pocket, I gripped the black box and slowly pulled it out. My eyes stayed locked with hers. “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, nothing’s been wrong since you walked into my life. I didn’t know things were all messed up until you showed up and fixed them. I didn’t know it, but you were what I was missing. My whole life, you were what I was looking for.”
Her cheeks turned a bright red as a smile lit her face. Her eyes glistened a little and I worried that she might cry, but she held it back. “Ciaran, I—”
But before she could finish, I leaned down and covered her mouth with mine. I pressed a deep kiss to her lips, opening them and exploring the inside of her mouth, tasting her. I could feel desire coursing through my veins like blood. I wanted her. I needed her. Mind, body and soul. My body called to her. I could feel myself growing hard, the need to take her here and now becoming so strong that I nearly lost sight of what I was about to do.
Nearly.
Breaking the kiss, I pulled away, breathing heavily. Elle’s face was flushed, her eyes hooded, and her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.
“Elle, be my wife. I want you to be mine—officially and forever.”
I showed her the box, letting it sit lightly in the palm of my outstretched hand. Her eyes went wide and she stared at it. With trembling hands, she picked up the box. She opened the lid. “Oh, Ciaran, it’s beautiful.”
“Say you’ll be mine,” I told her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her to me.
Her lips trembled, her eyes flashed. And the words that came from between those pretty, parted lips were the best ones I had ever heard in my life. “I’m already yours. Yes, Ciaran, I’ll marry you.”
I kissed her again and this time I didn’t hold back. I pulled her to me and tore off her clothes, frantic with the need to touch her, to be buried inside of her. I made love to her again and again that night and every time the firelight caught the ring on her finger, I felt my love and pride grow.
She was everything to me—and now she was finally mine.
THE END
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FREE BONUS -- HEAT: A Dark Romance
By Sophia Gray
She might not survive my heat.
There are bad men in this world.
I would know: I’m one of them.
I f*ck women and leave them behind without apology.
I stomp out my enemies; I turn their wives into my slaves, their spawn into my servants.
I hurt; I take; I kill.
But despite all my sins and vices, I am not the worst this world has to offer.
That title is reserved for the devil himself:.
The bastard who murdered my family.
I won’t rest until I’ve spilled his blood and condemned his soul to hell.
He will feel the pain that I have felt a thousand times over.
I will have my revenge.
But I have one task left to complete before I leave to kill him or die trying.
I cannot let my family name go to the grave with me.
I need to know that my line will go on.
That means one thing:
I need a baby.
But the women in my life aren’t fit to hold my seed, much less my heir.
This requires someone special.
Someone I can seduce.
Someone I can shatter.
Someone I can mold into the vessel my child will require.
So I go hunting, and I find the one.
Lily is the perfect specimen.
Ghostly white skin perfect to brand as my own, curves to bite and suckle.
I’ve chosen her, and I’m not waiting to find out if she’s fully on board.
I’m going to seize her and do what I’ve always done –
Take until she has nothing left to give.
Chapter 1
Lily
I slammed my foot on the gas, my tiny car leaped forward, and I merged onto the highway. I only had five minutes to make it to work on time, and I had at least an eight-minute drive there. Crap. I was never late until my mom’s diagnosis, and I hated being late. It was unprofessional, and I held myself to a higher standard…at least I tried to.
Luckily, traffic wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t see a cop anywhere, so I just kept my foot down on the gas, the needle climbing and climbing, driving fast but not recklessly. I merged at the last second onto the exit ramp. The driver behind me honked, and I waved at him. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “Running late. So sue me.”
Okay, so maybe driving a little recklessly.
Somehow, I parked right at eight on the nose. I grabbed my purse and dashed inside. Not late after all. Amazing.
I normally wasn’t like this — so behind the ball. I was the kind of girl who did everything right, did everything by the books. I never had a speeding ticket, never broke the law. Keeping order was the only way I could try to make sense of the chaos of the rest of the world. So many things were going wrong lately and I just couldn’t handle it all. At least when I was here, in the office, I felt like I had a little bit of control, like I could make a difference, like I could affect the outcome.
So unlike how things were back home with Mom and her damned diagnosis.
Maybe I needed to cut loose some. Should call my best friend and go out for drinks.
With what money?
I wondered if we still had some from that bottle of rum. I needed to try to release some of my stress. Yeah, I played by the rules, but I was still alive. I still had fun. It had just been a little while since I last had any. And I knew how to party, how to have fun. Work hard, play harder. That had always been my mantra. That was until my mom got sick, though. That changed everything. She had stage three breast cancer.
Head down, I started toward my cubicle, mentally preparing myself for the day, when a throat cleared behind me. “Lily.”
Shoulders slumping, I grimaced. Greg Dunaway. My boss. The last person I wanted to talk to today. He was always a miserable thing.
After screwing my lips into a semblance of a smile, I turned around to face him. “Hi, Greg. What can I do for you?”
“Can we talk?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just stalked off toward his large office, leaving me no choice but to follow him.
Uh-oh. The bagel I’d shoved into my mouth as I had raced to the car from my house wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. I swallowed hard and suppressed a cough. It was my imagination, I knew, but I felt like a piece of bagel was caught in my throat. Or maybe that was just a ball of worry. I was so stressed lately.
I’d only been in Greg’s office one other time — when he had interviewed me five years ago. His father had been sick, so Greg stepped in, even though he hadn’t been the big boss yet.
An office job wasn’t that great of a position, but I was good at what I did. I worked hard and never complained. And, boy, were there complainers employed here. A bunch of women worked here, and so there was a ton of cattiness, too. I never bothered with any of that. Just did my work and left. Didn’t have a lot of friends here, but I wasn’t here for fun and games. That was after hours with my best friend, Denise. We’d go shopping or out to eat or go to the bar. Of course, with my mom needing my help taking care of her, I hadn’t had much time for fun with Denise ei
ther. Just work and Mom, rinse and repeat.
Greg entered his office first. He walked around his huge desk but didn’t sit down. I moved to stand in front of one of the two chairs in front of his desk but didn’t sit down either. I still felt uneasy, and I wasn’t going to be the one to break the awkward silence.
He cleared his throat, bent down, and fiddled with some of the papers on his desk. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, and that stress level of mine skyrocketed. “It’s not always easy to do what is best for a company.”
I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening. I was a damned good employee! He had no grounds for this! He knew about my mom, about the bills. My mom couldn’t work anymore, her health was too poor, which meant she had had no choice but to quit and, of course, that meant she no longer had health insurance. All of her bills for her appointments and for treatment, and she had a ton of bills and many more to come yet, were out of pocket, and the bills were steep and never ending.
