Beth smiled as the tears welled up in her eyes. Adam leaned forward and kissed her gently, taking her in his arms, and holding her close. She could feel the beating of his heart and she thought she could hear the beating of her own and the two sounded in perfect sync with each other. She smiled enjoying the sentiment, as cheesy as she thought it sounded. She was living in her very own fairytale.
As they boarded the airplane headed for London she took Adam’s hand and held it tightly. Then she closed her eyes, leaned back in her spacious first class seat and thought of beautiful things.
The End
BONUS
Thank you for supporting this book. To extend your reading pleasure, here is a selection of books that I think you may enjoy.
A Mate for the Wolf
Shifter Romance
About the Book
“Are you stalking me?”
“Maybe.” He gave me a slow sexy smile and I sauntered over to him. He was leaning against a shiny black sports car. I didn’t know what type of car it was, but it was fancy. He was handsome, witty and he drove a nice car. Call me superficial, but so far he was a winner.
Jasmine Kidd is accustomed to people dismissing her as just another struggling actress, all looks and no brains. So when she meets Greer, a mysterious, gorgeous artist, internationally renowned for his work, she’s immediately drawn to him and surprised that he wants to get to know her on a deeper level. Jasmine’s past though is not something she wants to reveal to anyone, let alone Greer. She’s afraid that once he knows the real her and the things she’s capable of, he’ll leave. However, little does Jasmine know; Greer has secrets of his own, secrets that when revealed could cost Jasmine her life.
Prelude
“If you’re going to rip my throat out, do it now.” I said with a calmness I didn’t feel as I looked at the man who stood over me. His light-gray eyes showed only one emotion, regret. Regret not for the events that transpired, but regret because I finally knew the truth about him, and that truth was frightening.
To think: Only an hour ago I had been in his arms, naked and exposed, writhing in ecstasy as he slid easily in and out of me. Our lovemaking meant nothing to me now, I thought to myself, as he continued to look down at me. My sex still felt swollen and wet from our earlier encounter. My hands were still tied to the bedrails and I spied my panties haphazardly tossed on the dresser next to the bed. We had both been in a frenzy to get them off. I had wanted him bad. So bad. And now, I realized that I didn’t even know him. I didn’t know this man who had kissed and caressed parts of me that I didn’t even know I had.
I felt betrayal more than fear. Our entire relationship had been a lie. Everyone had secrets, but his secret could mean I would possibly lose my life. I had done some truly regrettable things in the past, but his secret, now revealed, was dizzying in its severity. Instead of luxuriating in the afterglow of our lovemaking, I was trying to come up with a way to get away from this man. This monster.
“I’m not going to kill you, Jasmine,” he said simply. He then lowered his hand towards me and I began to scream.
Chapter One
I was tired. I’m not sure why I thought it would be a great idea to go for a jog in the middle of the sweltering heat, when one: I didn’t jog, and two: I burned easily. My shoulders were on fire just five minutes into my run and my legs and lungs didn’t feel much better. As I collapsed against a wall holding my sides, trying not to throw up; I saw the store of my dreams: a candy shop.
I understood the irony of abandoning my “get healthy quick” scheme in order to buy candy, but a girl had needs and right now my needs centered around something sweet in my mouth.
I guess I wasn’t paying attention as I started purposefully across the street because suddenly a car horn blared and I looked up to see a car hurtling towards me. I froze in shock and if my heart could have hit the floor, it would have. I opened my mouth to scream when suddenly the breath was knocked out of me as someone shoved me to the ground and out of the way of the oncoming car, which kept going, a police cruiser right on its tail.
Grateful to be alive, I looked up at the person who had saved me. He was still on top of me actually. He was heavy, the good kind of heavy. The type of heavy that made you feel protected, secure and safe. The way his body was molded to mine left nothing to my imagination. I had my hands gripping his biceps and as he raised up off of me, I let a little sigh of frustration escape. Frankly, I was sorry he had gotten up.
“That was a close one,” he said fully standing up now and I rose up into a sitting position, and just stared at him. Was it possible for a man to be that beautiful? I was instantly jealous. And then I told myself I was being ridiculous. Maybe Susie, my coworker was right: maybe I was impossible to date. I mean, come on, here I was jealous of the beauty of a man who had just saved my life. If anything, I should be grateful. I blamed my vanity on being a Leo. Although most-likely, it was my mother’s fault; as a bona fide Jersey girl she always told me to always look my best when I went out anywhere, and to always wear a ton of mascara. Looks and appearances had been so important to her and unfortunately, it had rubbed off on me in the form of insecurities that I hid from others.
The beautiful man in question extended his hand to me and I reached for it. I didn’t want to let go of his hand as he pulled me up, and again, I felt disappointment when he let go.
I must have let my disappointment show on my face because he suddenly smiled and said with a teasing tone, “Is something wrong?”
I shook my head, “Nothing at all. I was almost run over by a criminal and a cop in pursuit of said criminal, but otherwise, everything’s great. It’s not every day that a handsome man wrestles me to the ground to save my life.” Okay, maybe I had laid it on a bit thick, but the guy was sexy and I wasn’t shy. He could be the future Mr. Jasmine Kidd.
I liked the way his full lips tilted up just on one side as he smiled even wider, and his light-gray eyes seemed to be trying to figure me out. He might as well stop, I thought to myself. I was an enigma and I definitely wasn’t going to let him see more than I wanted him to. After all, we all have secrets.
After he was done studying my face, looking for what… I wasn’t sure. He let his eyes glide down my body. I know what he saw when he looked at me. He saw a sexy petite brunette with a Marilyn Monroe body. I was a bombshell and I knew it. I posed a little so that he could appreciate the image I made in my hot pink sweatpants and black sports bra. His eyes came back up to stare into my dark blue eyes with flecks of green, and I waited for him to ask me for my name or number, something. But that didn’t happen.
“Next time look before you cross the street,” he said to me, again in that teasing tone and then he walked away from me, not saying another word.
I watched him leave. I had my hands on my hips as he sauntered down the street, walking with confidence. I let myself admire his lean muscular body and tight backside as he left me standing there.
“Oh well,” I said, letting myself look one more time at the way his jeans hugged that fantastic butt of his. I shrugged, telling myself not to be too disappointed by the missed opportunity of getting to know that sexy stranger better. And following the stranger’s advice, before I continued over to the candy shop, this time I did look both ways before crossing the street.
Once inside, I helped myself to candies I hadn’t had since I was a child and left the candy shop happily humming with my bag of goodies. I had an appointment with my agent later that day so there was pep in my step as I meandered to my part-time job which I normally dreaded. I was an actress. I did mostly commercials, but I wanted to get back into theatre where I had first started. It actually had been my agent’s idea for me to get in shape. He had said my perfect little body wouldn’t last forever and I had reluctantly agreed. If I were going to get anywhere in Hollywood, no matter how smart and clever I was, I had to look good too. I made a face as I looked at the bag of candy I carried and instead of eating it, I handed it to a little old m
an I found sitting at a bus stop. He looked at me like I was insane when I snatched a few of the jellybeans out of the bag, after I had handed it over to him. But let’s be honest; I was trying to be healthy, but even my good intentions couldn’t stand up against jellybeans.
Feeling good about what I considered my good deed of the day, I called my older sister, Nahla, to tell her about my run. Nahla was a marathon runner before she had her twins. I thought since we were sisters, maybe it would be genetic and I would be naturally gifted at running, but apparently, that assumption had been way off base.
“Nahla! Hi!” I said as soon as she picked up. I loved my big sister who had single-handedly stepped in for my parents and raised me when they had died in a car accident when I was twelve. Nahla was twenty at the time. She was naturally motherly though and that was proven by her ability to handle the new editions to her family that she was so very proud of.
Speaking of which, I could hear the twins crying in the background. My sister was a strange creature. As soon as she turned thirty-five, she had decided she was done waiting for a man to come into her life and had adopted twins from Korea earlier that year. Her company had a very accommodating maternity leave policy, so my sister hadn’t been to work for at least six months. Not that raising twins alone wasn’t work. From all the noise in the background, it sounded like her twins had finally learned to crawl. Uh-oh.
“Kennedy, no! Kennedy, please! No! Mommy said no. Jason, sit down. Jason. Oh God,” were the words that greeted me. I waited patiently until I had her attention.
She sighed deeply into the phone, “Jasmine, do you want a set of adorable twins? They’re absolute angels. Or how about one? Just one of them? Maybe we can trade? Like every other weekend you take them and then I have them the rest of the time?”
I had to laugh: Nahla was always hilarious. She didn’t sugarcoat the harsh realities of parenting. Instead, she wrote a blog in what little free time she had, and she had a ton of followers as a result. Her take on parenting was honest, retrospective and refreshing.
“No, no. You have that motherhood thing all figured out. If I had to babysit, both Jason and Kennedy would be covered in makeup and cat hair when you got them back.” I said referring to my huge makeup stash and my cat, Peewee.
“Hmmm....” she said as if she were giving my offer some thought, “Maybe that wouldn’t be too bad?”
“Nahla!”
“What?! They’ve taken over my life.”
“And you’re loving every moment of it.” I said smiling to myself.
I could hear the love in her voice as she said, “More than anything in the world.”
I was happy for my sister. Traveling to another country and adopting kids wasn’t my idea of a good time, but I was happy for the life she chose for herself. She had always been the good one, I thought to myself, not for the first time. Stop comparing yourself to Nahla, I reprimanded my internal thoughts. You’ve led your life the way you wanted and so has she.
“I do need a favor though. Kennedy has an appointment next week and I don’t want to take Jason. I know I’m being overprotective, but I don’t want to expose Jason to all those germs. You know he has a weird immune system.”
I didn’t bother reminding my sister that germs were everywhere and that she was being silly. I didn’t know what it felt like being a mom to twins. I didn’t even let Peewee ride in my car without wearing a seatbelt, and he was a cat.
“Sure, sis. Whatever you need. Anyway, I tried running today.”
“You lucky girl!”
“Well, not so much. I almost got hit by a car, but I met a cutie in the process.”
“Of course you did.”
“Hey!”
“What? You could be at the podiatrist getting a corn removed and you would meet a hot guy. That’s just your luck.”
I shivered, “First of all, that would never happen to me. A corn! Ughhh! God forbid. But you are right. I met a really sexy dental hygienist once when I got my wisdom teeth removed. I think he only thought I was charming when I was under the influence of laughing gas though, since he didn’t ask me out on a second date.”
“His loss,” my sister said shortly. She was nothing, if not loyal. I was about to continue our conversation when I heard her scream in alarm, and the phone dropped. I could also hear lots of giggles from the twins and then my sister saying, “Oh my gosh, you can’t eat mommy’s shoe. Not mommy’s shoe.”
“Bye sis!” I yelled and then hung up. I figured she would be too busy washing out one of their mouths to get back to me anyway.
As I headed to my part-time job, I hummed a little. I was having a good day. And as I entered the building and saw a man sitting there, I realized that my day was getting even better. The stranger who had saved me was sitting in the lobby.
Chapter Two
“You know what makes me feel good, Greer?” The blonde with the bulging boobs and obviously injected lips said provocatively, leaning her breasts against the dude who had saved my life.
“Umm, no. Not really? Yoga…maybe?”
Greer shifted away slightly, but didn’t tell her to get away. I assumed that’s because she was his girlfriend and when she leaned over and whispered in his ear, and then giggled, I rolled my eyes and sighed.
I wish I could have gone on break, but my coworker, Susie, was even flightier than I was, and she had taken a bathroom break thirty minutes ago and still hadn’t made it back yet.
I worked at a gym in the wealthy part of town, part-time, when I was between acting gigs. The job didn’t bother me, until now. I tried to ignore the woman who was all over Greer. I had been about to say hello to him, and his eyes had brightened in surprise at seeing me, but just as he opened his mouth to greet me, the blonde had sashayed through the doors and headed straight towards him, grabbing him by his muscular arm and leading him to the water fountain.
She was so loud. Her annoying voice carried across the small space and I just wanted her to be quiet. Her voice was a little high-pitched and was giving me a headache. I briefly wondered if I were that obnoxious when I was flirting and I made a mental note to ask my sister about that later on.
I forced myself to look chipper when she approached me and asked me where the bathroom was. I pointed in the direction of the bathroom, hoping jealousy didn’t show on my face too much. Apparently, it did though, as I caught her looking down her nose at me.
“Thanks, towel girl.” She said with a wicked little laugh.
I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her, but the thought of acting like a tween was the only thing that stopped me from doing it.
“Towel girl? Sounds sexist. I would have at least called you a towel person,” Greer said jokingly as he leaned against the kiosk where I was stationed. Embarrassingly enough, my actual job was to hand out towels to the guests and smile at them warmly. I’m proud to say that I was good at both of those things. And even though it wasn’t exactly the most glamorous of jobs, I had big dreams that eventually I would get to where I was destined to be.
I ignored Greer, but couldn’t help mumbling, “You’re just as obnoxious as your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” He said looking confused.
“Um yeah, Barbie who just went to the bathroom,” I said, feeling as if I were pointing out the obvious.
“She’s definitely not my girlfriend. She’s my mother’s best friend’s daughter. She’s visiting for a few days and I promised my mom that I would show her a good time.”
I guffawed rudely, “Good time! I’m sure you will.”
He frowned at me, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know. I don’t need to tell you. Stop being obtuse.”
“Obtuse? Nice word.”
“Yes, this towel girl went to college,” I said bitterly. I didn’t know if I was angry because he had witnessed Barbie insulting me or if it were the fact that he didn’t dissuade Barbie’s advances, but suddenly I wasn’t feeling very charitable.
He
scratched at the five o’clock shadow that lined his jaw. I found his beard sexy. It made him look slightly like a lumberjack. I loved facial hair on a guy. It just looked so masculine to me.
“Listen,” he said leaning towards me, “What time do you get off?”
I narrowed my eyes, determined to play hard to get now that I knew he was interested. “Why do you want to know?”
“I’m just curious to know more about the hottie who I was on top of earlier,” he said, his voice growing deeper as he teased me.
He knew exactly how to play to my vanity. I batted my eyelashes at him, “So you think I’m hot?”
And just as he went to answer, Barbie popped up and pulled him away. She shot me an evil look over her shoulder and I smiled back brightly.
“You’re welcome,” I mouthed to her and she rolled her eyes at me, which made my own smile widen. And I wondered why I didn’t have more female friends, I thought to myself sarcastically.
“Wow, that dude is cute,” Susie said, finally showing back up.
“Where have you been?” I asked but didn’t bother waiting for a response, as I placed my chin in my hand and sighed. “He is one sexy beast.”
He disappeared into one of the hot yoga rooms and the manager of the gym popped up and assigned Susie and I to a different part of the gym. Apparently it was children’s day, so we were being asked to lead the kids in some sort of kid-friendly workout.
After hours of directing a bunch of preteens to dance around to Zumba while they looked at me as if I were the most uncool person in the world, I was exhausted and finally done with my shift. I limped out of the gym, determined to go home and soak my sore muscles. I worked at the gym, but I didn’t exactly work out. And worse yet, I had to walk home from work.
ROMANCE: SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Dragon Baller's Bride (Dragon Shifter Alpha Male Romance) (Paranormal Romantic Suspense) Page 4
