by Avery Flynn
"Well, maybe he's being honest with you now. Maybe he did make a mistake. Haven't you ever made a mistake?"
"Yes, too many. And picking the wrong guys is one my biggest ones. I know Ransom's type. I know the type of guy he is, and he is right along the lines of those kind of guys I shouldn't be picking. And when push came to shove, he didn't believe in me, the person he knew. I deserve someone who believes in me all the time."
"Would your opinion change if I told you he bought you a dress?"
Lexa frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Jessica smiled sheepishly. "Don't be mad, but he came by earlier. And he said he wanted to leave your invitation. He wanted it to be the first thing you saw, so I told him to tape it to the door. But, he also left something else for you. It's in your room."
Lexa couldn't control the wave of butterflies low in her belly. She couldn't control her racing heartbeat. She couldn't control the shallowness in her breath. Those were physiological responses to Ransom. Merely biological. Those were chemistry. Those were not rationality, those were not love.
But still, she ran into her room, and tore open the dress box on her bed. When she saw what lay inside, she gasped. It was an exact replica of one that Daenerys had worn in Game of Thrones. The detailing was exquisite. Holy cow. Her heart gave just a smidge. It wasn't like she was going to wear it.
From behind her, Jessica asked, "You going to try it on?"
"I am not putting this thing on." Because if she did, she might not take it off.
"Come on. Put it on, we'll take a bunch of pictures in it. Then, I'll try it on, and then we'll return it. I'm sure there is an address in here, somewhere."
Lexa just laughed as she fingered the silk. Well, it was beautiful. And, she never needed to tell him that she'd worn it. He would never know.
Turned out, the dress required some assistance putting it on. But when she was in it, Lexa stared at herself in her full-length mirror, fingering the gorgeous white silk. She and Amelia Clarke had the same kind of curvy body. The dress fit like a dream. Dammit. She shouldn't want to go to this ball. Shouldn't want to wear this dress. But she did.
Jessica whispered as she fingered the hem and tugged it down. "Maybe you've been a little quick to judge him, too." When Lexa scowled at her, she held up her hands. "You know what, I have the perfect shoes for this dress." She shuffled into her room, and came back thirty seconds later with the most delicate pair of sandals. When Lexa tried them on, she couldn't help twirling in her dress.
Dammit, it looked like she was going to the ball.
Ransom shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He'd never dressed up for anything in his life. Yeah, sure, Halloween. But he'd been under the age of twelve. Besides, Superman and Batman were badass costumes. Right now, he was wearing a Khal Drogo costume, and he felt like an idiot. But then, the doors opened to the ballroom, and he held his breath. Had she sent her roommate to tell him to fuck off?
He knew right away it was her, the way the hairs rose on his arms. The way his heart rate ticked up. She'd come. She hadn't said no. They had a chance.
She tentatively stepped into the room and looked around, her eyes widening at all the candles he'd used to illuminate the space. When she saw him, she froze.
Shit, this was cheesy. This was so stupid. He fucked this up. But as sure as he was that he got it all wrong, he had to say she looked killer in the dress. He cleared his throat. "Is this too much?"
She strode over to him, confidence apparent in her every step. "Oh, my God. You look just like him."
Ransom forced a shaky grin. "Well, I wanted to do my best."
"I can't believe you did all this."
He reached for her, and took her hand. "Of course I did. I was serious when I apologized. I screwed up. I know it. I knew it soon as you walked out. Even if you don't want to be with me. Even if it takes you years to forgive me for hurting you. I will wait. Because at the end of the day, all I want is for you to be happy. If that's with me, I'll be ecstatic. If it's not, I can be happy because you're happy."
That killed him to say, but it was true. He would much rather she be happy with him, but he could deal.
Tears shone in her eyes, and he automatically reached for her, but she avoided his embrace.
"No. If you touch me, I will not say what I need to say."
He nodded and held his tongue.
"You hurt me. You did it deliberately. And effectively. You went for the kill. That sucked. I don't ever want to feel like that again. And just so you know, that's not what love is. I won't just take it anymore. I deserve to be with someone who loves me. Wholeheartedly. I deserve someone who trusts me, and knows what I am and am not capable of. Are you that person?"
He didn't even have to think about it. "Yes. I have been a little bit in love with you since I was fifteen years old and you were nice to the gangly, geeky, too-tall kid. I thought you were the most beautiful, kindest girl in the world. And I kicked myself for not having the guts to ask you out then. I kicked myself for years. I will never hurt you like that again. I will kick my own ass personally. I am so in love with you, a part of me feels like I'm dying without you." The tears spilled freely from her cheeks, and he used his thumbs to gently wipe them away.
Her lower lip trembled. "Ransom, I missed you. So much."
With a breath of relief, he pulled her to him and held her tight. "I'm never letting you go again."
Ransom bent his head, and slid his lips over hers, and knew immediately that he was home.
Epilogue
Lexa stretched, and pushed at Ransom's shoulder.
"Let me guess, you don't want me inside you?"
She giggled even as he rocked his hips into her again. The laugh ended on a moan. "You know the answer to that question is always yes. Yes to all things Ransom inside me. But, can you roll to the side? You're huge."
He grinned. "That's what she said."
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"
He dipped his head and kissed her deep, sliding his tongue over hers, pulling another response out of her. Lexa wasn't sure, but she was starting to suspect it was possible to die from orgasm. "How can you possibly go again?"
He chuckled and ran his hand up over her hips, to the dip of her waist, to cup her breast. "I'm inside you. It's that simple. Matter of fact, I know I've been threatening to never leave, but I might make that a reality now."
He smoothed a hand over her ass and tucked her close, turning them to the side. Then he kissed her again, before playing with a lock of her hair. "How did I get so lucky?"
"We both got lucky."
His watch alarm pinged. And he sat up abruptly. "Sorry, baby, but there's something I need to show you. I got the confirmation earlier today, and I was told it would be ready by seven PM."
She moaned and sat up, trying to pull the sheets around her breasts. "What? What's going on? I thought we had a deal about you staying inside me."
He nodded. "Yes, we do. After this, we commence that operation. But first—" He opened his laptop, then tapped a few keys and quickly scanned something. Then, he turned the screen around to face her. "Read."
Her eyes scanned the page. It took a moment to sink in, but then she understood. TMZ had printed a story on Amber Wilson and the methods she used to get her stories. It was all there, laid out in black and white. She'd falsified reports. Falsified statements from supposed sources. TMZ stated that she had lost her job at US Weekly. Fired. And currently, she was a tabloid and journalism pariah. "You did this?"
He shrugged. "Well, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted that story recanted. Because there is no way in hell anyone would've been able to access that birth certificate without taking it from my mother’s house. Without knowing exactly where to look. I realized she bugged my place."
Lexa's jaw went slack. "Oh, my God. So you mean to tell me, she's essentially got a sex tape, or several, of us?"
Ransom shook his head. "I have all the originals. Once I found the bug
in the cabin, I set this in motion."
"I'm so sorry she violated your privacy like that. Our privacy. I'm not usually one for revenge, but this feels like she got off easy."
"All I wanted was for those pictures of you to be taken down. And they were. And, I wanted her to lose her job. Which she did. So for now, that's enough. I was going to insist on a personal apology to you, but whatever. I got what I wanted, which is you. And I'm never letting you go."
She grinned up at him, and kissed him with a loud, resounding smack of her lips. "And I got what I wanted. Even if I was unemployed, and having to live in my sister's spare room, I would still be the happiest woman in the world. Because I got to have you."
"I'm so happy you got the job."
She studied him closely. "Sweetheart, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the truth."
He held up three fingers. "Scout's honor."
She narrowed her gaze. "Were you even a Boy Scout?"
He grinned. "Is that the question?"
She shook her head. "I will ask you, are you responsible for me getting the job at HIS?"
He shook his head. "I can absolutely tell you, I had nothing to do with getting you that job. You got yourself a job. I wasn't in there, in that interview, was I? You needed to answer the questions right, not me. Now, if you're asking if I managed to get your full portfolio to them, then, yeah, I might have. I sent it to a friend who may or may not know John. Then, perhaps, I might have done something like that. But all I did was pass on some information and make sure someone put in front of someone who would read it."
Her gaze burned with tears. "You did that? For me?"
He nodded. "Of course. You deserve to have your dream. And you're good enough to have it. So I did what I could to help it along."
Lexa wound her arms around him, squeezing him tight. "I love you. I love you so much."
He nuzzled her neck. "I love you too, baby." He kissed her. Then, it was familiar. The instant flash of heat, the need, the warming of her body. She knew what this meant. Death by orgasm. The petite mort. But before she could slide her hand down his chest and wrap her fingers around him, there was a knock on his hotel door. Ransom frowned and pulled back.
"Did you order room service, or something?"
"When would I have done that? Sometime between the last three times you had me occupied in this bed? No."
The person knocked again. And he groaned. "Okay, okay, coming."
He jumped out of bed and stepped into his boxers, before padding across the massive room to the door. She made a point of tucking and securing the sheets modestly around her. He turned back to her and winked, before dragging open the door.
Lexa gasped when she saw who was on the other side.
Ransom stood frozen.
Fox Coulter smiled wide. "Hey, Ransom. How's it going…cousin?"
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author, Nana Malone’s love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick butt heroines ever since.
Nana is the author of multiple series. And the books in her series have been on multiple Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists as well as the iTunes Breakout Books list and most notably the USA Today Bestseller list.
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More from Nana
Looking for a few Good Books?
Look no Further!
London Billionaires Standalones
Mr. Cocky
Mr. Trouble
Mr. Dirty
Mr. Big
The Donovans Series (New Adult Contemporary Romance)
Come Home Again (Nate & Delilah)
Love Reality (Ryan & Mia)
Race For Love (Derek & Kisima)
Love in Plain Sight (Dylan and Serafina)
Eye of the Beholder – (Logan & Jezzie)
The Chase Brothers Series (New Adult Contemporary Romance)
London Bound (Alexi & Abbie)
London Calling (Xander & Imani)
***London Down – Expected 2018
The Player Series
Bryce
Dax
Echo
Fox
Ransom
Gage
Caged
by
Virginia Nelson
For Tammy – Because you love hockey.
1
August 30th, 2001
Oliver Tremblay never had a hard time sneaking out of his grandparent’s house. He’d been doing it since he was a kid. When he got his license on his birthday, he had his plan in place—put the car in neutral and push it down the driveway, then start the car on the road and drive off, turning his headlights on at the stop sign. He’d come up with that idea when he’d seen one of the older guys—Johnny Rhodes—do exactly that. It seemed a solid escape method.
And a helluva lot easier than walking across the roof to slide down the pole holding the light illuminating the driveway. Of course, it would take a lot of the danger and excitement out of the experience. Something about creeping across the roof, after crawling out his bedroom window, knowing his grandmother could hear something on the roof and bust him at any moment, combined to up the adrenaline rush of the whole thing.
If his parents were in town—like on the weekends or national holidays—there was no way in hell he’d get away with it. But Grandpa slept like the dead, and Grandma had a drink after dinner, so he should be good. His parents were in the City for work for the week, as usual, so likely no one heard him as he made the jump from the roof to the pole. The metal was cold on his sweat-slicked palms as he used a fireman’s slide to the ground. Once his feet were firmly planted on the earth again, he took off at a run.
He shouldn’t have agreed to meet with Maisie and Jay on a school night, but Jay had a bad run in with the football team, and Ollie knew he was upset. Best friends showed up when their friends had a problem. It was just the way things were done.
But the Maisie situation… that was getting out of control. It’d be smarter to avoid her until he got his head straight. Until he could remember who she was and why that should matter.
Somehow, he didn’t think admitting to Jay that he’d had a crush on Maisie for ages would help their friendship any. Calling it a crush seemed shallow, though. Not enough to encompass how he thought about her every day, and not just because she made him horny.
She made him laugh. His last thought at night was about her and his first smile in the morning was because he remembered he would get to see her again. Maybe it was obsession, like they talked about in English class. Like a Romeo and Juliet thing, mostly important because it was so forbidden. But he didn’t think so.
When he got to the old tree house in the woods, he slowed his pace. Since he’d been working out, he was barely breathless from the jog, a fact he took great pride in. A year ago, running that far would’ve left him bent over and heaving for air. Now? It was nothing. If he kept working out, his dreams of a sports scholarship might become reality.
No one else was there, so he took a minute to walk off the run. He thought about the future—something he kept doing lately. He’d go to college, get a good job, then he could ask Maisie to marry him. They’d get a house in town, because he didn’t want to take her away from her family. He knew how important those connections were to her—the girl had a heart bigger than the sky. She rescued animals, helped old people, and he often teased her about her ‘causes.’ It seemed she had one for every day of the week.
Part of the charm of his life plan was that Maisie would be in it. He saw his parents and how they interacted—he didn’t really want to be like them someday. They were both crazy dedicated to work and their goals, which was good, he supposed. But they weren’t happy. At least not from his perspective.
He might not always be happy, but Mai
sie was. She never stopped looking for the bright side, and if she couldn’t find one, she’d damn well make one. He loved that about her.
He loved Maisie.
Not that he’d tell her that. A movement in the brush caught his attention and he swiveled to face it. Moments later, Maisie stumbled out of the bushes. She had leaves and twigs in her hair, making it stick up at odd angles, and she was clearly out of breath. Still, as the light under the treehouse caught her lovely face when she turned it up toward him, he couldn’t help but catch his breath.
It’d been like that lately. Just seeing her sent his pulse pumping and made him just a little dizzy. Like the time he and Jay decided they’d keep going on the Roundhouse at the county fair because there was no line—that almost drunk feeling that bordered stomach churning and included way too much adrenaline.
“Hey,” he managed.
“Hi, Jay couldn’t come,” Maisie said. She included an eye roll as she began to try to get the foliage out of her hair. “Said he was tired or whatever, but I honestly think he’s still bummed about the football thing.”
Being alone with her was a very bad idea.
“You should get back home, then,” he said. “Make sure he’s okay.”
Her smile turned impish. “But we haven’t finished our lessons.”
He opened and closed his mouth, searching for words but finding nothing appropriate.
“Yeah,” she giggled, moving closer to him. He caught her scent on the breeze, all sweetness and temptation. “Like that, but with your face mashed against mine.”
“Look, Maisie… I—” He swallowed hard, fresh out of words. He wanted nothing so much as he wanted to fulfil her request, but that in and of itself was a warning. This was Maisie, Jay’s kid sister. What kind of perv actually heard her asking him for kissing lessons and thought, yeah, that’s a good idea?
