by Riley, Alexa
“I love you, baby.” I smile against his skin because I can’t stop saying it. I feel so silly and shy because I keep repeating it, but it just keeps coming out. I’m officially head over heels in love with this man of mine.
I hear him whisper the words against my neck, sending chills up and down my back. I move against him a little and feel that he’s still rock hard inside me. There’s not usually a time we are together that he isn’t hard, and if he isn’t, it only takes a wiggle of my ass to get him there.
“Marry me, Law.”
He pulls back fast, grabbing my face and looking into my eyes. “Say it again.” It’s a demand, not a question. His look is intense, and I can’t tell if I’ve upset him or made him happy.
I take a deep breath and remind myself that this is what love is. Everything out on the table and heart wide open.
“I said, marry me, Law. Will you marry me?” I bite my lip and think that he may have wanted to do the asking. But he should know by now that I’m not a conventional girl, and this isn’t a conventional relationship. I’m different, he’s different, and that makes us different.
He closes his eyes tightly for a second and then opens them to look back at me. His big eyes are a little watery as he nods his head.
“You will?” My voice goes up on a squeak on the last word, but I’m too excited to care.
“Yes, Josephine, I’ll marry you. Been waiting on you to ask that for a long time. And to be honest, I thought I’d have to wait a long time for it. I love you so much, baby. I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
He grabs me by the waist and picks me up from the bed, not breaking our connection. He walks me down the hall to his office, around his desk, and sits in his big chair, all while keeping his cock in me, with me wrapped around his hips.
Reaching over, he pulls out a black velvet box and hands it to me. There’s a receipt on top, and the date is circled. It’s from almost exactly a year ago today, and I look up at him in confusion.
“Since I first laid eyes on you, Josephine.” He pulls out the ring—an emerald-cut black diamond. “You’ve always been the only one.”
He slides the ring onto my finger, and my lips fall on his, telling him what I can’t find the words to say. As he lays me back on the desk and makes love to me, I realize that he wanted me before he knew me. He took one look at me and knew I would be his best friend, his partner, his wife, and the mother of his children. He saw more in me in one glance than I’d seen in myself my whole life.
Goddamn, I’m a lucky woman.
Epilogue
LAW
Ten years later…
“I’ve told you three times, I’m not doing it.”
“Josephine, I swear it’s an emergency.”
I hear the phone click, and I know she hung up on me. I feel the smug smile on my face as I lean my ass against my cruiser and wait for her to show up.
The kids are with Paine and Penelope this weekend, and what better way to start off our time alone than with a little fun.
We’ve been together so long that I’m sure she knows my game, but that sassy hard-ass of hers likes to play hard to get.
Things between us have only gotten better over time, and I still can’t get enough of her. She’s the love of my life, and even though things get hectic, we still find time to remember why we fell in love.
I don’t have to wait long before she pulls up in her Corvette. I bought her the classic for her thirtieth birthday, and she looks sexy as fuck in it. She steps out, and my eyes roam up and down her tight body. She’s got on a black tank top, tight jeans, and her work boots. Her black hair is in messy waves down her back, and she looks like a fucking sex goddess. She stomps over to me and crosses her arms.
“What’s wrong with it?” She looks over my shoulder to see the hood of my cruiser up and raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t know. Damn thing won’t start.”
She bites her lip to keep from smiling and elbows past me to check it out. It won’t take her long to see the battery cable disconnected, but the real fun will begin after I get the cuffs on her.
I smile as I turn and follow her, thinking this is going to be a hell of a weekend.
Taking the Fall
Chapter 1
“What the fuck are you doing here, Cherry?” Carter growls and stands up from a metal chair.
I’ve never seen this look on him before. Well, not directed at me anyway. What should I expect though? The man is in prison and has been for four years, and still has another four to go.
I haven’t seen him since that night. The night I can’t remember. The reason I’m here.
“Did you get my letters?” I ask, ignoring his question. I sent hundreds over the years and never once did he respond.
“Yeah, I got them,” he fires back.
“But…you never...” My words trail off as the force of what he’s saying hits me. He got my letters; he just didn’t care enough to write back. The first ones started off asking what had happened, because I had so many questions. All I have is this giant blank spot in my mind driving me insane. One second I have a perfect life and the next I wake up in the hospital covered in bruises, with my mother missing, along with my bodyguard. Poof! No more Mom and no more Carter. For some reason, the loss of Carter hurt the most. After that my once-loving father turned cold. Others might have called my father cold before on account of his dealings with the dirtier elements of society, but I never thought he was…until now.
“Ever think there was a reason I didn’t respond? I threw them out. I don’t want you here.” Carter has always been blunt and to the point but he was never intentionally cruel, and never with me. He had been my bodyguard for six months before that night. I couldn’t turn around without tripping over him. Anytime I was allowed to the leave house, he was at my side like a shadow.
Shifting uncomfortably, I take him in. He’s huge. I remember him as always being big, but now he seems massive. His six foot four frame looks like it’s been chiseled from stone and could bust the seams of his prison uniform. I don’t recall him having so many tattoos either, but now every inch of exposed skin is covered in them, peeking up around the neck of his uniform. I also don’t recall ever wanting to lick them as I do now.
Slowly moving my eyes back to his face, I see his jaw is hard from clenching it. His eyes lock on mine, so green they almost look like colored contact lenses. Those blazing emeralds snap away and do a head-to-toe sweep of my body. My breath catches in my throat at the look he gives me. It was hard and deadly before, but now it appears hungry and consuming. He makes me feel naked, completely stripped.
In three long strides he’s in front of me, lifting me into his arms. Caught completely off guard, I gasp. He wraps his free hand in my long hair and pulls my head back, claiming my mouth. My fingers grab the fabric of his shirt and try to pull him closer. I feel like my whole body has just come alive. My body is overcome with all the passion and fervor I’ve felt all these years, but I don’t exactly have any experience to guide me. I’m twenty and I’ve never been kissed. But this doesn’t feel like any kiss I’ve ever imagined. It feels like he’s devouring my body with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue. It feels like Carter is ravishing my soul.
Going to an all-girls’ school kept me sheltered. I even took all my college classes online after I graduated. The only dick that was ever near me was hired by my father. His men were either deadly scared of him or had too much respect for him to touch me—probably a little of both.
I follow Carter’s lead and return his kiss. I’ve wanted this for years. Before he was taken away, I used to try to get his attention and shamelessly flirt with him. I think I was terrible at it because never once did he touch me. I never cared that he was ten years older than I was. I wanted him. I even had this silly idea that if I waited for him, he could be mine. That’s why I wrote him those stupid letters that he clearly didn’t give a shit about. Feeling my anger rush back at the reminder, I go to push at his chest, b
ut we’re ripped apart suddenly. A guard has me in his arms and my feet are still off the floor. It takes three other guards to wrestle Carter down onto one of the tables.
His hands grip the side of the table, his white knuckles betraying his iron grip. “Fuck, Cherry, never thought I was the jealous type,” he says, his voice rough with a touch of fury and possession. “Until you.” His glare moves to the guard holding me. “Now get your fucking hands off her.”
I’m stunned by his words. He’s pinned to a table by three guards and he’s giving orders? I guess some things never change.
“Get. Them. The. Fuck. Off,” Carter barks again as he starts to rise from his position, even as the guards try to push him down.
“This is my prison, Carter. You may get some leeway because of who you are, but there are cameras in here,” the guard holding me says as he places me back down on the floor.
“I just came for answers,” I whisper, hoping he doesn’t catch on to my lie. I want answers, but I want him more.
“I got no answers for you here. I don’t want to see your little ass in this place again, Cherry.” ‘Cherry’, the name used to make me smile. Now it’s starting to piss me off.
“Says the man who just had his tongue down my throat,” I shoot back, feeling my anger boil over. Hell, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want him to know I care, but how can he not after receiving all those stupid letters? Letters that had started off as questions but slowly turned into a diary. I sent him my every thought. But, as time went on, they morphed into love letters to him. Maybe he doesn’t know what they contained. Maybe he threw them out before reading them. I’m grasping at straws. He may not know it, but he is all I have left.
After my mother disappeared, my father turned as cold as she had been. I had always been a silly child who just got in my mother’s way. She was too busy going to events and maintaining an image to devote any time or attention to me. I can still remember her offhand comments about my weight and frenzied red hair. I just always seemed to be in her way—a disappointing nuisance. Now my father can barely look at me. Does my father love me? Yes, I believe so. Family is everything to him. But does he show it? Can I feel it? Not anymore. Now I’m put away on a shelf, having to sneak away to come here.
“I haven’t felt a woman’s body in years, can’t blame a man for taking opportunities as they arise,” he says cockily as the guards slowly let him up. He drops down into a metal chair. He seems completely unfazed by what has just happened. I guess that was all it was to him—a man needing a fix. He didn’t possess my mouth, my soul for those few moments because he needed to touch me. No one touches me.
“I see I don’t have anyone now. Looks like I can go,” I say flatly, all emotion leaching from my voice. Hell, if no one else wants to show me any tenderness, why should I give any?
“Good. Get gone,” he snarls through clenched teeth, but I see his eyes soften for an instant before being replaced by his usual stoniness. Or maybe I’m trying to convince myself and it was never there.
Pulling the picture I have from my pocket, I let it drop to the floor and I take one last look at the man I’ve been thinking about every night for the past four years. I don’t want the reminder of him anymore if he doesn’t want me.
I’m done living in a world that seems to feel nothing while I feel everything.
I have the quarter million I took from Daddy’s safe before I gave the guards the slip. I’m starting my life over, a life with no more holes in it, a life where I can find people who want to feel with me.
I turn to make my way to leave. Behind me I hear Carter rise from his chair, the metal scratching across the concrete floor. Opening the door to leave, I toss my final words over my shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Carter. No one will be seeing me around anymore.” The door slams behind me and I hear all hell break loose on the other side.
I square my shoulders and keep on walking. I only have one feeling in my heart now.
Freedom.
Available Now!
Also by Alexa Riley
Single Titles
The Virgin Duet
Owning the Beast
My New Step Dad
Their Stepsister
The Breeding Series
Coach
Mechanic
Fairytale Shifter Series
Riding Red
Beauty Sleeps… November 2015
Stone and Winnie’s Story… December 2015
Taking the Fall Series
Vol 1
Vol 2
Vol 3
Falling In
Taking the Fall Bundle
Fall Into Place… November 15th 2015
Mistress Auction Series
Buy Me
Buy Me 2
Buy Me 3… December 2015
Innocent Series
Owning Her Innocence
Innocent Getaway
Innocent Christmas … December 2015
Forced Submission Series
Taking What’s MINE
Taking What’s OURS
Taking What’s HERS
Forced Submission Bundle Books 1-3
Taking What’s HIS
Taking What’s WICKED
Taking What’s NAUGHTY… November 2015
The Ghost Riders MC Series
Pulling Her Trigger
Beauty and the Biker
Amazon Page
Alexa Riley
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