by Zoey Marcel
Doc grinned. “I intend to say it nicer so she actually agrees to stay.”
Stetson snickered. “Good thinking. I don’t always word things well, do I?”
“Not really, but I always get your meaning.”
He had his chin resting on both hands while Doc massaged him. “This is going to sound terrible, but I’m glad your mother dumped you off with us all those years ago.”
Doc felt something stir in his heart and then his groin. “So am I.”
“I should sleep now. Thanks for the massage. Hit the light on your way out, will you?”
“Will do.” He coughed a little and quickly flipped the light off in case he spat up blood this time.
“You all right? You’ve been coughing a lot lately.”
“I’m all right.” Doc closed the door behind him.
He would never have Stetson the way he wanted to, and that made both his chest and dick hurt more than he could stand. Doc went into the bathroom, toying with the idea of masturbating in the shower. He really needed to quit making himself so miserable over this.
Jade was everything he ever wanted in a woman, and apparently Kellan felt the same way for her and so possibly did Sawyer. Why couldn’t Stetson feel the same way? All Doc wanted was to share her with him. And if he had to share her with Sawyer and Kellan, too, what did he care?
Doc felt it was the perfect ending to their story. The Brooks had always welcomed him into their family, but to share a wife with them would make them all equal and truly family in a way saying it never could.
He wanted desperately to spend time with Jade and get to know her better, but that probably wasn’t a very good idea. He was already dying inside over the fact that he could never have Stetson, and to add Jade to his one-person list of heartache wasn’t exactly wise. If any woman could steal his heart, she could.
Doc coughed hard and spat into the sink. His spirit sank when he saw the quantity of blood. It was getting worse far more rapidly than he wanted. What good would it be to somehow win the two souls he wanted and then lose them after his inevitable death?
Then again, he only had a short time left on this earth. Maybe it was time he started living like he was dying.
* * * *
Jade was glad when Doc told her Stetson had changed his mind about sending her away. She ought to leave anyway just to spite the ornery bastard, but she recanted that decision. She didn’t want to go.
She would have to say good-bye to Kellan soon enough, and she wanted to spend all the time with him she could just shy of sleeping with him. Bane gave her permission to have sex with all the Brookses if she wanted to, but she couldn’t do that, though she was mighty tempted to, except maybe for Stetson.
The man was like the Clint Eastwood of the group. Crabby, distant, rugged, and he always seemed to wear a pissed-off expression on his face. But like the actor, Stetson had an amiable badass quality to him that she found irresistible. She wanted to see him shoot all the bad guys and find the healing he probably needed deep down beneath the tough-as-nails cowboy exterior.
She’d spoken with Bane before bed on her cell phone. Apparently it had been in his car, and he returned it to her. She’d told him about her past with Ivy, though she still didn’t remember it. Then it got her to wondering. If Ivy was her ex, then who was the man who tried to kill her, and why had he wanted to so badly?
Jade went downstairs to get a drink of filtered water from the fridge. She looked around and opened one of the kitchen drawers without a sound. She saw Doc reading something earlier, and his expression had been grave and pale. She found the familiar envelope and opened it, flipping on the light above the stove so she could see.
Her eyes widened and her hand went over her mouth to muffle the alarmed gasp that slipped out. Doc had cancer.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zoey Marcel has wanted to be a writer since she was eight. She lives with her husband, baby, and their quirky pug in the Pacific Northwest.
Originally Zoey planned on writing mainstream but somehow happened across the erotic romance genre and was surprised by how graphic the covers were. Shock became wicked fascination, and after reading her first erotic romance book, she decided her mainstream romance should have more adult love scenes and a few taboos.
Her stories range from naughty and touching to dark and erotic. She likes variety in her characters from the sweet beta or the aggressive alpha all the way to the dark, tortured hero or antihero who walks on the dark side.
When she’s not writing, Zoey likes to work out, keep house, and go places with her husband. Then, of course, there is play time with the hyperactive little dog.
For all titles by Zoey Marcel, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/zoey-marcel
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
