My heart began a steady pounding. “You arranged a surprise party for me?”
He inclined his head. “I was going to propose there.”
I clasped his cheeks and kissed him again, sliding my tongue inside his hot, waiting mouth, but it didn’t last long. Gabe broke the kiss, looked at me, and groaned. “We have to get to the club.”
I brushed my hands through his hair, feeling the soft strands beneath my fingertips. “I know.” Unable to help myself, I nipped the side of his jaw, feeling playful and pleased. I’d conquered my insecurity and fear—okay, well, I still had some work to do on those things—but my reward for trying was fantastic.
Gabe’s fingertips bit into my waist. “You’re testing my restraint, kitten. But if we’re going to attend this thing, we have to go.”
I nodded. “One sec.” I dabbed at his lips with my fingers, wiping off traces of my lipstick. “All better. You can let me go now.”
He shook his head. “Never ever again.”
I smiled because Gabe never said what he didn’t mean.
Chapter Nineteen
Gabe: Invitation to Eden
Gabe loved this island. There was the privacy—they were alone on a stretch of endless white sand and clear blue water. There was the mystery—his entire family and many friends were here for the opening of Elite, and yet there was no one around to hear or see a thing. And there was the view—his wife in a red bikini, showing off her luscious curves.
So much had changed in a short time. Trust between them had blossomed. When he’d rescued her from the police station, he’d thought she was the one who’d needed to let down her walls. In the time since, she’d showed him trust ran two ways. Together they were creating a life, in more ways than one.
He had someone to come home to at night, who made sure he didn’t get lost in work, not that he could with her waiting at the end of the day. He had an equal partner in day-to-day living. He shared his highs and the lows—to his surprise, Isabelle was interested in his business frustrations. Before her, he’d mull them over all night and return to them again in the morning. These days, they talked, he let his day go, and then he took her to bed.
He wouldn’t have thought interior design was his thing, but he enjoyed the stories she had about annoying clients and stubborn people. Most of all, he was proud of her successes, this club opening on Eden being the biggest of all.
For so long, he’d closed himself off to the possibility of love and a future because one woman had instilled him with fear and the possibility that he couldn’t be enough or do enough. With Isabelle, there was always more he wanted to give. It always gave him pleasure to do things for her, to take care of her in small but important ways.
Like making sure her bastard ex was fired from his job for attempting to poach clients and embezzling funds. Gabe hadn’t known what Daltry was up to, but a snake like Lance had to be doing something to regain his former golden boy status on Wall Street. All Gabe had had to do was hire a private detective and wait for the evidence, then let the bastard bury himself. Now the SOB was too busy trying to stay out of jail to think about anyone but himself.
Gabe watched with pleasure as Isabelle walked the beach, her hand on her stomach. He grinned, fully aware she had no idea she was pregnant. She’d been so busy getting ready for the opening of Eden Elite, first in New York and then here, she didn’t remember to eat meals unless he reminded her, let alone take her pill. He hadn’t realized until it was probably too late to do anything about it, and he really hadn’t wanted to.
Lately, there were times she was queasy, which she blamed on nerves. Adding in the subtle differences in her body, he knew better. Her breasts were more sensitive, her stomach a tiny bit rounder. She cried when she was happy and also when she was sad. More than usual. It wasn’t like he knew the signs, but he did remember his cousin Ian mentioning the changes in his own wife in the early stages of her pregnancy. Ian and Riley now had a baby girl, who Gabe felt fairly certain would turn her father’s hair prematurely gray. The uptight bastard deserved it, Gabe thought, laughing.
But thanks to them, he knew Isabelle most probably was carrying their child. When this club opening was over, he intended to tie her to their bed and keep her there for the next nine months. Okay, true, she wouldn’t allow it, but he was pretty sure she’d let him use the ties when it counted, he thought.
On the heels of that image, Isabelle trussed up and spread, waiting for him to bury his cock deep inside her, he strode down to the beach, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. “Hey, kitten.”
She spun in his arms, aligning their bodies with a sigh. “Happy three-month anniversary,” she said again, having woken him up with those words this morning.
As if he’d forget. He’d hauled her off to Vegas, his brother and sister in tow, and married her three months after they’d gotten engaged. Waiting wasn’t his style or in his vocabulary.
“Happy anniversary.” He nuzzled her neck, enjoying the coconut scent of suntan lotion and Isabelle. “How are you feeling?” He gingerly palmed her stomach.
“So-so. I’ll be glad when this opening’s over. Nerves and all that.”
He bit back a grin. “Everything ready for tonight?” he asked.
She nodded. “Nothing out of place, no stone unturned.”
“Will Lucy notice if you’re a no-show?” He slid his hand down the front of her bikini bottoms, gliding his fingers over her damp lower lips.
She moaned her appreciation. “Yes, and so will I. I worked too hard for this to miss the main event.”
“Knew that,” he muttered. “And I want to be by your side when you collect all the accolades for how the club turned out.” He continued to play with her pussy, knowing he could give her one good orgasm before she had to shower and get ready for the night. He’d get his treats later on.
“It’s Lucy’s baby,” Isabelle reminded him, still thinking about the club, but she began rocking her hips against his hand.
Another thing Gabe loved about Isabelle, her lack of ego or need to brag. That was fine; he could brag enough for them both. And Lucy planned to share credit.
“It’s good that you know that,” he told her. “Because you’re going to be too busy with our baby to worry about club openings.” He hadn’t planned on telling her, but now seemed as good a time as any. He slid his hand from her bottoms and waited for the reaction.
Her mouth opened then closed again. “What are you talking about?” she finally asked.
“I think you’re pregnant, kitten.”
“I can’t be!”
“No? Queasy? Check. Sore boobs?” He gently rubbed his finger over her nipple, and she squirmed out of reach. “Check. Where are your pills? Or should I ask, when was the last time you took one?”
The ocean waves were the only sound as she thought back. “Oh my God.”
He enclosed his hand protectively around her belly.
“Oh my God,” she said again. “I’m… We’re… Are you…?”
“Ecstatic, baby. You?” Suddenly he was the nervous one. Maybe she loved the job so much that kids weren’t something on her radar now. Maybe she no longer wanted the family she’d thought she did. What if—
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed yet again, and before he knew what was happening, she was in his arms, legs wrapped around him, peppering kisses all over him.
The twisting around his heart eased. Nothing had changed, after all. She was still a woman with an unloved little girl inside her, who wanted nothing more than a family to call her own.
He wanted nothing more than to give it to her, and he hoped that he had.
“Do you think they have home pregnancy tests on this island?” she asked.
“To hear the stories, some pretty amazing things have happened here. I think one phone call can get you anything you need.”
“Rumor has it it’s the Bermuda Triangle nearby that makes the island experience so different for everyone.”
<
br /> He laughed. “Every time I wonder how the hell we’re so alone and isolated with my entire family supposedly nearby, I think the same thing.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. “Let’s go make that phone call. I want to know for sure.”
“Doesn’t matter. If you’re not pregnant yet, I’ll just spend all my free time making sure that you are.” Now that he knew what it felt like to hope, to want their child, to know she did as well, on the off chance he was wrong, he was damned determined to make it happen.
He started for the room, Isabelle still in his arms.
“About that little comment you made? The one about me not having time for club openings because of our baby?” She tipped her head back, looking at him.
He nearly tripped. The last thing he needed was her flipping out on him, thinking he wanted to take everything she’d worked for away from her. “I was joking, Iz. You can work if that’s what you want.”
Although he’d love it if she stayed home with the baby. His mom had done that. But he knew how important Isabelle’s independence was to her. It was the one thing she’d fought him for—the only thing. And he wouldn’t risk losing her by putting that at risk.
She bit down on her lower lip, and he slowed to a stop, keeping her close to him. “What if I don’t?” she asked.
“What?”
“Want to work? What if I want to be home for the baby? I mean, I can do some consulting work with Lucy, I guess, to keep my hand in things so I have something for me … but…” She drew a deep breath.
He waited. Everything he was—everything he cared about—was tied up in this woman. He’d give her the moon if that’s what she wanted.
Her eyes grew glassy. “All I ever dreamed of was having a family that was mine. People who loved me, who I loved, who appreciated one another, including their kids. Everything I never had growing up.”
She placed a hand over her stomach, and he covered her hand with his.
“That’s why I gave up everything for Lance, and when that turned out to be an illusion, like my childhood was, I was determined to know I could stand on my own. You gave me that.” Her smile lit up his world. “And even though it’s the antithesis of everything I told myself I needed, I just want to be home with any kids that we have. Because I love you, but more important, I trust you.”
Damn, but she undid him.
He lowered her to her feet, slid his hand behind her neck, and pulled her in for a long kiss. “I love you, Iz.”
“I love you too. Now let’s go see if we can’t get me one of those tests.”
He grabbed her hand, and together they made their way back to the suite, the same one they’d stayed in the first time. And there, on the baby grand piano, was a bucket of apple cider and, beside it, an early home pregnancy test.
The note read: Welcome to Eden, where reality is whatever you wish it to be.
Book 1 in the Dare to Love series, Riley & Ian’s story, DARE TO LOVE and book 2, DARE TO DESIRE are available NOW!
Dare to Touch – Olivia Dare’s story will be available sometime in Fall 2014.
Like what you just read? Make sure to check out the rest of Invitation to Eden series. Sign up for our mailing list to receive new release alerts!
For more information about the island of Eden, check out our website!
Have you read Invitations to Eden’s other July releases?
Ivy in Bloom (Hothouse #2) by Vivi Anna writing as Tawny Stokes
After getting out of a bad relationship and dropping out of university, Ivy Watts decides she needs some much needed stress therapy. So when she discovers her parents have been invited to a luxury private island resort called Eden, she manages to finagle herself her own invitation. She expects to laze around on the beach with a drink in her hand and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life, but what she doesn’t expect is to learn a few life lessons from the tall, dark, older handsome man in the penthouse suite.
Second Glances (The Springs series) by Elena Aitken
When Kylie Wilson receives a mysterious invitation for an all expenses paid trip to a tropical, all inclusive resort, there’s no doubt in her mind who it came from—Marcus Stone, the only man she’s ever really loved. The same man who’d promised her forever and then promptly left town to pursue his dream without so much as a backward glance. Kylie owes it to herself to take a chance, and despite her conflicted feelings, she decides to risk her heart again and is soon jetting toward the island of Eden and the man she hopes will finally fill the void in her life. But when she arrives, all is not as she expected it to be. More to the point, he is not who she expected him to be. And on an island that is supposed to ‘know exactly what you need’, can Kylie open her body, mind, and more importantly—her heart to someone and something, she’s never considered?
ALL EDEN RELEASES:
March
Master of the Island by Lauren Hawkeye
April
Random Acts of Fantasy by Julia Kent
Yours Truly, Taddy by Avery Aster
Escape From Reality by Adriana Hunter
May
Hydrotherapy by Suzanne Rock
Fight For Me by Sharon Page
June
Breaking Free by Cathryn Fox
Hold Me Close by Eliza Gayle
Queen’s Knight by Sara Fawkes
July
Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips
Ivy in Bloom by Vivi Anna writing as Tawny Stokes
Second Glances (The Springs) by Elena Aitken
August
Rough Draft by Mari Carr
Blurring The Lines by Roni Loren
Return to Sender by Steena Holmes
September
Pleasure Point by Eden Bradley
Wild Ride by Opal Carew
Master of Pleasure by Lauren Hawkeye
October
Her Desert Heart by Delilah Devlin
The Capture by Erika Wilde
Thorne of a Rose by Kimberly Kaye Terry
November
Falling or Flying by R.G. Alexander
Elusive Hero by Joey W. Hill
Captive of Desire by Sarah Castille
December
Delicious and Deadly by C.C. MacKenzie
Pleasure Games by Jessica Clare
How To Tempt A Tycoon by Daire St. Denis
Thank you so much for reading Isabelle and Gabe’s story. I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too. Please recommend to friends and leave a review when possible!
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About the Author
N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips has written over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels. After a successful 15 year career with various New York publishing houses, Carly made the leap to Indie author, with the goal of giving her readers more books at a faster pace at a better price. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website.
She’s a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she’s a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.
Please turn the page for Carly’s Booklist.
CARLY’S BOOKLIST by Series
Below are links to my series on my website where you will find buy links for each novel!
Dare to Love Series
Dare to Love
Dare to Desire
Dare to Surrender
Serendipity Series
Serendipity
Destiny
Karma
Serendipity’s Finest Series
Perfect Fit
Perfect Fling
Perfect Together
Serendipity Novellas
Kismet
Fated
Hot Summer Nights (Perfect Stranger)
Bachelor Blog Series
Kiss Me If You Can
Love Me If You Dare
Lucky Series
Lucky Charm
Lucky Streak
Lucky Break
Ty and Hunter Series
Cross My Heart
Sealed with a Kiss
Hot Zone Series
Hot Stuff
Hot Number
Hot Item
Hot Property
Dare to Surrender Page 14
