“Babe, let’s go,” I called through our cabana. Kalli had called and made reservations at the restaurant, but then she’d disappeared into the bathroom and I was starting to question whether or not I needed to go in there and drag her out.
“I’m ready,” she said as the door opened. She stepped out and it was as if I’d slammed into a brick wall, or been punched right in the gut. She was so fucking beautiful. She moved around the room, gathering whatever she needed, but I was transfixed by her, simply mesmerized.
Her hair was loose, but she’d curled it so the straw-colored strands were winding around each other. A few locks at each temple were pulled back and pinned on the side with something that sparkled. Her gorgeous skin was only complemented by the white of her dress, her breasts only held in by the straps that tied behind her neck. I could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra, as I could see the deep valley between her breasts, and my mouth watered to kiss her there. The white dress cinched right below her breasts and then flowed all the way to the floor in a goddesslike spill of delicate, soft fabric. My hands itched to run along her dress, to see if it felt as soft as it looked.
“You look beautiful,” I managed to force out, my words almost inaudible they were so quiet. She gave me the most brilliant smile I’d ever seen and even through the new bronzing of her skin, I could see a blush creep over her cheeks. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Really, Kalli, you look incredible.” I walked toward her and held out my hand, pulling her to me when she gave me hers.
“Thank you. I was hoping you’d like this dress,” she said shyly, her eyes dropping to the fabric draping so beautifully over her body.
I brought her chin back up with a gentle finger. “It’s not the dress,” I whispered. “It’s you.” I leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss against her lips, but then pulled away because I knew if I kept kissing her we’d end up back on the bed. She was a masterpiece and I didn’t want to mar her.
I interlaced our fingers, leading her toward the door. We walked slowly down the wooden path that took us from our private cabana to the shore. It was late and the sun was nearly completely set, so the pathways were all lined with tiki torches, casting an orange glow over us.
When we made it to the restaurant we were seated immediately and enjoyed one of the best meals I’d ever had. The food was spectacular, as I expected at the five-star resort we were staying at. But Kalli was everything during that meal. She was funny and sweet, flirting with me over cool, crisp white wine. She was supportive and attentive, listening to me as I worried about work and life, holding my hand from across the table.
At one point I asked her to dance, so we spent a few songs swaying back and forth to a tropical rhythm. I couldn’t help but kiss her bare shoulder as I trailed my fingers lightly down the naked skin of her back, watching as her skin pebbled with goose bumps.
“I want to take you back to the room,” I whispered into her ear right before I kissed the skin below it.
She pulled away and gave me a nervous smile.
“Okay, but, give me a ten-minute head start, okay?”
I tilted my head, confused by her request. “You want me to wait ten minutes to go back to the room?” Suddenly it dawned on me that she was planning something. “What have you done?” I had so many wonderful images of Kalli’s body adorned with sexy lingerie.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” she said, trying to sound coquettish, but only coming off as ridiculously cute and a little silly.
“Is it sexy?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“I’m hoping that when you find out, it will lead to a lot of sex, yes.”
“Fuck,” I groaned.
“Ten minutes,” she repeated, then kissed me quickly right before she turned and walked away. I watched her leave, her dress even stunning from the back, and decided to take a walk on the beach to waste the required ten minutes. I grew impatient during those minutes, wondering what I would find when I went back to the cabana, what kind of surprise she was planning for me.
Finally, when I reached our private walkway, my heart rate sped up, and I could feel the pulse in my neck. I wanted to get to her, to hold her again. I’d been with her for nearly a week uninterrupted, and ten minutes seemed to be too long to be apart any longer.
When I made it to the door, I found a piece of paper taped to the front with Kalli’s unmistakable handwriting on it.
The door is unlocked. Come inside. Follow the trail and meet me at the end.
I opened the door slowly to find red roses everywhere. There were so many roses, I couldn’t contain the laugh that bubbled up in my throat. It was beautiful, but I couldn’t imagine how she’d pulled it off.
A path on the floor was lit with candles with red rose petals scattered all around. I suddenly remembered how I’d done this exact same thing when I brought her to the house for the first time. The pulsing in my neck turned to thundering as my heart accelerated. She was up to something, and it wasn’t just lingerie.
I followed the candlelit path, which led me to the balcony. Standing amidst roses and candles, Kalli stood at the railing with a smile I hoped to see every day for the rest of my life. She was beaming at me, simply radiating happiness, and it was all I could do to keep myself from running the rest of the way to her.
“What are you doing?” I whispered when I was finally close enough to her, right before I kissed her quickly.
“Do you like the view?” she asked, her voice wavering the tiniest bit.
“I love the view,” I said, placing my hands on either side of her face and kissing her deeper. I pulled away after a few moments and smiled. “You didn’t buy this cabana did you? It had to cost a fortune.”
She laughed, but then wiped away a tear that had escaped. “No, I didn’t buy the cabana, but I was hoping we could come back here every once in a while to celebrate our anniversary.”
“Of course, baby.” I said, bringing her to me. “But, which day should we count as our anniversary? The day we met on the video shoot, or the day you showed up in my dressing room?”
“How about the day we get married?” I couldn’t see her face, but her voice sounded odd, weak and shaky. My first instinct was to laugh softly, so I did. We’d spoken about getting married before, it was obvious, to me at least, that was where our relationship was heading, but we’d been so busy and both our careers had taken off at the same time. Life was running away with us. “Yeah, baby. We’ll work on that, I promise.”
“Riot,” she whispered, her voice so delicate. “I want you to marry me.”
“Babe, we’ll get married. I promise.” I pulled away to tell her how much I loved her, how I didn’t want her to worry about our future together because she was all I could see for me in ten, twenty, even fifty years from now. I wanted to tell her how I wanted her to have my babies, soon, how I wanted to start a family with her. I wanted everything with her. But when I pulled away to reassure her of all that, I was stopped by the look on her face and the ring she was holding up between us.
“I’m asking you, Riot. I’m asking you to marry me.”
My eyes darted between her face and the ring, wondering what I’d missed, how we’d gotten here. In her hand was a men’s wedding band. It was black and thick, exactly something I would pick out for myself. Was this really happening?
“You’re asking me to marry you? You’re proposing?” I took the tiniest step away from her, trying to take it all in. I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face, even if she looked terrified. I didn’t understand her nerves; surely she knew I would say yes.
“I want us to get married. I want you to marry me. And the longer I thought about it, the more I thought I should just ask you.”
“You want to get married?” I asked, smiling, moving closer to her.
“Yes,” she said, her voice suddenly breathy, watching me as I moved into her space so our bodies were touching, her hand with my ring in it still up between us.
“You want this forever?” I tucked a
loose tendril of hair behind her ear, then moved my hand to the back of her neck, squeezing it firmly, watching her eyelids flutter as I did.
She nodded slightly, eyes finding mine. “I want you forever.”
“Then, you got me.” I took the ring from her and slid it onto my finger, laughing slightly at the thought of Kalli proposing to me. She had caught me completely off guard. “Tomorrow, we find a jeweler and we put a ring on your finger,” I said, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her as close to me as I could.
“I’d like that,” she breathed.
“I’d like to take you back into that candlelit bedroom and make love to my fiancée,” I said quietly.
“I’d like that too.”
I kissed her, then swept my arm under her knees and carried her back to the bed, looking forward to the rest of my life spent admiring the view of Kalli Bentley.
The End
Acknowledgements
Kalli and Riot’s story was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. Never Standing Still came with its own hurdles, but I never anticipated the kind of cathartic release I would get when it came time for Kalli to speak with her father. I, truly, never saw that coming; could not have been prepared for the copious amounts of tears shed or the way Kalli’s story went a little ways to heal a part of me that will probably always be a little bit broken. So I guess I’d like to thank anyone who read the book and could relate to Kalli in that way. And I’d like to offer you big hugs too.
To Andrea and Kelly, again, you continually blow me away with your generosity in time and effort. It’s such a relief to me to know you’ll do everything you can, every time, to help me make my books the best they can be.
To Olivia, you’ve edited a few of my books now and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtful and immensely helpful wisdom. You did a great job on this book, and it’s 100% better for all your work. Thank you. A huge thanks to everyone else at Hot Tree Editing who had a hand (or eyes) on this book. I am forever grateful.
Enticing Journey Book Promotions – you gals rock. Thank you for always supporting me and being so professional.
I have to thank Lindy again, and all the ladies in the Sprinters group, for helping me write this book, every day. I love having such a supportive group of writers around me, who understand that writing X amount of words a day is not easy all the time (…or most of the time…).
Thanks to my family for letting me hide in my room as soon as dinner is over, and for understanding that my work is real work too.
And finally, Giselle, thank you for your time and knowledge you so graciously shared with me. Your years spent in LA and on the Paramount lot came in real handy! Love you!
Other books by Anie Michaels
The Never Series
Never Close Enough
Never Far Away
Never Giving Up
The Never Duet
Never Standing Still
Never Tied Down
The Private Serials
Private Affairs
Private Encounters
Private Getaway
Private Property
Stand Alone Novels
The Space Between Us
The Absence of Olivia
The Presence of Grace – coming in 2016
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Never Tied Down (The Never Duet #2) Page 24
