Against the Rules (Liberty Cove Book 1)

by Julia Black

  “I know you would never hurt her, not intentionally. But I can’t risk it. You love her today, and you think you’re falling for me, but what if down the road we find out we’re too different, that we don’t really like each other, and you walk away from us? How will I explain that to her? How will I comfort her then?” I shook my head and repeated, “I can’t risk it.”

  “Life is one risk after another, Kiera, you can’t hide from it forever.” He paused, his eyes gaining a shine that I could only label as despair. “So you’ll throw away what we have now, what we feel for each other now, because you can’t risk something that might happen in five, ten years? If you think like that, then you’ll never get involved with anyone again, because there are no guarantees. Ever.”

  “What about you? Just a few days ago you told me you didn’t want a serious relationship. No marriage, no children. What changed?”

  “Everything,” he said, his tone low, like he had just spewed a confession. “I was afraid. I was afraid of my past catching up to me, of turning out to be as violent as my foster parents, of being a bad influence and turning someone else bad. I realize now it is my choice. If I don’t want to be a bad guy and be violent, then all I need is to make the right choices. I can shape my future as I want it to be. I know I can be a nice guy who loves fiercely, I just needed to embrace that. And find the right person who I wanted to give my love to. Well, in this case people, since there are two of you.”

  I sucked in a long breath. I had had this talk with Mercedes and Pillar and Ella and Charlotte many, many times. I knew he was right, but there was a giant wall in front of me called fear and I couldn’t find a way to climb it.

  “Please, don’t do this to me.”

  A lopsided grin adorned his lips. “Do what? Tell you that I love you?” He advanced one step, tentative, careful. “Because I do. I love you.”

  Something clenched in my chest and I couldn’t breathe. He reached for me, still wary, afraid I would pull back, but by now I had no strength—no will—to fight it anymore. I let him pull me to his arms, and when he cupped my face, I melted into him.

  “I love you,” he repeated.

  A sob bubbled in my throat, but before it could escape, I rose to my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. He sighed, as if in relief, and I clutched his t-shirt, holding him tight. His lips moved in the same rhythm as mine. His heart beat in the same desperate tempo as mine.

  He pushed his body into mine, pressing me back against the high counter, letting me feel and enjoy his hard muscles. Damn, I loved being wrapped around him. I loved …

  I pulled back, breaking the kiss, and looked into his eyes. “I love you too.”

  A wide smile adorned his lips and then he dove in again, taking my lips once more.

  We kissed and touched and got reacquainted with each others’ bodies for what seemed an eternity, but it would never be long enough.

  A soft knock followed by a throat clearing made us jump apart.

  “Have you two made up yet?” Luana asked, from inside her bedroom.

  My cheeks heated and I hid my face in my hands, chuckling. Josh kissed the top of my head and pulled my hands from my face.

  “Yes, we made up,” he said, still holding my arms. He tugged me close to him, gluing my body to his side just as Luana emerged from her bedroom. “We are together now,” he told her.

  “Pft, now?” She rolled her eyes. “I know you two have been together since the day Josh moved next door.” My jaw fell to the floor and Josh laughed once again. “But now you don’t need to hide it from me anymore.”

  Josh opened one of his arms and Luana rushed into us. The three of us closed in a tight embrace. And we would never let it go.

  Eighteen Months Later

  Josh

  I brushed my sweaty palms on my pants for the hundredth time this evening, but it didn’t change a thing. I had never been this nervous in my life and the wait only made it worse.

  Beside me, in my jeep, Kiera was clueless.

  All she knew was that tonight was Saturday, our usual date night, when someone—Mercedes, Pillar, Ella, Charlotte, or her parents—stayed with Luana so we could go out to the movies and dinner.

  After we made up, things moved fast. In less than six months we moved in to one of the apartments in the middle tier of Liberty Cover, and it had been the best decision of my life so far. The next best decision of my life was coming up tonight, I hoped.

  And Kiera and her parents made up too. Things would never be the same and so far it was going very slow, but she was trying. Once every two weeks we had dinner with them, and once in awhile, Luana spent the entire day with them. If someone who didn’t know the past saw them together, they would never guess Luana was just know getting to know her grandparents. They seemed to really love each other and have fun together.

  Another good thing that came from their reunion was Kiera’s education. Her parents insisted in paying for her tuition so she could stop working at the department store and attend college full time, doing a major she loved instead of something that she hated but would just provide her and her child a stable future. For over three months, she refused, until her parents reached out to the university and paid her tuition in full. All she had to do was pick a major and go for it. So she did it. Now she would soon graduate in graphic design—something she always liked but knew the market was more unstable.

  And I would soon start my residency in pediatric medicine.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, reaching for my hand across the seats.

  I offered her a small smile. “Sure. Why?”

  She shrugged. “You’re quieter than usual.”

  “I’ve been thinking about my final exams in a couple of months,” I said, not an entire lie. My final exams were coming up soon and I was starting to get worried about them, too.

  She squeezed my hand. “You’re smart and a great student. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

  I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed the back of her palm.

  Two minutes later, I parked my jeep on the restaurant’s parking lot. “Wait here.” I told her before hopping off the car and rushing to the other side to open the door for her.

  She laughed as she slipped her hand in mine and let me help her exit my car. “Thank you.”

  I hooked her hand around my arm and pressed a light kiss on her lips. “You’re welcome.”

  At the restaurant, I held on to Kiera’s arm as we walked up to the host, then veered left.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, glancing back to the host, who was now talking to the group that entered the restaurant right behind us.

  “Come with me,” I told her.

  She stared at me as if I had gone crazy, but let me guide her to the back of the restaurant. I paused at the archway, took a deep breath, and stepped in.

  Beside me, Kiera gasped. “What …?”

  I smiled, watching her wide eyes and her open mouth. She looked around taking in the large reserved area, where many of our friends were standing around tables, waiting for us.

  Everyone important to us was here. Luana, Kiera’s parents, Grace and her family, Ella and her boyfriend, Charlotte and her boyfriend, Pillar and her boyfriend, Mercedes and others neighbors and friends from school and work.

  She returned her eyes to me and suddenly I wasn’t nervous anymore. I knew exactly what I wanted and why I was doing this.

  Holding her hand, I pulled Kiera to the center of the room. Luana met with me halfway and handed the black velvet box. I knelt in front of Kiera and opened the box. She gasped again, her hand covering her mouth.

  I looked into her eyes, hoping she saw the truth of my words in them. “Kiera, I love you more than words can say. Will you marry me?” Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded. I chuckled. “It would be nice if you said it out loud.”

  She laughed, then dropped her hand from her mouth, and said, “Yes!”

  With a big smile of my own, I slid the ring in her finger, the
n I stood up and kissed the love of my life. I embraced her and said, “I love so damn much.”

  “I love you more,” she said before kissing me again.

  Luana jumped into us. We caught her and had our trio-hug like she always said. Hopefully someday, it would be a four-hug, or maybe even a five-hug thing.

  Then, we were surrounded by the guests who wanted to congratulate us and stare at Kiera’s ring and ask a million questions we didn’t have answers to yet.

  After dinner and dessert, a slow rock ballad played through the speakers and I took my future wife to dance.

  “How long have you been planning this for?” she asked while we swayed side to side. I loved feeling her body rubbing against mine.

  “Since we moved in together.”

  She gaped at me. “That was over a year ago.”

  I nodded. “Yes. I was waiting, giving you time.”

  She tilted her head, staring into my eyes. “I’m shocked by how perfect you are.”

  I tsked. “No, I’m not perfect.”

  She brushed her lips against mine. “Well, maybe not all around perfect, but perfect for me.”

  “I’ll take that,” I said before dipping her at the waist and kissing her again to the sound of cheer. And the loudest of them all was Luana’s.

  ***

  Kiera

  The party had been perfect—and gone until way too late.

  Josh picked up a sleeping Luana from the back of Jeep and gently carried her to our apartment. This was much nicer than our previous ones. It was bigger, newer, with new appliances, upgraded kitchen, and we were slowly buying new furniture. Soon, Josh would graduate from med school and make more money with his residency, and I would graduate and go back to the work world—and hopefully make more money too. Things were looking up.

  I watched as he laid Luana in her bed and pulled the covers over her. He ran his hand over her hair and my heart squeezed. I loved seeing how he loved my daughter.

  Luana’s sixth birthday was almost three months away, but the other night he had come to me and asked me if we could surprise her with a trip to Disney—I loved how he was always thinking about her, trying to make her happy, to give her things he didn’t have when he was a kid. It made my heart warm over and it was the best feeling in the world.

  As for her biological father … Adam and Claire divorced. He found out she was a real bitch, not only with kids. Slowly, I let him come back into Luana’s life and they saw each other every two Saturdays to spend an afternoon together. In the beginning, it was under my supervision. But I knew I couldn’t protect her from everything. Besides, she was a little older now and could discern between right and wrong better. And I truly believed Adam wouldn’t hurt her, not intentionally at least.

  Josh turned and smiled at me. I smiled back at him.

  Careful not to make too much noise, Josh walked out of Luana’s room and closed the door. Then he picked me up in his arms, making me yelp.

  “The night isn’t over yet,” he said, taking me to our bedroom.

  I laughed as he threw me on our bed and crawled over me. He pressed his body down on mine, and I moaned. God, I loved feeling his weight pushing down on me, his taut muscles on my soft body, the hard on inside his pants rubbing against my pelvis, sending a rush of fire through my veins.

  Then his mouth was on mine. He kissed me with a frantic hunger, taking my breath away. His lips traveled down from my lips to my jaw, leaving a trail of fire, making me shiver.

  “I love you, my future wife,” he whispered in my ear as he slid his cock inside me.

  I gasped, loving the way he filled me. “I love you too, my future husband,” I whispered as he pushed deep, burying his entire length in me.

  I hugged him tight, wrapping my arms and legs around him. This right here … it was perfect. There was nowhere else I would rather be.

  And then he started moving. Fast, hard, deep. The world faded away. I let all my worries, all my problems, everything go and surrendered to him, body and soul.

  Thank you for reading Against the Rules!

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  About the Author:

  Julia is an author of sexy contemporary romance with strong heroines and even stronger heroes. When not writing, Julia likes to read, to watch romance movies, to bake, and to spend time with her family. She lives in a small town in the Carolinas with her husband and their two kids.

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