by Jenika Snow
And she was meant tae be with me. Only me.
Epilogue One
Molly
One year later
I’d never seen anything more beautiful than the Scottish countryside in front of me. Green, rolling hills, an overcast sky that had me wanting to grab a warm blanket and book, but most of all I had the man I loved beside me.
I looked over at Alastair, and although he just stood there, staring off into the distance, he seemed like he was in his element.
It was hard to believe I’d only met him a year ago. I had known what I wanted, even back then, and he was mine.
He turned and looked at me, his strawberry-blond hair cut short to his head, his face set in hard angular lines, and his cheeks and chin covered in a light scruff. I lowered my gaze down his hard, broad shoulders, along his narrow hips, and stared at his kilt. God, this man in a kilt did things to me … hot, erotic things.
This was my Scottish man. All mine.
He pulled me in, just held me, the wind whipping around us but his body heat keeping me warm.
He’d surprised me with a trip to Scotland, to visit where he was from, his family, friends, and show me where he grew up. I felt good here, like I wasn’t some stranger looking around blindly, but then again, being with Alastair made everything seem right.
He pulled me back, cupped my chin, and for long seconds just stared at me. I felt the air around us change, not because it was warming up but because something was going to happen. I could feel it wrapping around me.
“Marry me, lass.”
My breath stalled.
“You already make me the happiest man in the world, but having you by my side, as mine forever, would be perfection.” He smoothed a finger along the side of my face. “I donna want tae be without you.”
He got down on one knee, producing the most gorgeous ring I’d ever seen, and that’s when I broke down and started crying. I wasn’t a child, had already graduated college and had a job in the field I’d studied.
I also had Alastair and was deliriously happy.
But this … this went far beyond anything else. This went into the realm of having everything come full circle.
“So, Molly my lass, what do you say? Marry me?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded. “Yes, of course.”
He picked me up and crushed me to his big body.
“Ah, lass, you’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”
He squeezed me tighter, the air leaving me. I loved it though.
“I dinna kno’ what living was until you came intae my life, lass.”
Me either.
Epilogue Two
Molly
Six months after the wedding
I was scared shitless, not sure if this would be something Alastair was ready for … if I was ready for this, to be a mother. I stared at the test stick, the pink lines staring back at me like this warning—or maybe this promise of the future.
I didn’t want to think negatively about this, and although I was scared, I also knew I wanted this baby.
I looked down at my wedding ring. We’d only been married six months. Would this be too much for Alastair, too soon? Just then I heard the front door open.
I stepped out of the bathroom, the stick in my hand, my mind in a daze. I saw Alastair, and he looked right at me.
“Lass?”
I could hear in his voice that he knew something was up, that he could see it on my face. He glanced down and saw the pregnancy test in my hand, and I felt the air change, shift.
God, this is it.
Alastair
I could see she was nervous, kne’ it was because of the little stick she held. I was in front of her in the next instant.
She had tears in her eyes, and I cupped her cheeks, wanting nothing more than tae make her feel better. I pulled her close. My heart was thundering, and my palms were sweaty. “Molly, my sweet lass.”
“I feel like I’m on this ledge about to fall over.”
“Shhh, everything is going tae be fine.” I leaned back and cupped her cheeks again, staring in her eyes, willing her tae try and be calm. “A baby?” I already kne’ the answer, given her reaction, and I was trying tae keep my own excitement over the situation down. I needed tae make sure she was okay first. I dinna want her tae feel any more overwhelmed than she was.
After a second she smiled and nodded, and that’s when I smiled too.
“You think this is too soon?” Her voice was soft, distant. She was so worried. That could have brought me tae my knees.
“I’ve known you were mine since the moment I saw you. And having you as my wife made things real, lass. They are so fooking real.” I kissed the top of her head.
“A baby, Alastair. We’re going to be parents.” She started laughing softly, her happiness clear, but that underlying nervousness still there.
“Aye, lass. A baby.” I didn’t hide my own excitement anymore. I’d been waiting tae even bring up children with her, thinking it was too soon for her tae even consider it.
I picked her up in my arms, her feet barely touching the floor now. I kissed her face, no’ stopping until I had marked every inch of her. I was letting her kno’ without words this was very, very good.
“God, you make me so happy, Molly.” I set her back down and instantly fell to my knees before her, framing her flat belly with my hands. “There will never be a day where you question my love for you, lass. Never.”
She speared her hands in my hair, smiling down at me. “I never have, and I know I never will.”
“I love you so fooking much. I’ll show you for the rest of my life how much you mean tae me.” I rose tae my feet again and pulled her in for an embrace.
“I love you, and we are going tae be some incredible parents,” I said.
She started laughing, and I kne’ perfection had never felt so right until I had this woman, and the baby she carried, standing in front of me.
Epilogue Three
Alastair
Three years later
There was nothing more important in my life than the woman who’d said yes tae me at the alter, and the family we were creating together.
Life really had no’ meaning for me without any of that, without knowing that Molly was mine, and the laughter of my daughter filling my head.
I heard the shifting of Molly beside me, and pulled her closer tae my body. She was warm and sweet smelling, her soft breath brushing along my chest. I slid my hand down tae her rounded belly, my son growing big and strong inside. I buried my face in her hair, inhaling deeply and feeling my love for her grow.
Even now my cock was hard, my need for this woman insatiable. I would take her all the time if I didn’t think I was overbearing. I didn’t want her sore, didn’t want her thinking I was some fooking asshole because I couldn’t contain myself around her.
I wanted her constantly though. Just knowing she was pregnant, glowing and healthy, our child growing strong inside of her, made me want tae keep her close.
Like some primitive animal I wanted tae mark her, to show her that she was always mine.
I wanted everyone tae see that.
I rubbed her belly back and forth, feeling our son start to move under her skin, those little jabs of life filling me with happiness. Our daughter slept just down the hall in her room, her sweet smile another reason I kne’ there was nothing more precious in this world than family.
And then Molly placed her hand on mine. She slipped her fingers between mine, snuggled in closer tae my chest, and exhaled.
“Sleep, lass. I dinna mean tae wake you.”
She shifted and tipped her head back tae look intae my face. “You didn’t wake me.”
Her sleepy smile had my cock getting harder. There was no doubt in my mind she felt the stiffness of it against her leg.
“You’re insatiable,” she whispered.
Three years had gone by so fast, yet they felt so far away now. Once our little girl was born, Mol
ly had cut back on working. It had been her decision, and I supported her. I was now working as a full-time professor at the university by our home, providing for my family and making sure they dinna want for anything.
“I bet this little guy will be just like you,” she said and smiled up at me again, this glint of happiness in her eyes.
“You mean he’ll be wild?” I laughed softly.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” We both chuckled.
I started kissing her again, and as the seconds passed, all I thought about was this moment. I could only think about being with her. “Fook, lass, I love you so much.” I cupped her cheek. “Do you kno’ how much I love you?”
This woman and the children she gave me were the reason I lived.
She leaned forward and kissed me. “I know.”
I saw her love for me reflected in her eyes. I smoothed my fingers over her cheeks, her skin sweet. I pushed the blanket down, exposing her belly, wanting tae kiss her there, revel in the life she created.
I moved my lips along her flesh, kissing her skin softly, smiling the whole time. “I’m the luckiest fooking bastard in the world.”
She ran her fingers over my back, and I shivered at her touch.
Mine.
I gave her stomach one last kiss before looking intae her face again. I pulled her closer and just held her. Holding her like this was perfection.
“For me it’ll only ever be you, lass.” I leaned down to kiss her, willing tae prove tae her for the rest of my life how true those words were.
The End
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Coming May 2017
Mine (A Real Man, 13)
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Excerpt: Bear With Me
Brittin
I knew coming back to Stales was a bad idea, but I also didn’t have any other option.
He needs my help.
I thought of my brother, Blaine, my twin, the one person I’ve always wanted to shelter. He has issues, as does everyone, but at just three minutes older than Blaine, I always felt like I had to protect him … even from himself.
I tightened my hands on the steering wheel and focused on the road. I left the city as soon as Blaine called saying he needed my help and that he’d really messed up this time. He had an anger problem when he was drunk and people started shit with him, even if said shit was harmless. Blaine also had a drinking problem, the same destructive one our father had.
That’s how our father died. He’d gotten into yet another fight at the local bar—the same one Blaine frequented. Our father got his skull smashed in by a tire iron because he’d fucked with the wrong drunken asshole.
And if he continues down this path, Blaine will end up dead, his head cracked open, and his blood alcohol to the point it would be surprising he could even be conscious. Just look at how that ended up for our father.
The only good thing our father ever did for us was die, and as morbid and awful as that was to say, it was the truth. He’d been drunk more often than not, living off disability checks, using that money to pay the bare minimum of bills so he had a place to live, but the rest going toward booze. Hell, we had managed to survive off ramen noodles, boxes of spaghetti and pasta sauce, and if we were lucky, some fresh fruit.
And the only reason we’d had money while growing up was because Blaine had stolen some out of our father’s wallet when he’d been too passed out to notice.
God, we’d both been through a lot, but Blaine had taken after our father, and I hated that he hated himself because of it.
I knew he did, because he’d told me more than once.
I should never have left. He might not have relapsed if I had been here.
I couldn’t think like that though, because statistically speaking, with the amount of relapses Blaine had already experienced while I was living in Stales, he probably would have done it anyway.
I blinked past the tears.
God, I hated this.
I increased my speed, the darkness around me nothing but a blur. I’d be in Stales soon, bail Blaine out, and then get him in a rehab program. It might be for the fifth time, but I wasn’t leaving Stales until I knew he was healthy.
Can I even leave again?
Truth was Blaine and I had gotten a small sum of money after our father’s death over ten years ago.
I’d invested my portion and, at twenty-nine, had a sizable bank account because of it.
Blaine, on the other hand, had drunk all of his.
I can’t leave him again. He’s all alone. He needs me. I can’t let him be by himself. His disease will end up eating him up and spitting him out.
And that’s why I’d left, because I couldn’t take the shit anymore. Blaine had been on the road to recovery when I moved to the city, had even been sober for the previous six months. But I was a fool to leave him, to think I could escape this town and my life.
That had been nearly two years ago, and although I visited with Blaine during that time, I’d clearly been blind to how my brother really was.
And then I thought about him, another catalyst to my leaving.
My ex.
The man I still loved more than anything.
A bear shifter.
Lawson “Law” Blackwater.
God, just thinking of his name had chills racing up my spine. I shifted on my seat, remembering his touches, the way he was so possessive, and the flash of his animal behind his eyes.
I saw the town sign come into my view, and my heart started pounding. Blaine had called me from the police station, which meant I’d have to bail his ass out and see Law. There was no getting around that fact: Law was the sheriff, and he had his hands in every little thing that went down in town.
It has been nearly two years since I’ve seen him, since I let him touch me.
Law, the grizzly bear shifter that now ran Stales.
Law, the man that had a name to match what he kept in line.
I tightened my hand on the steering wheel; driving through the center of town had the memories of growing up here assaulting me. When I didn’t think about my drunken father, the motherless home life, the broken relationship with Law, or the fact my brother was digging his own grave, I’d loved this town. I had wonderful memories of it, but the bad outweighed the good, for sure.
And then I made the last turn that would take me to the police station, and I felt like I was entering an alternate dimension, like I was about to jump into the very pits of hell.
Okay, so that was a gross exaggeration, but right now that’s certainly what it felt like.
Law
I smelled the lemony, sugary scent of her before I ever caught sight of Brittin. My entire body stiffened, my cock hardened, and my bear rose up. I didn’t move, though, and stayed in the corner, sitting behind my desk, watching as she finally walked in. She spoke with Doris, the receptionist, and I had to grip the edge of the table to keep myself from going to her.
It had been nearly two years since I’d seen Brittin, and no matter how much I’d wanted to go to her, throw her over my shoulder, and drag her fine ass back home—because I knew where the fuck she’d been—I stayed away.
She’d ended things, and I wasn’t about to grovel for her love again.
I’d screwed up, but she’d told me to let her go, and as hard as that had been, I let her go.
But fuck, it had been hard.
I curled my nails into the desk, my claws digging into the wood. I watched her speak with Doris, the worried look on her face. I knew when I brought Blaine in that he’d call her. I knew she’d come for him.
Even though I had legitimate reasons for bringing him in, I could have said I’d done it just because I knew she would come.
Doris stood, glanced at me, and gave me this sympathetic look. The whole fucking town knew everything about everyone, and that
included the relationship Brittin and I had back in the day.
When Doris took Brittin to the back where the cells were. I wanted to get up and go to her. She turned her head in my direction right before she disappeared down the hall.
I saw the changes in her when our eyes locked. I saw the way she stiffened, smelled the scent of her pleasure for me, and sensed how she wanted me but fought it.
She still wanted me, but the past rose up like a fucking wall.
I should have done so many things differently. I shouldn’t have told her I wanted her to stay home, give up her career and dream, and run the house. She was a strong, independent woman, and because of my stubbornness, because I wanted things done my way, we’d drifted apart. And because I wouldn’t budge from what I wanted, because I kept pushing her to submit to me, I’d lost the best damn thing in my life.
But as time went on I became the sheriff. I realized I had screwed up so severely that I couldn’t rectify the situation.
She disappeared down the hallway, and I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath. I didn’t know how long she planned on staying, but I had to talk to her and see how things were. I had to apologize for how I’d fucked up all those years ago.
Brittin was the only one I wanted. She was the only one—human and shifter alike—that I’ve ever wanted.
Hell, there had been no other females for me since we got together, or after we broke up, for that matter. I’d been celibate since she left two years ago, with no desire to even be with another female.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, the trimmed beard I’d grown adding to the hard-ass, grizzly bear shifter sheriff reputation I had in town.
She’s here for Blaine. Maybe I should just back the fuck off. She hasn’t contacted me in all this time either.
