I give his waist a squeeze and return his kiss before letting him go. ‘You nervous?’
‘I never get nervous, angel.’
‘Liar. You used to sweat buckets just at the thought of entering The Playroom.’
He turns to look at me, and I know what he’s going to ask. It’s an obvious question, now I’ve mentioned the club. ‘Are you going back to all of that?’
‘You know I am.’
‘And you’re sure about everything?’
I nod, because I am. I’m sure. It’s where I belong, that world. It’s what I know, what I do. It’s where I belong. I’ve come home, I know that now.
‘He’s not making you…’
‘Come on, Joey. You know Neal better than that by now. You know he can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.’
‘I’m well aware of that, angel, it’s just…’
‘I need to get back to normal. OK? Our kind of normal, because that other kind – it was nice. It was good, for a while. But I need this back now. I need this kind of normal.’
‘Like the past year never happened, huh?’
I look down, at my fingers gripping the edge of the dressing table. ‘It happened, Joey. And maybe it needed to, you know? Maybe all that crap actually had to happen to make me finally realise what it was I really wanted.’
‘Have you spoken to Jon? Since last night?’
‘I spoke to him this morning. He’s back in Maine now and he’s… he’s OK. And I needed to know that; that he was OK.’
‘And…?’
I look up. ‘And, that’s it. It’s over. We’re done. For good this time.’
‘And you’re sure you’re alright?’
‘I will be.’
He sighs, but it’s a good natured one, I can tell by the twinkle in his eyes. He’s not mad or frustrated with me anymore, or if he is he’s hiding it well. But Joey doesn’t really do hiding, so I think we’re good. ‘You don’t make your life easy, do you, kiddo?’
‘An easy life isn’t an exciting one, Joey.’
He raises an eyebrow and throws me a small smile, but I know he’s silently agreeing with me.
‘Anyway, come on, Joey Princess. I do believe we have a wedding to go to.’
He holds out his arm and I take it. ‘You still giving me away?’
‘Honey, I am ready to throw you at that man of yours.’
He squeezes my arm and kisses me quickly. ‘It’s good to have you home, Kira Blu.’
‘It’s good to be back.’
And it is.
It’s good to be back.
Home…
Neal
As far as weddings go, this one’s been a blast, so far. Joey and Benni sure know how to put on a party, and right now, as Bam-Bams is taken over by an array of guests so eclectic it’s almost difficult to get my head around, that party is well and truly underway.
‘All alone, Mr Cannon?’
I swing around and catch her waist and she laughs as I pull her against me. ‘ Not anymore, Ms Blu.’
I lean in to kiss her and she responds, slipping her arms around my neck and her tongue inside my mouth and, Jesus, I’d forgotten how much I needed this shit. How the hell I got by for over a year without this ache, these constant urges; had I gone back to being dead inside? Had I? And just not realised it?
‘You look incredible,’ I whisper, gently nibbling her ear lobe and she squirms in my arms, laughing quietly again as I push her against me. And she does look incredible in a dark-grey dress that hugs each and every curve of her beautiful body, her dark-blonde hair piled up on top of her head, and her legs made to look endless in heels so high I have no idea how she can even move in them, let alone walk. But I fully intend to make her keep them on when I fuck her later. I want her legs and those heels wrapped around me as I thrust into her, and I’m gonna enjoy every hot freaking second.
‘But you’d prefer me in nothing but the heels, huh?’
She smiles, and it’s my turn to laugh. Yeah. This woman, she knows me so well.
‘Baby, I’m not sure there’s a man – or a woman – out there who wouldn’t.’
‘Yeah, and speaking of which, when’s Kandi getting back from L.A.?’
‘Thursday. And I expect to get a welcome home present from the both of you, you got that?’ Man, my cock is on edge just thinking about that reunion.
She rests her mouth against mine and laughs a laugh so deep and so low it vibrates right through me. ‘Oh, you’re going to have to ask nicely if you want that to happen.’
She’s making me work for it. She’s right back in the game. ‘I have to ask now?’
She looks at me, and every cell in my body is crying out for her. ‘Nicely.’
I smile, my hand dropping to her ass and she doesn’t even flinch. ‘You’re hard work, do you know that?’
‘It’s not my job to make your life an easy one, Mr Cannon.’
‘I wouldn’t want it any other way, darlin’.’
My mouth falls onto hers and I kiss her slow and deep, keeping my hand on her ass, and I can feel her perfect tits pressed hard against my chest, Jesus, I need this woman so freaking bad!
She pulls back slightly and rests her forehead against mine, her fingers lightly stroking the back of my neck. ‘You’re going to have to tell Barry, that we’re back together.’
Yeah. He isn’t really gonna be a problem anymore. Because I’m giving him exactly what he wants now.
‘I’m out of the art game, Kira. For good this time.’
She frowns, but it’s OK. I loved that world, I can’t lie. I felt comfortable there, it was my thing. And I was damn good at what I did. But then she walked into my life and nothing was ever gonna be the same again.
‘I want to concentrate on us, Kira. On the club. I want to open more, create an empire…’ I grin, and she laughs, but I’m only kinda joking. I do want to open another Playroom. Why else would Kandi be over in L.A.? She’s scouting out premises, checking out the scene; she’s my eyes and ears over on the West Coast because that’s where I want us to head next.
‘Are you sure, Neal?’
‘Things have changed, Kira. And we ain’t ever going back now, are we?’
She briefly lowers her gaze before her eyes lock back on mine, and she smiles. ‘No. We’re not.’
‘And, I think, maybe, it’s time to open that other playroom again, don’t you?’
Her smile widens, and it’s like she never went away.
‘We really are gonna be OK, Kira.’
‘I know,’ she whispers, and her mouth gently touches mine as she speaks, her fingers tangling in the hair at the back of my neck. ‘I know we are.’
We’re gonna be OK.
Because she isn’t going anywhere ever again.
It’s a new year. A new start.
And she isn’t going anywhere.
Not without me…
Fifteen Months Later…
Kira
I slide my dark glasses down over my eyes to shield them from the bright Malibu sunshine as I look out over the ocean. I’ve never seen a colour so blue, and then I smile, because I have. Of course I have. I see that colour every day, when I look into the eyes of the man who changed my life.
‘Everything’s all set, beautiful.’
I spin around and smile as he steps out onto the deck, throwing his phone down onto the table as he passes. ‘We’re good?’
‘We’re good.’
He comes over to me and slides an arm around my waist, pulling me against him, kissing me slowly and I slide my arms around his neck and just enjoy him. ‘We open our second Playroom next Friday.’
‘You nervous?’
He shakes his head, and I believe him. Neal Cannon is a force to be reckoned with, I’ve learned that much over these past few months. He gets things done and people just respond, they flock to him; respect him. They know he means business. And now we’re about to open The Playroom, Los Angeles. We found the perfect location in downtown L.A., and in
just a few days’ time we’ll show the West Coast how we do things in our world.
Am I still providing entertainment? Now and again, yes, but not as much as I used to. I don’t feel the need for that kind of excitement anymore, not now. I have Neal, and he’s all I need. I have Kandi-Ann, and sometimes we’ll give Neal a show when he feels like it; when we feel like it, and that works. It’s good. Our unconventional lifestyle is something that suits us just fine.
Is Joey following us to California? He’s thinking about it. But Bam-Bams, New York is more than enough to keep him and Benni busy right now. That, and fatherhood. They have a beautiful baby boy now – Eric. My Godson. And the reason I go back to New York more often than is probably necessary. Has it made me broody? Can I see Neal and I settling down and making babies? No. That’s not us. Marriage, children, normality – that’s just not us. I don’t think it ever will be. But we’ll dip into someone else’s normality every now and again, and we like that. But then we come back home and return to our own, darker world. I much prefer it that way.
‘OK, handsome, I’ve gotta run.’ I pull back from him but he catches my waist and swings me back into his arms. ‘I’ve got a meeting at the bank, Neal. There are still a couple of things that need to be signed off.’
‘Y’know, this businesswoman thing you’ve got going on, it’s becoming one hell of a freaking turn-on.’
‘I’m going to be late, baby. Come on.’
But the second he kisses me my arms are back around his neck and I’m lost. He’s pulling me under and I can’t escape, because I don’t want to. I’ll never want to.
‘Oh, you are such a bad influence,’ I groan as he unties my wrap-over dress and starts to push my knickers down. ‘I’m going to look so unprofessional when I turn up to that meeting late… Jesus, Neal…’
I wrap my legs around him and he’s inside me before I’ve had time to get my head around it, but it feels so good. I can never say no to this. To him. The warm sun’s hitting my exposed skin as he pounds into me, and every moan, every cry he pulls out of me, they’re coming from the very depths of my soul.
Do I love him now? Are those feelings there yet, the ones I was never sure would happen? Yes. They’re there. And yes, I love him. Now. I love him like fucking crazy.
I wind my legs tighter around him and his fingers slide between mine as he keeps my hands up against the wall beside my head, his mouth brushing over my breasts as he continues to thrust hard and fast, and I feel it now, that rush, that overwhelming tidal wave of white-hot heat. It starts at the tips of my toes and tears through me at a breathtaking pace, burning my skin and messing with my head but it’s beautiful. He’s beautiful.
His fingers tighten around mine and I feel his body stiffen slightly, his breathing heavy and uneven, and then he comes, and I kiss him, and I feel him inside me and I know we did the right thing. It just took us a while to get here. To this. But we’re here now. We’re here.
‘Jesus, Kira, you still kill me, darlin’.’
‘That’s my job, handsome.’ I smile, and I keep my legs wrapped tight around him because I don’t want to let go, not yet.
He returns my smile. ‘And you do your job so well, Mrs Cannon.’ He shifts his gaze to the white gold band on my left hand, stroking it lightly with his thumb as I slowly unwrap my legs from around his hips and he puts me down, kissing me as he does so. And once again I fall into him, his arm circling my waist as he keeps me pressed against him.
‘Mrs Cannon,’ I murmur, keeping my mouth on his as I cup his cheek. ‘I really like the way that sounds.’
‘It was always meant to be, Kira.’
I smile again, running my fingers through his hair. My beautiful man. My husband. My whole fucking world. ‘Fate, huh?’
‘Yeah,’ he laughs, and that’s a sound that makes me realise just how happy I really am right now. How truly, gut-wrenchingly, disgustingly happy I am. ‘I guess.’
I look at him, right into his eyes, and I let my stomach do those flips and let loose those butterflies that never stop escaping every time he’s near me. I let all of that go, once. I don’t ever intend to let it happen again. ‘I love you, Neal.’
‘I love you, too, Kira. I freaking love you, too, baby.’
I close my eyes as his mouth touches mine again, his lips warm and soft, the taste of him heady as we kiss here on the deck of our beautiful Malibu beach house. And I still can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe how much my life has changed; what we’ve been through. But we survived. We dealt with the pain and the crap and the people who said we’d never be more than each others’ obsession. We dealt with it all. We survived. We surrendered.
I met a man.
And he changed me.
Forever…
The End.
About the author…
Michelle Betham is an ex-media technician turned author of hot, edgy, gritty romance, usually involving rock stars, sports stars, and bikers. But not usually all in the same book. Yet. She is both self-published and published through HarperImpulse, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.
Addicted to binge-watching TV dramas she struggles to think of a life before Netflix, loves rock music, tattoos, spicy food, superheroes (which involves an unhealthy obsession with Iron Man), and Keanu Reeves – a crush that's lasted over twenty years, and one she blames entirely on 'Point Break'. The original. She refuses to acknowledge any remake exists…
Her dream is to ride a Harley. And visit Las Vegas. And be able to eat any amount of chocolate without putting on weight.
She lives in County Durham, north-east England, with her husband and West Highland Terrier, where she can be found most days drinking tea and making up stories.
Contact Michelle
Keep up-to-date with what Michelle’s up to over on her blog: bit.ly/1Gz1d5w
Or check out her website: michellebetham.co.uk
You can also keep up-to-date with all the news on her books over on her Facebook author page - on.fb.me/1M5w76G or connect with her on on.fb.me/1wunXmC
Follow her on Twitter at bit.ly/185oeRk (@michellebetham)
And you can find all of Michelle’s books over on Amazon - amzn.to/1DcmEqt
Surrender (Forbidden #3) Page 8
