by D. A. Young
ALL WE EVER NEEDED
BY
D. A. YOUNG
Copyright © March 2019 by D. A. Young
Cover Art by T. E. Black Designs
Editing by Little Pear Editing Services
Proofing by Ideality Consulting
NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE COMMUNICATED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL. THIS INCLUDES PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR BY ANY INFORMATION STORAGE OR RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITHOUT THE WRITTEN USE OF THE AUTHOR’S CONSENT.
This book is a work of fiction and intended for mature audiences aged 18+ only.
All names, characters, places, businesses and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and have been used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.
D. A. YOUNG BOOKS
WHISKEY ROW SERIES
SWEET OBSESSION
NEW BEGINNINGS
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
PERFECTLY IMPERFECT
NO GREATER LOVE
ALL WE EVER NEEDED
BAYMOOR SERIES
THE FARMER & THE BELLE
LOST & FOUND
TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS NOVELLA SERIES
SECOND CHANCES
FOREVER YOURS
THE TIES THAT BIND SERIES
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
BAXTER PARK
WINNER TAKES ALL (A KISMET COVE COLLABORATION)
Interested in what I’m doing next?
Follow me on Facebook:
http://tinyurl.com/y5wv4am9
And/or my blog:
https://dayoung.blog
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Book Catalog
Author’s Letter
Prologue
Thirty-Two Chapters
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Author’s Letter
Hello!
Welcome back to Whiskey Row!
I can’t believe this is book six in this series! You’ve been asking and asking for them, and finally, they have arrived! Writing this story has been a true labor of love, and I thank you for your continued interest in Holton Brammer & Katerina Romankov’s story. The story picks up where it left off at the Romankovs’ holiday party in No Greater Love.
Before you dive into All We Ever Needed, please make sure you read the disclaimers regarding this adventure. It might be sensitive or triggering, so I’ve placed them right at the top so there’d be no confusion as to what this story entails. Now that I’ve made that clear, let’s dive into my thoughts.
Holt & Kat. I love them. I fall in love with all of my couples, but these two are in a class of their own. They have a passion and devotion and banter that resonates with my soul. Holton Brammer is an enigma. In the past, he’s always been quiet and mysterious. In this book, you will, at last, discover all the reasons why, and I hope you appreciate the different facets to him even more. There’s so much more to Katerina Romankov than just being the baby of the family. She is truly her parents’ daughter, yet she maintains her own identity from beginning to end. It’s hard for Kat to shake that ‘baby’ label, especially when you have a loving, boisterous, and overprotective family with tunnel vision, lol. This couple works for me. You get to meet the people who are most important to them, which means new characters and new adventures.
If you’re following me on Facebook, you know we did an open discussion on this series. I let it be known that some people might not stay in The Row, due to growing pains. Please keep that in mind and take comfort in knowing that their adventure awaits them elsewhere.
Sincerely,
D. A. Young
Interested in listening to Holt & Kat’s playlist? Click below!
AllWeEverNeeded
“Eventually, everything connects.”
Prologue
1980s
Stockholm, Sweden,
“I can’t believe we actually did it.”
Elin Falk—no, it was Brammer now—admired the braided gold band on her left ring finger with awe of its symbolism. It was placed there not even two hours ago when she married the love of her life.
Warm, muscled arms encircled her waist from behind. The tender kiss placed on Elin’s cheek jumpstarted her heart and the butterflies in her stomach. That was the effect her new husband’s touch and voice always had on Elin. The deep, unquenchable desire he invoked was a bonus. His love made her feel safe and cherished—things she’d never experienced in her twenty-five years.
“What’s that, darlin’?” he drawled.
Elin turned to face Rudii. He was already smiling that beloved, crooked boyish smile. It was the main reason she’d allowed him to sit down next to her at the Highline Lounge two months ago. Among the sophisticated, black velvet and chrome surroundings as well as business suit-attired clientele, the broad-shouldered stranger stuck out glaringly in his wrinkled denim shirt, woolly camel crewneck sweater, worn jeans, and brown boots that had seen better years. The stranger’s shaggy, butterscotch hair and scruffy beard desperately needed serious grooming. Oblivious or uncaring of the superior sneers he received, his dancing eyes remained focused on Elin.
His openness and relaxed demeanor were indicators that he loved life and knew how to laugh at himself. He reflected that there was more to life than maintaining decorum and what Elin had been led to believe–that fulfilling one’s honor and duty to the family was what mattered most.
Impulsively, she decided to find out for herself and tipped her head to the vacant stool. While the other men with hopes of seducing Elin lingered in the vicinity and glared enviously, the stranger took the seat. Slinging his beat-up, dark gray leather messenger bag over the back of the stool, he introduced himself as Rudii Brammer, a Swedish-American in town for an internship. He proved to be excellent company. Funny and charming, he razed Elin’s defenses to the ground with alarming ease, making time fly by. Yet, she didn’t leave. Rudii’s charisma was magnetic. He enjoyed a hearty laugh and certified that she did too. Elin’s pulse accelerated when he stared at her, absorbing her every word as if it were the most important and fascinating thing he’d ever been told. Drinks turned into dinner at a café next door, followed by dessert and an aperitif. They closed the restaurant down, but the evening continued in Rudii’s hotel room.
Elin’s lithe body was unused to tenderness. She’d been raised to kill and was exemplary at it, whether it was physical combat, weapons tactics, poisons, or explosives. It was the reason she’d been in Copenhagen. Her latest assignment was to assassinate Hans Levit, a former Falk employee, guilty of corporate espionage. He’d stolen a prototype of delivery packaging that her father, Ivar, was going to publicly introduce three months from now. Levit’s intent was to sell it to a rival company that he’d been in cahoots with. There’d been a change of plans, however, and he was now waiting to be discovered in the bed of that company’s CEO, tortured, with his throat slit.
Recently, the novelty of making a living as a trained assassin had started to wear off, leaving her feeling jaded and restless. After six years and forty notches under her belt, the only thrill she now felt was Rudii’s gentleness. Elin found it preferable to receiving a new assignment. It was forcing her to lead a double life. She was hiding him from her family while falling head over heels in love. Perseverance was essential to her survival.
Ivar and Madeline Falk would not bother entertaining Elin’s feelings for Rudii. They made it distinctly clear in their detached-parenting style that she was to marry Nolan Bergqvist, the son of Ivar’s oldest friend and business associate. Like their parents, Elin’s brothers, Julian and T
age, had arranged marriages built on mutual respect that morphed into love and were happy with their matches. Falks did not squander expansion opportunities for frivolous notions like love. They married for power, alliances, and wealth. Affection would be what the couple made of their merger.
Ivar hadn’t risen to the top by accident. People like him never did. Every move Ivar made from the time he was fourteen was calculated. An orphan, he’d long adopted a bootstrap mentality and amassed a fortune by building a vast empire in shipping, gaming, and residential development all across Europe. Endless ambition earned him the nickname Bläckfisk (Octopus), for he had his hands in everything. His marriage to Madeline Benoit, a department store heiress of impeccable pedigree, solidified Ivar’s place in elite society, thus making the Falk name revered and one of the most influential dynasties in Sweden.
Elin refused to be encumbered by her parents’ demands. She needed more than Nolan’s dead fish kisses and clammy, groping hands to be fulfilled. What Elin was seeking, she hadn’t known. Until Rudii came along. A night of combustible passion was all it took to mutually decide they were more than a fling.
***
“Your dreams are endless, Rudii,” she teased, enjoying his tales about life in his quaint, little town in the Smoky Mountains and the furniture-making business he planned to start.
They’d been sneaking around for four months now. Her job kept her busy and, luckily, so did his internship. Every available moment Elin had, she traveled to Copenhagen to be with Rudii. This particular trip, she had major news to share with her lover.
She was pregnant.
Rudii was over the moon. He took her to dinner and splurged on a decadent meal that included champagne and cake. Elin couldn’t drink it, but she loved how ecstatic he was about the baby. He told the entire restaurant, which erupted in applause, and the parents-to-be danced until fatigue caught up with Elin’s body. She savored these precious moments, knowing a very different reaction would occur once her family discovered her situation.
Rudii rolled her underneath him, kissing her until they were breathless. “Not too big that I can’t add one more to turn into reality. Marry me, Elin Falk. Make me the happiest man in the world by saying yes, woman.”
Her heart couldn’t take the overwhelming surge of joy. His solemn brown eyes were filled with a love so intense that Elin’s heart sank. She knew everything about this incredible man. Rudii was the oldest of four siblings, and his three sisters adored him. His family had moved to Florida years ago because the sunshine and warmer temps were better for his parents’ health. Rudii’s love for the mountains solidified his choice to stay in Whiskey Row. He was a genuinely good and compassionate man, un-ruled by ulterior motives. Elin had no business corrupting him with her family or by sharing their history.
“You barely know me!”
She panicked and attempted to wiggle away from him. The half-hearted, weak effort forced her to face the truth. Elin could have clapped Rudii’s ears, jabbed him in the throat, gauged his eyes out, or simply snapped his neck to escape. She did none of those things because...she wanted to accept his proposal. The time to come clean was now.
“There is so much still to tell you about myself.”
Rudii lowered his head and growled playfully into her neck. “I know all I need to know! I fell in love with you the moment our eyes met. You were so serious that I knew you needed me in your life, Elin Falk. I promise to fill it with love and laughter and to balance it out with more babies to chase after and keep us busy, love. Please say yes.”
A second chance that involved babies instead of bloodshed. Jesus, he was unwrapping her layer by layer, and Elin was loving Rudii’s discoveries as much as he did. She deserved and wanted that fresh start immediately. Elin placed his hand over her heart and covered it with hers.
“Yes.”
***
“Nothing, husband. I was just thinking about how excited I am to start our new life in this alcoholic town of yours. Will I be drunk as soon as we set foot in it?”
Rudii groaned at her joke and placed a hand on her flat belly with great reverence. They shared a secret smile. “Boy or girl, I hope this kid inherits my sense of humor. We gotta work on yours.”
Her hand covered his and their fingers interlocked, their wedding rings pressing together. United. “I hope our baby inherits everything from you. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. I can’t wait to start our new life in America.”
Elin felt anxious. Something was off. Nothing she could see and put her finger on. Her tracks had been painstakingly covered. Elin had confided in one person only: her oldest brother, Julian. Always the peacemaker, he’d promised to keep her secret and help smooth things over later with their parents. Elin wanted to confide in Tage but regrettably, he pandered too much to their parents to be trusted. Nonetheless, the feeling intensified by the moment.
In her line of work, to ignore your instincts was suicidal.
“I still think we should stay at a hotel closer to the airport tonight,” she hedged. Was it just nerves due to all the changes she was going through?
Rudii still couldn’t believe she’d said yes to him. He’d been having a shitty time in Copenhagen and considered going home before his internship ended. The Scandinavians he’d encountered were a stiff bunch, aloof and lacking in humor. He missed the starry sky of the Smoky Mountains at night. The friendly openness of his community made Rudii even more homesick. He couldn’t believe his luck could change that fast when he glanced into his hotel’s snooty little bar. The elegant blonde with the gilded curtain tumbling down her slim back intrigued Rudii on sight. She was lovely, resembling French actress Bridgette Bardot with her porcelain skin, pouty, scarlet mouth, and wide, fathomless azure eyes with their long, sweeping lashes. What caught and held his attention most was the abject sorrow he could sense about her. It was a crime that a woman so beautiful was intensely miserable. Instinctively, Rudii’s heart knew its mission was to make her happy.
“Darlin’, we’re nowhere near done makin’ memories in this bed. C’mere, wife.” Rudii rolled Elin under him.
We’ll leave when we’re done, she thought, her lips hungrily seeking his.
The newlyweds were soon swept under the spell of the most exquisite, heady lovemaking that only existed within each other’s arms. Afterward, spent and sated, they drifted off to sleep.
***
Elin’s eyes flew open.
She wasn’t sure what woke her, but she knew they were no longer alone. The energy in the room was insidiously cloying. She remained perfectly still and so did they. Only Rudii’s steady breathing filled the room. The bedside alarm clock read two-thirty in the morning. Her revolver was hidden underneath the Bible on her nightstand. Elin couldn’t get to it without throwing Rudii’s arm off of her.
“Lämna och jag skall komma till dig (Go away and I’ll come to you),” she whispered. Luckily, her husband’s Swedish was very rusty. “I swear it.”
“Varför ska jag lita på ordet av en lögnare? (Why should I trust the word of a liar?)” Ivar’s voice cracked like a whip.
Elin flinched as if she’d physically felt the sting. “Please! I will explain all to you!”
Rudii stirred. “What’s that, sweet wife?”
Elin closed her eyes briefly.
Shit.
The couple was blinded as the room instantly flooded with light. Ivar, Madeline, Julian and his wife Vera, and Tage and his wife Ziva, along with three of her guards–Tomas, Quentin, and Marco — stood at the suite’s sitting room entrance, staring at Elin with varying degrees of condemnation. Guilt ate at her conscience. Her brothers and sisters-in-law should be at home with their sweet boys. Instead, Ivar had dragged them, along with Mother, there.
“Wife?! Look how this hora has betrayed us!” Ivar bellowed furiously. “She snuck off behind our backs to get married while betrothed to another! We know nothing about this man!”
A startled Rudii jackknifed into a sitting position, blinking th
e sleep away. “What the fuck is going on?!”
Elin also sat up, pulling the sheet up with her. “That’s a lie! We were never engaged! I barely liked him. Once I established that fact, I let him know we would never be more than friends! There was no way I was ever going to marry for an alliance you and his father wanted instead of for love!”
“Elin, what is the meaning of this?!” Madeline cried, shocked to find her daughter in such a compromising position. “Who is this man? Get out of that bed this instant and put your clothes on! You are coming home with us!”
“Let’s all calm down…” Julian began.
“My wife isn’t going anywhere with y’all! Get the hell out of our room before I call security!”
“Seize him!”
Ivar’s command was the equivalent of a bomb detonating. Violence quickly exploded within the room. Rudii was jerked, by his ankles, out of the bed by two of the guards. His back had barely touched the carpet, and they’d commenced to raining blows all over his body. He fought back valiantly, but two against one, they had him pinned to the ground. The sickening smacks of fists pounding into his flesh infuriated his wife.
“Let him go!”
Time seemed to unfold in slow motion for Elin. Uncaring of her nakedness, she yanked the nightstand drawer open and leaped out of bed. Knocking aside the Bible, she palmed the revolver and whirled. The two shots she fired off in quick succession were muted by the silencer she always kept attached to her weapon.
Elin’s intent was to immobilize instead of killing the men loyal to her and her family. They were simply following her tyrannical father’s orders. The first shot spun Marco around as it impaled his shoulder and he grasped at his injury. The second hit Quentin’s knee, dropping him to the carpeted floor. Rudii backed away and staggered to his feet as Tomas stepped forward, a crowbar in his raised hands.
