It was time to change. Avery and I needed to live again.
Turning on lights as I walked through the townhouse, I made my way to the thermostat, turned it on, and then lit candles throughout the living room. I turned on the gas fireplace and waited. I’d wait all night if I had to. I wasn’t leaving again.
I heard the key in the lock, waking me from my sleep on the couch. My heart started to thump in my chest. He opened the door, my eyes meeting his and he slowly closed the door behind him.
It had been five days since I’d seen his face, since I’d heard his voice, smelled his skin, tasted his kisses. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should run to him, wrap my arms around him and never let go, or wait for him to make the first move.
Our eyes stayed locked, both of us not saying a word. He didn’t move. I didn’t move. My feet were planted on the floor in front of the couch.
I couldn’t move.
When Brooke told me that Nicole was coming home, I didn’t know she’d meant tonight.
I left dinner, driving home slowly. What was the point? My house was empty and cold and I didn’t want to be in it without Nicole. I wanted to call her and ask her when she was coming home. I wanted answers. I’d been wanting answers for five days—five fucking long ass days.
The moment I turned down the road that led to my townhouse in my complex, I saw her car sitting in the driveway. My eyes got big and I pressed my foot down on the gas, speeding up. Once I reached my driveway, I threw my truck into park and ran to the front door. I needed to see her and I couldn’t wait a second more.
I tried the door handle, but it was locked, so using my key, I slipped it in the door and walked in. Heat engulfed my body. The warmth felt nice across my skin, and the smell of vanilla instantly hit my nose. I smiled.
She was home.
When I fully stepped through the threshold, I saw her rise from the couch and stand, our eyes locking. I couldn’t speak. I felt like she knew everything already. I begged and pleaded for her to come back home the day she’d left me. I wanted to know why she thought she had to go to that extreme. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but I knew it was only a few seconds. Finally, she took a deep breath.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi.”
“I came to talk.”
“Okay,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, my body instantly going into a defensive mode. My heart had been crushed and I wasn’t sure if it could handle it being stomped on again.
“I got your texts,” she said, giving a tight smile.
“I got your four,” I said dryly.
“I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes, not responding. I heard her take a deep breath, and my eyes opened again to meet hers. “The day I left, I was broken. I’m still broken, but I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“That life isn’t rainbows and unicorns.”
“You think?” I rolled my eyes.
“I know. Everything was perfect and I thought we were perfect, but the moment the doctor told us that we lost our baby…well, it felt like my perfect life had ended.”
She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes watery with tears. I wanted to rush to her and wrap her in my arms. I wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but I couldn’t move. I needed to hear her reasoning.
“I understand we’re going to have bumps in the road,” she continued. “I didn’t want to believe it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I missed you. I missed your smile, your laugh, your jokes, your voice. I missed the way you’d hold me, kiss me. The way you’d want me even when I had bed hair and bad breath. But what I missed most of all was your love. I missed the way you loved me, and if I have to beg for you to forgive me for leaving, I will. I’ll drop to my knees right now. I love you and I want to be with you.”
I started to move, slowly getting closer to her with each step. The more I stared at her, the more my body overtook my brain. My body wanted Nicole, but my brain was telling me to continue guarding my heart.
“At first, I thought that our baby was what was keeping us together, but then I realized that we were in love before we knew I was pregnant. I can’t explain what I was thinking when I left, but I can honestly tell you that I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought that you could find someone better than me and maybe you still could, but if some other chick wants you, I’ll punch her. I won’t hesitate.”
She paused. “Can you please say something? Tell me how I can fix this. Tell me what I need to do because I’ll do anything.”
“Will you marry me?” I asked, dropping to one knee as soon as she stopped talking. I didn’t have a ring, but I figured I should at least drop to my knee and ask her properly.
“What?” She blinked, looking down on me.
“Marry me.”
“Marry you?”
“Yeah. You. Me. Vegas.”
“Okay.” She grinned.
“Okay?” I asked, making sure I heard her correctly.
“Yes.”
“Promise?” I smiled.
“Promise.” She smiled back. And then …
She bit her lip.
Avery & Nicole’s story will continue in My One due to release in 2019.
But first, keep reading for a sneak peek of the conclusion of Brooke & Easton’s story in Never Stop, out now!
Dear Readers,
I hope you’ve enjoyed The One. Because I hold a special place for this series in my heart and it’s inspired on actual events of my life, I’m uncertain of when the next books in the series will be released, but please subscribe to either my blog, newsletter or both to stay up-to-date so you won’t miss the release info.
You can find the links on my website at www.authorkimberlyknight.com.
You can also follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorKKnight.
Thank you again, and I hope these two have captured a place in your heart! You can really help me out a lot by leaving a review where you bought the book as well as Goodreads and Bookbub. Your love and support means everything to me and I cherish you all!
To my husband, thank you. Thank you for always understanding when I need to be on the computer and write my dream. You’re the one for me. I love you, you know?
To Audrey Harte, my BFFL, thank you for putting Halo and Avery in The Winner Takes it All. Loved reading how people enjoy my fictitious bar!
To my betas; Alma, Brandi, Chauna, Christine, Danielle, Elizabeth, Emmy, Felicia, Joanna, Kerri, KJ, Kristen, Lisa, Loralee, Michele, Nancy, Stacy, and Trista. Thank you for taking the time out of your lives to read and help me make The One the best it could be. I really couldn’t have done it without y’all and I hope you guys can’t wait to help me with Never Stop (The Halo Series, #3) when it’s time.
To all the bloggers that participated in my cover reveal, release day blitz and review tour, thank you! Without bloggers, I have no idea where I would be. You all take the chance on me and my books, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I never thought I would be an author, especially one with a fan base, and I owe a lot to the bloggers out there!
To my editor, Jennifer Roberts-Hall, thank you so much for all your advice throughout this process. I know it’s babe or baby, but I still like Babe and Baby!
To E. Marie Photography, thank you so much for the most beautiful cover picture ever. I love it! Can’t wait until we do more!
Jericho and Sydney, thank you for gracing the cover of The One. It truly is a beautiful picture and so happy you were willing to model for it.
Photographer:
http://www.facebook.com/E.MariePhotographs
[email protected]
Male Cover Model:
Jericho Mertel
[email protected]
Female Cover Model:
[email protected]
Make-up done by:
Stephanie Fernandez-Baez
stephaniesmakeupology@yahoo
.com
Club 24 Series – Romantic Suspense
Perfect Together – The Club 24 Series Box Set
Halo Series – Contemporary Romance
Saddles & Racks Series – Romantic Suspense
By Invitation Only – Erotic Romance Standalone
Use Me – Romantic Suspense Standalone
Burn Falls – Paranormal Romance Standalone
And more …
Kimberly Knight is a USA Today Bestselling Author that lives in the mountains near a lake with her loving husband and spoiled cat, Precious. In her spare time, she enjoys watching her favorite reality TV shows, watching the San Francisco Giants win World Series and the San Jose Sharks kick butt. She’s also a two time desmoid tumor/cancer fighter that’s made her stronger and an inspiration to her fans. Now that she lives near a lake, she plans on working on her tan and doing more outdoor stuff like watching hot guys waterski. However, the bulk of her time is dedicated to writing and reading romance and erotic fiction.
www.authorkimberlyknight.com
Here’s a sneak peek of the conclusion of Brooke & Easton’s story in Never Stop!
It’s not every morning you wake up in your fiancé’s arms for the first time.
This, however, was that morning.
Of course, when I made the decision to move in with Easton and Cheyenne two months ago, I’d thought that Easton and I would get married one day, but that thought changed when I started radiation. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with him.
It was because radiation kicked my ass.
My weekdays always began the same way: wake up and go to radiation. Sometimes radiation would take hours. You never knew how long you’d be there. You could go in, say a quick hello to the ladies you saw every day before being called in back to the room where you lie on the machine with lasers, and then be on your way. Other times the technicians would be running late, so you’d wait with the other women while piecing a puzzle together to distract each other from talking about cancer. The men were across the hall, doing their own thing, but I knew they weren’t talking about their ailments either because no one wanted to compare stories. We just wanted to get in and get out, hoping we’d all beat whatever we were fighting.
After the clinic, I would go home and eat lunch. By the afternoon, fatigue would come crashing down on me, and I’d take a nap until dinner time. I tried not to be a zombie on the weekends, but all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and sleep while the TV played in the background. Being on the couch and not in bed made me feel as though I wasn’t bed ridden even though I slept most hours.
And each week was worse than the last.
But waking up the day after my last radiation treatment—engaged, no less—put a little energy into my system.
Easton was still asleep, which wasn’t like him. His internal clock would usually wake him up early because, during the week, Cheyenne had to be at school at eight. But today was Saturday, and Cheyenne didn’t have a softball game, so she’d spent the night across the street at her friend’s house. Taking advantage of the empty house, Easton and I spent the night celebrating our engagement. I’d had energy after showering, but I was certain it was only adrenaline that had given me the extra boost—because holy shit, Easton proposed and I said yes! And my radiation roses—God, that man knew how to tug at my heart strings. It was the sweetest gesture ever.
I thought I was living a dream.
Since finding out about my tumor, I had put on a brave face. I tried to act as if it wasn’t a big deal, but each day the radiation burned a little more of my insides. But it was as if Easton knew that I cried when no one was watching. The roses and the ring put everything into perspective.
It was a big deal. The roses symbolized I had kicked radiation’s ass, and the ring meant I wasn’t going to let a tumor hold me back. I had a long life in front of me, and I was going to spend it with Easton.
Halfway through our celebration, I became tired, but I fought my body. I wanted to go back to the time when Easton and I could spend hours exploring each other’s body, but now, if I wanted to do anything, it needed to be in the morning when I woke up with more energy. Dr. Fisch, the radiation oncologist, explained that even though radiation treatments were complete, I would still experience side effects for up to three months. Three effing months! Radiation had burned a nerve in my tricep, so he prescribed medication for the continued pain, but he couldn’t say if I would always need them. Nerves basically did what they wanted to do. Hopefully, the burned nerve would heal itself.
I felt Easton’s hard morning erection poking me as he held me in his sleeping arms. I had a little energy to continue the satisfaction of our newly engaged status, so I slipped from his arms and slowly pulled the comforter and sheet down, exposing his hard chest and rippled abs. My mouth watered in anticipation as if it couldn’t get enough of his taste—as if it longed to consume him. I knew I could never get enough of him.
We were going to spend forever together. We would add another baby or two to our family as we watched Cheyenne graduate high school, get married, and start her own family as we grew old together. It was what I’d always wanted and pictured for my future.
I watched Easton’s face for any sign that he was awake as I continued to pull the sheet down his body. I opened the slit of his red boxers just enough for his erection to slip out. His eyes were still closed, his chest slowly moving up and then back down. Just as I lowered my mouth to lick his tip, he rolled onto his back. My eyes flicked back to his face. He still had his eyes closed, but he was definitely awake. There was no doubt. He’d rolled over to give me a better angle. I half expected him to start removing his boxers with his eyes still closed pretending he was doing it in his sleep.
Two could play that game.
The plan had been to wake him up with my mouth, but instead, I moved back to my side of the bed and started to get out. But his hand wrapped around my wrist, halting me. I turned slightly toward him, my eyes narrowing.
“You’re gonna leave me hanging with my dick out?” He gave a cocky grin.
I shrugged, pretending I was mad at him.
“Aw, come on. You know me turning over was—”
“A better position for me to suck your dick?”
He smirked. “Well, yeah.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes. It wasn’t my idea to begin with.”
“No, but you ruined my plan. Now I’m gonna go get some coffee,” I lied.
My gaze drifted down toward his crotch. He was now fully hard. I sucked in a light breath and swallowed. I didn’t want to leave my sexy fiancé with his erection pointing straight up at the ceiling through the slit of his boxers when I knew what he could do with it, but I couldn’t show him how much I wanted to straddle and ride him until we were both exhausted and needed a nap at nine in the morning.
Surgery and radiation had put a damper on our sex life. There were moments when I would look at him as we watched TV and wonder why he was still with me. I knew about Easton’s past—he’d been with a lot of women before me. He’d explained that ninety-nine percent of those women only gave him blow jobs, but I wasn’t even doing that for him. I barely had the energy to keep my eyes open to watch an hour of one of my favorite TV shows before I’d pass out on the couch only to be woken up with him kissing me and telling me it was time for bed.
But today was different.
Today was the start of the rest of my life.
I wasn’t going to think about the fact that I’d recently had surgery to remove a tumor—a tumor that doctors didn’t even know much about, let alone if they considered it cancerous. I was going to take each day one at a time. Radiation side effects weren’t going to hold me back.
I had a burn on my neck, a burn on my chest, and a final one on my back where they’d scorched all angles of my chest wall. But like the healing scars on my side where they’d entered with a scope to remove the tumor, they were all battle wou
nds.
I was a fighter.
I was a warrior.
I was fucking superwoman—Easton’s superwoman.
Still holding my wrist, Easton said, “How about I lick that sweet pussy of yours, and then fuck you so hard you’ll remember not to leave me with morning wood again?”
I giggled. “You’re lucky I cuss as much as you do. Some women might get offended about not making love.”
He rose, his hand still holding my wrist and tugged me closer to him, our chests pressing together. “First of all, baby, I am lucky. I’m so fucking lucky that you’re here with me and wearing my ring on your left hand. You’re the only woman I want to fuck, want to screw, want to plow into, want to bang, want to make love with. I don’t care what we call it because I’m going to please you no matter which way we do it.”
And that did it.
I was no longer going to play my game. Easton wasn’t the only lucky one. I was lucky, too. There was no telling what my life would have been like if we hadn’t met that first night on the cruise almost four months ago. Some people might say that getting engaged so soon was a recipe for disaster, but dammit, I’d just gone through some scary ass shit. Life was too short to sit around and wait for society to tell me when it was time.
He continued, “Second, you know I love your filthy mouth.”
I chuckled and rolled my eyes at his double meaning.
“And third, if you don’t let me taste you right now, I may just come on your T-shirt.”
I looked down at my Halo shirt, the same T-shirt he’d given me to wear the first night we met. It would always be my favorite. We both knew that his old shirt was mine and I was never giving it back. I didn’t care that our sheets smelled like him and I didn’t need the shirt to remind me of him anymore. I wanted to wear his old T-shirts to bed.
I looked at my wrist he was still holding. “Twist my arm why don’t you.” A smile spread across my face.
The One (The Halo Series Book 2) Page 21
