“Look, I get you’re doing your job, but I’m not leaving until she returns.”
The security man puffed out his chest and I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have time for this shit.
“If you would come with me, we can verify—” The dick in a pink polo shirt made a grab for my arm.
“We’re not verifying shit. Tell me where she is.”
The attendant’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he looked to the man beside him for help. Clearly, they weren’t going to budge. I’d call Forest and have him run interference, but I had no one’s number.
Not Forest’s.
Not Xavier’s.
Not even my brother’s.
Cutting all ties, and disappearing from the world, meant amputating anything connected with that life, even Clara.
I was fucked if I didn’t think of something quick because the asshole in the pink shirt’s backup was jogging toward us to back him up.
Then I heard the sweetest sound on earth.
“Josh?”
Chapter 57
I knew that ass, that trim waist, and the sculpted muscles of that back and those shoulders which carried such heavy burdens.
Josh was a chiseled, sculpted, masterpiece of perfection and he was here.
“Josh?” His name tumbled from my lips as a question, but there was no doubt in my heart.
Two of the resort’s security detail flanked him and one nervous looking cabana boy shuffled to the side, looking lost and uncertain. They all turned to look at me and I nearly dropped my fruity drink.
I could have had the cabana boy fetch it for me, but I’d forgotten a book in my room. The well-worn copy of the graphic novel, The Watchmen, was sandwiched between my arm and my side, and it nearly tumbled to the ground.
Josh turned around and his eyes widened. Then he launched forward, sprinting to my side. The drink went flying, spraying all over the man standing beside me; Josh’s twin brother, Jake. The Watchman fell to the sand, but I didn’t care.
I was flying.
Josh had me in his arms, clutched tight to his chest, and he twirled us in a circle as his lips crashed down on mine. We said nothing. We couldn’t. Not with our lips locked together.
Jake edged near us and retrieved the book from the ground, shaking out the sand. He took a step back, giving us space.
Josh’s hand slid along the small of my back and down to cup my ass. Pulling me against him, he let me know exactly how he felt. The kiss turned frantic, all consuming. The only sound was the rushing of our breaths, my moans, and his deep, lusty groan as he yanked me hard against him.
“I knew it.” Tears fell freely down my cheeks. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
“I’ve fucking missed you.” He said with a possessive growl. “I’m so sorry.”
“Just kiss me.” My fingers clawed at his neck and dug into the hair at his nape.
I was frantic to feel every bit of him. My lips bruised beneath his kiss, already swollen, but I didn’t care. Overcome with need I wrapped my legs around his body, seeking a desperate connection. I locked my ankles around his hips and met each lash of his tongue with an insatiable hunger.
I had forgotten how good it felt to be held in his arms. No, that wasn’t the truth. This feeling was one I remembered well. It was the warm embrace of coming home and belonging in the best way possible.
Josh kissed me as if his life depended on it. His tongue swept inside my mouth, chasing mine. He nipped at my lips here and there, driving me insane. He tasted amazing, dark, sensual, and dangerous. Dangerous because I could lose myself in him. And I didn’t care.
Josh could have every piece of me. I would hand him everything.
Every nerve inside my body fluttered with excitement. Electricity hummed along my nerves with a zing of eager anticipation. I wanted to feel him everywhere, every soft touch, and even the sharp sting of pain only he could deliver. I closed my eyes and imagined how that might go and the choice I made in that moment.
The outside world disappeared as we reconnected, but I was acutely aware that we were on a public beach. There were also a few questions I needed answered before this went too far.
When he let me up for air, I took the opportunity to punch him in the gut. My hand connected with solid muscle and I shook it out.
“Ow!”
He laughed. God, I missed that laugh. I missed everything about him.
“It’s not funny.”
He grabbed my hand and massaged it gently.
“You really shouldn’t hit me.” Something dark swirled in his eyes, something needful and hungry.
“And why not?”
Energy crackled between us, that insane connection forged from a complicated past and fueled by mutual need. His warm breath cascaded over the skin of my neck as he blew into my ear.
“Because, it wakes the beast within me, my sweet Clara. It stirs a hunger, cravings for dark and wicked things. God, I’ve missed you.”
“If you missed me, you wouldn’t have disappeared. What the hell happened? Why did you let me think you were dead?”
Why didn’t you tell me the truth? I’d lived in agony thinking it might be true.
“Let’s not talk about this here.” He pressed a finger over my lips. “Is there someplace private we can go?”
“The cabana?” I offered the closest option, but from the lust flaring in his eyes, that was not what he needed.
“Um, my room?”
“That sounds more like it.” His hungry gaze swept up and down my body, stripping me with his eyes. I squirmed beneath his attention and squeezed my thighs together to slake the needy throbbing of my sex.
“Let me just get my things.”
There was no way I was leaving my books for anyone to steal. I’d paid good money for original copies of the two novels which had kept me sane over the past couple of months.
They kept me connected to Josh.
With them, I traveled between the pages, reminded myself not to jump to Conclusions, and reaffirmed the most insurmountable task began with the smallest steps.
I believed Josh would never abandon me.
That was faith.
I clung to that knowledge with every fiber of my being. Therefore, I refused to believe in his death.
There had to be a reason, some method to the madness, and I may have jumped to the Island of Conclusions too many times to count, but I told Forest that Josh was still alive. He needed to find My Monster because I couldn’t continue living this way.
I’d been a pain in the ass, but if anyone was going to help me, it was Forest. I told him about Wu and Forest took it from there. He owed me.
They all did.
Especially Jake.
He stood off to the side and I couldn’t miss the tension filling the air between him and Josh.
“Hi.” Jake’s greeting came out tentative and unsure, an odd reaction from the sexual dominant, but he seemed uncertain greeting his brother. “You look different.”
“Yeah, shit happened.”
Jake sized Josh up with a long sweep of his angular gaze. “It’s good to see you.”
“Is it?”
An insurmountable gulf separated them, but I sensed the fragile beginnings of a new connection.
“Your girl is an interesting woman. She had a thing or two to say to me.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m surprised I have any ass left after the ass-ripping she gave me. Your girl has a strong bite.”
“That’s what I love about her.” A smirk tilted the corner of Josh’s mouth.
“Look…” Jake ran his hand through his dark hair, pulling at the roots the same way Josh did when he struggled with what to say. Finally, Jake extended his hand. “It’s really good to see you.”
Josh’s eyebrows practically climbed up his forehead.
“It seems you’re not irredeemable…”
“And…” I grabbed Josh’s hand and threaded my fingers with his. I’d said a lot of shit to Jake about how he treated his
brother, and how he treated me. The things he and Kate did to me were unredeemable, and yet I found it in my heart to forgive them. I had to. Without them, Josh would never have been in my life.
It took several conversations, most filled with my cutting tongue, before I started to get Jake to see an alternate view of what happened.
But this wasn’t something I could force. The two of them needed to find each other on their own terms.
“And…” Jake said, “I’m sorry.”
Josh took his hand and the two men shook. It looked like that was all they were going to do, but Jake suddenly tugged Josh to his chest and wrapped both arms around his brother.
My Monster hesitated, but then his arms wrapped around Jake. They stood in silence for a moment, then released each other and took an awkward step back.
“I don’t understand why you’re here? I get Forest, but why you?”
“Someone had to watch over your girl while he went to fetch you. It was the least I could do.”
There was more to it than that. I had had very stern words with both Kate and Jake about Josh. It was my hope some of that may help to bring them back to one another.
As for Forest, he came through, although he told me finding Josh would be a long shot. I hadn’t cared because I believed in Josh. He would go through hell and back to get to me.
Jake held out the lovingly used copy of The Watchmen to Josh who took it with a smirk.
Josh turned to me. “I love your choice of reading material.”
My cheeks heated. He knew me too well. Josh opened the book to a random page and read a few lines. His smile deepened and all the tension in his body seemed to evaporate before my eyes.
“God, I love you.” He turned his deep, soulful eyes on me. “I missed you.”
“You owe me an explanation.” I fisted my hands on my hips.
“I suppose I do, but it’s going to have to wait.”
I had no argument about that. We collected our things and walked past the stares of too many inquisitive people. Inside the resort, we made a beeline for the elevators.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, he whisked me inside, and I gave a startled yelp as he thrust me against the back wall. Before I could tell him what floor to push, his lips were on me…again.
He tasted like forever as his tongue swept inside my mouth.
“What floor?” he asked, demanding an answer.
I mumbled the answer as his hand slid up my leg and under the flimsy beach wrap I had on. His fingers glided along the edge of my bikini and my knees buckled. The elevator beeped as we moved past each floor and his fingers slipped under my bikini and thrust inside of me.
Breath rushed out of me as he stroked my clit with a Master’s touch. My moans escalated and I nearly came right there. But the elevator slowed and the doors opened.
“What room?”
“End of the hall, last door on the left.”
I dug out my keycard, and he ripped it from my hand. He lifted me over his shoulder, and I dangled over his back. With his arms locked around my legs, I gave a tiny squeal. His hand came down sharply on my ass.
“Shh…” he said with a snicker. Then he rubbed away the sting on my ass.
I squirmed on his shoulder and he rewarded me with another sharp crack to my ass.
“Ow! That hurts.”
“Hmm,” he said, “I bet it does.”
He marched down the long hall and pressed the keycard to the magnetic lock. He shouldered the door open and set me on my feet. Then he set upon me, fingers ripping at the threads of my bikini top. He tossed the tiny scrap of fabric to the floor.
We tumbled from the door, making a drunken path toward the bed as he stripped me bare. When the backs of my knees hit the foot of the bed, I toppled backward and stared up at him.
His chest heaved, not with exertion, but with the desire to claim what belonged to him. The expression on his face hardened into something I knew all too well.
Welcome home, My Monster.
“Sir?”
His eyes widened. “Clara, you don’t…we don’t have to…”
I scooted off the bed and went to my knees. Looking up at him, I flicked open the button of his pants and drew the zipper down with a rasp.
His erection jutted against the fabric of his boxers. It took less than a second to free his engorged cock and I looked up at him, both asking permission and letting him know this was okay.
My lips, bruised and swollen from his kisses, pressed together as I waited for him to decide. Then he reached down and gathered the hair at my nape. Guiding my mouth to the head of his cock, he gave the first of what I hoped to be many commands to come.
“Open, my sweet Clara, please your Monster.”
Our path may have been long and complicated, twisted and wrong, yet it was also beautifully broken and utterly perfect.
And I had a surprise for him.
Nineteen-year-old girls don’t have much trouble getting pregnant. Josh and I had enough unprotected sex to make more babies than I could handle.
But that was okay.
I would take just the one for now.
Josh deserved a good life. With me by his side, and our baby growing within me, he could finally have it all.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed Josh and Clara’s story.
Josh is, perhaps, one of my favorite characters that I’ve written to date.
If you enjoyed EMBRACING FATE, I know you’ll be excited for the gripping conclusion to the Captive Hearts trilogy.
FOREST’S FALL continues the elusive search for John Snowden. Forest Summers is determined to get his revenge against Snowden.
It’s all been building to THIS!
If you haven’t read the beginning of Forest’s story, I encourage you to pick up a copy of HEARTS INSANITY, book 1 in the Angel Fire Rock Romance series where we meet Forest for the first time as Skye’s foster brother.
Skye and Forest’s backstory is told in the gripping and heart-wrenching prequel ASHES TO NEW.
Be Warned!
While the books in the Angel Fire Rock Romance series can be read as standalone novels, Ashes to New is not a HEA. It's not a romance. It's a tale of darkness and survival.
You can purchase your copy HERE.
Or get you can get it for free if you join my mailing list: HERE.
Thank you so much!
The END
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Contemporary Romance
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each book in this series can be read as a standalone and is about a different couple with an HEA.
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each book in this series can be read as a standalone and is about a different couple with an HEA. It is recommended they are read in order.
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Amazon Links Also by Ellie Masters
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Contemporary Romance
The One I Want Series
By Jet & Ellie Masters
each book in this series can be read as a standalone and is about a different couple with an HEA.
Aiden & Ariel
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Rockstar Romance
The Angel Fire Rock Romance Series
each book in this series can be read as a standalone and is about a different couple with an HEA. It is recommended they are read in order.
Embracing Fate: A Captive Hearts Novel Page 43
