When the wave crests and dissipates, I find myself in his arms as he strokes my hair gently back from my face.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. “So fucking perfect. The most beautiful, perfect thing that God ever created on this earth.”
I laugh and bury my face against his chest.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it to the restaurant.”
“Fuck the restaurant.”
I giggle and wrap my arm around him, wanting to be as close to him as possible without having him inside me.
“The van was a nice touch.” I look around us. “Where did you even get it?”
“I was at work when I got your text, so I borrowed it from maintenance.”
“Thank you for coming,” I whisper.
He guffaws. “Didn’t have a whole lot of choice with you squeezing and spasming all over my cock like that.”
I smack his chest. “That’s not what I meant.”
He laughs and grabs my hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing my knuckles. “I know, babe. I know.”
I wasn’t sure how he’d respond to the text I sent half an hour ago with my location and the message:
Flat tire. Damsel in distress. Don’t you dare be fucking ashamed. Let’s play, baby.
“I love all of you, you know that? Your sweet side, your rough side. All of you.”
He turns over on his side, propping himself up on his elbow and looking at me, the only light from the small overhead van light.
“You mean that?”
I nod vigorously. “Of course I do. I love you.”
He stares at me a second longer. “Then I better lock this shit down. At least that’s the way Chloe put it before she left on Tuesday.”
He twists and reaches behind him and my eyes widen in shock when I see what he has in his hand when he turns back to me.
“You’re shitting me.”
A grin splits his face. “I am most certainly not shitting you. Miranda Marie Rose, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
I lift my hands to his cheeks. I swear I can’t breathe. My eyes can’t stop shooting from the diamond ring to Dylan’s face, then back to the ring and then back to his face.
“Are you serious?”
He looks concerned. “Of course I’m serious. Jesus, Miranda. How did you not see this coming? I love you. You’ve changed my entire life. Changed me.”
He sits up and helps me sit up too, then cups my face. “Be my wife. Make my happiness complete.”
Tears spill down my cheeks and I nod, over and over again I nod because I’m not sure I could voice any actual words in this moment.
He grabs my hand and fits the ring onto the fourth finger of my left hand like he’s eager to do it before I change my mind. Ridiculous man.
I throw my arms around him. “I fucking love you, do you know that?” I cry, so happy, so incredibly happy.
He pulls back from me and grins, then tugs me forward and kisses one cheek, then the other. “I always did love your tears.”
* * *
Haven’t read the first two books in the Break So Soft Series yet? Miranda isn’t the only woman Bryce Gentry tried to break, she was just the first. Read Callie and Jackson’s story in Cut So Deep and Break So Soft for a story of resilience, heartbreak, but above all, true love.
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Also by Stasia Black
MARRIAGE RAFFLE SERIES
Theirs to Protect
Theirs to Pleasure
Their Bride
Theirs to Defy
STUD RANCH STANDALONE SERIES
The Virgin and the Beast: a Beauty and the Beast Tale (prequel)
Hunter: a Snow White Romance
The Virgin Next Door: a Ménage Romance
BREAK SO SOFT SERIES
Cut So Deep
Break So Soft
Acknowledgments
I’m the kind of nerd who always reads the Acknowledgements page because I like a sneak peek into the behind the scenes. This book was really, really fun to write. Maybe because it was unexpected, I just had the idea, then wrote it in a mad two-week dash. And obviously all I had was sex on the brain during those two weeks which is why there’s so much sex in the book, LMAO!
Anyway, on to the amazing people who helped help me every day. You guys keep this boat afloat because I would seriously sink without you!!!
Aimee B. – Epic hugs or our 2 year anniversary of knowing each other and for your fabulous, FABULOUS beta-reading magic :)
Alana A. – Gaaaaaah! You gave me the kick in the pants I needed in the 11th hour telling me, wait, this moment doesn’t feel earned, which led to me writing like an extra 1/6th of the book and giving so much more depth to the characters. Thank you!
Lisa L. – Thanks also for helping with the last minute read and your notes! You also helped me make the characters more rounded which was exactly what I needed. Thanks!!
To my assistants, Melissa P., Melissa L., and Jenn R., talk about keeping the boat afloat, geez, I seriously can’t think of managing to put the number of books I’m able to without you gorgeous gals taking care of everything else so I can just write, write, write. *mwah*
Thanks to my hubby, though he never reads these, lmao. He’s so damn cute, I’m watching him right now as he works away at his laptop. He’s seriously the cutest damn nerd out there, folks, and I’m damn hashtag blessed that he’s mine :)
About the Author
Stasia grew up in Texas, recently spent a freezing five-year stint in Minnesota, and now is happily planted in sunny California, which she will never, ever leave.
She loves writing, reading, listening to podcasts, and has recently taken up biking after a twenty-year sabbatical (and has the bumps and bruises to prove it). She lives with her own personal cheerleader, aka, her handsome husband, and their teenage son. Wow. Typing that makes her feel old. And writing about herself in the third person makes her feel a little like a nutjob, but ahem! Where were we?
Stasia's drawn to romantic stories that don't take the easy way out. She wants to see beneath people's veneer and poke into their dark places, their twisted motives, and their deepest desires. Basically, she wants to create characters that make readers alternately laugh, cry ugly tears, want to toss their kindles across the room, and then declare they have a new FBB (forever book boyfriend).
Hurt So Good: A Break So Soft Novel Page 17
