Lukas' Angel (Ryan Family Book 1)

by Loni Ree

  The problems at Sterling-Ryan and Steele Co. do serve one purpose, and that purpose is to keep my mind off of my fiancé's gorgeous body until the fucking wedding. I deserve hazard pay for the shit I have been doing to prevent Drew and Bradley from killing each other. Gramps George and I were forced to take action and demand that the two of them find a way to at least exist together. We will see how long the fragile truce lasts.

  Before the engagement party, I took Madison on a date to give her a small taste of the torture she is putting me through, and that shit backfired spectacularly on me. Touching her and smelling her arousal for hours nearly drove me past my breaking point. I am at the end of my rope. Every day, I realize I need her more and more. Waiting until after we are married to fuck her may just kill me.

  Gramps George has decided to throw us an engagement party at the same hotel where the Autumn Ball was held. I refuse to have a repeat of the Marta situation from the Autumn Ball, so security is extra tight tonight. Each of my brothers had to have his date verified by security before tonight, to make sure none of them was a security risk. We were also very selective in who we invited, and Drew's company checked all of our guests. I want everything to be perfect for Madison, and I'm not taking any chances. I purchased jewelry to give her for tonight, and I asked her to come to my room after she's finished getting ready.

  After she knocks, I call for her to come in and I'm floored by how beautiful she looks. Her hair is pulled up, with a few loose curls, framing her gorgeous face. She is wearing a pale pink, strapless, floor length, straight gown. The gown hugs her tiny figure perfectly, and there is a slit up the side, so when she walks, I get a peek of her smooth leg and the high heels on her little feet. I smiled and signaled for her to step over to me. I open the case and show her the diamond earrings, necklace, and bracelet.

  She looks shocked when she sees them, and I can see she's about to refuse, "Madison, as my fiancé and soon my wife, you will need jewelry for events and this is a small start on the jewelry I will be giving you in the future. One, it is expected for me to give you jewelry. Two, I love seeing you wearing things that I bought for you. It will make me very happy to see you wearing these." I then take the two-carat diamond and platinum stud earrings and place them in her ears and the matching diamond and platinum stud pendant and place it around her neck where it hangs right between the V in her breasts. The bracelet I picked out is a matching platinum chain with two interlocking hearts that has a matching diamond in the middle where the hearts meet. I can see tears in her eyes when she looks in the mirror at her new jewelry.

  "Thank you so much, I have never owned anything so beautiful. I will treasure it always." She leans up and kisses me softly on my lips.

  "We need to leave, or we are going to be late to our own party." I take her hand and lead her down to the waiting car.

  We get to the hotel, and Drew has done a great job with the security. Gramps George greets us, as soon as, we walk in the door and discreetly signals to let me know everything is going well. I survey the room and see Drew and Annie are seated at a table on one side of the room, and Bradley is seated with Brayden, Max and their dates on the other side of the room. Both Nikolas and Aiden and their partners are already on the dance floor. Lucy and Blake are walking towards Bradley's table, and I'm shocked at how huge she has gotten in the last month. She looks like she's having triplets. Thank God, I dodged that bullet. We go to mingle throughout the room, and I'm so proud to have My Angel on my arm.

  I stop to introduce Madison to my Junior Vice President of Accounting, Kevin Howard and I'm surprised when I recognize his date. Her name is Amanda Lennox, and for several months, she and Aiden dated and were quite serious. Matter of fact, she is the only girl he ever brought home. He met her his second year at Harvard and almost immediately, they became inseparable. She came back with him every holiday and break, for the entire first semester and half the second semester. Then, out of nowhere, we never heard about her or saw her again. Aiden made it clear to us, never were we to ask about her after the breakup and we respected his wishes. I wonder if he has seen her tonight? It had better not be a problem.

  When Kevin introduces Amanda to Madison and me, she tries to act like she is meeting me for the first time. But, I call her on her shit, "Surely, Amanda, you remember me from all the times you came to our house when you were dating Aiden." Kevin looks absolutely shocked when I call Amanda out.

  She blinks a couple of times and bites her lip then takes it in stride and replies to me, "It was such a long time ago, actually a lifetime ago and I have completely blocked it from my mind. Congratulations on your engagement, I wish you and Madison, the best." She smiles up at Kevin, and he has no choice, but to accept her explanation. I only hope Aiden is occupied with his date and does not see her.

  Madison and I move through the room greeting our guests, and before long dinner is over and the night is beginning to wind down. It has been such a fantastic night, and I let my guard down. Suddenly, I hear a loud commotion in the middle of the room, and I see Nikolas holding Aiden back. I tell Madison to stay with Gramps George, and I rush over to see what's going on.

  "You have no right showing up at my family's celebration with a date. After all these years, you need to stay out of my life. You kicked me out of your life all those years ago, you wouldn't listen to any explanation, you found me guilty and gave me no chance to prove myself innocent. Well, I'm over you, and you need to stay the fuck away from me. So get out and never show up where I am, again." After coldly speaking to Amanda, Aiden turns to Kevin and says, "If she is your date, you are no longer invited to Sterling–Ryan functions. Get the fuck out, before I have security throw your date out of here." Kevin grabs Amanda's hand, and one of Drew's security guards quickly escorts them from the room.

  Aiden turns to me, and I signal for him to follow me where we can speak in private. Enough of our business has been spread throughout the entire room. One of the security guards points to an empty room for us to use. Before we get to the office, Annie reaches us and pushes her way into the room with us. I know she worries about her twin, so I let her come into the room. Once the doors close, Aiden turns around and falls apart, "I really thought we would get married. She was my soul mate. There was a girl at school who succeeded in coming between us by lying and saying I was fucking her. Amanda was so sure our relationship was temporary, she could not believe I would be faithful to her. I finally got fed up and told her I was tired of trying to prove my innocence. She took my refusal to defend myself as an admission of guilt. I begged and pleaded, and she wouldn't listen. She completely turned away from me. She quit school midterm and disappeared. From then on, I swore I would never give another woman any kind of power over me. I stopped looking for her, and I have never seen her again, until tonight. I have no clue why she suddenly has decided to start torturing me again."

  "Aiden, you have all the power here, you will never be forced to see her if you choose not to. I will make it clear to Kevin, on Monday, under no circumstances is he to bring Amanda anywhere near Sterling–Ryan property or to any functions Sterling–Ryan, holds. If he wants to continue with his employment at Sterling-Ryan, he will listen to me. You know I have your back." Aiden leans over, hugs me, and I realize I have not embraced my brother, in a long time. Annie walks up, puts her arms around Aiden and leans up to whisper in his ear. He gives her a small smile, and I know she will help him deal with his pain.

  CHAPTER 6

  MADISON

  T oday is finally, my wedding day. Wow, the last month and a half has flown by and so much has happened, it is unbelievable. Lukas has gone out of his way to make me feel special. Every Monday, a bouquet of exotic flowers is delivered to me. After the first delivery, he told me he wanted to do something special to help alleviate a little bit of the stress caused by planning the wedding. Gramps George and Brayden have actually helped with most of the planning for the wedding since Lukas is so busy at Sterling–Ryan.

  We had a beautifu
l engagement party last month at the same hotel where the Autumn Ball was held. Before the party, Lukas gave me the most gorgeous jewelry, I have ever owned. I felt like a princess walking into the party on his arm. He stayed with me all night, and it was a fantastic evening except for the drama between Aiden and his ex-girlfriend. Earlier in the night, while we were walking around meeting people, Lukas had introduced me to one of his employees, and she was his date. At the time, Lukas talked about remembering her coming to the house with Aiden in the past. I didn't think much of it, because I knew of Aiden's history with women. So it was quite shocking to see Aiden nearly get in a fight over his ex-girlfriend. Since then, there has been a change in Aiden, he's more quiet and withdrawn, not quite, as carefree, as he was before. I have learned since moving in, all the Ryan brothers are vastly different from the façade they portray in public. Their real personalities are a relief, especially now that I am becoming part of the Ryan family.

  I hope we can get through the wedding ceremony without Uncle Drew and Bradley killing each other. Lukas has threatened to beat both of them if they dare even look at each other. The whole situation between them is beyond explanation, and I cannot believe my Uncle Drew would betray Bradley in such a way. He swears I don’t understand the whole situation, but I have a hard time imagining any explanation would change my feelings on the matter. All I do know, is I'm not going to let their drama ruin my wedding. Even if our relationship had a non-traditional start, hopefully, it will be the only wedding I ever have, so I am going to make it incredible.

  As I stand at the wall of windows in my sitting room and look out across the back of the estate, I'm amazed at how beautiful everything has been arranged. Lukas really did go out of his way to ensure I have the wedding of my dreams. Now, I hope everything goes as planned.

  I'm dressed and ready, now I need to go downstairs, and Gramps George will be waiting to walk me down the aisle. The dress I chose is off-white, with a lace bodice and a sweetheart neckline, encrusted with sparkling crystals throughout. It has a full skirt with layers of tulle. I chose to keep my hair very simply pulled up in a chignon with matching crystals sprinkled throughout. I have another new jewelry set from Lukas. It was his mother's wedding set, and the jewelry is a gorgeous platinum and diamond waterfall necklace and matching earrings. Lukas is spoiling me. Annie let me borrow her diamond and sapphire bracelet so I could have both borrowed and blue in one piece. I feel like a princess, and my nerves are taking over. Here goes.

  The entire wedding ceremony is a blur. Lucy is my matron of honor and Annie is my bridesmaid. Lukas has Max as his best man and Brayden as his groomsman. I am shaking and nearly pass out a couple of times. Lukas' hold on my hand is soothing and helps to keep me from completely falling apart. Since I am too distracted to pay attention to one word of the ceremony, I miss all of the questions the minister is asking, but I guess I give the appropriate replies.

  Once the ceremony is over, I have quite a bit of fun at the reception. There are no catastrophes, and no fights, Lukas and his security seem to keep everyone under control, and I am very grateful.

  I have a lot of concerns about the wedding night. As sweet as Lukas has been since the Ball and engagement party, I really believe he has strong feelings for me. He says the most thoughtful and complimentary things and I keep reminding myself of how well he treats me. My sexual inexperience is very worrisome to me; I worry I will not be able to satisfy my very experienced husband. On our dates, Lukas expresses his attraction to me frequently, so I am hoping we will have an exciting sex life. Since my past sexual experiences were very unfulfilling, I have always secretly worried I am the cause of my past mediocre sexual experiences. I will find out tonight.

  Tonight is my wedding night, and first, I have to get past having sex with my very experienced husband for the first time, then I will be able to enjoy the rest of my honeymoon, hopefully.

  We're supposed to spend the night at a hotel in the city and tomorrow we leave for a week in Barbados for our honeymoon. I chose Barbados as the location of our honeymoon because it is a place I have always wanted to visit and Lukas indulged me. Right now, I am changing into my going away outfit all alone in my private suite.

  I know Lukas realizes I am not very experienced and he is trying to be patient with me. I wish he realized, however, the more time he takes, the more nervous I get. Over the past month and a half, I have come to believe my new husband is not truly the hard-ass he portrays to everyone. I only hope I'm right.

  L ukas

  I paid through the nose and threatened everyone within an inch of their life to make sure we have the wedding of her dreams. The back gardens of the estate are decorated in cream and pale pink, which seem to be her favorite colors. It actually looks like my backyard puked cream and pale pink. But if she's happy, I'm delighted. We decided on a small, private wedding, with only about forty or so people invited. I think I have more security officers than guests, but whatever it takes to make sure everything runs as planned.

  Drew and Lukas are seated far enough apart from each other, they cannot even breathe the same air. Annie is in the wedding party, and she will be sitting at the front table with us so there will be no fights and she has been instructed to stay, as far away, from either of them as possible. I have nothing else to say on the matter.

  I'm standing at the altar with Max, who I chose because he has been with me through everything whether good or bad; and Brayden, who I wanted, because as the baby, he has been my little buddy all his life. I look back when the music begins, in first comes Annie, and I'm still so mad at her, it takes everything in me to keep smiling. Next is Lucy and I feel relief at the fact that she is someone else's problem. Now the music changes and I see a real vision. The one I've been waiting to possess for the last month and a half is slowly walking towards me. There is no way to describe how gorgeous she is; she looks like a fairytale princess come to life.

  When Gramps George hands her over to me, I realize how nervous she is, and I try to reassure her by holding her hand tightly in mine and squeezing it gently every now and then. So far, she is making it through the vows; she is extremely pale and is shaking. After all the money I spent to make our wedding special, it would be a shame if Madison were the one to make a scene. I spend the entire time we say our vows, prepared to catch her if she passes out.

  Now that ceremony is over most of her color has returned, and she is smiling widely. We dance, cut the cake and enjoy a great night with our family. The reception flies by with no catastrophes and no fights. Thank God.

  She's up in her suite changing before we leave for the hotel. I'm also getting ready, and my dick is so hard, I have to jack off just to get my boxers and pants on. I can't wait to get my hands on My Angel. I'm not ready to tell her how I feel. Until I'm sure she is in love with me, I need to keep my feelings to myself. I don't want to give her too much power over me. I've always vowed I would never allow anyone to control me.

  When we arrive at the hotel, the Presidential Suite is set up exactly as I had requested. There are champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and, of course, rose petals. Cliché, I know, but she seems to enjoy romantic gestures. She shaking and nervous on the outside and I'm about ready to combust on the inside, from the wait. I know I have to be patient with her, but my patience ran out several weeks ago. So I look at her and say," Why don't you use main the bathroom and get ready; your bag has already been set up in the bedroom. I'll use the extra bathroom to get myself ready. Take all the time you need, we are in no rush tonight." Yeah, right. Tell that to my dick.

  M adison

  A fter Lukas tells me to get ready in the main bathroom, I take a quick shower to freshen up. Then, after I stall as long as I can, to get my nerves under control, I put on my sheer white negligée, take a deep breath and walk out the door. I walk into the bedroom and find Lukas lying on the bed waiting for me naked, and the sheet pulled up to his waist.

  This is the first time I've ever seen him without a shirt on,
and I'm quite impressed. His broad shoulders taper down to a narrow waist, and I am disappointed because the rest of him is hidden by the covers. I'm shocked to see the intricate tattoo on his six-pack abs. It appears to be some kind of suit of arms with a fancy R in the middle. He smirks when he sees me staring at his tattoo. "All my brothers and I have a similar one. You can closer and inspect as close as you want. "

  I laugh a little and do as he says. I run my finger over the design, and he groans in the back of his throat. I whisper to him, "It shocks me, you're such a strait-laced businessman, I never imagined you would have a tattoo."

  He throws his head back and laughs really hard. "Sweetheart, you're such a delight, I'm going to have so much fun educating you. Speaking of which, I have gotten the impression you are so innocent. So I have to ask you, are you a virgin?"

  I can feel the blush start on my chest and move all the way up my cheeks, and I shake my head, no. "I had one boyfriend in college, but it was a long time ago, and I wasn't very good at it. We only did it a couple of times, and then we broke up, and I never wanted to try again."

  He gives me a strained smile, takes my hand from his stomach and pulls me over until I'm straddling his lap. He then takes his hands, cups my face and looks right into my eyes. I can feel his breath on my lips when he whispers, "There is nothing for you to worry about, I'm going to take excellent care of you. When you walked out the bathroom door, I thought to myself, I have never seen anything more beautiful. We're going to take things nice and slow, we have all night. You tell me if it any time I need to slow down or stop. The loser you fucked in college, obviously had no idea what he was doing. You're the one in charge. I also have to ask, do you need me to wear a condom, or are you on birth control?"