Men In Control (Smith Brothers Complete Series)

by Brenda Ford

  I bring her lips to mine and we kiss for a while, relishing in the idea of taking this amazing romance of ours to the next level. It might not be expected, and it may seem a little fast to anyone else, but to us, it’s perfect. Our love is so intense that nothing could ever seem too fast. We just know that we’re meant to be, so why wait?

  “Oh my God, Ellie.” I pull back and stare at her with wide eyes as another idea smacks me in the face. “I love you so much and now you’re having my baby! Do you know how wonderful that is? The woman who has changed my life and made me the best version of myself is having my child. I couldn’t be happier. And now…” I pause for just a second before deciding that yes, this is the right thing to do, even if I’m not totally prepared for it. “Now I want to marry you. I mean, not now, I have always wanted to marry you, but now I want to ask you. I don’t have a ring or anything because I wasn’t prepared enough for that, but I’ll still ask if that’s okay…”

  “Oliver…” she giggles while taking my face in her hands. “Calm down, you’re speaking so fast.”

  “Sorry, I just…” I gasp and pant. “I’m so excited. I can’t get over it.”

  “You can ask me whatever you want to,” she reassures me. “It doesn’t matter if you aren’t prepared. I don’t mind. That just means you have to take me ring shopping afterwards.”

  “Of course I will. You can pick what you want. I love the idea of that.” I position myself on one knee and grin at Ellie. “So, what do you say Miss Ellie Clark, would you like to get married to the father of your baby? Would you do me the absolutely amazing honor of agreeing to be my wife?”

  The tears stream down her face as she claps her hands to her mouth. “Oh, my goodness, Oliver, I can’t believe this. The fact that you’re even asking is just… and then for you to actually be happy about the baby…”

  “Are you kidding me? Of course I am! I can’t wait to be a father. A journey that I can’t wait to take with you.”

  “My answer is yes,” she declares, putting me out of my misery. “I would love nothing more than to be your wife. Ellie Smith has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

  I grab her and kiss her deeply, silently promising to her that I will do whatever it takes to make her happy, to ensure her life is amazing. I won’t ever hurt her or let her down. She’s had enough of that. She doesn’t need it from me as well. I will be the perfect husband to an even better wife.

  Epilogue

  Ellie

  One Year Later…

  “I don’t know if I can do it,” I moan as I strap little Dakota into her pram. “I can’t go out and leave her.”

  “I will be with her,” Seth jumps in. “She’s okay with her Uncle Seth, you know that. Plus, Rosie and Auntie Amelia. We will all be with Dakota looking after her. Everything will be fine.”

  “Yes,” Oliver agrees while circling his arms around my waist. “And we need a date night. You are such a wonderful mother, but everyone needs a break. Tonight, we are both having a break.”

  I sigh and nod, knowing that he’s right. “Okay, okay, let’s go, already shall we? Before I change my mind.”

  We climb into the car and Oliver drives us towards Auntie Amelia’s home. I keep darting my eyes backwards as we go, checking on my gorgeous baby girl, but I don’t need to really because Seth constantly has his eyes on her. He’s relishing his role as the older kid taking care of Dakota. I don’t know what I’d do without him.

  “Hey, Oliver, where are we even going tonight?” I ask suddenly realizing that I have been so preoccupied with Dakota that I haven’t even thought about our date. I barely had enough time to get dressed up. I only made that happen because Oliver insisted that we needed to do whatever we could to make the night special. I’m glad that he did really, because it does feel nice being all smart and not covered in baby sick.

  “Hmm? Oh, you’ll see when we get there,” he replies mysteriously.

  “What do you mean? Is it something weird that I’m not going to like?”

  He tosses his head back and laughs but continues to drive on without explaining further. I would push him, but to be honest I’m too focused on checking that Dakota is okay, which of course she is.

  “Isn’t there a weird atmosphere?” I demand as soon as we pull up to Auntie Amelia’s home. “Can you feel it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Oliver shrugs. “It feels normal to me.”

  But I can’t stop flickering my eyes between my old house and Oliver’s old home too. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is definitely something a little different. Like a buzzing in the air, as if something massive is about to happen and no one knows it yet. But that lack of knowledge won’t stop it from coming.

  “Oh, my goodness, my favorite baby!” Rosie soon distracts me by claiming Dakota. “I have been looking forward to babysitting all day long. Mom has as well. This is so exciting.”

  “I’m babysitting as well,” Seth reminds her. “Don’t forget about me just because there is a new baby.”

  Auntie Amelia grabs Seth and hugs him tightly. “We could never forget about our handsome big boy. I’m so glad that you’re here to help us. We need you and your baby knowledge.”

  “I live with Dakota.” He pushes his chest out proudly. “So, I do know the best.”

  Auntie Amelia listens to everything that Seth tells her as if she’s hearing it for the first time which is so lovely. She’s so good with both of the children. I never take her for granted, I always know how lucky I am to have her. After everything that we went through last year as a family, we are stronger than ever.

  “So, do you know where you’re going yet?” Rosie asks. “Or is it still a secret?”

  “Oh yes, you were weird about it in the car!” I say, turning to Oliver. “Can I know now?”

  “Come on, let’s just get going. It won’t be long until you see.”

  I shrug and decide to be patient. He hasn’t ever let me down before so there is no reason to believe that he will now. I decide to roll with it and go along with whatever he wants to do. It’ll be nice whatever.

  “Okay, sure. Let’s get going.” I stare at Rosie. “I will have my cell phone with me all evening, so please call me if you need us at all. If there is anything wrong with Dakota, please let me know.”

  She rolls her eyes. “You know, Mom is used to looking after children. She has done it before.”

  “I know, I know… I can’t help myself, can I?”

  “If we need you, I will call you right away. Now go out and enjoy yourself.”

  It’s agonizing to leave. I almost don’t do it, but in the end, I let Oliver drag me out because rationally I know that everything will be okay. I don’t actually have to worry at all, even though I will.

  Oliver takes me to a beautiful Italian restaurant where I can eat a meal that I haven’t cooked myself and that I won’t need to wash up after either. Nor do I have to stop every two minutes to look after Dakota, so it’s lovely. I’m not sure why all the secrecy, but it’s a really incredible night. I don’t want to leave.

  “Thank you for our date,” I say as we walk out of the restaurant. My hand is in his and my head on his shoulder. “It’s been really nice to spend some time just me and you. I didn’t realize how crazy life got.”

  “I know, right.” He tilts his head towards me and smiles. “But it isn’t over yet.”

  “It isn’t?” His words give me yet another unexpected surge of energy. “Why, what are we doing?”

  “I just have something to show you. Come with me.”

  He doesn’t head for his car; he walks us right passed it and towards a nice hall room opposite. The closer that we get, the more I realize how nicely it’s decorated. There are flowers and streamers all over.

  “What’s this?” I ask Oliver curiously. “Where are you taking me?”

  “This is the surprise. Come on, you’re going to love it.”

  He pulls me inside, not giving me nearly enough t
ime to admire the twinkling lights up above us. They are so beautiful, but I don’t get long enough to really see them before I find myself in another room.

  “What the…?” That’s the moment I spot everyone, and I mean everyone from my life. Oliver’s too. His brothers and their plus ones, Auntie Amelia, Rosie, Dakota, Seth, Marie and other people from work. Everyone who is important to all of us. I turn to stare at Oliver again, wondering what’s going on.

  “Welcome,” he says with a dramatic flair, holding his hands out wide. “To our wedding.”

  “What?” I gasp, staring at my engagement ring. I know that we planned to finally tie the knot after Dakota was born, but I didn’t expect it to be like this! Oliver has done all of the planning for us, and it’s perfect as well. Really simple and sweet with everyone that matters to me around. Nothing too intense or over the top. I wouldn’t want a big lavish affair designed for everyone else and not us. “This is amazing, Oliver. I can’t believe that you did this. You are such a perfect man.” I grab his cheeks and pull myself up to kiss him.

  “Hey, hey, hey.” He disconnects us after only a second. “You have to wait for those magical words first. ‘You may now kiss the bride’. This is our wedding day after all.”

  I want to squeal with excitement, this is just incredible. I can’t believe how good to me he is. I must honestly be the luckiest woman alive. My life fell apart over and over again, but now it’s more whole than ever.

  “You better get down the other end of the aisle then,” I laugh. “Make it more traditional.”

  “Who will walk you down the aisle though?” he demands. “You can’t do it alone.”

  “Well, I sure as hell won’t be asking Daddy.” Thankfully my little joke draws a laugh from everyone. “Seth is the main man in my life, so I’m going to ask him to walk me down the aisle.”

  “What a perfect idea.” Oliver squeezes my hand happily. “This is why I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I reply. “And I can’t wait to call you my husband at long last.”

  “Let’s do this then. Let’s get married already.”

  Oliver strolls down to the other end of the aisle, grabbing his brothers to stand beside him as best men as he goes, which makes me giggle. That will be about half of the audience in the wedding party. But that’s okay, me and Oliver haven’t ever done anything the normal way, so why start now?

  Then Seth stands beside me and he links my arm in his. I can already tell by his expression that he intends to take his brand new role very seriously which is utterly adorable. I love this kid.

  “Are you sure that you want to do this?” he asks. “You don’t have icy feet?”

  I can’t help but laugh. “Oh, Seth. The expression is ‘cold feet’, but no. I definitely don’t have them. This is the best thing to ever happen to me. I really want to marry Oliver.”

  “Good, I’m glad. It’s nice to see you smiling.”

  “Well how can I not smile when I have the best people ever in my life, including my baby brother.”

  “I wish Mom was here,” he says, but as a fact, not in an over the top emotional way.

  “Me too, baby bro. Me too. But at least I have you.”

  As we walk down the aisle in time with the music that seems to have magically started playing, to the awe of everyone surrounding us, I keep my eyes fixed on the man who is my dream, who I now get to keep as my own forever. We smile at one another, locked in our own little bubble, finally ready to make our little family whole.

  But of course, our extended family, the ones who will be there for us through everything, is so much bigger, and I’m glad about it. The more people I trust and let in, the happier my life will be.

  Unexpected Baby

  Blurb

  Zoe Portwood: A s$xy goddess who irritates the crap out of me.

  My one night stand, sworn enemy, and…the mother of my child!

  I hate her…I’ve always hated her,

  And it will never change.

  I think she’s been faking it all along…

  The baby, the dating, then falling for one another…guess it was all a part of her stupid big plan?

  Maybe…

  Maybe that’s why she walked away five years ago.

  Now, she’s back, but she’s not alone.

  She’s come back with a little girl,

  Who I think I have a connection with.

  God! It’s all so f@cked up!

  Looks like I am up against someone who’s pure evil,

  And yet, I am supposed to win.

  Hell…I don’t have a choice.

  I gotta do it for my daughter and for Zoe…the girl I fell for long time ago!

  Chapter One

  Wesley

  Her red hair spills across the pillow, the curve of her ass sits nicely between the sheets, I can see the tip of her button nose, and it’s a cute one… this woman is beautiful, from what I can see of her anyway, but I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. To be perfectly honest, I can’t even remember her name. She’s just the faceless woman from last night. The woman who I talked to for long enough to get her in to bed but that was about it.

  But it was just a fuck. Just another fuck that doesn’t mean anything. Nothing at all. Just like the rest of them. It doesn’t matter how many women I have been with in the last month, none of them have cleansed her. None of them have made me feel any better about the woman that I screwed back then, the one who I definitely shouldn’t have. It makes me shudder to even think about the fact that I fell in to bed with Zoe fucking Portwood.

  I hated her the moment that she stepped in to the office, the moment that she took the job working with me at the technology company. I don’t know what it is but the moment I saw her I just knew that she was going to be trouble for me. I didn’t realize quite how much she was going to tear my life apart. How much she’d ruin me.

  I wasn’t worried on that first day. I didn’t have any reason to be. A chick strolls in wearing harem pants with feathers in her blonde curly hair and not a scrap of make up on her face. I immediately judged her as some one who wouldn’t be able to do the job, who was too much of a hippie to be great with technology but fuck me I was proven wrong. She’s a whiz, something of a genius, and she’s really damn hard to be around. She changed me from being the top dog, eons above other people, to being just normal and I don’t like that at all.

  I’m the one who dresses well, who makes an effort to be there in a suit every day, who gives a shit about the schmoozing of clients and the usual stuff that comes with business. She’s clueless, she cares about none of that, but she has a talent. A talent that I really fucking hate to admit is there. A talent which kills me every day.

  I’m competitive, the best of the best, and I don’t want anyone else to steal that from me. Especially not her. That stupid bitch. I really wish she hadn’t walked through that door and taken it from me, I wish she hadn’t brought out that deep hate within me, I wish I just didn’t know her at all. That she didn’t exist.

  Even more, I wish we didn’t fall in to bed a month ago. I wish I didn’t need to fuck everyone in sight to try and get over that night, to push her from my mind. I wish that I wasn’t on the edge of a stranger’s bed right now, wanting to be anywhere in the world but here, because here is very uncomfortable. And more than anything in the world. I wish that me and her having sex didn’t end in that God damn conversation at work.

  My head falls in to my hands as I think about that wild night. We were both drunk and horny, she had just been left at the alter by some guy who seemed to treat her like shit anyway – not that it was my right to say anything of course – and it just kinda happened. It was animalistic, filled with hate, and hot as hell. In that moment, her body was absolutely everything to me, I loved every inch of it. In that moment only though.

  But it was just a moment, it was nothing more than that. Just a stupid, blind drunk moment never to be repeated. However good it felt at the time; it was a one time thing to
never happen again. Luckily, she seemed to feel the same way because there were three months afterwards when we simply avoided one another. She didn’t say anything to me, and I didn’t make any effort to speak to her as well. All was good. I didn’t even feel the need to get her out of my system, I wasn’t particularly screwing around then, everything was good.

  I assumed that it was going to stay good as well. That me and her would just forget that it ever happened, and nothing would change. Not talking to her was perfect actually. It made my life so much simpler. We were both doing well a work, sometimes me better than her, sometimes the other way around. It was peaceful. I didn’t even care about her when she was winning. It was all good… until she told me something to change it all.

  “Why? You don’t want to deal with the consequences of your actions? Well, tough shit. I have to and so do you. That’s right. I’m pregnant. Me and you are having a baby. That one stupid night will haunt us forever.”

  Her face was filled with ate as she yelled that at me, her eyes consumed with pain. She was a mess and so was I. I don’t really remember what happened next, it’s all a bit of a blur, but I think that I ran. I ran away and I haven’t spoken to her since. I don’t know what I would even say. What do you say to that? That I don’t want to be a father, that I’m not ready, that I don’t like her enough to even co parent with her. I can’t say that to a person, it’s horrible. Even if it’s the truth. I mean, me and her couldn’t be more different if we tried.

  I leap up off the bed, unable to take the pressure of this anymore, and I grab my clothing. I pull my trousers on in a hurry, not even bothering with my boxers. Instead, I stuff them in to my pocket while I search for my tee shirt. I don’t even know where this place is, never mind how far it is away from home. There isn’t a chance in hell that I’m doing the walk of shame with nothing on. No way.