by Sam Crescent
“I was crazy about you,” he said. His hands clenched into fists.
“You were?”
“Hell, yeah. I loved looking into your eyes. Even when you were annoyed, they had so much passion and fire. You were amazing. You didn’t back down or cower. You were a strength, and I wanted you all to myself. Not a day goes by that I don’t regret not telling you sooner. I even stopped a couple of guys asking you out. I told them you had—” He stopped.
“What did you tell them I had?”
“Some disease that rots a guy’s dick off.”
“You didn’t.”
“Oh, I did, believe me, and it wasn’t hard either.”
“But why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve never been able to handle the thought of another man in your life, Ava. Touching you. Holding you.”
“But Grant?”
“Yeah, after I got him to do what I wanted him to, I sent him as far away from me as I could so I didn’t kill him. I didn’t think it would be fair to kill the guy for doing exactly as I asked. It’s why I try to avoid being in his company. I want to hurt him.”
“Oh, well, if it makes you feel any better, he’s been the perfect gentleman.”
“No, it doesn’t, because I want to be the one with you.”
“Then stop letting him win.” She took a deep breath. “I love you, Logan Stanford. I didn’t even realize how much until this very moment, but I love you, oh so much, and I never want to lose you. Not ever. I don’t want him to take any more time from us than he already has, and I want us to make this work.” She stepped up close to him, putting her hands on his chest, and he let her. “So I’m going to ask you to marry me.”
“What?” he asked. “Wait, no, you don’t have to ask that.”
He watched in amazement as she went down on one knee. “Marry me, Logan. I love you, and I don’t blame you for anything that happened. What we went through together, I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me too, for not being stronger. For not fighting.”
“You can’t propose, I want to propose.” He went down on one knee, but she laughed.
“No, you don’t get the chance to propose. I did first.”
He felt her hand shaking within his grip.
“I love you, Ava. I’ve always loved you, and that is never going to change.”
“I hope not. I want us to live a long and happy life together. The past is staying where it needs to be.”
“I can’t change who I am.”
“I know, and I’m not going to change you. I don’t want it to hurt our child or our relationship. I love every single part of you, Logan, the good and the bad. I didn’t even know I loved you until this very moment,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“I loved you as a kid, and I love you still.” He pushed the hair off her face. “And I will keep on loving you every single day of my life. I’ll marry you, Ava.”
He pulled her in close for a kiss, and she moaned.
This was what he’d been waiting for. It hadn’t been his need for revenge. All this time, it had been his need for her, and now he finally had her.
Ava was all his.
His childhood wish was coming true. Only now he knew how precious she was, and he wasn’t ever letting go.
Epilogue
Ten years later
Logan checked to make sure the table was perfectly set. There were candles, flowers—roses, as they were her favorite—and lasagna baking in the oven. Hunter had stopped by to make the food for him. Logan had never been a good cook, and he wasn’t about to start learning.
Ava was upstairs putting the kids to bed. They had four kids, and he still couldn’t believe what a handful they were. Their first child had been his oldest son, Liam, and then they’d had twin girls, Darcy and Carla, before his baby boy, Steven, was born six months ago. He didn’t think he would ever have two, let alone four. Ava’s first labor had been a nightmare. He had watched her in pain, hating himself every single second.
She’d pushed out baby Liam, and he’d weighed over nine pounds.
He would never forget that night. Ava had woken up, crying out as contractions disrupted her sleep. They’d already gotten married. She hadn’t wanted a big affair, and he’d taken her to Vegas to make her his. It had been the right decision as they spent their time looking for the perfect house, decorating in time for their new arrival. When the nurse put his son in his arms, it had been the perfect moment.
He was finally a father, and he’d vowed to protect his woman and son.
Less than four years later, their twins arrived. He thought he knew pain, but he wasn’t a woman in labor.
Pushing the thoughts of his wife in pain out of his mind, he focused instead on being ready for Ava.
“They are asleep. I don’t know for how long.”
She rounded the corner, and he watched her pause.
He held a rose, and he’d already taken off the thorns.
“What’s all this?” she asked.
“This is our anniversary dinner.”
“We didn’t get married in October.”
“No, but we did spend an entire night together on Halloween.”
“You’re calling our first night together when we were eighteen.”
“It was one of the first moments I fell in love with you,” he said.
“Your friends thought I was mistaken for that other girl. I can’t remember her name.”
“Anna. She didn’t come as a sexy nurse, Ava. I made that up. She came as a vampire. I told my friends at the time that she was the sexy nurse. It was you I wanted with me the whole time.”
“Oh. I’m not even dressed for it. I’ve got baby vomit on my shirt. My clothes haven’t seen a washer. I’m a mess.”
He walked right up to her, cupped her face, and smiled. “You’re perfect. You’re my wife, and I love everything there is about you.”
“Really?”
“Really. Baby vomit and all.”
“You know how to really charm a girl, don’t you?”
“Only you. I’m waiting on you tonight. We’re going to have a lovely meal, and then I’m going to take you for a nice, long bath, and if the kids stay silent and asleep, I’m going to make love to you.”
She grabbed his shirt jacket and pulled him close, drawing him down for a kiss. “I love you. So damn much.”
“And I you.”
It was the first of many anniversaries to come, filled with love, laughter, and with their past where it was meant to stay.
The End
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BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
ASSHOLE HUSBAND
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2019
Sample Chapter
Rachel Parker, no, Rachel Montgomery smiled as she stared up at the ring. She couldn’t believe she was married. Yesterday had been the best day of her life. One she would never forget. Her husband, Wolfe Montgomery, was ten years her senior, but he’d been so kind, gentle, sweet, and tender.
She’d come to his bed a virgin last night, and now, she was … a woman.
It was so strange to be a married woman. It wasn’t yet morning, but the bed was empty. She put her hand out to touch where Wolfe should have been, but the sheets were cold. He must have left the room a while ago, but she’d not even felt him leave. She’d been so exhausted.
Getting to her feet, she wrapped the blanket around herself, until she spotted a robe. She tied the belt, covering her n
aked body and untucking her hair from the back of the robe. She opened the bedroom door and began to make her way downstairs toward the kitchen. Wolfe had been persistent in the reception being held in his home. He had a large, lavish home, more of a mansion than a house, but she didn’t mind. Her parents came from wealth that had been passed down by her grandparents. She had grown up with everything a young woman could ask for, apart from the one thing she always wanted, love.
It was a rather silly, naive notion of what she always wanted. Her two older sisters often teased her about what she wanted out of life and how ridiculous and childish it sounded. Love wasn’t accepted in their world. They married for money and power.
She’d defied the odds and married for love.
Wolfe was everything.
She couldn’t wait to start a family with him, and they had talked about doing so immediately so she hadn’t been taking her pill, nor had he worn a condom last night.
Thinking about last night made her ache. She wanted him again.
Walking downstairs, she marveled at how quiet his house was. She lived in a much older house with creaking staircases that made it impossible to go anywhere without someone noticing.
She saw a light coming from Wolfe’s office. When he gave her the tour a couple of weeks ago, he’d asked her not to just barge in, to always knock and wait as he often dealt with important business calls and didn’t wish to be distracted.
Stepping up to the room she was about to do that even though the door was partially ajar when she didn’t just hear her husband; no, another man.
“So, you’ve got the fortune you’ve been after and a wife out of it. Whatever next?” the man asked.
“I’ll keep Rachel happy. It’s not hard to do. Feed her a couple of lines and she’s like a fucking puppy dog in my hand.”
Rachel tensed. Wolfe sounded so … stern, angry, aggressive.
She frowned. In the past six months she’d never heard him speak like that before.
“Wow, tell me, Wolfe, do you love your wife or was this all about the money?”
The door was open enough to allow her to see Wolfe. He was leaning against his desk, and he wore a suit. His shirtsleeves were rolled up as he gripped the edge of the desk.
“Parker should have known not to mess with me. I told him the best way of securing his business venture was to give me a place on his board, and a percentage of his company. Denying me what I deserve, he should have known I’d find other methods. Marrying his daughter, well, it just got me closer to what I require.”
Rachel couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“The oldest daughter is a slut. The middle one, she’s too … aware. Rachel, the youngest, well, she was the easiest target. All I had to do was say a few nice things and I had her. She even thought our meetings were fate, not carefully crafted by me just so I could make her fall in love with me.”
“I’ve got to say, Wolfe, I know you’re a monster in the boardroom, but marrying to get what you want, I was shocked.”
“Please, you’ve known me for years. Besides, business will take me away a lot of the time, and I can have my fun then. She was such a fucking sensitive virgin.” Wolfe groaned. “Anyway, she’ll do as she’s told, and we’ll all be happy.”
“Do you love her?” the man asked.
“No. Why would I love her? She’s a means to an end.”
Rachel had heard enough. Stepping away from the door, she rushed back up to their bedroom.
Closing the door, she leaned against it, her heart racing.
What the hell?
He didn’t love her?
The man she’d known for the past six months would never treat her like that. She couldn’t believe it. He’d never said a curse word in front of her, and the way he talked just now, that wasn’t the man she knew.
All of this was a lie?
Grabbing her cell phone, she quickly dialed her sister, Mary.
“Hello,” Mary said, groggily.
“It was all a lie, wasn’t it? That’s what you tried to warn me about?”
“Rachel?”
“Don’t try to spare my feelings. I heard him. I heard Wolfe.” The tears were falling now, and she swiped them away, wanting to not cry, to at least appear strong.
“Oh, honey.”
“Don’t do that. I’m twenty years old. You don’t need to treat me with kid gloves. Just tell me the truth,” she said. “Did you know?”
Mary sighed on the other end. “I knew he wasn’t all that he’d seemed. I first met him at a party. He wasn’t a nice guy then, and he isn’t one now. I did try to warn you.”
“But I didn’t listen. Have you ever … slept with him?”
“No. Like I said, I like my men to be less mean. Wolfe, he’s not a nice guy, but he seemed to make you happy and you wouldn’t listen. I wasn’t going to take that away from you.”
Rachel sniffled. “I made a big mistake.”
“Did he fuck you?”
“Mary!”
“Come on, you’ve been prudish for a long time. It doesn’t get you anywhere. You’ve got to wake up and realize the world is all about the sex and fucking. You’re being delusional if you think it is anything else. I’m trying to help you,” Mary said.
“Yes.”
“Then an annulment is out of the question. You’re going to have to divorce him.”
Rachel put a hand to her chest, hating the very word. She didn’t want to get an annulment or end her marriage.
Not after less than twenty-four hours.
Even after hearing all she had, she still loved him.
Wolfe had lied about his feelings, but she hadn’t. Hers were real, which made the pain of his betrayal even worse.
She sniffled. “I’ve got to leave. He’s with someone in his office. Can you come and pick me up? Please? I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
“You’re my sister. I love you. Of course I’ll come and pick you up. Be ready in half an hour. I’ll be there.”
Hanging up the phone, Rachel rushed toward the closet. She found her bag there. All of her clothes had already been taken out of it. While she’d been waiting for Wolfe to appear, she’d felt so happy seeing her clothes beside his.
She couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been.
Removing her robe, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Her parents had been wealthy, but she’d always been the down to earth sister who hadn’t been drawn into the latest fashion trends.
Much to her parents’ amusement, she loved to sew and create. She didn’t do fashion, but she did make her own clothes.
Wolfe had said it was a charming hobby.
Now, she couldn’t believe a word that had ever been said. He’d told her he loved her, how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The three kids he wanted? It had all been lies.
Manipulations to get her to be with him, not because he had to have her, but to take her inheritance and what came with her small fortune.
Throwing the bag to the bed, she grabbed most of her clothes, and as she was stuffing the last few items, Wolfe walked into the bedroom.
He’d rolled down his sleeves, hiding the ink he’d told her was a dare he’d been given in college to get.
Probably lies too.
The man she’d glimpsed wasn’t her Wolfe, and never would be.
“What is going on? Are you excited about our honeymoon already?” he asked.
He took a step toward her, and she moved back.
Wolfe paused. “Rachel, what is going on? I don’t understand. You were perfectly content when I left you to get a drink.”
She stared at him.
His voice was once again soft, and he spoke a little slower as well. Did he think she was so stupid she wouldn’t catch on?
“Drop the act,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“I was the easiest sister. Not the slut, or the one who’d question your motives. I was the easy target for you to get what you want.”<
br />
She stared at him, and she saw the moment he realized she knew.
He took another step toward her.
“Don’t.”
“Rachel, what you heard, it was all lies. You don’t know the truth.”
“No, this right now, this is the lie. What you’re doing now, drop it. Drop the act. You don’t love me. You never have.” She shook her head. “You know, my parents warned me about men like you who’ll want to use me for what I’ve got. I never thought it would happen to me. I’m … me. I don’t stand out in a crowd. I don’t…” She shook her head, and went to her bag.
“You don’t understand what was going on. I had to say those things because I don’t want anyone to know the truth. Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Wolfe asked.
Rachel stood up and looked at him. He’d taken a step closer toward her.
“I’m leaving. Mary’s coming to pick me up.”
“You’re my wife. You’re not leaving.”
“I am. I’m going. This was all a mistake. A stupid … mistake.” She couldn’t bring herself to hurl insults at him.
He grabbed her arms, and she gasped as he pressed her against the wall. “So you know the truth of what I really want. It doesn’t mean I can’t give you a good life. I didn’t need your money, Rachel. I needed your position.”
“And I wanted nothing but what you promised me. I want the man you pretended to be, but he doesn’t exist. You do. I don’t want him.”
“I’m not going to let you go.”
“Yes, you are because if you don’t, I’ll make sure every single newspaper knows about what happened tonight, and how you lied and manipulated to be married to me.”
