Sin Page 20
She yanks on my hand to stop me. “I would never hurt them, or you.”
“I know.” I kiss her palm. “We’re going to take this at the pace that works for all of us. We’ll stumble and make mistakes. Things will get messed up because that’s how it works with them and me, but we keep moving forward. You’re part of that now.”
I see the hesitation in her expression, so I keep talking to soothe that anxiety. “I know it’s a lot, Linny. I’m not asking for anything more than what you can give.”
She stares at me. “My life is upside down right now.”
I pull open the main door of her building and follow her through. “Did you clean out your office yesterday?”
She stops in the lobby and turns to me. “My dad was there. We talked briefly. He’s going to give me some time and space.”
“That’s good.”
“I’ll be taking over your account and one other that means a lot to me. “ She rubs the back of her neck. “It’s a jewelry store. Whispers of Grace.”
“Ivy Walker’s store?” I ask with a smile. “Jax’s wife?”
Her head tilts. “You know them?”
“Jax is an old friend.” I reach to touch her shoulder. “I was going to ask if you wanted to be my date to his surprise birthday party next week.”
“You mean non-surprise party.” She rolls her eyes. “He knows all about it. I was invited too.”
“We’ll go together.” I squeeze her bicep. “It will be our first official event as a couple.”
“The vanilla vodka launch party will be our second.”
I point to the elevator. “The second of many, angel. I need to fuck you so get your ass on that elevator.”
The lures a smile to her perfect lips. “You know just what to say to me.”
I lean down and whisper in her ear, “I know just what to do to you too.”
***
I glide a hand under her bare ass and tilt her body to just the right angle so I can slide my cock against her tender core.
“You’re teasing me.” She slaps a hand over my shoulder. “Enough, Jeremy. It’s been so much already.”
She’s wrong. It’s not been enough.
I ate her sweet pussy the second she closed her apartment door. I was on my knees with her dress bunched at her waist, and her panties a torn mess on the floor.
She came against my mouth twice before I took her over my shoulder and carried her to her bed.
I stripped us both and kissed her deeply while I fingered her to another orgasm.
I’m on top of her now. My cock is sheathed and aching.
I’m harder than I’ve ever been because she whispered the words that I’ll never get enough of.
“I love you.”
They fell from her lips as she came the first time.
“Fuck me, West.”
My cock jumps. “Say it again, angel.”
She moves until her lips are barely touching mine. “Fuck me.”
I drive into her, pushing her up the bed.
“Ah, yes.” She moans. “Like that.”
I move slowly, squeezing her ass with each pump. “Like that, baby.”
“Why is it always this good?” Her eyes find mine. “Why does it feel like this every time?”
The need to fuck is consuming. I up the pace, thrusting harder and deeper. “It’s love.”
“Love.” Her voice is so soft that it’s barely audible.
Her eyelids flutter shut, her lips part and she moans over and over as I drive my dick into her beautiful body.
Tears well in my eyes at the sight of her coming.
The pure pleasure in her face and the tightening of her body around mine as she comes is almost too much.
I fuck her hard as I chase my own release.
I slam into her over and over again, wanting her to feel more, needing her to come again.
She does with a loud cry and it sends an orgasm crashing through me.
“I love you, Jeremy,” she whispers as she clings to me.
“Angel, I love you with everything that I am.”
“With everything that I am,” she repeats back with a tender kiss to my neck.
I wrap my arms around her, holding her against me.
“I need to sleep.” She rests her head on my chest. “In your arms is the only place I want to be.”
It’s the only place I want her to be, tonight and forever.
Epilogue
1 Year Later
Linny
“I think our spaghetti gets better every week.” I push my plate back. “I ate it all.”
Zach looks over at where I’m sitting. “I still ate more than you, Linz.”
He’s grown at least four inches since I met him a year ago and his voice has deepened. He’s not a child anymore. He’s a young man with his sights set on becoming a doctor.
I know he’ll do it.
I look at Jeremy. He’s sitting next to me. He’s nervous. His bare foot is tapping on the floor. I reach over and squeeze his hand to soothe him.
“Give me a few more months and I’ll eat more than all of you combined.” I chuckle.
Athena’s head pops up. Breccans’s too.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Zach fires back. “You’ve been living here for six months now, and you eat less than any of us.”
“I can’t include Athena in that,” he goes on, pointing at his sister. “She’s at school most of the time.”
She is. She’ll graduate in just a year with a business degree and a bonus certificate. She’s been spending her evenings and Saturdays studying floral design.
Jeremy and Rocco are both eager to invest in her first venture. She’s going to open a flower shop that serves specialty coffee and tea. She’ll offer floral design courses as well.
My firm, Lincoln Dawn Communications, will handle the marketing.
I’ve spent the past year building my business from an office in Chelsea with Hal as my second-in-command. I had a boost after the Rizon vanilla vodka launch party. I picked up two new clients. Jeremy sent them my way when they asked him who handled the marketing campaign.
I’m still doing work for Whispers of Grace and Rizon when they need it.
“Linny, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Athena jumps to her feet. “Oh my god.”
“What?” Breccan looks at her. “I don’t get it.”
His entire world is football at the moment. He’s got a difficult choice to make and regardless of what it is, he’ll be moving when it’s time for him to start college.
He’s been offered full scholarships at several of the best schools in the country.
Jeremy clears his throat. I look over at him.
Since he told his siblings about our engagement three months ago, we decided that I’d be the one to tell them about this.
About our baby.
“We’re having a baby,” I say as I stare at the man that I love.
Zach jumps to his feet. “A baby? Are you serious? We’re having a baby?”
“No shit?” Tears well in Breccan’s eyes. “We’re really going to have a baby?”
I slide to my feet when Athena rushes toward me. I hug her tightly.
Zach is next, and then Breccan.
I savor each embrace before I feel Jeremy’s arms circle me from behind.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” Zach asks. “Do you know?”
“It’s a girl.” Jeremy’s voice cracks. “It’s going to be a beautiful little girl.”
“What will her name be?” Athena moves to stand next to us, her eyes dropping to the front of my gray sweatshirt. “That’s why you’ve been wearing baggy clothes, isn’t it?”
I nod. “We wanted to be sure everything was okay before we said a word.”
That was important to us both after Harmony suffered a miscarriage six months ago. She had been overjoyed at the prospect of having another baby. I was with her at Crispy Biscuit when she started bleeding. I rushed with her in
a taxi to the hospital, but there was nothing that could be done.
I held her as she cried in the ER until Reuben got there.
I haven’t told her about my pregnancy yet. I haven’t told my dad either.
I will when I see him next week before he leaves for Florida.
We’ve worked hard to build a new relationship that’s based on respect and love.
It’s a step-by-step process, but we’re determined to make it work.
He wants me to forge a bond with Mitchell, but I’m not ready for that. I may never be.
“We’re going to name her Cassidy,” I say quietly. “In honor of Jeremy’s mom.”
A week after I met Jeremy’s siblings, he told me about his mom.
She had passed away a month before his eighteenth birthday.
Layan Cassidy had been a remarkable woman who loved her son fiercely. She’d raised him with dignity and compassion after her husband cheated on her with the woman who would eventually become his second wife. It never made her bitter. She only drew strength from it, teaching her son about loyalty and love.
“That’s beautiful.” Athena reaches for Jeremy’s hand. “I think it’s the perfect choice, Jer.”
“Me too.” He kisses the top of her hand.
“Did you tell Blythe?” Breccan laughs. “She stopped by yesterday with that big basket of fruit and told us not to eat it. She said it was for Linny.”
We all look toward the large wicker basket in the middle of the dining room table that’s filled with apples, oranges, bananas, grapes and a pineapple.
“For fuck’s sake.” Jeremy fishes his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans. ‘She must have been reading my emails again. Linny’s been sending me nursery design ideas.”
“I want in on that.” Athena smiles. “We can fill it with fresh flowers every day.”
“Wedding plans first.” Jeremy laughs. “Nursery plans second.”
“You’re getting married before the baby comes?” Zach steps back. “You don’t have a lot of time.”
We don’t, but we’ll make it work.
Bethy is headed back to New York in a week and my mom told me she wouldn’t miss my wedding for the world. I want both her and my dad to walk me down the aisle so I can wed the man I adore before our daughter arrives.
“Let’s get out the calendar and find a day that works.” Breccan skims his finger across his phone. “I’m obviously the best man.”
“We’re doing dual best men.” Jeremy points at Breccan and Zach. “I want you both right there beside me. That works, right?”
Their smiles say it all.
I turn to Athena, swallowing back the rush of emotion I feel.
“I know you’ll want your sister to be your maid-of-honor.” She tucks a lock of my hair back behind my ear. “I can design the flowers, Linny. I promise I’ll make you the most breathtaking bouquet.”
“Make one for you too.”
Her eyes scan my face. “Why?”
“I want you to be my maid-of-honor.”
“You do?”
I reach for her hand before I turn to face Jeremy, Breccan and Zach. “You are my family. All of you. We’re in this together, for better or for worse, right?”
“It’s the five of us against the world.” Zach raises his arm in the air.
Jeremy’s hand falls to my belly. “Six. It’s the six of us against the world.”
I reach up to cup his cheek with my hand. “I love our life.”
“I love you, angel.”
“We all love each other.” Zach laughs. “We’ll handle the dishes tonight.“
Jeremy and I watch as his siblings disappear into the kitchen.
“We’re really lucky.” I look up at him. “How did we get this lucky?”
“You put on a tutu and tiara and stole my heart away.” His fingers brush my chin.
“I still have that tutu.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He pulls me closer. “Tell me you’re serious, angel.”
“It wouldn’t fit me now.” I look down. “I’m a little thick around the middle.”
“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.” His hand moves to my neck. “Let’s skip the movie and you can model the tutu and tiara for me.”
“We could skip the fashion show and take a bath. It has to be a warm bath, not too hot.”
Lowering his voice, he tugs me toward the staircase. “Or we could skip the bath and I’ll take you straight to bed and fuck you.”
“Deal.” I pop up to my bare tiptoes and kiss his mouth. “Will you always want me this much, West?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I’ll want you more tomorrow, and even more next year. By the time we’re eighty, we’ll never leave our bed.”
I throw my head back in laughter. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“You better, angel. You’re mine for life and nothing is going to change that.”
Preview of LACE
From the Just This Once Series
Alexander Donato is the most annoying person I’ve ever met.
The arrogant jerk thinks I should help him find the random woman he spent last night with.
I don’t care if she took something that belonged to him.
It doesn’t matter to me that he’s tall, gorgeous, and built for sin.
I refuse to help a man like that with anything.
Until I find out that there’s more to his story.
There’s more to our story too.
I’m not the kind of woman who falls for someone like Alexander, but truth be told, I’ve never met a man like him before.
Author’s Note: Although some characters from my previous books appear in LACE, you don’t have to read any of those to enjoy this breathtaking romance!
Chapter 1
Olivia
“I need you to tell me who these panties belong to.”
I turn at the sound of the masculine voice. It’s not that it’s a rarity here. It’s a lingerie boutique, so we have our share of male clientele, but this voice is different.
It’s edged with a roughness that speaks of confidence and control.
“You want me to what?” Lisa, the newly hired sales associates, asks.
“You heard me.” The man barks back, an added note of irritation in his tone. “I need to know who bought this pair of panties because she’s a goddamn thief.”
I move across the boutique, my nude heels clicking a quick beat on the hardwood floors.
I stop when I catch sight of the back of the man attached to the voice.
He’s tall. I’d guess around six-foot-two. His shoulders are broad, his dark brown hair long enough to skim the collar of the white dress shirt he’s wearing. The sleeves are rolled up to reveal muscular forearms that pop in and out of view when he moves his arms.
The black dress pants he has on fit him perfectly. There’s no mistaking that this man’s body is perfection.
I should visit this store more often. Working from the corporate offices of Liore Lingerie isn’t nearly as exciting as this.
“Can I help you, sir?” I call out from behind him, running a hand over my shoulder length brown hair. “I’m Olivia Hull. I’m the District Operations Manager of Liore Lingerie.”
He turns and holy hell.
It’s as if a sculptor created the perfect man and dropped him in front of me.
Impeccable bone structure, a strong jaw, a sharp nose and the pièce de résistance ; two of the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Are you in charge?” He looks me over.
I do the same to him, stopping to linger at the barest hint of smooth skin under the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. “If there’s a problem, I can help.”
A ball of black lace falls from his hand onto the checkout counter. “Give me the name of the woman who bought these.”
I move around the counter until I’m facing him directly. I glance down at the lace. “We sell hundreds of pairs of panties every day, sir.”
I grab a silver pen from the top of the counter and tug on the edge of the lace. “This is one of our most popular styles. We have several stores here in Manhattan. It’s impossible to pinpoint who these belong to.”
“You must have records.” He points at the computer sitting atop the counter. “She told me they were brand new. Key in the code or whatever it is you do when you sell a pair and print me out the names of the women who have bought them in the last few days. She’s about your height, blonde, with brown eyes.”
Lisa moves toward the computer, but I stop her with a hand on her wrist. “We value our customer’s privacy. We would never compromise that for any reason, sir.”
“Your customer,” he pulls the last word across his tongue with disdain. “Your customer stole a very valuable item from my apartment last night after I fell asleep. She was in such a rush to steal my property that she forgot those in my bed.”
“Why don’t you just ask her to give it back?” Lisa laughs. “Call her up and tell her that you’ll exchange the panties for whatever it is she took.”
Oh, poor naïve Lisa.
“I take it that you don’t know her name?” I cross my arms over my chest. The motion stretches the material of my black dress taut across my breasts.
His eyes drop to my arms. “That’s correct.”
“I’m afraid we can’t help you.” I slide the panties back across the counter with a push of the pen. “I’d suggest that you return to wherever it was that you met her. With any luck, you’ll cross paths with her again.”
“That’s your advice?” He points at the windows that overlook Fifth Avenue. “Millions of women live in this city. How am I going to find her?”
I narrow my blue eyes and study him. “I don’t have a clue.”
“You need to do better than that.” His expression turns smug, which only makes him that much sexier. “You need to get on that computer and find out who she is.”