Fire & Ice (The Locklaine Boys #1) (33 page)

“Griffin,” I choked as I tried to pull away, but he held strong.

“I love you, Pepper. I’ve loved you for years. I was just too goddamned stupid to realize it.”

“Stop,” I pleaded in a small voice.

“No, I won’t stop. I’m going to keep telling you until you finally believe me. I’ll say it over and over until you finally forgive me for hurting you. You’re
it
for me, sweetness, and no matter how much you deny it, I know you feel the same way. I love you.”

“Shut up.”

“I love you,” he repeated.

“Shut up!”

“I love you, Pepper.

“No you—” I began to argue, only to have him clamp his hand over my mouth. The tears instantly dried up as I narrowed my eyes in a glare.
God
, I really fucking hated when he did that.

“Don’t tell me I don’t fucking love you,” he said, his tone fierce. “I bought a hair dryer just so you’d have it here to use whenever you stayed the night.”

Bam
!

“I stocked up on what’s probably the most disgusting snack known to man simply because they’re your favorite.”

Bam!

“No one, and I mean
no one
has a key to my house but me, and now you. I’ve never given a key to anyone.”

Bam, bam, bam
!

“For Christ’s sake, I named my
cat
after you! A cat that fucking hates me! So don’t tell me I don’t love you, because everything I’ve
done
is because I’m out of my goddamned mind, crazy for you, you stubborn, hardheaded woman!”

And with that, the walls came crashing back down, and I knew there was no chance of ever repairing them again. Reaching up, I wrapped my hand around his and pulled it from my mouth. “I love you too,” I whispered. Judging by the look of absolute shock on his face, he’d been expecting more of a fight out of me. But I was done fighting.

“What?”

“I love you too,” I repeated, feeling my lips tip into a grin.

Pulling my body flush against his, he growled against my lips, “Say it again.”

“I love you, Griffin. You’re
it
for me.”

“Fucking
Christ
, sweetness,” he rumbled. Then he kissed me. It was hard, claiming, and I instantly melted into him, opening without the slightest bit of struggled.

“You’re moving in with me,” he uttered as his lips lit a blazing trail across my jaw and down my neck.

“I’ll think about it,” I responded stubbornly… just because it was fun to push his buttons.

He growled again and wrenched his mouth from me. “It’s not up for discussion. It’s happening, Pepper.”

“We’ll see,” I told him with a full-blown smile.

“God you’re such a pain in my ass,” he complained, but his face broke out into a brilliant smile as he spoke.

“Yeah, but you love me anyway.”

“Fuck me, but I do.” He pressed another kiss to my lips. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I answered, standing on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck as his banded around my waist. “But I know one thing for sure. Whatever happens, it’s going to be epic.”

His forehead rested against mine as he chuckled. “You got that right, sweetness.”

“
FOR THE LOVE OF
God, woman. Will you hurry up?” I shouted from the kitchen loud enough for Pepper to hear me all the way from our bathroom.
Our
bathroom. In
our
house.

I still fucking loved the sound of that. It had been two weeks since I brought Pepper home from the hospital with me, and she’d still yet to leave. Not that she had anywhere else to go. With the help of Dex, Richard, and Rowan, we’d gone to her apartment and cleaned it out. What little furniture she had that didn’t fit into my place was currently sitting in storage until she had time to go through it and decide what she wanted to keep and what she wanted to get rid of. Her clothes and shoes had taken over the closet and dresser. Her goddamned beauty products littered every available surface of the bathroom.

And I fucking loved it.

These past two weeks hadn’t been a picnic—we argued, we fought, we made up. Then we did it all again. But it was exactly what I expected when it came to being in love with Pepper O’Malley. We were like fire and ice, a rather poignant analogy if you thought about it, but it was
us
. It was what guaranteed things would never,
ever
grow stale.

I fucking loved that, too.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” she called as she hurried down the hall into the kitchen, her hands raised as she worked an earring into her earlobe. At the sight of her in a skintight dress the exact color of her eyes, and tan heels that did amazing things for her figure, I nearly swallowed my tongue. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to how beautiful she was. And I was the lucky son of a bitch that got to keep her. I must have done something right in a past life to deserve the perfection that was simply
her.
“How do I look?” she asked, coming to a halt an inch away from me. She was still too far away.

Shooting out a hand, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her tight, curvy body against mine, instantly getting hard. “Like perfection,” I answered, bring my lips down to her bright red ones.

She moaned into my mouth and leaned farther into me, and I started thinking of viable excuses to get out of going to dinner with all of our friends. “You keep doing that and we’re gonna be late,” she smiled against my mouth.

“Fuck it. Let’s ditch. We’ll go back to bed and I can spend the next hour fucking you in those heels.”

She laughed and placed her palms against my chest, pushing me away slightly. “No way. Dex and Wendy finally have a night out and would kill us if we bailed. Besides, Navie’s bringing the jewelry she made for the wedding to see if it’ll go with her wedding dress. We’re going.”

“Jesus,” I grunted as I went against everything my body wanted and let her go. “I swear to God, if you women spend the entire night talking about babies and weddings like you did the last time, I’m gonna shoot myself.”

“You’ll survive,” she laughed, affectionately patting my chest before turning toward her tiny purse sitting on the kitchen counter and coming to an abrupt stop at the sight of the giftwrapped box sitting next to it. “What’s that?” she asked, looking back at me and seeing the smile stretched across my face.

“Open it and find out.”

As she made quick work of the bow and wrapping, my gut twisted into knots. I hope she loved it. Christ, what if it wasn’t the right one?

“Griffin,” she gasped, pulling the handbag from the box. It was the exact one that had been destroyed two weeks ago. When she looked back at me, I knew I’d chosen correctly. “Thank you, honey.”

“Look inside,” I told her. When she turned back to the bag and began rummaging inside, I moved to stand directly behind her.

“Oh my God,” she breathed as she pulled out the note I’d written.

I remained motionless as she unfolded it and began reading, my eyes scanning each line at the same time as hers.

Any fear I had that she’d find the note corny immediately eradicated when she spun in my arms and kissed the air from my lungs. “God, I love you,” she said once she finally pulled away.

I smiled wickedly and slid my hands down to cup her ass. “Then let’s go. The sooner we get this dinner over with, the sooner we can come back here and you can show me just how much.”

At my wink, her head fell back in laughter. “Challenge accepted.”

Oh yeah
, I thought.

The years ahead were most definitely going to be epic.

The End

Stay tuned for Richard’s story

Coming July 2016

Be sure to catch up with the Locklaine that started it all in:

Love Hate Relationship

People say that sometimes the line between love and hate is thin. What they don’t tell you is that sometimes it’s invisible.

Rowan Locklaine gave his heart to one woman a long time ago and has no desire to go through that kind of torture ever again. His painful past has turned him cold and heartless. Women serve only one purpose as far as he’s concerned, and relationships are nothing but a waste of time and energy. When the mouthy little blonde, Navie Collins, is hired as his personal assistant, he finds his world turned upside down. And against his better judgment, he can’t seem to stop thinking about her.

Navie Collins has spent years convinced she’s not good enough, that no one could possibly want her. Growing up the way she did helped to thicken her skin, so when she walks into a job interview and meets the temperamental, foul-mouthed, best-selling author, Rowan Locklaine, she’s all too happy to put him in his place.

Rowan and Navie are convinced they hate each other. But as time passes and the attraction between them begins to grow, these two stubborn, strong-willed people have a life changing decision to make. Can they move beyond their pain for a chance at something better, or are they destined to let their pasts dictate their future?

To Jennifer Wolfel: Tomas is for you! I love you more than words, lady!

To Jenn Van Wyk: Your daily encouragement means EVERYTHING! Thank you so much, babe.

To Tara Sivec: Seriously. Never. Writing. Without. You. Again. End of story.

To Erin Noelle: You’re acknowledged in every single book. Therefore, you know all the reasons I love you. Carry on.

To Jill Sava: How did I function before you? No, for real. How?

To the lovely ladies of F*ck That Noise: Thank you for introducing me to the brilliance that is Dubsmash.

And as always, to my readers: This is for YOU!