Love Is Crazy (Love Is… #1) (18 page)

V
egas is amazing
. Of course. Dominic is strong and in charge. Gentle, yet in control. He knows his way around like he built the place himself and is the best possible tour guide. We get married as soon as we get there. A simple ceremony, just the two of us. No fluff or frills.

I’d go into details, but I’m not sure I’m ready to share it just yet. Right now it feels so perfect and wonderful. A secret that is for me and Dominic.

Ours.

To have and to hold.

Til death do us part.

I’m sure I’ll be talked into sharing the details at some point. But that will be later.

For now, it all belongs to me and Dominic.

He has our itinerary for the next couple weeks on a lovely calendar in his laptop. I sent the info on to Maya, Chelsea, and our parents so they would know where I am. My parents were not very pleased about my sudden marriage. Not at all. But I’m happy and so they say that makes them happy and they’ll learn to live with me gallivanting all over the globe with a man that makes me happier than I’ve ever been—even if they haven’t met him yet.

Dominic wasn’t kidding about the travel blog. He purchased a domain name while we were in Vegas and posted pictures of the Grand Canyon along with my article. We’ve had so many hits on that post already, I don’t know what to do with myself. It almost looks like I’m really going to get to make a living as an author and that feels amazing.

Living the dream? Yes, please!

We’re also looking into what it would cost to buy some land around Townsbury or Farmington. Get a few of those shipping containers and build a home for ourselves. Just a little place to keep our stuff in a place where I can visit my family in those moments when we have nowhere to go and don’t feel like roughing it.

Of course, that’s a ways off still. And that’s okay because I have him and he has me. We have food on the table—well we would, if we
had
a table—and really, when you get right down to it, that’s all we’re ever going to need.

* * *

T
hank
you for reading Love Is Crazy by Abby Brooks. You’re a page turn away from your bonus book—Blown Away, The Moore Brothers Book One!

B
ut first
…

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ant
to know as soon as Abby’s next book is released?
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ove talking
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lease consider leaving
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C
opyright
© 2016 by Abby Brooks

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

F
or Bill
.

Always for you.

And for my grandfather, who served four years on the USS Oriskany during the Korean War.

I love you both.

W
ant
to know as soon as Abby’s next book is released?
Click here
to join Abby’s Reader Group to get notified on release day.

L
ove talking
about books with other romance fans? Come join our secret Facebook group,
Book Boyfriend Central
.

P
lease consider leaving
a review on
Amazon
or
Goodreads
. We know you’re busy, but even just a few lines will make Abby’s day!

B
lown Away
(Ian and Juliet
)

Carried Away
(James and Ellie)

Swept Away
(Harry and Willow)

Break Away
(Lilah and Cole)

L
ove Is
…

Love Is Crazy (Dakota & Dominic)

J
uliet Lane had to pee
. In fact, she’d had to pee for the last sixty miles or so, but each rest stop she came to seemed more remote than the last, and right now, she wasn’t in the mood for remote. She wanted bright lights and lots of people around. After surviving the last couple months, she wasn’t gonna give yet another asshole a chance to make her his victim.

“Isn’t that right, Lulu?” she asked the Yorkshire Terrier in the seat next to her, singsonging happily. “No more dominant jerks for me.” God, it felt good to say that and mean it.  Juliet had never been dependent on anyone before, let alone been in a position to be a victim. Enter Michael Phillips, CEO of Tech Lord, the newest, biggest, and best in technology today.
Cutting edge tech for those in the know!
At least according to the Tech Lord slogan.

Michael certainly said it enough, spouting it at every meeting, every press conference, even went so far as to put himself into each new commercial, leaning back in his pretentious leather chair in his office on the bajillionteenth floor of one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The commercial screamed sex and power with Michael’s gray eyes blazing into the camera. His blonde hair impeccably styled. The floor to ceiling windows behind him sparkling with the lights of the city. Panties got wet all across America every time he was on screen, no doubt about it. There’d been a time when she herself melted into a puddle of barely comprehensible woman the moment he looked at her. But that was only at first. Not so much as time went on. And now? Juliet was just glad to have hundreds of miles of highway between her and the city. Between her, Michael Phillips, and his fashionably twitchy palm.

It seemed like every woman in the world was fantasizing about having a super-hot billionaire boyfriend who knew what he wanted and took it without asking. Throw in a touch of sadism and a dash of cold and domineering and you’ve got the perfect recipe with which to ‘explore your sexuality.’ Juliet had been excited—okay, beyond excited—when Michael had slid that contract across the boardroom table for her to sign. Her heart had raced as she ticked off her list of hard and soft limits, as they discussed rules and safe words. She’d always liked her sex a little rough and here she was, presented with the chance to really let down her hair and walk on the wild side. Hand control over to someone bigger and stronger than her. Allow him to take her on some marvelous sexual journey. But, life isn't at all like the movies and BDSM isn’t the fun and games pop culture would have her believe. At least not when your partner loses control...

Juliet took a long breath and let it out, then checked her mirrors and made herself smile. Positivity was a habit and smiling was the first step. Michael Phillips had no power over her anymore. She’d taken it all back when she packed up her car and left the city. Sitting here worrying about him, going on and on about the past, that was only handing the power right back to him. She’d taken precautions; he’d never find her. Life was hers again and freedom tasted sublime. So what if she didn’t know where she was going? So what if she didn’t have much of a plan? She’d fake it til she made it. Even if that idea scared her to death.

Lulu looked at her expectantly, panting in the pool of early spring sunlight that blazed through the passenger window. The little dog probably needed a pit stop even more than Juliet did. “We’ll stop at the very next one,” Juliet promised. Lulu dropped her head to her paws and Juliet checked the rearview mirror one more time.

He’s not back there,
she chided herself.
He’s probably just now figuring out you’re gone and there’s no way he’ll know where you are. He’s rich, but he’s not Batman.

She finally found a place to stop and pulled off the highway, stretching as she straightened out of the driver’s seat. Despite the evening hour, heat radiated off her car and the pavement.  It’d been cold in the city when she’d left, but she’d gotten far enough south that she’d go so far as to call it hot. She blinked in the bright light and took a deep breath. She’d always wondered what the ocean smelled like, and now she knew. There was salt and fish and something fresh in the air. Juliet smiled, checking one more box off her mental bucket list.

Now that she was standing, she really had to pee. Like, so badly it hurt. Juliet cracked a window to keep the car cool for the dog and locked the car door before she waddle-walked as fast as she could into the restroom. Poor little Lulu was just going to have to wait her turn, and heaven help her if she peed in the car. A few minutes later, she rushed back out to the parking lot, eager for the briny coastal air to replace the strong scent of rural rest stop bathroom. Another car had pulled in while she was inside, a giant boat of a Buick, and Juliet slowed down to study the driver.

Of course it wasn’t Michael. He’d never drive a Buick. Hell, if he did find her, he’d probably land a helicopter at her feet, the wind plastering the grass to the ground, blowing the leaves on the palm trees into great churning fans, tailored suit and designer tie flapping as he walked towards her, those sexy gray eyes gleaming in anticipation of how he was going to make her scream as soon as they got behind closed doors...  

Juliet shuddered.
Not another thought,
she told herself.
He doesn’t deserve one. more. thought.
She got to her car and opened the door, leaned over the driver’s seat and reached into the back for Lulu’s leash while a tiny old woman heaved the door shut on the Buick and lumbered off towards the bathrooms. As Julz dug through the few boxes she’d packed, looking for the now AWOL leash, another car pulled in beside the Buick.

This one was sleek and expensive and gleamed in the evening sun. That was a power-mobile if she’d ever seen one and she didn’t have to see the driver to know he had something to prove. Probably a class-A jerk.

Juliet rolled her eyes and pushed the rest of her small frame as far into the back seat as possible. “I’m sorry, babe,” she said as Lulu put her paws on Juliet’s back. “That silly leash is just gone.” She pushed one more time, her ass now fully in the air, and found the leash where it had fallen on the floor behind her seat. With a triumphant little “aha!, Juliet wriggled back into the front seat in time to see the old woman stumble and fall against the curb.

With a gasp, Juliet threw open the door and raced to help. Lulu bolted out of the car after her, passed her without a backwards glance, and then just kept right on running towards the line of palm trees on a hill that blocked the view of the beach.

“Lulu!” she screamed, crouching at the old woman’s side as she struggled into a sitting position. “Are you alright?” Julz tried to split her attention between the woman and her dog.

“Nothing hurt but my pride, I ‘spect.”

Juliet offered the woman a hand, watching as her little dog just got smaller and smaller, her tiny little legs eating up the ground at her feet. “Lulu!”

“Getcher dog,” said the woman with a smile. “I’m tougher’n I look.”

Eyes on Lulu—who’d now started running in circles, barking at something that caught her attention in the grass,—Julz kept a hold on the woman until she was on her feet and stable. “You sure you’re okay?” she asked.

“I’m old. I just fell in front of a stranger. I’m as okay as I’ll ever be.” The old woman smiled again and waved her away. “Now go get yer dog ‘fore she goes for a swim.” Lulu had disappeared behind the row of palm trees.

After one last look at the woman to make sure she was stable, Juliet took off, calling after Lulu. The panic she’d tried to keep at bay finally rose into her throat and tears pricked the corner of her eyes. If she lost Lulu, she might lose her mind. That little dog was one of the few things she still had from her pre-Michael Phillips life. One of the few things she’d actually let herself love and the only thing that's ever really loved her back.

Please let her come back. Please let her come back. Please.

And then, a man stepped out from the row of palm trees, holding a happy Lulu, who wriggled in his arms, trying to lick his face. A man in a tux, with expensive written on just about everything about him from his haircut, to his tie, to his pants, to his shoes. Juliet slowed and studied him as he walked up to her, a huge grin on his face.

His ridiculously handsome face.

Holy shit, his almost completely perfect face. This man should have a theme song playing in the background, what with the sun illuminating his dark hair and broad shoulders, the warm smile crinkling the corners of his eyes, all while he strode towards Juliet in slow motion, after having rescued her escaped dog.

“Lose something?” he asked in a rich baritone, eyes gleaming.

Close your mouth, Julz. Say something.

Mr. Handsome held Lulu out for her to take and she couldn’t help but notice his wickedly expensive watch poking out from behind a pair of French cuffs and engraved cufflinks. Everything about this man screamed high-powered and successful. Well, everything except for the fact that he was at a nearly abandoned rest stop out in the middle of Nowhere, South Carolina.

“Thank you,” she said, cradling Lulu to her chest and trying not to stare as he ran a hand through his thick, so-brown-it’s-almost-black hair. Clearly, Lulu had made it all the way to the beach because the man had little flecks of light brown sand all over his black tux.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry,” she said, brushing at the sand without thinking, and then pausing as she recognized the hard muscles of a well-defined chest underneath. He must do about a thousand pushups a day! She flushed and yanked her hand away before looking up to meet his eyes.

“It’s not that big of a deal.” The man brushed at the sand, unbuttoned the jacket and slid it off his shoulders. “It’ll shake right out. Besides,” he said with a lift of his eyebrows and a sexy little quirk of his lips, “just wait until you see how much sand is in my shoes.” He looked down and she followed his gaze, her heart wrenching at the mess of sand caked around the laces.

Nervous, Juliet laughed a little. Who was this guy? She’d spent a lot of time around the kind of men who could afford the things Mr. Handsome had and not one of them would ever be described as easygoing. And this guy? So far she’d have to call him easygoing. This almost felt like a trap. “Well, thank you again.” She nuzzled Lulu and smiled over the little dog’s ears at the man.

“It’s the least I could do, considering you were busy being a hero yourself,” he said, looking over her shoulder towards the woman and her Buick. Juliet whirled, suddenly afraid the old lady had collapsed after she’d left her to run after Lulu. The Buick was there, but the old woman was not, so she was either on the ground on the other side of the monstrous car, or she’d made her way into the restroom. “Was she alright?”

“Hmmm?” Juliet dragged her eyes back to Mr. Handsome.

“The woman who fell. She okay?” The man arched an eyebrow and gifted Juliet with another magnificent smile before he started walking back towards the cars.

Julz followed. “I think so. She said she was okay. I probably should have stayed, I just really…” Was it shallow of her to admit that she cared more about finding her dog than staying to make sure the old woman was really alright?

“I’m impressed you stopped to help her in the first place. A lesser woman would have run off after, what was it? Lulu?” He hit Juliet with a questioning look and she nodded. “If she said she’s fine, I’m sure she meant it.” They reached the edge of the grass and paused.

Juliet shook her hair back over her shoulders. “Thanks again. Like, lots of thanks. All the gratitude I can muster,” she said.
Great, Julz. Very articulate. Way to show off that sharp mind.
“I might have lost it if I lost her.”

“No worries. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go remove most of the beach from my shoes.” He gave her a wink and her stomach fluttered a little as he turned and walked away.

What the hell was that all about? You’ve sworn off men, remember? Especially that kind of man.
No more high-octane, commanding, take what they want kind of guys. You're leaving that life behind. Starting over. Keeping it small and simple and easy.

Despite all the well-meaning thoughts in her head, it took longer than she’d like to admit to get her eyes off Mr. Handsome’s ass as he sauntered into the men’s room. And as much as she hoped—and chastised herself for that hope—that he’d look back, he never did.