“Sharon and Jeanne?”
02
“Yeah. They’re both pretty much the same woman. Protect-
03
ing her child.”
04
“No one is bloody. That’s a good sign.”
05
“Will you come back to Hood River with me?”
06
“I have supper club tomorrow night. I’m sorry I left the job.
07
I’ve never done that before.”
08
He laughed. “Leave it to you to be that responsible.”
09
“But it’s not responsible! I’m mortifi ed.”
10
“You’re forgiven. Just say you’ll be back on Monday.”
11
“I will.”
12
“Say I can stay with you until Monday. Now that I’m here,
13
I don’t want to go again.”
14
“You can stay with me until Monday. But you need to fl y
15
your mom back.”
16
“Shit. Yes, I do.”
17
“Come inside. I’ll make lunch for everyone. You can take her
18
back and return tomorrow.”
19
“I’ll come inside and eat your lunch, and then I’ll take her
20
back and return tonight. I want to be with you. I’ve been insane
21
without you. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I want to be at your 22
side.”
23
24
25
26
27
28S
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01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
24
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
M
16
ary moved around her kitchen, stirring, tasting, adjust-
17
ing. The scent of lunch rose and it made her happy.
18
Happy to be making this food for her family. Happy
19
to watch Sharon and Jeanne, who’d nearly come to blows, laugh-
20
ing together at her table.
21
Happy to see Cal, one arm around Jules’s shoulder as he
22
talked to Damien. Smiling.
23
Gillian, one hand on her belly, the other being held by
24
Adrian, listened to some story Miles was telling. Love written
25
all over her features.
26
This was her life.
27
“You look a hell of a lot better than you did about twenty-
S28
four hours ago.”
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
She turned to Daisy, who grinned at her. “I feel a hell of a
02
lot better than I did about twenty- four hours ago.” She blew out
03
a breath. “I hope to never feel that way again.”
04
Daisy looked past her to where Levi sat, chilling with Gideon.
05
“I know what you’re feeling right now. Levi and I fi ght because
06
he’s insufferably bossy at times and if I don’t push back, he’d
07
steamroll right over my life. But since the time he and I broke
08
up, those fi ghts have been doable. We’ve been able to manage.
09
You and Damien will fi ght again. He’s all chill and you are most
10
defi nitely not a chill sort of lady. But things will be different
11
now, because the panic that nearly drowned you? You survived
12
it. You went with the current and at the end, he was the shore-
13
line and all you had to do was put your foot down and realize
14
you could stand.”
15
Mary cocked her head. “Holy tamale. Do you have to be
16
good at everything? Jeez. You’re a poet too?”
17
Daisy laughed and their men looked over to them both.
18
Damien’s gaze moved over her head to toe and she smiled his way.
19
She ladled up soup and Daisy put the croutons on top as
20
Mary put the sandwiches on the side.
21
“You made my favorite.” Damien spooned up some soup,
22
blowing on it.
23
She shrugged. “Not a big deal. I told you it’s easy to make.”
24
He took her hand and kissed her fi ngertips. “You made my
25
favorite because you know it’d make me happy. Thank you.”
26
27
28S
Six hours later he’d fl own back home. Delivered his mother, who
29N
talked of little else but Sharon Whaley, back to her place, reas-
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Lush
sured his brothers that things were okay and he’d be back to
01
start recording again on Monday. With Mary.
02
He’d grabbed some clothes, his toothbrush, his music and
03
notepads and had fl own back to her. Always to her.
04
He used his key to unlock the door, only to pause when he
05
entered the house and noted the candles everywhere. Music
06
played, Frank Ocean.
07
And then he turned the corner to her room and she sat on
08
her bed, naked. Her hair, unbound, gleamed against the pale
09
cream of her skin. She had a penchant for incense, he’d discov-
10
ered some time back. He’d come to associate it with her.
11
“Wow.”
12
She smiled. “You should be naked so I can say wow too.”
13
He obliged as quickly as possible without injuring himself.
14
The music changed.
15
“Who knew you’d have a sexy- times slow- jam mix?”
16
She got to her knees and met him as he moved to the bed. Skin
17
to skin, the breath seemed to leave him, like he’d been hit in the
18
gut. The glory of her, of him and her, that Mary- and- Damien
19
thing fi lled him.
20
“I made it while you were gone. It’s a Damien sexy- times
21
mix. This is Robin Thicke. Every time I hear this song I think
22
about you.” She pushed him back to the mattress and scrambled
23
on top. “Because I would be lost without you. I
was
lost with-24
out you.”
25
She kissed him. Slowly. It started sweetly but didn’t stay there
26
for long. Her mouth cruised over his cheeks, his closed eyelids,
27
over the ridge of his brow and the sensitive skin of his temples.
S28
She didn’t just kiss him; she paid homage to him.
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
Tears pricked his eyes. He’d held them back. Needing to keep
02
a straight head to get through the thing that had pushed them
03
apart. But the fear of losing her, of losing this, choked him.
04
She pulled back, cradling his face. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry I
05
doubted you. I’m sorry I ran away. I just . . . I was humiliated.
06
You made me feel so beautiful and special and then suddenly it
07
felt like a lie and it was
unbearable
to think you didn’t believe it.”
08
The tears fell and she kissed them away. “I couldn’t stop
09
thinking about you being upset. Being so far away and not
10
knowing what it was. Not being able to help. And then when I
11
saw you today? My beautiful, strong- willed woman with shad-
12
ows in her gaze, her bottom lip wobbling. And I was the reason.
13
I was fucking petrifi ed that I was going to lose you.”
14
“You brought your mother. If you’d have brought Ezra or
15
Paddy, I might have resisted. But you brought your mother.”
16
She bent again, raining kisses over his face. His neck. The
17
hollow of his throat. Over his heart. Tracing his tattoos. Her
18
tongue fl icking over his nipples, teeth scoring as her nails skid-
19
ded over his sides, sending shivers through him.
20
She took his hand and kissed it. The heart of his palm. The
21
heel. Each fi ngertip. Over his wrist and then up to the hollow
22
at his elbow. Over his biceps.
23
Each touch was her way of telling him how she felt. That
24
humbled him. Wrecked him to his foundations.
25
“Neko Case? I had to buy this CD three times because I wore
26
it out.” She loved music as much as he did, in her own way.
27
“You’re so fucking perfect.”
28S
He shifted, fl ipping her on her back, looming over her body.
29N
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“I wasn’t done.”
01
“I hope you never are, Curly. But for the time being, I need
02
to kiss you.” He took her mouth, devouring it, taking her taste
03
into his body. Her nails in his shoulders. God, how he’d missed
04
this, and it had only been a day.
05
Her hands cruised over his back. His weight rested against
06
her. Perfect. Just enough to hold her down.
07
She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on. Never
08
wanting to let go.
09
She made him cry. She’d spend the rest of her life making
10
that up to him. Knowing he’d do the same.
11
He moved down, licking his way to her nipples, the pleasure
12
of it slicing through her. He was strong, solid. There was no
13
doubt.
14
“I want your cock in my mouth.”
15
He’d been kissing his way to her pussy but she wanted him
16
fi rst.
17
He got to his knees, moving to kneel near her head. He slid
18
the head of his cock over her nipples. She arched to get more.
19
He slapped her pussy and sensation rippled outward as she
20
gasped. He watched her face. And did it again.
21
She swallowed hard and then he tapped her mouth with the
22
head of his cock. Dominant. Self- assured.
23
Totally hot.
24
“Suck me.”
25
She opened up and he slid inside. She licked around the head
26
and he pressed in deeper, retreating. And then he started again.
27
He played with her nipples until she was wet and on the verge
S28
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
of coming just from that. And all the while he fucked her mouth,
02
slow and easy.
03
She took the weight of his balls in her hand, pressing her
04
fi ngertips just behind them, sliding them back a little to brush
05
against his asshole. He groaned and thrust a little harder.
06
“You’re so fucking hot.” His voice had gone low and hoarse.
07
She moaned against his cock and he moaned right back.
08
Lykke Li’s “Get Some” came on and she smiled. He made her
09
feel that way. She could be anything with him. Dirty. Wanton.
10
He accepted her. Gloried in what they had in bed as well as out
11
of it.
12
Another one of those slaps against her pussy and she spread
13
her legs wider.
14
“Do you know what it does to me to see you do that? Open
15
your thighs for me? Damn. Your cunt is hot and wet and I want
16
more.”
17
Two of his fi ngers slid up and into her as his thumb pressed
18
over her clit. She sucked in air even as she kept licking and suck-
19
ing his cock.
20
He made her come so hard, fi ngers fucking her, thumb play-
21
ing against her clit. She managed to not drown in it, but it was
22
a close thing and it made her want him to come just as hard.
23
She licked down the stalk of him, down over his balls and then
24
back up. Over and over. She knew he was close, and the closer
25
he got, the more she wanted him to come.
26
He pulled back with a groan. “Not yet. On your belly.”
27
She rolled over. He kissed down her spine. Bit and nibbled
28S
the cheeks of her ass. Goosefl esh rolled through her as he kept
29N
going, kissing down the backs of her thighs to her knees.
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