Soon, Remy sets the cradle down on my side of the bed and starts pacing.
My lion is restless.
A supercharged sexual current floats between us—it has been charging for forty days. In my mind, I have fucked Remington a thousand ways, and I know he’s been eye-fucking me every day.
While I feed Racer, Remington watches intently. He finishes one peach and two apples, and he is now pacing again, watching me feed our son as he flicks open the buttons of his jacket, then of his entire shirt. His eyes are hungry.
I
am so hungry. I’ve never yearned like this. We’re used to quick fixes in this life, but there’s no quick way of fixing your body after childbirth, and we had to wait no matter what. But god, Racer is such a good baby. He eats and sleeps. I feel like he knows that Daddy is special. And he tries to make it easy on me. I guess if he doesn’t, we’ll just get help. We have options. Choices. We own ourselves, our lives, and we and the people around us are happy with them.
“You done yet?” he asks roughly, pacing to come see as he untucks his shirt from his slacks. He’s so possessive. Every day, every night, he pulls me close and tells me I’m his. But he doesn’t realize every time he says that, he’s also saying he’s mine. You can’t really own something that doesn’t own you right back, not even a car.
While I feed our son, we listen to music and play each other songs, and play songs for Racer. Now Remy’s shirt drapes to his sides, revealing his eight-pack, and he comes and puts his hand on the breast Racer isn’t already occupying. He holds my neck and leans down and kisses me.
Desire rushes through my veins, and by the time Racer stops suckling and dozes off, Remington edges back and looks at me, his lids weighted, my lips throbbing from his kiss.
“Do you remember asking about family you didn’t miss because you never had one?” I whisper, reaching out and curling my fingers on his jaw, loving that his lips look swollen from our kiss too. “You don’t miss it because you
do
have one. You built one, Remington. You went straight to being the head of one. And you know what? Your family isn’t with you because of destiny or blood or because they have no choice. They’re with you because they love you. And chose you.” I gaze into his blue eyes. “
I
choose you.”
Still keeping Racer to my breast, I reach behind me and pull out a folded envelope that I tucked into my nightstand behind me. “I wrote you a letter.”
Lips curling cockily, he reaches out for it, but I hold it back with a smile of mischief. “I’ll trade it with you, in exchange for my old letter.”
“No,” he says, tweaking my nose.
I laugh. “You greedy man! Yes!” I insist.
“What does it say?” he asks, his eyebrows raising in a dare.
“You’ll get to see if you give me my old one, which I wrote when I was young and scared, and you get this new one, which I wrote now when I am . . . when I am
yours.”
His eyes blaze at my last words. When he pulls the old letter out of his nightstand, I quickly take it away, so that he never has to remember that I left him, because now I will never leave. “You can read this new one any time,” I tell him as I stand and head for the cradle, and his eyes flash. He nods as he places it on the nightstand.
Instead of reading it, he watches me set Racer down, and as he waits for me to settle him on his side, he goes to the iPod already sitting on our speakers. When we drove back from city hall, I told him I felt like playing him “From This Moment” by Shania Twain and Bryan White, and all of a sudden, the song is filling our bedroom.
My heart trembles as I turn around to look at him, my hands empty, empty of
him
. He curls his fingers at his sides and drags in a deep breath, his gaze blazing with blue-hot yearning, and in a fraction of a second, we both snap into movement on the opposite sides of the bed. I start to frantically strip off my skirt and he jerks off his shirt, our eyes watching what the other does.
I’m naked before he is, and I climb into bed and crawl across it, reaching out to undo his pants. In one jerk, he grabs the back of my head and crushes my mouth like he hasn’t kissed me in his whole life. Sparks race throughout my body as our mouths feast and we both make starved groaning sounds. Eagerly I push his dark slacks down his hips, and the buckle hits the floor. He kicks them aside and lowers me to the bed, and not for a moment does his mouth leave mine. My hands slide up his hard muscles, his smooth skin, as I feel all his calluses rasping over me and every part of my body awakens for him.
“I want you, I love you like nothing in my fucking life,
nothing
,” he passionately rasps, brushing my hair back, and I shudder as our lips lock again and we roll on the bed. He pulls my arms up and laces our fingers together as I lock my legs around him. He eases inside me, and I gasp and mew and lick into his mouth as I feel his length, his width, his pulsing hardness advancing in me. Groaning in pleasure, he licks me back, penetrating with slow, delicious control even though I feel the vibrant tension in his body above mine.
“You okay?” he rasps, heatedly kissing my neck, opening his fingers on mine and linking them together tighter as his lips rub and dance over mine.
“More than okay,” I breathe. Arching my spine, I part my mouth as his tongue delves and takes mine, our hips rocking, our mouths moving fast while our bodies move slow and lingeringly as we make love to each other for the first time as husband and wife.
“I love you,” I whisper like a chant as he fills me, over and over, and he repeats it back to me every time he pushes inside, squeezing my hands. “I love you too.”
He leaves me all sticky, on the inside, and on the outside, and when we’re spent and tired, he growls and pulls me close and slides his finger down my thigh, then he slowly and lovingly pushes his semen back in with his fingers as he spoons me. Using his nose, he brushes my hair back, nuzzling my neck as he does all his lionlike things, grooming and licking and loving me, whispering that I am his. And I close my eyes as he clutches my stomach, like we sometimes forget Racer isn’t there anymore, and I clutch his hand over mine and nod when he murmurs in my ear,
“Mine.”
At night, Racer doesn’t cry out to eat, and I wake up startled and concerned, only to find Racer soundly sleeping in his father’s arms. Remington holds him like he holds me, firmly but gently. Racer makes little chipmunk noises as he breathes, his hair dark as Daddy’s, but his skin pink and soft, whereas Daddy is big and hard, and suddenly, I am quietly crying from the happiness I feel.
The heart is a hollow muscle, and it will beat billions of times during our life. About the size of a fist, it has four chambers, two atria, and two ventricles. I use it like I use my soul, and my body, and my bones, my fibers, my nerves, to love with every particle and molecule in me. It pumps life into me so I can give this love freely to this one man, and to this little boy he gave me.
I’m in love and I will be forever changed by this love, by this man, and our new little family.
I used to dream of medals and championships, and now I dream of a blue-eyed boy who will grow into a man, and of my blue-eyed fighter who one day changed my life when he put his lips on mine.
TO HIM
Dear Remington,
I was a post-college girl when I came to see you fight, and you have turned me into a woman. You have made me a wife. And you have made me a mother. And you have made me, and every day make me, the happiest woman alive. I am going to spend the rest of my life loving you. And our children. And running with you, eating with you, letting you scoop me up, throw me in the air, and lick me up. I will be your friend, your lover, your nurse, your exercise buddy, your love, your wife, and the lioness who fights by your side. I will always, always be your number one fan. Thank you, Remington, my love, for inspiring me every day with your gentleness and your drive. Thank you for being the father I couldn’t even have conjured for my children. Thank you for giving me a little fighter. I want you to know I will be very happily working with you so we can also soon welcome our Iris.
I love you, and am in love with you, forever and always, now, and every second in between. Black and blue, every inch of you, magnificent you, is mine. And I’m going to treasure and cherish you, always.
Your Brooke
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am so excited to be releasing
MINE
and the wonderful Real series through Gallery Books!
I’m eternally grateful to my wonderful agent Amy Tannenbaum and the Jane Rotrosen Agency for their support and encouragement; to my amazing new editor Adam Wilson, who is the best I could have ever hoped for; and to the talented people at Gallery Books who are making it all happen, including the best copy editors and publicists ever! Thank you Jennifer, Lauren, Kristin, Jules . . . for loving this series like I do.
And, thanks to the lovely Enn Bocci, for joining the team and helping us spread the REAL love all around! To Sarah Hansen for yet another kick-ass cover. And of course . . .
Thank you to my beautiful husband, my beautiful children, and my beautiful parents; you make my life beautiful all year-round.
To the loveliest daughter in the world, for reading before everyone else did and giving a thousand thumbs-up.
To my author friends who read this first, among them Monica Murphy, Joanna Wylde, Kim Karr, Jen Fredrick, Wylie Snow, and L. M. Augustine. Writing is a lonely business and you get so much more done when you have understanding friends who can push you through a little hump.
To Kati Brown, you deserve special thanks and love from me. Your input on this book was golden. Thank you, Kati!
To Stacey Suarez, the best fitness expert and dearest friend, an expert on all things athletic and nutritional.
To my dear and talented Marilyn M, and Erinn G., and to my fabulous assistants, old and new; Anna, Ellie, and Lori and Gel. Thanks for giving me more writing hours.
Also, a huge special thanks to all you amazing bloggers who’ve been incredible supporters of Remy from the start. How can I even thank you, except with sharing more of him with you? Thank you so much to each and every one of you, and please forgive me the lack of space to name each and every one of you who’ve e-mailed, read, reviewed, and been completely wonderful! You are unREAL!
Neda, I have no words for your friendship, support, and overall wonderfulness with the amazing blog tours you helped plan, and my love goes to all those who participated too. Jenna, your video rocks! Thank you all!
To the amazing Dana, Erin, and Kelly, and the lovely “Scaries” who are actually angels in disguise. Hugs to Dominique, Stacy, Jen, and Kerry.
To all of my readers, who have waited, patiently, for this story; thank you for loving my characters like I do!
And lastly, but very especially, to everyone who has suffered or suffers from any form of mental illness, and to anyone whose loved ones suffer from mental illness: I do believe there is light in the dark, and I hope you find yours.
XOXO!