Somebody's Ex (14 page)
Authors: Jasmine Haynes
“I’m so sorry about your brother,”
she whispered. “But you don’t have to fill someone else’s shoes. You’re perfect
the way you are.”
He touched his lips to hers. “So
are you.”
“And I’m glad you helped me realize
I needed to have it out with my dad.”
He breathed in her sweet scent.
“How did it go up there?” If she needed to talk, he’d listen. He’d do anything
she needed.
“It was fine, David. Just fine.”
She nuzzled into him.
He didn’t know exactly what that
meant, but whatever she did was fine with him, too. “Randi?”
“Hmmm?”
“You’re special. So special that I
can’t promise I won’t drag you into a meat locker or a closet or anywhere we
happen to be because I need to put my hands on you.”
She rose on her toes and wrapped
her arms around his neck. “Ditto,” she breathed against his ear.
“Say it then.”
She crushed him close, her arms
tight around his neck. “Oh, David, I love you.”
Her words slid inside him to fill
all the cracks Lou’s death had fractured. The last three years had been a long,
hard road, and he was sure life would throw more hurdles in his path. With
Randi by his side, he could make the leap.
Holy Mack Moly. Randi could hear
the commotion even as she climbed down from David’s truck.
It sounded like a herd of Jacksons
in the backyard of his parents’ house. She shivered, then David’s arm slid
around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“Don’t worry. They’re going to love
you as much as I do.”
He had a mom, a dad, two brothers,
two sisters-in-law, three nephews and one niece—or was it three nieces and one
nephew?—but the noise thundering out of the backyard sounded like multiples of
that number on a logarithmic scale.
“How am I going to remember all
their names?” She shuddered to think. She was terrible with names, just
terrible.
“I’ll remind you. Besides, no one
in my family is going to give a flying rat’s ass if you call anyone by the
wrong name.”
But she so wanted to impress them
at this first meeting. She now knew David’s entire history from the time he was
born to the day he slammed into her life. She knew about his dead brother, and
the other brother who was going to marry the widow, and...oh god, please don’t
let her say something totally embarrassing in front of them.
David whipped her around as if he
could hear all the fears running rampant through her mind and pulled her
straight into his big, strong arms.
“I love you and they’ll love you. I
told you my mom was ecstatic when I said I was bringing a very special woman to
the barbecue. You couldn’t do a thing to ruin it.”
Sure she could. A million things.
Maybe she should have had David introduce her to his parents first instead of
waiting for the big Sunday barbecue. Maybe she should have...maybe she wouldn’t
do a single thing wrong, and they’d love her just the way she was. “I’m
special,” she whispered into his chest. “And they’re going to love me.”
He lifted her chin and kissed the
tip of her nose. “Don’t forget I love you, too.”
She wouldn’t ever forget. She would
never tire of hearing it, never stop believing.
“Come on. I want to meet your
sister-in-law.”
If it was hard for her to meet his
family, it was doubly hard for him to face his brother and the widow. She’d
heard all about the terrible fight. But she’d be there to hold his hand just as
he’d offered to hold hers when she went to her father.
Pushing through the gate, the
sister-in-law was the one he took her to first. A pretty woman with auburn hair
and brown eyes, she was laughing with a couple of boys Randi assumed were her
own. The man beside her, a slightly younger version of David, tapped her
shoulder.
They turned, a package deal, and
David went to them, Randi’s hand in his.
“Randi, I want you to meet my
brother Jace and his fiancée Taylor.” He didn’t call her Lou’s widow. The word
choice was purposeful, carrying a wealth of meaning.
The barest of something flickered
in Taylor’s eyes, mirrored in Jace’s. Relief? Happiness? Forgiveness? Then
David grabbed Jace, giving him a hearty hug and a back slap, one Jace returned
only a half second later.
Over his brother’s shoulder, David
smiled at Randi and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Later, she’d thank him in return,
in a hundred different ways, for showing her just how special she was.
* * * * *
Randi Anderson was a beautiful girl
with an abundance of blond hair that glistened in the sunlight. David held her
hand as if she might disappear if he wasn’t attached to her.
Evelyn had so missed the pure
beauty of her son’s smile.
Heavens, she was floating on air.
She’d been so worried about David. She’d feared he’d might leave the family
forever over the whole business with Taylor and Jace.
Evelyn beamed, remembering that
introduction half an hour ago.
I want you to meet my brother Jace and his
fiancée Taylor.
David’s words echoed in her mind, and there was acceptance
and forgiveness in the simplicity of them. Oh yes, life was perfect in Evelyn’s
small world.
Well, almost perfect. She just
needed to figure out what that frown on Mitch’s face meant, especially since
normally chatterbox Connie had gone completely mum on the subject.
###
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Enjoy
the following excerpts and meet the author!
Somebody’s Wife Excerpt
The
Jackson Brothers continues with
Somebody’s Wife
, Mitch and
Connie’s story.
Copyright
2013 Jasmine Haynes
Cover
Design by Rae Monet Inc
Connie
Jackson wants another baby, but her husband no longer desires her. She’s
beginning to suspect he’s having an affair. Once the woman with the smartest
kids, the happiest home, and the best marriage, now she’s just somebody’s wife
whose husband is cheating on her.
There’s
only one thing to do. Connie’s going to have to seduce her husband back into
her bed.
Mitch
Jackson loves his wife too much to ever look at another woman. But his
brother’s death has taught him that life can fall apart in the blink of an eye,
and the fear of leaving his family defenseless if he’s gone has robbed him of a
decent night’s sleep for the last three years. And now his wife wants another
child they can’t afford.
When
Connie pulls out all the stops, she becomes the seductress he can’t resist.
Mitch has only one option, but if Connie ever finds out, it will mean the end
of their marriage.
Excerpt
The scent of Connie’s flowery
lotion seeped into the hall. Inside, only one bedside lamp was lit, throwing
the corners of the room into shadow and delicately lighting his wife’s profile.
Even after ten years of marriage and two kids, she took good care of herself.
Some women went to pot, but not Connie. She was as gorgeous as the day he
married her. More so, in fact. Those few hated extra pounds she’d never been
able to shed after pregnancy gave her luscious curves and perfect breasts with
the most enticing pair of nipples.
One leg raised to the stool at her
vanity, she smoothed cream into her skin, long strokes along her calves, up her
thigh, then back again. He watched, mesmerized by the silk of her skin in the
soft lamplight and the rhythmic caress of her fingers. The lace thing she wore
barely covered her butt cheeks, and her hair cascaded over her shoulder and
down her arm.
She smiled at him. “Did you fall
asleep out there, honey?”
He’d missed her smile. “What are
you wearing?”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t just buy it.
I was cleaning out my drawers this afternoon and ran across it.” She dropped
one leg to the floor, then raised the other and started the creaming procedure
all over again.
They hadn’t made love in two
months. Almost three. He remembered it like a jailed man remembers his last
taste of freedom. His mom had taken the kids after one of the barbecues, and
the minute the door was closed, the curtains pulled, and the house silent,
Connie unzipped his shorts and climbed on top of him right there in the front
room.
He’d come after four fast, hard
strokes inside her luscious body. His cock filled out his jeans. He’d slept
well that night, really well.
Christ, he loved that she loved
sex. When they were younger, it was anytime anywhere they could manage it. A
little risk had made it even better.
After ten years and two kids, they’d
grown past that stage. But Connie hadn’t stopped liking sex.
He hadn’t stopped either despite
his constant worries. He wanted her now.
She’d started on her arms now,
silking up those smooth limbs. Facing him as she stroked, she arched her neck
and blended lotion into her throat, then her upper chest, her fingertips
dipping down beneath the thin lace. Her dusky pink nipples peeked through the
flimsy covering, tightening into nubs as he watched.
“Mi-itch.”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you were tired.”
“Oh. Yeah.” The outfit was cut high
on her hips, her pretty little bush clearly visible through the lace.
“That’s too bad.”
“What?” Her scent wrapped around
his gonads. He couldn’t think.
She jutted her hip, putting one
hand on bare skin, her fingertips flirting with the lace edging. “I said, it’s
too bad that you’re tired.”
God, he wanted her, needed to sink
inside her gorgeous flesh and come until he was beyond worrying about anything
but the warm fit of her body around him.
Hell, he’d be satisfied taking one
tight nipple into his mouth and sucking it like fruit. He could taste her, feel
her. His gaze fixed on the ripe melons of her breasts.
He
licked dry lips.
Meet
all the Jacksons
Somebody’s
Lover
, Book 1
Somebody’s Ex, Book 2
Somebody’s Wife, Book 3
Dead to the Max Excerpt
Try
a sample of Jasmine Haynes’s
Max Starr
Series, an erotic paranormal mystery/romance.
Thirty-something,
down-on-her-luck accountant Max Starr has the unfortunate gift of being
psychic, a newly-discovered wrinkle in her already messed-up life. Her husband,
Cameron, is dead, killed in a botched 7-11 robbery two years ago. She’s cut
herself off from friends, moved out of her San Francisco home in favor of a
studio apartment, and dumped her flourishing career as a CPA to do temp work.
And
now Max has developed an annoying penchant for attracting the spirits of
murdered women. Okay, they possess her. And to exorcize them, Max must unmask
their killers. But how?! By stepping into the void their deaths created, taking
their jobs, befriending the loved ones they left behind. Max goes wherever she
has to go and does whatever she has to do, with a lot of help from the ghost of
her late husband Cameron and hunky and very enticing Detective Witt Long.
Excerpt
from
Dead
to the Max
, Book 1