I threw the door to the laundry room open, stopping short with my breath lodged like a ball of flame in my chest.
Luke stood at the far end of the room, facing out the window. He wore a dark navy suit that fit every corner and plane of him to perfection, and his thick hair was combed back into contained waves I itched to run my fingers through.
“Luke?” The door clicked shut behind me.
He turned slowly, and that was when I saw it: the Voldemort mask.
I wanted to laugh, really, I did. But it was physically, humanly, and most likely magically impossible because if I thought Luke could make the villain look hot in draping black robes, that was nothing compared to the Dark Lord in a tailored suit.
“Jesus, you look beautiful,” he said, breaking his persona because he couldn’t seem to stop himself once he’d looked me over.
I bit my lip, feeling my body come to life at the compliment. My nipples tingled and a low ache for him settled between my thighs.
“What are you doing?” I asked with a breathless laugh, trying to ignore the desire ignited in my blood.
“I wanted to tell you in person that you have a new escort for the ceremony this afternoon,” came his rich reply.
I gasped. “W-What?”
I’d thought Callan was going to do a double loop, walking Donna down and then swinging back to escort me.
He held out his arms. “You said you’d prefer Voldemort.”
My smile made my cheeks quiver.
“I changed my mind,” I said, taking a step closer and then resting my hip on the washer. “I’d prefer my boyfriend, Luke.”
My body hummed, referring to him as my boyfriend.
A low, possessive growl rumbled through the air before he reached up and slid the mask from his face.
“Good.” He took the necessary steps to erase the distance between us and cupped my face. “I love you, Sage.”
I sucked in an audible breath, his words sending my pulse into an ecstatic flurry and my mind into a swirl of happiness that was both incredible and overwhelming at the same time.
“Luke—”
He kissed me gently, not letting me interrupt his declaration. “The thing is, Sage, for so much of my life, I forced myself to want what everyone else told me I should. I thought maybe I didn’t know—was too young or too dumb, so I believed them. Thing is, when you really want something, it’s not work to want it. It’s not a struggle or something that takes convincing. There’re no questions when it comes to why or how or how much, the doubts only come when it’s something that’s not meant to be.” He paused. “And when you know something is meant to be, that’s the only right time that matters.”
I couldn’t breathe. Happiness quaked through my cells like mini earthquakes, breaking whatever was left of the foundation of fears and worry.
“And since I know what it’s like to try to want things that have no place in my life or my future, I can see clearly when something—or someone—walks into my life that is a thousand percent supposed to be there.” He drew a shuddering breath. “And when you walked into my brewery, I knew you were meant to be in my life. Forever.”
“Luke—” I blubbered, trying to catch my tears before they ruined my makeup. “You’re making me cry.”
“What can I say…” His big hands took over the job, making quick work of drying my cheeks. “I like to make all of you melt.”
I bit my lip and then laughed, wondering if it was possible to feel this happy.
“I love you, beautiful.”
“Luke, I love you, too, but we need to figure out how this is going to work. I mean, my apartment is in Portsmouth, and I just signed a lease for my store there. And you—you live here. Your business—”
“Is expanding to Portsmouth,” he finished definitively.
Everything else I was about to say collided in my throat like a car crash, words piling up because I couldn’t have heard him right.
“W-What?”
“I was waiting for everything to be finalized to tell you, but I just got the email last night,” he went on. “I’m buying an old restaurant that I’m going to turn into the Fantasy Brewpub.”
I stared, stunned speechless but only for a second. “But the brewery…”
“Does well here, but a separate brewpub has been in the works for some time, sitting in my mind as what I wanted to do, but something always felt off about it. But then while we were carving our pumpkin the other week, I realized why,” he continued, taking a step toward me and sliding the mask off his face. “I kept thinking about where to put the second location here in Laconia… and that was what was off. I don’t want a second location here.”
My heart began to thrum wildly.
“And when you told me about your store, it hit me that I should’ve been looking in Portsmouth; I knew that was where Fantasy needed to take its next step.”
He continued to walk closer until he could reach out and gently hold my arms.
“So, you don’t want me to move back here?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion.
“No, Sage,” he said with a low chuckle, the sound pooling like hot embers in my stomach. “I mean, it’s going to take a little transition and some commuting back here, but no, I don’t want you to move—”
I gripped his suit jacket and sealed my lips over his. The details didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered except that he was mine and I was his and what we had was meant to be.
It only took a second before he kissed me back hungrily, his tongue probing deep between my lips and laying a new kind of claim over my mouth.
I pulled back with a gasp when I felt my butt hit the washer and jostle me against the prominent ridge of thickness at his hips.
“I should get back to Rose. The ceremony starts soon,” I murmured breathlessly.
“Soon means there’s still time,” he rasped, kissing down my neck while his hands found their way to my breasts.
Moaning, I arched into him, his expert fingers finding my pebbled nipples where they beaded and begged for his attention.
“Luke!” I gasped when he pinched them, feeling his smile curve his lips where they pressed to the crook of my neck. “We can’t… it’ll be too loud.”
He shifted, releasing my breasts and reaching behind me. “Not like this,” he said, hitting the button to start the dryer. With a wink, he added, “A little trick someone taught me.”
I felt my cheeks flame. “I’ve never tried it for…”
“Good,” he growled possessively and then locked the door.
My throat bobbed and I rubbed my thighs together, wanting but also nervous. “You can’t mess up my dress.”
His tipped grin made me reconsider my declaration. Bringing his head to my ear, he murmured, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I plan on leaving your dress perfectly intact. Just going to mess up your sweet pussy a little.”
My mouth popped open but he spun me before I could protest.
Grabbing hold of the edge of the bouncing dryer, I held on tight as I felt the cool air touch the back of my legs.
With painstaking care, Luke lifted my dress until my lower half was bared.
His low groan of appreciation made my core clench.
“One day, I’ll savor this ass. But right now, I need to be inside you.” He slid my panties to the side of my sex. “Need to feel you wrapped around my cock.”
I heard the hum of his zipper and the soft tear of a condom wrapper, and then he was there, the blunt head of him notching my entrance.
Reaching around my front, his fingers found my clit, pinching it with increasing degrees of force as he thrust completely inside me, bottoming out when his hips hit my ass.
“Luke,” I pleaded, the frantic and forbidden sensation of the moment overwhelming me with desire.
He hissed and then began to move, shunting hard and fast inside me as he rubbed on my clit. Pleasure exploded through my body, and I couldn’t tell if it was the dryer shaking me or if I was shaking from the s
udden intensity of it all.
“I love you, Sage,” he grunted, his thrusts turning rougher.
“Yes,” I whimpered. “I mean, I love you, too.” I panted, need ripping my mind to shreds. “I need you. Oh, god, Luke, I need—”
His hand on my hip snaked around and covered my mouth as I came, holding my cry against my lips as my climax detonated through my body.
His fingers held on to my clit, prolonging my orgasm for a few extra exquisite seconds before he buried himself deep and I felt his cock pulse violently inside me.
It felt like I’d barely returned from the far-flung reaches of my orgasm before he slid out of me, righting my underwear and my dress almost as quickly as he undid me.
A minute or so more, and we were all buttoned back up with only the wrapped-up condom in the trash as evidence for what had really just happened in my parents’ laundry room.
“That was very naughty,” I murmured as he turned off the dryer and tipped my face up for a gentle kiss.
“Exactly what you should expect from your dark lord.” He smiled. “Now, let’s walk down this aisle, eat, dance a few songs, and then I’ll show you how wicked I can really be.”
Sighing, I sank into Luke’s strong hold as we gently swayed on the dance floor for the last slow song of the reception.
The wedding had been perfect. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch. And as happy as I was for Rose, I was even more selfishly happy that I’d spent the entire day with Luke by my side.
Not because I made him, but because he refused to let me out of it.
“Ready to go home?”
I looked up and nodded. “Ready for bed.”
I’d meant because I was exhausted, but the mention of going to bed sparked a heated stare that made me very willing to risk sleep deprivation for whatever it had in store.
He lifted his hand from my waist and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes roaming over every inch of my face.
“What is it?” I asked. “What do you see?”
He smiled a little, reminded of the last time I’d asked him that question.
“Forever, Sage.” He brushed his lips over mine. “I see forever when I look at you.”
Warmth washed all the way down my body, making my toes curl.
“And to think this started off as fake,” I murmured wryly.
“Sometimes magic is a little unbelievable at first, but undeniable in the end.”
And then he kissed me in a way that left no denying how either of us felt. Unbelievable. Undeniable. In love.
* * *
THE END
Did you love Luke and Sage’s sweet and swoony fake relationship romance? Check out Last Name, a standalone accidental marriage romantic comedy! Read here.
The Country Love Collection
Did you know this story was based on a song?
* * *
The inspiration for this novel came from the country song, “Ex To See” by Sam Hunt!
Some songs seem to have a story behind them, and that is the premise for my Country Love series.
* * *
Not only that, but the Laconia/Keene Pumpkin Festival is a very real and magical event, and still holds the world record for most jack-o-lanterns! So, if you’re ever visiting New Hampshire I highly recommend checking it out!
* * *
The Country Love collection of full-length standalone novels is based on some of my favorite country songs. They are all unconnected stories, so there is no reading order and no crossover characters—just unique plots and great characters with their roots in country music.
* * *
Want to see the full collection?
Check it out on my website here!
* * *
Have a song that you think would make a great story?
Put in your request here!
Other Works by Dr. Rebecca Sharp
Carmel Cove
Beholden
Bespoken
Besotted
Befallen
Beloved
Covington Security
Betrayed
Bribed
Beguiled
Burned
Branded
Reynolds Protective
Archer
Hunter
Gunner
Ranger
The Odyssey Duet
The Fall of Troy
The Judgment of Paris
The Sacred Duet
The Gargoyle and the Gypsy
The Heartbreak of Notre Dame
Country Love Collection
Tequila
Ready to Run
Fastest Girl in Town
Last Name
I’ll Be Your Santa Tonight
Michigan for the Winter
Remember Arizona
Ex To See
The Winter Games
Up in the Air
On the Edge
Enjoy the Ride
In Too Deep
Over the Top
The Gentlemen’s Guild
The Artist’s Touch
The Sculptor’s Seduction
The Painter’s Passion
Passion & Perseverance Trilogy
(A Pride and Prejudice Retelling)
First Impressions
Second Chances
Third Time is the Charm
Standalones
Reputation
Redemption
Revolution: A Driven World Novel
Hypothetically
* * *
Want to #staysharp with everything that’s coming?
Join my newsletter!
About the Author
Rebecca Sharp is a contemporary romance author of over thirty published novels and dentist living in PA with her amazing husband, affectionately referred to as Mr. GQ.
She writes a wide variety of contemporary romance. From new adult to extreme sports romance, forbidden romance to romantic comedies, her books will always give you strong heroines, hot alphas, unique love stories, and always a happily ever after. When she’s not writing or seeing patients, she loves to travel with her husband, snowboard, and cook.
She loves to hear from readers. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. And, of course, you can email her directly at [email protected].
If you want to be emailed with exclusive cover reveals, upcoming book news, etc. you can sign up for her mailing list on her website: www.drrebeccasharp.com
Happy reading!
xx
Rebecca
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