by Harlow Layne
Holden let out a long sigh. “I don’t have a great story. Prue and I were high school sweethearts and planned to move away after graduating high school, but my parents had other plans. Plans I wouldn’t go along with. They threatened Prue’s scholarship. I was eighteen and stupid and joined the Marines. All without talking to Prue. When I couldn’t find her, I hired a detective and he found her here. On my first leave after knowing where she was, I found out her father had just passed away. He was her world and I knew I had to be there for her. Prue didn’t feel the same way. She was pissed at me for leaving and never talking to her, and I didn’t blame her. I saw all the medical bills she was left with and propositioned her to marry me. I’d get my trust fund and she’d get a new house with all her bills paid and a nice divorce once my time was up in the military. The only reason she agreed was because she was in shock. It’s not a romantic story.”
“Don’t let him fool you. There’s romance in there. It just came after they were married.” Luke smiled. Every time he smiled, I was caught off guard. He was a normal guy, but when his lips tipped up it was obvious why everyone saw him as one of Hollywood’s heart throbs.
“I never would have known. Your relationship seems perfect to me. When she looks at you it’s with pure love in her eyes.” All their women did as did the men. They were all deeply in love and didn’t care who saw how they felt for each other. It was the total opposite of how I’d been raised, but I liked it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I know Prue loves me, but at the time I had no idea she still loved me the same way I loved her.”
I wasn’t going to tell him that was romance. Holden was finally starting to come around with me and I wasn’t going to ruin it.
Holden stood along with the rest of the guys.
“We should get out of here before the girls get back so Lily doesn’t get suspicious. Good luck.” Luke patted me on the back. “We’ll see you guys soon for dinner.”
Turning to look at our handiwork, I thought we did an amazing job. It didn’t exactly look like Venice, but it was beautiful. We’d put an archway in several places and then put fabric over them covering the entire pool. There were a hundred floating candles lit in the water along with thousands of lights strewn through the trees and all around the pool. Lily was supposed to be back around sunset, making for the perfect backdrop.
Running inside, I grabbed a bucket full of ice and placed the champagne in it, a tray of chocolate covered strawberries, and two champagne flutes. As I took in the backyard and all our hard work for the day, everything was perfect. Now I only had to wait for Lily to show up.
Going back outside, I placed everything down on the table and sat down on one of the loungers to wait. I must have closed my eyes and fallen asleep; I was startled awake by a car door slamming. Jumping up, I ran up to the driveway to catch Lily before she went inside.
With wide eyes and her hand clutched to her chest, she looked up at me. “Oh my god, Dante. Where did you come from? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Shit. I didn’t think about that.
“I’m sorry. I’m excited that you’re finally home.” The smile on my face was stretched so wide, it felt as if my cheeks might crack. Grabbing her hand, I intertwined our fingers. “Come, I have something to show you.” I pulled her along toward the pool. I had my phone in my other hand, ready to turn the lights on with one touch of a button. “Did you have a good time at the spa?”
“Thank you for convincing me to go. It was heavenly.” She pulled on my hand making me stop. “I was only gone for a few hours, but if you were worried about me you could have called.”
“I’m glad you had fun. Now, let me show you what I’ve been up to.” Hitting the button, all the lights turned on with a pink and orange sky as the background.
Lily gasped from beside me. Her mouth hung open as she looked from me to the pool and back again. “It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.
“You’re beautiful.” Stashing my phone in my pocket, I pulled out the ring and got down on one knee.
“What are you doing?” Her eyes started to glisten in the setting sun.
“I’m trying to tell you how much you mean to me.” I laughed, pulling her down to sit on my knee as her body started shaking. She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a watery smile. “I waited too long to tell you I love you, and I’m never going to let time get away from me again. From the moment I saw you dancing on that bar swaying your hips, I knew you were the one for me. Thank you for giving me a chance and letting me into your life. You’ve made me a better person. I love you more than anything and want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you’ve made me. Lily Valenti, will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes! A million times yes, I would love nothing more than to be your wife,” she cried against my lips. “I love you so much.”
Sliding the ring on her left ring finger, I kissed each fingertip. “I love you too.” Helping her up, I stood with her. “Now, let’s celebrate.”
“I have to say with the way you’ve been acting for the last few days I thought you were going to break up with me or something. The girls all told me I was imagining it.” She squeezed my hand.
Stopping in front of the pool, I took her face in my hands. “I wanted everything to go off without a hitch, and the more you looked at me with an unsure look on your beautiful face, the more worried I got. I’m sorry you thought I doubted what we have for even a moment.”
Lily took in the pool and the champagne and strawberries and smiled. “You were busy while I was gone. I can’t believe you did all this.”
“Luke, Jax, and Holden helped me. I couldn’t have done this without them.” Pouring us each some champagne, I clinked our glasses together. “To the future Mrs. Ricci.”
We each took a sip. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too. It can’t happen soon enough.” Laying down on the lounger, I pulled Lily down on top of me, my hands going to her hips as I rocked into her. “Come down here and kiss me.”
A mischievous look spread across her face. Sitting up taller, Lily pulled her t-shirt over her head, and unfastened her bra, letting her straps fall down her arms. My eyes zeroed in on her gorgeous breasts as my fingers skimmed up her sides. Cupping her, I sat up and pulled her nipple into my mouth and sucked. I scraped my teeth and swirled my tongue along her hardened peak. “I love the way you taste,” I murmured before I moved onto the other side.
“I love your mouth on me,” she groaned. “I want to feel you inside of me.”
“It’s a good thing you wore that cute little skirt.” Unbuttoning and pulling down the zipper of my jeans, I pulled out my aching erection. “Rub that sweet pussy on me and show me how much you want me.” Her slick folds spread her juices up and down my shaft coating me until I slipped deep inside, filling her. “Fuck, you feel amazing. Ride me, my beautiful siren.”
“Yes,” she moaned, rocking back and forth on top of me.
Skimming my hand up along her ribcage, I cupped her breast in my hand as my thumb on my other hand found her clit and started to circle in languid strokes. Lily bucked against my touch and started to move faster.
Sitting up, I nipped down her neck and licked across her collarbone eliciting a moan from her that brought me closer to the edge. Throwing her head back, she swirled her hips. My thrusts met hers as I ground against her.
“I need you to come.” I pulled her puckered nipple into my mouth and sucked hard. Her sex clenched around my length. Needing to push her over the edge, I pinched her bud as I swirled my tongue around her areola. Lily’s back arched giving me better access as her core spasmed. Her hands clawed at my back and shoulders as if I was the one grounding her to the earth. “Milk me, baby.”
Surging up, I buried myself deep inside of her as my own release took over. I wrapped my arms around her as she collapsed against me and held her tight. She ran her hands through my hair as I came down and placed kisses al
l over my face.
Resting her forehead against mine she gave me a sated smile. “That was…wow. Engagement sex is the best.”
Chuckling, I agreed.
If you would have asked me a few months ago if I’d meet a girl, fall in love with her, and ask her to marry me only knowing her for two months, I would have said you were crazy. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without Lily in it.
Tilting her head up, she kissed my chin. “I love you, and I can’t believe we’re engaged!” She squealed on the word engaged.
“Believe it. I love you more than I ever thought possible and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“It’s so pretty out here. Maybe we should always keep it up,” she said in awe.
“Does it remind you of something?”
She propped her chin on my chest and looked around. After a long pause, she asked. “Will you hate me if I say no?”
“It’s a hint for where we’re going on our honeymoon.” I was a little disappointed that she didn’t see it, but as I looked around all we had done was cover the pool and put up some lights.
She sat up, straddling me once again with wide, excited eyes. “Our honeymoon?” Gripping my hand, she took another look around the backyard. “Can I have another hint?”
I loved seeing the excitement in her eyes. “It’s someplace out of the country you’ve said you want to visit.”
Tilting her head, Lily’s eyes focused on the water. “No,” she drew out the word. “It can’t be. Are you serious?” Her eyes lit up with excitement and I knew I’d made the right choice.
“It depends on where you think it is we’re going.” I chuckled.
Slapping her hands on my chest, her mouth opened in a big ‘O.’ “Are we going to Italy?”
“Unless you want to go somewhere else?”
“Somewhere else? No, I want to go. You know I do.” She scanned the area again. Her face was full of joy. “We should get married out here with all the lights.”
“Do you want a long engagement?” I prayed she’d say no.
“I’d be happy if we got married tomorrow, but I think it will take a little longer to plan a wedding even if we do it here. Is a month too long?” She squealed as I crushed her to me.
“I think I can live with that,” I murmured against her lips.
“Good, now let’s go practice consummating our marriage.”
* * *
Want more of the Fairlane gang?
* * *
Unsteady in Love is a slow burn, second chance, military romance that will have you swooning over Holden Montgomery.
* * *
In Kiss Me, you’ll meet Jax and Gabi in this beauty and the beast romance.
* * *
Love single parent romances with a dash of suspense? Meet Alex and Luke in Hollywood Redemption.
Did you enjoy Fearless to Love? If so, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or BookBub. Reviews mean the world to authors especially to authors who are starting out. You can help get your favorite books into the hands of new readers.
I’d appreciate your help in spreading the word and it will only take a moment to leave a quick review. It can be as short or as long as you like. Your review could be the deciding factor or whether or not someone else buys my book.
* * *
To stay up to date on all my exclusive bonus scenes, releases, and sales, subscribe to my newsletter.
https://harlowlayne.com/newsletter/
Sneak Peak of Unsteady in Love
Prologue
PRUE
The Day After High School Graduation
* * *
My toes skimmed across the worn wood of the porch as I tried for the hundredth time that day to reach Holden. We were supposed to go to Chicago to try to find ourselves an apartment for the fall, but Holden had failed to pick me up when he was supposed to. At first, I thought nothing of it and only thought he was late, but as time ticked by with no word, I started to get worried. This wasn’t like my boyfriend of three years. Holden always called when he was going to be late, which wasn’t very often. Hours later and I was a mess, grasping at straws as to where he was and why he wasn’t answering any of my phone calls or text messages.
“Any word?” my dad asked out the screen door, worry etched on his strong but tired face.
“No.” I hung my head as tears started to build for the millionth time that day.
“Why don’t you drive on over to his house? Maybe his parents know where he is. I think leaving the front porch will do you some good anyhow.” He gave me a weary smile that did nothing to ease my worries.
“Maybe I should. Sitting here isn’t getting me anywhere,” I strangled out, worried about what could have happened to Holden to prevent him from picking up his phone.
“That’s my girl. I’m sure it’s some big misunderstanding.” He gave me a wan smile.
“You think?” My head popped up, hopeful.
“Baby girl, Holden loves you more than life itself. Nothing could keep him away.”
He did. Holden loved me just as much as I loved him. My dad was right. Long ago, my dad had accepted that Holden would be around for the long haul. Not that Holden was bad news or anything. Only the fact that my dad thought I was too young to find the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
This all had to have been some kind of misunderstanding. Holden had probably left his phone somewhere and couldn’t hear it the hundred times I’d called. That had to be it.
“You’re right, Dad. Thanks. I’m going to see what’s going on. Don’t wait up for me.” I hopped off the porch swing and dashed inside for my car keys. On my way out, I popped up on my toes and gave my dad’s smooth cheek a kiss. So excited to see Holden, I tripped going down the stairs. Looking back up at my dad, he stood shaking his head and waved.
The entire way to Holden’s house, I had the windows down and let the wind blow through my hair. There was something about the feeling of the night air on my skin and my hair tickling along my back and arms that soothed me. By the time I made it to Holden’s house, I almost felt like myself again.
As I pulled up into his driveway, I noticed there were no lights on in the house which was odd. There were always lights on at night from the timer they always set. Stacy and Bruce Montgomery didn’t want their son to ever come home to a dark house. This was the first time in years I’d seen it pitch black inside. The worry from earlier reared its ugly head as I hoped a light would miraculously turn on.
Still, I parked and made my way up to the ornate front door. I tried to peek inside through the frosted windows to no avail. I knew there was no point, but I was desperate. It was eerie how quiet the house was. Not even a cricket was chirping in the yard.
Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell with the hope that this was all some sort of silly prank and waited patiently for someone to answer the door. After a few minutes with no one in sight, I decided to try my luck at the doorknob. If Holden knew I was coming over, he made sure that the front door was unlocked for me to come in. We’d been together for so long, I was part of the family. This time, though, I was met with the resistance of a locked door.
Where were they?
Fighting back the tears that were threatening to build, I slipped my phone out of my back pocket and punched in Holden’s number one last time. By that time, I expected it to ring and go straight to voicemail or for it to be dead after all the times I’d called and texted throughout the day. I never expected the message that shattered my heart into a million pieces.
“We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again.”
Falling to my knees, my entire world crumbled around me.
Holden was gone.
And I was alone.
About Harlow
Indie Author. Romance Writer. Reader. Mom. Wife. Dog Lover. Add
icted to all things Happily Ever After and Amazon.
Harlow Layne is known for her contemporary romance style of beautiful slow-burn, sweet, sexy and swoon-worthy alphas, and fast pace, super-steamy romance in her Love is Blind series.
* * *
Harlow wrote fanfiction for years before she decided to try her hand at a story that had been swimming in her head for years.
* * *
When Harlow's not writing you'll find her online shopping on Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram, reading, or hanging out with her family and two dogs.
Also by Harlow Layne
Fairlane Series - Small Town Romance
With Love, Alex - Women’s Fiction, Self Discovery
Hollywood Redemption - Single Parent, Suspense
Unsteady in Love - Second Chance, Military
Kiss Me - Holiday, Insta-Love
Fearless to Love - Insta- Love
* * *
Love is Blind Series- Reverse Age Gap Romance
Intern - Office Romance
The Model - Workplace Romance
The Bosun - Military, First Responder
The Doctor - Raine’s story - October 14
The Rocker - Coming February 17, 2022
* * *
Hidden Oasis Series
Walk the Line - First Responder, Suspense