Happily Ever After: A Romance Collection

by Amelia Wilde

  “What did Thor see?”

  “That’s not important for this story. I got there, I could see why Odin had hesitated. A few hours later another guy was sent to kill all three of us.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “Thor killed him. The guy had Odin and me down, and he didn’t think Thor had it in him. Thor was up against a wall, this nerdy doctor. And the next thing we knew, Thor came out of nowhere and blew the man’s head off.”

  He was silent for a while. His breathing sounded ragged.

  “It fucked Thor up—you could see it. The horror in his eyes as he looked at the guy, lying there at his feet, half his head gone. And the three of us, we were suddenly dead men together. Targets on our back. It was literally us against the world. We went to Paris and got guest worker identities, and then went underground. We spent a few years in Rabat, in Morocco, where Odin’s from. We got by. And we have help. Certain friends in intelligence. But the things we know made it so we always had guys on our trail, looking to kill us. We got good at knocking off banks as a ready source of cash. Turns out it takes a lot of cash to live under the radar. Odin’s a very talented techie and psy-ops pro. I’ve got strategy. Thor has nerve. It made sense to come back to the States.”

  “You can’t make a bargain? Where your secret goes public on your death? As an insurance policy so they won’t kill you?”

  “That stuff only works in the movies. Isis, look around the world. Look at all the shit people refuse to believe or that they know and forget. It’s better for them to have us dead and spin it.”

  “So you’re not really robbers by choice. You’re on the run.”

  “But we have each other. That’s our family.”

  I rested my head on the metal wall, wondering what that felt like.

  “You’ve been calming to Thor,” Zeus added.

  “You really don’t think we can get out of this box, do you?”

  “There’s always a chance,” Zeus said.

  “Are you trying to build my hopes?”

  “Yup.”

  I smiled in the darkness. “You know that ruins it, right?”

  Zeus drew a finger down the side of my face. “Imagine being under a waterfall right now. You breathe in the sweet cool air, and cool water runs over you. And into your mouth.” He drew two fingers down the side of my hair. “Cool and sweet.”

  “Can I have a giant glass of lemonade, too?”

  “While you’re under the waterfall?”

  “I’d like that very much, Zeus.”

  “You always want to have your cake and eat it too.”

  “Well?”

  “Yes. A tall, icy, cool glass of lemonade to drink under the waterfall. In the cool air.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.” I rested my head on his shoulder. The heat felt oppressive, like it was pulsing in waves.

  He tapped my cheek. “No sleeping.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping.”

  “Yes, you were.”

  “Why not sleep?” I said. “Won’t it be better?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never cooked like this. But I want you to stay,” he said.

  I snuggled close to him. “I want to stay.”

  12

  I woke up to a blinding light. I squinted. Dark shapes came into view, but my eyeballs felt gravelly. Not the best feeling.

  A voice: “Hey, Ice! Isis!” Odin.

  I groaned, turned, dimly aware of something falling off my forehead. A wet rag? Somebody put it back.

  I grabbed at my arm, felt some kind of tubing in me.

  “Leave it.” Thor’s voice. A hand clamped onto my wrist. “It’s an IV. You need to get hydrated. Can you see me?”

  I felt the bed next to me tip. Everything looked red. A finger was in my eye, lifting my eyelid. A bright light flashed into one eye. The same on my other eye.

  “Uh!” I batted his hand away.

  “Reaction time a little slow.”

  “Are you trying to insult me?” I mumbled.

  A soft snicker. “Silliness intact.”

  “Where am I?”

  “Motel. Not quite up to our usual standards, but bandits can’t be choosers.”

  “Zeus?”

  “Fine. We’re all fine, Ice. We’re safe.”

  “For now,” Odin said.

  I came around, slowly over the next few hours. We were indeed in a motel, and Zeus was in the other bed.

  “Thor says another two hours and your organs would’ve been putty,” Odin said.

  “That’s nice,” I said.

  The next day was a blur of watching TV and being forced to drink a lot of unpleasant concoctions. Thor and Odin had both been captured, it turned out. But the car they’d been put into was rammed—a drunk running a light, of all things. It was a stroke of dumb luck, which Odin had managed to expertly exploit. He killed all but one of their captors, and Thor took over the wheel and sped from the scene of the accident. Odin had made the man tell where we were.

  They wouldn’t say how.

  I didn’t want to know.

  We motel hopped over the next two days and landed in San Francisco on the third day. The big money from the robberies was lost, but we still had the diamonds, which Thor fenced downtown. After that, my bandits and I took up residence in one of the best hotels in the city. Another suite with another hot tub.

  I felt well enough to eat a normal room service meal that night, but I was still a little weak. Zeus acted 100%, but I suspected he wasn’t quite there yet, either.

  Thor had instructed both Zeus and me to stay away from alcohol for the next few days. And no sex.

  And no hot tubs.

  Of course that didn’t stop Odin and Thor from taking a long soak after dinner that night.

  Zeus pulled the couch near the edge of the hot tub and we sat there together, watching them float around in there, steam rising up.

  “I’m so done being boiled,” I whispered to Zeus.

  “Me, too.”

  As usual, we wore the hotel’s special insignia robes. Lounging around all decadent in hotel robes was one of the gang’s traditions, I was realizing. One of the things I’d miss when I had to leave.

  “Don’t stay in there too long,” I warned.

  Odin snorted. The back of his head was on the edge of the marble surround; the rest of him floated free.

  Zeus patted his lap. “Give me your feet.”

  I turned sideways on the couch and put my feet up on his lap. He attacked my toes, rubbing and massaging them.

  “Ohhhh,” I said.

  Thor hoisted himself out of the water and toweled off. Then he put on his robe, grabbed his scotch, shoved me nearer to Zeus, and sat on the other side of me.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “You’ll like hot tubs again someday,” Thor said.

  Odin swam up to the side nearest us and set his chin on the marble edge. The silence was awkward because I probably wouldn’t have many more hot-tubbing opportunities. I was almost recovered, and the unsavory release-of-me-blindfolded-in-a-truck-stop plan had not been called off, though it had been delayed by our stint in the hot box.

  “We need to talk to you about something,” Odin said. “We have some bad news and some good news, Isis.”

  I looked over at Zeus, who raised his brows. “Is that why you’re rubbing my feet?”

  Zeus made a fake hurt frown, a kind of pout. He was still a little distant. We’d bonded during that crazy night, but he still had issues.

  Maybe he always would.

  Odin got out now, skin glistening wet. He went over and wrapped a towel around his waist and put on his glasses. Then he grabbed the bottle of scotch and swigged.

  Something big was up.

  “What?” I demanded, but I sort of knew. I was going back. Soon. They’d always said that the longer I stayed away, the more suspicious it would look.

  Zeus squeezed my big toe. “Melinda has to die.”

  “Excuse me?” I sat up. “What
do you mean?”

  Odin stood in front of us, watching my face. He had his robe on now, too.

  “What?” I said. I thought maybe they were joking around. I didn’t for a second imagine that they’d kill me.

  Odin pushed onto the couch between Zeus and me, positioning my legs over his lap, so that my feet were on Zeus’s lap, and I was lying back against Thor’s shoulders.

  Odin tucked the sides of my robe back around to cover my legs. I felt like a mummy. “Are you going to mummify me?”

  “Melinda dies,” Zeus said. “Not Isis.”

  It took me a while to comprehend this. “You mean, pretend I died? The hostage you took?”

  Odin nodded. “Right now, the guys who are after us, they don’t connect us with the Baylortown First City Bank job. But they saw you, from when they stowed you in the shipping container with Zeus. If we send you back, these guys will recognize you from that and put us all together from the robbery. They’ll know you’re more than a hostage. That we’re something to each other.”

  My pulse raced. Something to each other. What?

  “I mean, you went out on a limb for Zeus,” Odin continued. “The point is, once they make those links—and they will—you won’t be safe. Your sisters won’t be safe. They’ll use you all for leverage.”

  I listened in stunned silence as they outlined their plan. They’d hack into my dentist’s computer records and pass them to a CIA contact who would modify the X-rays of a burnt corpse to match them. The CIA had just gotten one in—a burnt female corpse that is. She had been set on fire in the middle of the desert.

  “Let my sisters think I’m a burnt corpse? I don’t know if I can do that.”

  Zeus shut his eyes and mumbled silently—swearing under his breath, from the looks of it.

  He wasn’t okay with this plan.

  I looked over my shoulder at Thor, who regarded me wistfully.

  Odin focused darkly on something out the window.

  It was here I knew. There wasn’t a choice. None of us had a choice.

  Were they unhappy that I had to stay?

  I was in the same position as Venus.

  “Oh,” I said.

  Thor said, “We never wanted you to be forced into staying.”

  “I know,” I said. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not,” Zeus growled.

  I couldn’t read him. We’d bonded, but that felt like another planet. How did he feel about it?

  The watery surface of the hot tub swirled and bubbled.

  “I want to stay,” I said. “You know I do. I just don’t want my sisters to think I’m dead.”

  Nobody said anything. The hot tub surface swirled on.

  Thor draped an arm over my shoulder.

  “I mean, a burnt corpse? Put them through that? There has to be another way.”

  Odin swigged the bottle.

  Zeus said, “It’s worse for your sisters if you go back. You want that kind of trouble for them?”

  I couldn’t believe it. Staying with the guys. It’s what I’d wanted, but not like this. And not forever.

  “Could I keep buying the Paris Hilton quilts?” I asked. “And leaving little messages? It would give them hope. Especially if I said a lot of stuff about Paris Hilton’s dog. They would know it was me and they’d feel better about it.”

  Zeus exchanged glances with Odin. “No guarantees,” Zeus said. “We’d have to proceed very carefully, and know your sisters were being cool.”

  “They would be,” I said.

  “We would allow it if we all agreed.” Odin straightened my bathrobe lapels.

  “Then I stay,” I said.

  I caught Zeus’s eye. He waited, watching. He didn’t trust it.

  I had so many feelings swirling around in me. Happiness that I could stay. Grief to lose my sisters, to cause them pain. “Have I not been saying all this time that I want to stay?”

  “Saying you want to stay and being forced to stay are two different things,” Zeus said. “Nobody wants to be told they can never go home again.”

  Zeus was talking about himself as much as me. I knew that deep in my bones.

  “You’ll miss them,” Thor said.

  “You’ll help me,” I said. “We’ll all help each other.”

  Zeus gave me a wary look. Maybe he didn’t want my kind of help

  Odin broke the spell. “It’s natural to want to stay, of course. After a couple days with us, what woman wouldn’t want to choose this? We live in the most luxury. We give the most fucking-g pleasure.”

  “We have skills,” Thor said. “As you know. Utterly unmatched.”

  “Plus, humility.” I leaned back on Thor’s shoulder, enjoying being in a kind of nest with my Peter Pans. “And I’m Isis. What else would I choose?”

  Odin scowled. “And you’d have to continue to obey our rules and perform the duties.”

  I smiled. “Would the duties be erotic?”

  “Very,” Thor whispered.

  “And the punishment would be severe, yet exquisite,” Odin said.

  “Then we’ll kill her,” I said.

  I caught Zeus’s green gaze.

  “And maybe we can find a way to fix this thing. The men who are after you—can’t something be done? You can’t live your lives as bank robbers forever. It’s not who you are.”

  “You think we haven’t tried?” Zeus bit out. “There are some problems you can’t solve.” He seemed angry. Angry to even hope.

  Also, I could tell he wasn’t sure of me. He didn’t think I could handle it. He was still stung from Venus. One night of weird role-playing in a real-life Easy Bake Oven didn’t change that.

  I held his gaze.

  I vowed to prove myself to him. To all of them.

  They thought I was just a farm girl, but we were in this together. Maybe we could get out of it together.

  Maybe we could all go home.

  Thor turned my face to his and kissed me. Odin smiled his devilish smile. I guess in a way, I was home already.

  I nestled into Thor’s shoulder.

  We all just sat there together and watched the swirls on the watery surface of the hot tub, four badass peas in a pod.

  What happens when a stalker targets Isis? Grab The Wrong Turn/Deeper Game 2-set, on sale now!

  TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE

  Iris Morland

  Taking a Chance on Love

  Iris Morland

  Merciless and driven, billionaire Anthony Bertram built his company from the ground-up, dedicating every waking moment to creating one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

  The last thing he has time for is romance. He almost lost everything when his first marriage fell apart. Disillusioned from his divorce, Anthony knows from experience that love only makes you weak.

  When a mix-up results in a woman showing up at his supposedly private cabin during his vacation, all of his plans are completely upended. This woman is just what he doesn’t need: beautiful, spirited, and so maddening that suddenly all Anthony wants is to make her his.

  A free-spirited artist and activist, Thea Younger wants to leave the world a better place. When she arrives at the cabin she’s booked for a much-needed vacation and finds Anthony Bertram there—a man who represents everything she’s against—she refuses to let him intimidate her into leaving.

  When bad weather forces the pair to stay in the cabin together for a week, though, Thea soon discovers that the man behind the mask is no heartless monster. Anthony is all flesh-and-blood man, and one whose kisses she can’t resist. Desire flames between them until they both surrender to exquisite temptation.

  But as secrets loom over Thea, she must look inside her heart and find the courage to take a chance on love.

  ABOUT IRIS MORLAND

  A coffee addict and cat lover, Iris Morland writes sexy and funny contemporary romances. If she's not reading or writing, she enjoys binging on Netflix shows and cooking something delicious.

  1


  Thea Younger looked over her shoulder to make sure her boss wasn’t around and opened a new tab on her Internet browser. She’d already gotten in trouble once before for looking at this website, but she just couldn’t help herself.

  The photos were mesmerizing; they made her mouth water and her heart pound faster. Her body heated with anticipation as she paged through the photos, one after another, already knowing what she’d see but needing to take them in just one more time.

  Who knew that looking at trees could be such a turn-on?

  “Whatcha doing?” Nicole, Thea’s fellow administrative assistant at the law office where they both worked, asked. She chuckled when she spotted what Thea was doing. “Are you looking at that cabin again?”

  Thea sighed happily. “Isn’t it gorgeous? I’ll be there in three days, Nicole. Only. Three. Days.”

  She paged to the photo that showed the inside of the cabin, which featured an expansive fireplace and high ceilings made entirely of gorgeous oak. Thea had wanted to stay at one of the Mighty Pine cabins for over two years now. She’d finally been able to reserve one of the cabins a month ago, and she would be staying up in the Cascades all by her lonesome for two weeks.

  Nicole sighed. “Honey, we need to get you a date if you’re drooling over pine trees for the thousandth time this week. What’s so great about this place, anyway? It’s not like Washington doesn’t have trees all over the place.”

  “But it’s the scenery. The open air. You can see the stars! Getting away from the city—”

  “We hardly live in a city—”

  Well, Thea couldn’t argue with that. They lived in Fair Haven, Washington, which was more aptly described as a small town.

  “Doesn’t matter, because I leave everything behind me for two weeks.” Thea sighed happily.

  Right then, Thea heard footsteps. She promptly closed the webpage just as her boss rounded the corner to her desk.