“Thank you for loving me and giving me this wonderful life,” I said.
His eyes misted and he kissed me. “Don’t you know, Petal? You’re the one who created all this. You’ve given me my life. You’ve bewitched me.” He wrapped his arms around me and our child. I settled into him and into the love I knew would shine forever.
My dear readers,
If you’re falling in love with Jude and April, you can read their secret baby second chance romance here.
Friends to Lovers is a part of my bestselling Heart of Hope series, and for a very limited time, you can get the first four books as a part of this boxset.
Download the Heart of Hope Box Set Here. It’s FREE to read in Kindle Unlimited.
Read on for a sneak peek to Accidental Love featuring Wyatt and Sinclair. This is a standalone secret baby romance from my FAKE MARRIAGE series, and you are going to fall so hard for Wyatt!
Excerpt: Accidental Love
Description
I never expected to see Wyatt back in town again.
Never… ever.
I also never expected to end up being married to him.
To clarify, our marriage is as fake as plastic.
He was my brother’s best friend.
And he didn’t hesitate to break my heart ten years ago.
Disappeared into thin air and joined the military.
I couldn’t even call him to say that I was pregnant.
I’d been quietly living my live with my daughter before he showed up.
Announced.
Looking more handsome than ever before.
With more scars than I can count.
He’s all fired up to save our town, Salvation.
I have the same mission as him.
And it only made sense to do whatever it takes.
Turns out, a fake marriage would fix things.
But if things go south…
If he finds out the truth about our daughter…
Then trying to fix everything else may eventually break me.
Prologue
Sinclair – Ten Years Ago
I had been in love with Wyatt Jones since I hit puberty and boys went from being yucky to yummy. I was pretty sure that was when all other girls in Salvation, Nebraska fell in love with him too. But I had what I thought was an advantage; Wyatt was my brother Ryder’s best friend. He spent a lot of time at our house, so I got to know him pretty well. I learned that he wasn’t just a dark-haired, green-eyed, drool-worthy hottie. He was smart, and sweet, even though he often seemed lost, which I suspected came from his home life that was rumored to be chaotic.
What I didn’t know was that Wyatt and Ryder’s being friends was a hindrance to my being with him until just after we graduated from high school. Wyatt and I were helping my brother move out of our family home to his own little apartment in town. Ryder’s truck was packed to the hilt, including in the cab where a TV and gaming equipment acted like a wall between the driver and passenger seat. It was so cramped that I had to sit on Wyatt’s lap as we drove to Ryder’s new place.
I, of course, didn’t complain about this situation. Wyatt always smelled so good, a mixture of the outdoors and soap. His jeans were butter-soft under my bare thighs. As we bumped along the road, those jeans filled with something hard. My entire body came alive with electricity when I realized what that meant. Wyatt was turned on. By me!
He shifted and cleared his throat. He must have been uncomfortable or embarrassed. Wanting him to know I was okay with his response, I took his hands and set them on my thighs, moving them over the top and all the way to the edge of my cutoff jean shorts. He stilled, but didn’t remove his hands. I glanced over toward the driver side of the truck, but I could only see the top of my brother’s head as he chatted away about this new stage in his life where he could work full-time on his budding music career. Emboldened, I worked Wyatt’s fingers under the hem of my shorts, the action telling him he could have me if he wanted me. His breath was hot against my ear as he shifted again, and I wondered if that was to reduce the friction or increase it.
Unfortunately, Salvation was a small town, so we arrived at my brother’s new place before I could really push my luck. Once we moved Ryder in, we all drove back to my parents’ house, but with everything out of the truck, I didn’t need to sit on Wyatt’s lap. But I knew what I felt, and when I had a moment alone, I confronted him about it.
He smirked. “That’s what happens when girls sit on a guy’s lap.”
His comment was like a slap. “So, what you’re saying is that any girl sitting on your lap, you’d…you’d…”
“Get a woody, yes.” He made it seem like no big deal, and when my brother rejoined us bringing iced tea, the conversation was dropped.
I should have known, I told myself. I’d been dropping hints about my attraction to him since the moment I realized I loved him, but he’d ignored them or didn’t notice them.
Later that night, I headed down to the little creek that ran through the back of my parents’ property to sit under a large tree. I was still stinging from Wyatt’s comment that basically said I wasn’t special. It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t into me, but my heart was still aching.
“What are you doing?”
I looked up to see Wyatt leaning against the tree.
I shrugged. “Just sitting.” I wasn’t going to let him know how much he hurt me. It was time to let this silly crush go. In a few months I’d be heading off to college. Like my brother, Wyatt was going to remain in town, except he was going to work on his father’s cattle ranch.
He came and sat next to me. “I feel like I owe you an apology.”
“Why?” I kept looking out over the moonlit water, trying to ignore the heat of his body next to mine.
“About today.”
“You can’t help it if you don’t like me.” Inwardly I winced, not liking having revealed so much.
“Then I really do owe you an apology.”
I turned my head, not realizing just how close he was. His green eyes stared at me and it felt like a magnet pulling me to him.
“What do you mean?”
“I do like you.” His gaze drifted down to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
I turned away, determined not to let my hormones get caught up in the fantasy of Wyatt Jones again.
“As friends, I know.”
“We’re friends, yes, but it’s more than that.”
My head whipped around to look at him. “What?”
This time he broke the connection and looked out over the water. “I like you more than that. What happened in the truck, happened because of you, specifically you, sitting on my dick.”
I swallowed hard. “Why did you say it would happen with anyone?”
He looked down. “Because you’re Ryder’s sister. There are rules. One is that you don’t touch your best friend’s sister.”
“Where’s that written?”
He laughed. “It doesn’t have to be written. It just is.”
Feeling surly, I said, “Your loss.”
He groaned. “I’m sure that’s true.” He looked at me and the intensity made my breath catch in my chest. He pushed my long light brown hair that I’d released from the messy knot I’d had it in earlier out of my face.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked out.
“I’m contemplating kissing you.”
That should have excited me, but it only hurt me again. I turned away. “Let me know when you make up your mind.” I shook my head.
“You don’t want me to kiss you?” I heard humor in his tone.
I looked at him. “If you have to think about it, what does that say about me?”
He looked at me as if I was speaking Greek.
I huffed out a breath. “What a woman wants is to be desired beyond reason. It doesn’t matter who her brother is. There is no thinking. There’s just an overwhelming need to be with her that is bigger than all that.”
“You make fun of
the bro’ code, and yet girls seem to have more rules.”
“It’s not a rule, Wyatt. You’ve been conditioned to think girls will take any crumbs you give them because…well…around here all the girls are willing to do that for you. But deep down, they all want to be special. They want someone who wants them so badly they can’t see straight-“
“I see you just fine.” His hand slid around my neck and pulled me to him until his lips fused with mine. I’d had many years to imagine what kissing Wyatt would be like. In my dreams, it was good. The real thing was a million times better. It was everything the romance books said it would be and more.
When he pulled away, I clutched at him, not wanting him to get away. He rested his forehead against mine. “I’ve wanted to do that since junior prom.”
I lifted my head to look at him, disbelieving.
“A guy can want someone but also want to do what’s right. It doesn’t mean you’re less than if I bust my balls to control my wanting you.”
My heart went to mush. “So, what now?”
“I want to be with you, but I also don’t want to get my head bashed in by your brother.”
I laughed. “He’d be okay with this. I know he would.”
My brother Ryder was the most laid-back, accepting person I knew.
He shook his head and looked out over the water. “You’re leaving in the fall. I don’t want to risk losing my best friend.”
I wanted to be angry that he was choosing Ryder over me, and at the same time, I understood it. I even respected it.
“So, we spend the summer having a secret romance.”
He looked at me. “You could do that?”
I shrugged. It wasn’t what I wanted exactly, but… Well...as it turned out, I was willing to have crumbs after all.
“There’s something romantic about a secret romance. Something just you and I have.” The more I thought about it, the more appealing it was. I’d have a part of Wyatt no one, none of the other girls he’d been with or my brother, had.
That summer was so sweet with stolen moments alone. Notes I’d find from him after he’d hung out with my brother. A few weeks in, he told me he loved me and with such joy in my heart, I confessed that I loved him too. By August, we didn’t talk like we were done when the summer was over. We talked like we had a future. Like we’d be together forever.
The only bummer was that I was still a virgin. There was lots of kissing and heavy petting, but that damn bro’ code kept him from going all the way with me. As summer drew to an end, I was determined to change that.
I snuck out of the house and met him by the oak tree near the river, bringing a blanket with me. We’d agreed to meet there that night when everyone else was in bed, as we did many times. I wore a flared short skirt and button top, and underneath I had the lacy panty and bra set I’d bought on my last shopping trip to Kearney.
He showed up with the smile that always made me swoon. He wore his soft faded jeans, a black t-shirt and cowboy boots. His gaze took a slow trail over my body. After all this time, I knew when I saw the mixture of desire and frustration in his expression. He wanted me, but that stupid bro’ code kept getting in the way.
“Did you see the stars?” he asked, sitting next to me.
“It’s a beautiful night.” Perfect for losing the v-card under the light of the moon, by the river, under the oak tree. I didn’t want to give him too much time to think, so I moved like a flash, straddling his thighs and wrapping my arms around him.
He laughed. “Did you miss me?”
I answered by kissing him. He kissed me back, his tongue exploring my mouth. Lost in the kiss, I pressed my aching cleft over his hard length behind his jeans’ buttons.
He moaned and pulled back. “Sinclair.”
I pushed him back and settled my pussy on his dick. “I love you. You love me.”
“We can’t, baby.” His hands were on my hips, but he wasn’t pushing me off.
“You plan to visit me at school, right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve talked about being back here together when I’m done with school.”
“Right.”
“When do you plan on telling Ryder? When he’s your best man at our wedding?”
“I know what we’ve talked about, but that’s down the road. We have time.” This time he did try to move me off of him, but I wasn’t going to have it.
I pushed him back again, rocked over his hard dick as I undid the buttons on my shirt.
“Sinclair.” His voice was rough and tormented.
“You’ve seen the girls before.” I tossed my shirt aside. “What do you think? Is this pretty?” I showed him my lace bra.
“Yes.” His word came out in a groan. Unable to help himself, his hands cupped my breasts. His thumbs brushed over my hard nipples, making me moan too and my pussy ache with a need only he could fulfill.
I unzipped my skirt and shimmied it over my head, not wanting to get up to remove it for fear that breaking contact with his dick would break the spell.
I took his hand, rubbing it over my folds. “See how much I want you, Wyatt. Tonight, I want to give all of myself to you.”
“Ah, fuck, Sinclair.” His resolve to deny me was dwindling. I could hear it in his voice.
I undid the buttons on his jeans, and slid my fingers under his waistband to touch the soft head of his dick. I felt wetness there.
“You want me too, don’t you?”
“I do. I so fucking do. But-”
I kissed him then, not wanting to hear his excuse one more time. I slid my hands under his shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin, the pounding of his heart.
A growl tore from his throat as he grabbed me and rolled me under him.
Crap. He was going to back off and leave me wanting again.
“This changes things,” he said sharply.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t going to push me away.
“For the better,” I said, running my fingers through his dark hair that was about a month overdue for a cut.
“I don’t want to hurt you. For you to regret-”
“The only thing I’ll regret is never making love to you.”
He stared at me, and there was something in his eyes that gave me a moment of doubt. But then he was kissing me again, his hands roaming my body, and I knew he was mine.
Finally mine.
He shucked his shirt off and shoved his jeans down. I pushed him on his back, wanting to see him in all his naked glory. I ran my hand over his dick, which was thicker than I’d expected, and I wondered if it would hurt when he entered me.
“We don’t have to do this.” His hand rubbed up and down my back. “You can jerk me off. I’ll get you off, and-
“No.” I shimmied out of my panties and unclasped my bra. “I want this. I want you.”
He rolled us again, so he was over me. “Be sure, Sinclair. This is one bell that can’t be unrung.”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
He stared into my eyes, and I hoped he saw what he needed to see there. Finally, he said, “Just relax. Let me take care of you.”
He kissed me as his hands kneaded my breasts. His fingertips drew down over my belly, his mouth left my lips and instead sucked on my breasts. I gasped as a flood of pressure filled my core.
“That feels so good.” I held his head to my breasts and widened my legs as his fingers stroked through my folds.
“Good.” He rubbed me there until I was writhing and I felt like I was on the verge of coming undone. He then put one of his long fingers inside me.
My pussy clasped around it. “Yes.”
He groaned too. “You’re so tight and wet.”
“Please, Wyatt.” I wasn’t sure what I was begging for; I only knew I needed him to take care of me.
He moved his hips over mine, his tip nestling against my entrance. He looked down on me. “We can stop, baby.”
“No. Don’t stop.” Was he kidding? I was about to comb
ust. I gripped his hips and pulled him to me.
“Let me do it,” he said on another groan. “This might hurt.”
It couldn’t be worse than the ache I had there now. “I don’t care.”
I looked up into his face, filled with torment. He looked like he was in pain too, as he bit his lip, his expression strained as he pushed the head of his dick inside me.
A wave of emotion flowed through me. This was finally happening. But need pushed away the emotion, as my hips gyrated, seeking more from him.
“Ah, fuck…” He groaned. He pushed some more and then withdrew.
I gripped him close, not wanting him to move away. But then he pressed in again, slid back, and again, each time sliding inside a little bit deeper.
“You ready?” I barely recognized his voice, there was so much tension in it.
“Yes, Wyatt. I love you.”
He withdrew and the next thrust was hard and deep. The feeling of him filling me was beyond what I could have imagined. I felt full, but no pain.
“You okay?”
“Yes. Yes, perfect.” I rocked my hips, still seeking more of him.
“Jesus…Sinclair…” He levered up on his hands and looked down on me, his bangs falling into his face. “I’m not sure I’ll hold out.”
I reached and pushed his hair back, wanting to see his green eyes. “I don’t care. I want to feel you.”
He gave me a quick hard kiss, and then his body moved. In and out. My hips followed his rhythm in perfect synchronization. It was proof that we were meant to be. Each time he slid in, I felt his thickness sizzling along my sensitive walls. It was delicious and frustrating all at the same time. I felt like my insides were coiling tighter and tighter and any minute now I was going to explode.
“Fuck, I’m gonna come,” he gasped. He reached down, pulling my thigh up and opening me to him more. Then he plunged in, and holy moly, my entire world imploded and then blasted into the million stars that were lighting the sky above us.
Friends to Lovers: A Secret Pregnancy Romance (Heart of Hope Book 6) Page 25