Johnny (Connelly Cousins #2)

by Abbie Zanders

  Lina’s eyes grew huge. “You’re going to write a book about male strippers?”

  Stacey grinned wickedly. “Maybe.”

  “Oh, that’s going to be good!”

  “Think your brother Michael will agree to a cover shoot?” Stacey waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  Lina scrunched up her nose. “Ew, no. You can’t put my brother on one of your covers. That would just be weird.”

  Stacey laughed. It might be weird to Lina, but she’d bet her laptop that ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the female population would beg to differ.

  “Speak of the devil,” Lina said under her breath.

  Michael was leaning casually against one of the porch posts. He straightened when he saw them coming up the walk, looking none too pleased.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “What does it look like?” Lina sniffed, tilting up her chin. “We’re walking. Well, technically I’m walking and Stacey is rolling, but you know what I mean.”

  Stacey choked back a laugh. She loved the way Lina stood up to her overprotective, sometimes overbearing big brothers.

  “You should have called.”

  Lina stopped in front of him and crossed her arms. “Why would I do that?”

  Michael widened his stance and mirrored her pose. He looked far more menacing than Lina did. “Because it would have been the smart thing to do.”

  “Pffft. It’s a beautiful night and Amy’s isn’t far. Besides, you were busy, remember?”

  Lina put particular emphasis on the word, and Michael’s gaze flicked over to Stacey. He pinned her with clear, emerald-green eyes, so like Johnny’s and Lina’s. But where they were fair-haired, Michael’s collar-skimming locks were black, and his features were decidedly more chiseled. Stacey only had eyes for Johnny, but she could appreciate the man’s sheer masculine beauty as much as the next girl. She wondered, not for the first time, if those dominant Connelly genes would prevail in her child.

  “Did you get everything done?” Lina asked, and Michael’s gaze swung back to his sister.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Then move and let us by.”

  Michael narrowed his eyes, and Stacey swore she heard a low growl come from the vicinity of his large chest, but after a moment or two he took a step back, opening the door for them.

  “Come on, Stace. Don’t mind him. If he gets in your way, roll over his toes.”

  Stacey had no intention of doing anything of the sort. She thanked Michael quietly for holding the door as she followed Lina inside. Stacey still didn’t know what to make of Michael. He seemed nice enough, despite the whole lethal black ops thing he had going on. He came and went according to his own mysterious schedule. Sometimes he stayed at Johnny’s house, sometimes he didn’t.

  “Hey, baby,” Johnny said, coming out of the kitchen. He leaned down and gave her a kiss that curled her toes.

  “Johnny! I thought you were working late tonight.” The sight of him never failed to jumpstart her heart and send butterflies into her stomach. He looked yummy, as usual, in his jeans, T-shirt, and open flannel button-down. Freshly showered, too, if the scent of clean male soap was any indication.

  “Change of plans. Ready to go home?”

  “No.”

  “No?” Johnny cocked a brow and looked questioningly at Lina as if she had answered instead of Stacey.

  “No,” Stacey told him, drawing his attention back to her. “I promised Lina I’d keep her company while Kyle was working.”

  “Michael will keep her company, won’t you?” Johnny asked, shooting a pointed glance his brother’s way.

  “Yeah.”

  “But - ”

  “No buts,” Johnny said firmly. “They’ve got it covered, and I want you all to myself tonight.”

  A delicious shiver ran up and down the length of Stacey’s spine. One or two sentences spoken in that husky, deep voice was all that was needed to get her lusty juices flowing. But she didn’t want to let Lina down.

  Stacey cast another look back at Lina, who smiled and agreed with Johnny. “Go ahead, Stace. Just promise you’ll call me tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay,” Stacey agreed, but there was something odd about the way Lina was smiling at her. What freaked her out even more was the fact that Michael was now grinning, too.

  * * *

  Johnny couldn’t remember the last time he’d been quite so nervous. He, Michael, Kyle, and a dozen guys from his crew had busted their asses to get everything ready over the last several hours while Lina kept Stacey occupied and out of the house. Hopefully, they hadn’t forgotten anything. Johnny wanted this to be perfect.

  “So everything’s good at work?” Stacey asked as they made the ten minute trip back to their place.

  “Yeah.”

  “The McCaffrey renovation? Did the custom cabinets finally come in?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And the new suite of offices over on Kearney? The building inspectors actually showed up this time and signed off?”

  Damn, the woman really did listen to him when she asked about his day and how things were going. “Yep.”

  Sweat began to bead on his upper lip. His one-word answers were making her suspicious. He could feel her worried glances, but he continued to stare ahead, afraid that he might give something away.

  “Did you have a good time with Lina?” he managed, proud of himself when it came out sounding relatively normal.

  “Yeah. We went to Amy’s.” She told him about the book club meeting, which took some of the attention off of him, thank God. She seemed pleased that the women had been complimentary about her latest book (her word, not his), which didn’t make any sense to him. She was a hugely successful, talented author.

  “Of course they loved it,” he shrugged as they finally pulled into the driveway. “You’re fucking awesome.”

  He knew it had been the right thing to say when he opened her door and began to lift her out of the seat; she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely.

  “What was that for?”

  “Because I think you’re pretty fucking awesome, too,” she whispered.

  He kissed her again, simply because he needed to, and carried her to the door.

  “What about my chair?”

  “I’ll get it later.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because I don’t want to let you go.” That was the truth, but keeping her in his arms also reduced the chances of her going anywhere in case things didn’t work out the way he hoped.

  “Close your eyes.”

  “Why? What are you up to?”

  He exhaled heavily. “Just do it, okay?”

  “Okay,” she huffed.

  “And no peeking until I tell you. Promise?”

  “Promise,” she agreed.

  Johnny walked through the foyer and stopped at the base of the staircase. He chanced a nod at the figures waiting quietly in the shadows. He couldn’t see them, but he knew they were there. Or at least they’d better be.

  “Johnny?”

  “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

  Stacey gasped in surprise when she saw the custom stair lift chair they’d installed. He set her down gently in the contoured, padded seat. “Go on,” he urged. “Try it out.”

  She looked at him with excitement in her eyes and tapped a button on the glowing control panel, squealing in surprise when the chair began a smooth ascent up the staircase. He followed along behind, glad that Kyle had suggested supercharging the motor to make it go faster than the stock model. His hellcat wouldn’t have been satisfied with senior citizen speed.

  “What do you think?” he asked when she reached the top.

  “I love it!” she squealed. “Is this what you’ve been doing all afternoon?” she asked, realization dawning.

  “Partly.” He scooped her off the swivel seat and carried her down the hallway. “Close your eyes again.”

  “More surprises?” she aske
d, but this time she didn’t question him. Her lids snapped shut, an excited smile playing about her lips. Johnny opened the door to what had once been his boyhood bedroom and stepped inside.

  “Okay. Open.”

  “Oh, Johnny,” she whispered. The look on her face was priceless as she took in the powdery blue walls with fluffy clouds, a lamb mobile hanging over the crib, the glider rocking chair, the changing table, built-in shelves, and toy chest.

  “We’ll have some shopping to do,” he told her, “but it’s a good start. And I thought you’d like to pick out everything else yourself. Lina said you’d want to choose a theme and - ”

  Stacey wrapped her arms around him in a choke hold and kissed him. It wasn’t until he felt the wetness on his face that he realized she was crying. “Baby, don’t cry.”

  “I can’t help it,” she sniffed. “This is amazing. You are going to be the best daddy in the world, you know that?”

  Her words filled him with warmth. He didn’t know if that were true or not, but he was going to try his damnedest.

  “When did you do all this?”

  “When you were at rehab,” he shrugged. “And sometimes at night. I had a lot of help, though. We finished it up today.”

  “Lina was in on it, wasn’t she?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “I couldn’t have done it without her. She’s the one who told me everything we’d need.”

  “This is the best surprise ever,” she told him.

  “It’s not over yet.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Johnny Connelly, what else could you possibly have up your sleeve?”

  He grinned. Inside, a series of squirmy things had taken up residence. He’d saved the best surprise (hopefully) for last. Both Michael and Kyle, as well as the married guys on his crew, thought the build-up was key.

  “You know the drill. Close ‘em.”

  He had planned on letting her ride the chair back down the stairs, but he didn’t want to wait that long. He carried her down himself, just in time to catch Kyle slipping out the front door and giving him a thumbs-up. Johnny moved to their bedroom and opened the door.

  “What do I smell?” Stacey kept her eyes closed but lifted her nose and sniffed.

  “Open your eyes.”

  Stacey did and immediately sucked in a breath. He didn’t blame her; the room looked even better than he’d hoped. Dozens of white, scented candles flickered on every available hard surface. Huge bouquets of assorted flowers had been strategically placed around the room. The functional bedding had been replaced with crimson satin, over which white rose petals had been scattered.

  Johnny set her down on the edge of the bed and went down on bended knee. Her eyes grew wide and her hands flew up to her mouth as he reached along the side of the bed and presented his final surprise.

  * * *

  Stacey forgot to breathe as Johnny held out two thornless, entwined red roses. Having incorporated the meaning of gifting flowers in many of her novels, Stacey knew the dark red color symbolized love and romance, and the fact that they were entwined meant...

  “Stacey Mallory, will you marry me?”

  Somewhere between one moisture-filled blink and the next, Stacey spotted the glittering diamond ring suspended by the white ribbon tied in a bow around the long stems.

  “Marry you?” she whispered.

  Johnny grinned. “Yes, marry me, Stacey. Be my wife.”

  White noise buzzed in her ears; her vision was blurred around the edges, framing the face of the most wonderful man she’d ever met. The man she loved. The father of her child.

  She wasn’t even aware she was crying again until Johnny reached up with his thumb and brushed the tears away. “Ah, baby, don’t cry.”

  “I just... We never talked about... You never said you wanted to... ”

  He gave her a gentle smile. “Of course I want to. You’re my croie, Stacey. Do you understand what that means?”

  She sniffed, running her fingers along the roses. He had put so much time and effort into this. He often apologized for not being a romantic kind of guy, but what he didn’t realize was, he couldn’t possibly have done anything more romantic.

  “It means you love me.”

  “Oh, baby, it means so much more than that. It means you are my heart. The other half of my soul. It means that I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, if you’ll have me.”

  He took her hand in his and looked deeply into her eyes. “Marry me, Stacey. Say yes.”

  She hiccupped. “Yes. Yes. Yes!”

  He laughed and slipped the ring on her finger, then took her in his arms and gifted her with a searing kiss. Her blood heated and burned, and she couldn’t get his shirt – or the rest of his clothes - off fast enough. Thankfully, he was of a similar mind. In no time at all, the only thing she was wearing was his ring.

  “Do you remember what I asked you our first night together?” he asked, placing kisses beneath her jawline.

  She struggled to think back to that night, but it was hard to concentrate on anything beyond the feel of his lips and tongue and teeth nearing her aching breasts.

  “Favorite sex position?”

  He chuckled. “Close, but not what I was thinking. Maybe this will refresh your memory.”

  With nothing but a quick homage to her nipples (far too quick, in her opinion), he continued his southbound progress.

  “Oh. Ohhhhh,” she moaned. “That.”

  Johnny lifted her legs and burrowed his broad shoulders under her knees. He lowered his head and gave her a long, lingering lick. Just one, but it was enough to send her into a full-body shiver.

  “Just a prelude, I think you said,” he murmured.

  “Yep, and that’s more than enough for me. Get back up here.”

  He laughed, sending hot puffs of air over her sensitive bundle of nerves. “Not yet.”

  He dipped his head and gave her another long, slow lick. Then another. Like some kind of giant cat.

  Stacey tangled her hands in his hair and pulled.

  “Want me to stop?”

  Did she?

  “Maybe just a little more,” she breathed.

  He obliged, his talented lips and tongue performing magic, making a believer out of her. Before she knew it, her climax bore down on her like a freight train until it made impact and she exploded. He grinned smugly and kissed his way back up her body.

  “Your turn,” she said huskily.

  For a moment, she thought he might refuse her, but then he eased himself on the bed beside her. He was grinning, but it was the pure heat in his eyes that did it. He wanted this, almost as much as she wanted to give it to him.

  She took her time, working her way down his body, much as he had hers. She paused occasionally to admire and worship the taut, corded muscles in his chest and abdomen. Working construction kept him in great shape; his body had become her favorite playground.

  Those delicious abs jerked when she cupped him between his legs and placed a kiss on the tip of his turgid manhood. His eyes blazed a luminous green as he propped himself up on his elbows to watch.

  “Have I ever told you how fucking hot it is to watch you suck my cock?”

  The raw words seared through her. Her man knew exactly when to talk dirty and when to whisper sweet nothings. Tonight, she was getting both, and she was going to reward him. She licked around the top, relishing the taste of him, then took him in her mouth. She pulled hard, then released him with a pop before answering. “Maybe once or twice.”

  He groaned, filling her with a sense of power. She closed her eyes and let his pleasure guide her, losing herself in her own.

  “Enough,” he suddenly commanded roughly, lifting her from beneath her arms and pulling her up his body.

  “I wasn’t finished,” she pouted.

  “But I nearly was,” he ground out. “And there’s only one place I’ll be finishing tonight.”

  In a smooth move, he rolled her onto her back and eased himself into her. Then
he made love to her until they came together in an explosion of colorful stars.

  “I love you, hellcat.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Epilogue

  “You look so beautiful,” Lina said, adjusting Stacey’s veil. “My brother is a lucky man.”

  “I’m the lucky one,” Stacey said sincerely. Not that long ago, she never would have believed that she’d be living her own love story, but here she was, about to marry the other half of her soul.

  “Who would have thought we’d actually end up sisters?”

  “You’ve always been like a sister to me, Lina. I’m sorry I didn’t always treat you like one. Thanks for not giving up on me.”

  “Never,” promised Lina with tears in her eyes.

  The music of the organ grew louder as Kyle opened the door and poked his head in. “How are we doing, ladies?”

  “Almost there,” Lina told him. “We’ll be out in a second.”

  “Wow, he really cleans up nice,” Stacey commented. Dressed in a black tux, his hair pulled back and tied at the base of his neck, and wearing his ever-present shades, Lina’s husband looked like he just stepped off the cover of GQ.

  “I know, right?” She winked. “Wait till you see Johnny.”

  Stacey didn’t want to wait. For some unfathomable reason, they’d decided to follow the tradition of not seeing each other prior to the service on the day of the wedding. It had been the first night they’d been apart since her surgery nearly six months earlier, and it had been awful. She’d barely slept without Johnny’s warm, strong heat and effective methods of distracting and calming her.

  Stacey took one more deep, cleansing breath, slipped her arms into the customized forearm crutches (which had been decorated with pearls and white ribbons), and stood. Today she was going to do something she would have considered impossible a year ago: she was going to walk down the aisle, straight into the arms of the man of her dreams.

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Lina frittered about, adjusting the small train behind her, then peeked out the door and spoke quietly to Kyle. The pipe organist switched to a series of chords, following with the first notes of the bridal march.