“I love you, too,” I murmur, knowing I’ve been waiting all my life for this moment.
Bonus Scene
Ryker
Ava comes out of the bathroom in her bathing suit and seeing her makes me want to stay in the hotel room instead of going down to the beach. Her two-piece suit shows off what she refers to as her baby bump, while also highlighting her tits and how much they’ve grown in just a few short months.
“Please, for the love of God, tell me you’re wearing something over that,” I plead. If I have to ride down the elevator with her wearing two tiny scraps of clothing, I’m not going to make it.
Instead of answering, Ava gives me a look out of the corner of her eye and one side of her mouth turns up in a smirk. She also makes it a point not to come near me while she’s packing her tote bag for our afternoon in the sun. I watch her for a few minutes, enjoying the view of her bending over to grab things and add them to what she’s bringing. We’re only going for a few hours, but Ava’s packing like we’re going to camp out on the beach overnight.
She finally stands, pulling the straps of the tote up and over her shoulder. “Are you ready?”
“I guess.” I’m fully aware I’m pouting, and Ava rolls her eyes before shoving the bag at me and walking over to the closet.
When the door shuts, she’s holding a scrap of fabric in her hands. This turns into a dress when she pulls it over her head, one that drapes over her burgeoning curves and finally coming to rest halfway down her thighs.
“Is this better?” Ava props a hand on her hips and uses the other to gesture down her body.
My eyes follow the movement, and when they rise back up to meet hers, I know she can see how much I want to stay inside.
“Oh, no you don’t. You promised me a trip to the beach.” She points one finger in my direction. “I’m getting time spent on the sand smelling the saltwater before you drag me back up here to have your dirty way with me.”
I stalk towards her, chuckling when she starts backing away to try to keep distance between us. She should know better by now than to even attempt to keep us apart. There isn’t very far for her to go, considering the closet in our hotel room is only feet from the door.
Soon, she’s pressed up against it with my body touching as much of hers as I can. Ava’s head tips back to meet my hungry gaze and I don’t waste any time. My mouth covers hers and I do my best to convince her that staying in our room is the best option.
The moment my tongue enters her mouth, she whimpers, her arms wrapping around my neck as she presses her body against me fully. I love the way she tastes and the eager way she returns my kiss. Wanting to be as close to her as possible, I wrap my arms around her waist and explore every inch of her mouth.
We stand like this for minutes, maybe even hours, until a tiny fist or foot slams into my stomach, effectively dampening my libido. Ava laughs when I pull away to look down. “Hey kid, no interrupting mommy and daddy time, okay?”
She covers her mouth with both hands in a futile attempt to keep her laughter in, but it doesn’t work even a little. Her laughs turn into a snort and then she’s suddenly shoving me out of the way so she can make a run for the bathroom, yelling over her shoulder, “I’m going to pee my pants!”
Her waddling run has me laughing hard myself, and I’ve barely controlled my snickers when she comes walking out of the bathroom and over to my side. The moment Ava reaches me, she reaches out to smack me in the stomach, twisting her lips into a pout when my abs hurt her hand more than me.
“That’s so not fair,” she grumbles. “Do you have to have a perfect six-pack?”
Ava sounds truly put out about the state of my fitness, and even though I should know better, I still tell her, “C’mon, let’s go to the beach before you break something. I have plans for that hand later.” She gasps in outrage but doesn’t hit me again, so I grab her forgotten tote bag and head for the elevators myself.
She fumes all the way down to the lobby, but as soon as we step out onto the sand, a smile lights up her face. Grabbing me by the hand, she pulls me closer to the water, barely giving me enough time to drop our gear on an open spot before heading for the edge of the ocean.
Dropping my hand, she takes a few steps into the water, and I can’t take my eyes off her. Seeing her so happy has me smiling too. The past few months have been stressful, between finding out she’s pregnant and my brother’s wife giving birth to their little boy…and don’t even get me started on the fiasco that was their wedding. This short trip to the beach is exactly what Ava needs.
Standing on the dry sand, I watch Ava run backward to get away from the waves as they come in but after a few minutes I make my way towards her. She’s having so much fun that I want to join her. When I come up behind her, she looks back and smiles. “It’s about time. I was starting to think you were scared of the water or something.”
Ignoring her playful words, I turn her around to face me and pick her up. She immediately wraps her legs around my waist, letting me walk further into the water. The deeper we get, the tighter Ava’s arms get around me, so I keep going until we’re almost up to our chests.
Ava
I can’t believe he brought me this far out. It’s one thing to be up to my knees or even my thighs, but chest deep? And not chest-deep for me…chest deep for him.
“You better not drop me.” I’m trying to sound stern, but the slight wobble in my voice betrays me.
Ryker looks down at me and grins. “You mean like this?” He acts like he’s going to let me go and I screech, using my hands to try to attach myself to him. He laughs, and so do some of the other people standing nearby.
“You’re a jerk,” I pull back to inform him.
He’s completely unconcerned, and still grinning, grabs the back of my neck with one hand since I’m now clinging to him like a spider monkey. His lips hit mine and I totally forget any anger I might have towards him. Ryker’s kisses are the best thing ever…well, the best public-friendly thing ever.
After he scrambles my brain with his mouth, he turns around and walks out of the water. I expect him to put me down, but he keeps walking until he reaches our stuff. Instead of letting me stand now, he grabs the tote bag I packed earlier and continues making his way back to the huge hotel we’re staying in this weekend.
“Um, where are we going?” I look down at him, and all mirth is gone from his face.
Ryker’s eyes bore into mine. “To take care of a problem.” His hand slides down my back, stopping right above my ass and pressing me against his stomach.
“Ohhh.” The problem is obvious. He’s hard. So hard against me I can’t help but be immediately turned on too. I try to control myself but can’t keep from rubbing my pelvis on his.
“Ava,” he growls, his eyes narrowing into a glare. “If you don’t stop, we won’t make it back to the room.”
Leaning forward, I lick his neck, starting from the spot where it meets his shoulder, licking a straight line up to his ear. I bite down on it gently, then whisper, “I’m okay with that.”
“Goddammit,” he mutters. Ryker changes course, heading down a hallway just inside the doors instead of going for the elevators on the other end of the lobby. His hand leaves its spot on my back to open the first door we come to, but he shuts it with a muttered curse when he sees the shelves full of towels. Striding over to the next, he pulls that door open and says, “Thank fuck,” before walking us both inside. We’re in a small, dark, what looks like a closet. I only see a glimpse of it before the door shuts behind us and he spins around.
My back hits the wall at the same moment his mouth lands on mine. He doesn’t give me a chance to protest, pressing his body all along mine. I hear the tote bag drop to the floor and then both hands are on my breasts, squeezing and plucking the nipples until I’m writhing against him.
“Do you see what you do to me?” The way his voice sounds when he asks this question makes it sound like he’s pissed, but I know that’s not at all
the case. If anything, he’s frustrated that he can’t control how much he wants me. It’s the thing I like the most about him.
Ryker doesn’t wait for me to answer. His hand slides down my stomach and straight into my bikini bottoms. I swear, the second his fingertip slides across my clit I almost come. “Ryker,” I moan, trying to arch my back to get closer. I can’t. His body has me pinned completely. I’m at his mercy, and I never want that to change.
As soon as he feels how wet I am, his hand leaves my bottoms and I can feel him adjusting his shorts to free his erection. “Hurry…please” I urge him, wanting this more than my next breath.
I feel his fingers pull my bikini to the side, and once the fabric between us is gone, he thrusts inside me. “God, you feel good.” My only response is a loud moan. The movement of his hips consumes me and all I can do is hang on for the ride. I can tell by how quickly he’s moving that this is going to be fast for both of us. All it takes is a few thrusts and one more swipe of his finger over my clit for me to detonate, my pussy clenching around his cock rhythmically.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chants, continuing his thrusts through my orgasm. I’m just beginning to come down when he starts to speed up, his thrusts becoming erratic. Ryker buries his head in my throat, groaning his orgasm into my flesh.
My body is trembling with aftershocks and I’m not sure I could stand on my own if I tried. Thankfully, he continues to hold us both out as he slides out of me. Kissing me softly, sweetly, he says, “I can’t get enough of you, you know that?”
“I’m glad.” Cupping his cheeks with both hands, I stare into his eyes and tell him, “I love you.”
Ryker laughs. “I love you too, but we need to get out of here before we get caught.”
Now he does pull back, leaving me to stand, a cocky grin lifting both sides of his mouth when my knees wobble. I watch as he adjusts his suit, making himself presentable once more before opening the door to check to make sure no one is around.
Now that there’s light, I can see his hair is mussed from my hands running through it a few minutes ago, mouth swollen from the kisses he gave me. I swear I don’t think he’s ever looked hotter than he does right now.
Ryker turns back and takes my hand. “Let’s go while we can.”
The rest of our weekend passes without further incident and when it’s finally time to go home, I wish we weren’t. It’s been so much fun here on this little vacation and I don’t want to go back to the land of responsibilities. I tell Ryker this, and he grins down at me.
“All you have to do is say the word and we’ll come back.” His hand caresses my stomach. “Plus, next time we’ll have the baby to play with too.” His eyes meet mine and he winks. “Of course, that means no dragging me into closets so you can have your way with me.”
After he says this, he grabs the handles for our suitcases and walks out of the room…leaving me behind with my mouth dropped open. No dragging him into closets? “That’s not the way that happened.” He ignores me, his long legs quickly eating up the distance between our room and the elevator. I have to hurry to catch up to him, and when I do, I can’t continue telling him how wrong he is because the elevator is almost full. Dammit. He always gets the last word.
Baby Bargain
Chapter One
Mel
Every unattached woman – and even some of the attached ones -- turn to watch the three extremely attractive men walk through the bar. In my head, all I can see is heart-eye emojis all over the room. The image has me snickering, but I can’t blame them all for swooning. Two are the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, while the third has light hair and dark eyes. He’s the one that draws my attention whenever we’re in the same room.
Unlike his brothers, who have super serious, brooding looks on their faces, he’s sporting a huge grin. If it weren’t for the fact that he’s almost three years younger than me, I’d jump him in a heartbeat. I mean, you can tell just by looking at him he knows exactly what he’s doing when he takes a woman to bed.
I’d kill for even one night with a guy who can find my clit without needing Google Maps and a freaking neon sign.
The three of them step up to the table, and I swear I can hear sighs from every other woman in here when they realize they aren’t the ones the brothers are after. Naturally, Reed goes straight to Fallon, wrapping his arms around her and engaging in some serious PDA. I kinda want to warn him that getting naked in public is against the law, and not something the rest of us at the table want to see. I love my best friend but have zero interest in watching her have sex… no matter how hot the guy she’s screwing on a more-than-regular basis is.
Brother number two, otherwise known as Ryker, heads straight for Fallon’s new friend from work, Ava. Considering Fal was just telling her earlier how much Ryker likes her, I’m not at all surprised. The look on her face says she more than likes him, but lucky for her his face says he feels the same way.
If love were something I believed in, I’d pray for a guy to look at me the way these two are looking at their women. It’s obvious they don’t notice anyone else in the room and seeing that is such a turn on. I’ve never had a guy be so completely into me everyone else fell away. Most of the guys I meet are all about themselves and screw me… literally. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ended up with some douchebag who can’t manage to get me off or tell my orgasm is more fake than the watch he believes is a Rolex when it’s not.
My attention is so focused on the two taken brothers and the way they are with their women I don’t notice the younger one coming over to stand beside me until he speaks.
“Hey Melody.” Even his voice is attractive, in a way that’s unfair to other men everywhere, and when I turn to face him, he’s grinning down at me.
When did he get so tall?
I swear the last time I saw the youngest Winston he was the same height as me or maybe even shorter. Granted, I have been avoiding him for a few years, and obviously for good reason. It’s not smart for a girl to be infatuated with a boy who isn’t even legal. Pretty sure I’ve seen that Lifetime movie more than once.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Not being as tall as I am isn’t a bad thing… though it does make finding a guy I can be with and wear heels around difficult. I’m five-nine, and somehow most of the guys I meet are around that height too even though they swear they’re inches taller. I still haven’t figured out why all the six feet or taller guys gravitate towards the short girls. Is being with a girl who’s a foot shorter than you are really that much better? It explains why they also think they’re hung like a horse instead of a mouse.
My silence doesn’t go unnoticed. I don’t even realize I’ve ignored him until he asks, “You okay?”
Jeez. Staring at him like an idiot isn’t making a very good impression. Mentally shaking myself out of my idiotic thoughts, I smile up at him, hoping it looks more genuine than it feels. Smiling about anything these days is hard, which is why I’ve had more than my share of alcohol tonight. I’m looking for anything that will numb the pain, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
“Hey Remy. I’m good, just really buzzed.” Maybe if I play like I’m drunk he’ll buy the excuse.
Laughing, he takes the almost empty cup from my hand and sniffs. When his eyes meet mine, the amusement in them is clear. “There’s barely any alcohol in this. It smells like straight cranberry juice.”
“There is definitely vodka in there.” At least, there better be. I’ve been paying cranberry and vodka, so the bartender better not have been cranberry-ing it down. Is cranberry-ing even a word? Eh, who cares?
Remy looks skeptical. “Maybe there was when you first started drinking them, but there’s not much in it now.”
I angrily jerk the cup out of his hands and down the small amount of liquid left. Now that he’s pointed it out, I realize he’s right. I can’t taste much besides cranberry juice at all. Maybe there’s a splash of vodka, but it’s more like a drop. Spinning around in my seat, I
glare hard at the bartender who’s been slowly but surely weakening my drinks, tipping slightly to the side and having to reach out for something I can grab to steady myself.
And, of course, what do I grab? Remy’s arm... his very, very firm arm, which tells me he spends a lot of time in the gym. Squeezing gently, I bite down hard on my lip in a poor attempt to keep from moaning out loud. I don’t know what it is about a guy having muscular forearms, but it does it for me in a major way.
A guy with rolled-up shirt sleeves, the veins on his arms standing out when he flexes? Yum and yes, please.
His laugh has me spinning back around. He’s not even attempting to hide his laughter, and at my questioning look, says, “I don’t know what it is either, but I’m damn sure not going to complain.”
Holy. Shit. I did not just say that out loud, did I? Bad Mel! Subconsciously, I’m slapping myself. I swear, I have no filter when it comes to this man, which is a horrible thing for someone who’s as attracted to him as I am.
Trying to ignore the bolts of lust coursing through my body, I turn and head for the bar, gesturing to the bartender with my empty glass when he walks past, though now that Remy’s standing here beside me, he doesn’t seem very interested in getting me a fresh, less watered-down drink.
“Don’t tell me you’re ordering another one. Haven’t you had enough?” The amusement in his voice is gone, and the censure I hear now has my gaze swinging back to him, my stomach fluttering in a dangerous way when our eyes meet.
Remy’s smile before was warm, like the sun shining down on you after weeks of rain. It made me feel fuzzy, happy… two things I haven’t felt in what seems like years. But the frown on his face and the furrow between his brows signaling his displeasure at the fact that I’m trying to order more alcohol makes those fuzzy feelings disappear. Now, they’re a weight in my throat that has me wanting to tell the bartender to forget it, but I’m not about to let my feelings for Remy dictate my actions.
Winston Brothers Box Set Page 35