BEHOLDEN
TO YOU
Carlie Sexton
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2013 by Carlie Sexton. All rights reserved.
Published by Carlie Sexton Romance
KINDLE EDITION
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Cover Image by Najla Qamber Designs
http://najlaqamberdesigns.com/
Edited by Marion Archer
www.makingmanuscripts.com
The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this book of fiction:
Starbuck’s, Victoria’s Secret, The Blue Man Group, Jaws, Bellagio, ESPN, Hot Wok, Mama Mia’s Big Bang Theory, Tiffany’s Jeweler, Pehoe’s Restaurant, Nordstrom, It’s a Wonderful Life, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Buble, The Man I love, At Last, 7 Up, The Princess Bride, Eyes Wide Open, Barbie.
Dedication
To my wonderful husband who has supported me throughout this amazing journey of becoming a writer. Your love means everything to me. Thank you for inspiring me to write such a loving man like Mac Carter.
Acknowledgements
When I began writing, my intention was to write one book, Fallen for You (The Killer Next Door.) My one book turned into a trilogy, much to my surprise. When I created a scene for Mac and Natalie in book 2, Taken by You, I realized I had a story to tell about them. Now they have a book of their very own and I am planning on spinning off some other characters as well. Neil and Kate will be in each of the spin offs as they are the reason I developed the secondary characters. I am blessed and grateful to be able to share my stories with you.
So many people have helped me, taught me, listened to me, advised me, and loved me through this incredible venture. Of course, none of this would have come to fruition if not for a dear friend at work Darren. Thanks Darren for not knowing the meaning of anonymous and sharing so much with me so I could realize this dream of being an author.
To my amazing friend Raine, you have inspired me and taught me more than I could ever imagine. Thank you for your support and love. You are a gift to everyone who knows you.
To my dear friend Jacelyn, writing books alongside of you has been more incredible than I could have imagined. Being able to talk to you every day about our characters, developing our stories, and fulfilling this dream has been extraordinary. I am so grateful to have you in my life.
To Najla Qamber, thanks for making a rockin’ cover. Your patience paid off and it is perfect. Thank you for tweaking it just one more time.
To my spectacular editor Marion Archer. You have helped me in ways that are immeasurable. You have taken my words on the page and not just tidied them up, you have shown me how to breathe life into them. I’m so grateful for you.
To my street team. You share my books even when I am too tired to share. Thank you for you love and dedication to The Killer Next Door series and now to Beholden to You. You all are such a blessing to me.
Finally, to the bloggers who have read, reviewed, shared, supported, and become treasured new friends. Thank you for reading my work and posting on your phenomenal pages! Without you, I don’t think anyone would know I’m alive!!
I love all of you so much!
xoxo~ Carlie
Beholden to You
Prologue: Thanksgiving
I checked the bathroom, but Natalie wasn’t there. Deciding to go outside, I found her sitting on the terrace, and sat beside her. Natalie was crying and had her head down, resting it on the back of the sofa. She barely noticed my presence.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked, taking her hand.
She looked up me with a trembling lip. “No, not really, Mac. It’s only been a few years since my parents passed and just two weeks since my sister was killed. It is hurting so much today. It was a mistake for me to come. When Mr. Statton prayed about being thankful, all I could think about was what I have lost. I feel so alone without my family.”
I nodded and kept holding her hand. “I can understand, to a degree, how you feel. I felt the same way when my parents died, but for me it was many years ago. I miss them, but I don’t feel like I’m grieving their loss anymore.”
“When does the grief end? I just want it to go away.”
“I hate to say it but it’s going to take time. Years probably. You’ll think you’re fine, and then something will hit you and you’ll miss them with the same intensity as before. I’m not sure it ever completely goes away.”
Natalie exhaled loudly. “I had finally felt okay with it being just Jessica and me. We had made it through the darkest part and were moving on. Now that she’s gone, I feel like I have fallen down a deep well and there is no way out.”
Tears continued streaming down Natalie’s beautiful face. I wanted to kiss them away, make her forget everything, but I didn’t.
“Come here,” I said, pulling her closer. I put my arms around her and held her as she cried, her head resting on my chest. I didn’t know why, but I felt strongly connected to Natalie. Perhaps it was our similar pasts—losing our loved ones. Unsure of where it came from, I felt a need to protect her and watch over her.
“Do you want me to take you home?” I asked.
She pulled away far enough to look me in the eyes. “Would you? I really want to go. I can’t stay and do small talk.”
I got up and held my hand out to her. She took it, and I escorted her back into the house.
“I’m going to take Natalie home. She’s not feeling well,” I announced. Just like that, Natalie Mason entered my life and nothing was ever going to be the same.
Chapter 1: Natalie
Putting my hand to my head, I realized the many drinks I had consumed the night before were still leaving a lasting impression. People say the morning after is horrible. My eyes were open, but focusing on my surroundings was proving to be a challenge. Slowly rolling over in bed, I found an unfamiliar figure under the sheets. It was the first time I had found a man in my bed because I had promised my dying mother I would remain a virgin until I was married. So much for keeping promises. I thought it was my bed, but wasn’t sure since I didn’t actually know where I was at that moment. Looking around for anything familiar, I realized I must be in his hotel room. His back was to me, but I knew exactly who he was. I didn’t speak at first, not knowing what to say. “Good morning” probably would suffice, but the words were stuck in my throat.
I covered my mouth in horror as the night before came crashing back to me. We had been drinking to celebrate the engagements of Kate and Neil and Charlie and Mitch, my dearest friends, who were both moving on with their lives, marrying the men of their dreams. And there I was in his bed, in his hotel room. I felt like I was waking up to a nightmare.
I’ve heard all the advertisements claiming that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, but I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out, especially since I had no idea if anyone saw us enter the room together. Wait a minute, Mac and I had left early. Oh, how my head hurt from my unwise decision to overindulge in libations that had obviously taken away all my inhibitions.
Even though I clearly had a great time with Mac the night before, feelings began to swirl around in my mind. Losing Jessica for one, welled up inside of me. My baby sister gone without warning. Mac had been so attentive that I had drop
ped my defenses and let him in. I hadn’t done that since…Ty. That got me thinking about Ty and how much I had wanted him, still wanted him. But, he was a million miles away and made it clear he’s moved on. I needed to move on too, but it had been easier to stay stuck in the past than risk being hurt again.
I lifted the sheets and found a small amount of blood. I could tell by the soreness between my legs that we’d had sex, and all those years being a good girl, and saving myself for my husband, were down the drain from one night of drunken stupor. What was I thinking? Why had drowning my pain in alcohol seemed so appealing? Someone once said there are no accidents. Maybe my actions were on purpose: my subconscious acting out because I was too chicken to take a chance with Mac when sober. Would I be brave enough when he woke and I wasn’t under the influence? I got up to go to the bathroom, hoping a robe hung on the back of the door. I needed the feeling of cozy fluffiness to embrace my body. Maybe the robe could cover my body, but nothing was going to cover up what I had done with the man still sleeping. Fortunately, a fluffy chenille robe was waiting for me. Thank God.
As I washed my hands, I felt something unfamiliar on my left hand. What the hell? I don’t remember having this ring. Why would I have a ring on my left hand? Oh, my head hurt. Gazing at the ring, it seemed impossible this was happening, that I should be waking up to an alternate reality.
In a panic, I ran out of the bathroom to wake up my sleeping stranger. Well, he wasn’t technically a stranger. I had met him once before, on Thanksgiving, at Neil’s parent’s home and we had been keeping in touch though texting. When he offered to drive me to Vegas I was elated, and jumped at the chance to spend some time with him, which was completely unlike me. I liked this man and probably ruined everything by sleeping with him on what I had considered our first date.
The drive had been so much fun and we talked nonstop about everything and nothing. I didn’t even spend much time thinking about Jessica. It was a relief to say the least, and strangely, I felt relaxed with Mac. He seemed to understand me without explanation.
“Mac,” I said, shaking his shoulder. “Wake up.”
Mac began to stir, but he wasn’t fully waking up. I went toward the drapes and pulled them open, inviting the bright sunshine to illuminate the room, but had to cover my eyes from the searing pain in my head, opening them had created.
“Oh, my head. Close the drapes…please,” he murmured.
“I need you to wake up and tell me what happened last night, Mac.”
“What do you mean, what happened last night?”
“I have a ring on my finger that tells me something happened. A ring on my left hand ring finger. Did we do something crazy? Do you remember?”
Mac sat straight up in bed. The sheet pooled around his hips revealing his upper body. His bare chest looked like a work of art sculpted by Michael Angelo. I had thought he was good looking with his sandy brown hair, big blue eyes, Hollywood smile, and the slight beard framing his face, but I had no idea his clothes were hiding all that. Mac swung his legs out of bed and got up, revealing the whole package. Every part of him looked like it had been chiseled by a master. I tried to avert my eyes as he walked past me, but I couldn’t tear them away. Mac was one magnificent man.
When he came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, he was wearing the other bathrobe, looked like he’d washed his face, and had a hand towel around his neck. He looked like he had taken a minute to regroup. I was a little disappointed he was covered up, as part of me would have liked another viewing of his muscled physique. I felt myself turning crimson at my own lustful thoughts of him.
“How about some water?” he asked, as he reached for an overpriced bottled water the hotel supplied. Obviously, for times like this.
“Thanks,” I said, as he handed me a bottle.
We both took a moment, and I drank practically half of it in one long gulp.
I frowned at him and asked again, “Do you know what happened last night?”
“I think we got married last night.”
“What?” I practically screamed at him.
“Take a look for yourself,” he said, lifting a piece of paper toward me. I took the paper out of his hand and sat on the sofa next to him, staring at it, blinking my eyes, as if that was going to change what I was seeing. Sure enough, it had both of our signatures on it and indicated we were married.
“This can’t be. We can’t be married,” I said, as I stared at the piece of paper that somehow had to be a joke.
“I’m afraid it can be. We got married last night.”
“Do you think anybody knows? Do you remember any part of this?”
“I remember us drinking and making out. But as far as tying the knot, I don’t know. I’m not sure how we went from partying with our friends to the here and now.”
“Okay, let’s just think for a minute,” I said, getting up to pace the floors. “Maybe we can retrace our steps if we each talk about what we remember.”
Mac nodded. “Do you want to go first?”
“Sure. We started out in the limo with Kate, Neil, Charlie, and Mitch. We all had champagne in our hands and we were toasting the happy couples.”
“I remember that,” Mac said nodding. “Continue.”
“We arrived at the first place and we had shots of tequila. I know I had at least two shots. How many did you have?”
“I think I might have had three.”
“After that, you and I danced for a while. A slow song came on and you pulled me close. It was nice,” I said, a smile spreading across my face as I looked down at my fingers. It was a little unnerving discussing the details with him in his hotel room wearing bathrobes with nothing underneath.
Mac gave me a devilish smile. “Glad I could be of service,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. He was such a guy.
I rolled my eyes and slightly shook my head. “Anyway, at the next place we had more shots. I think I was pretty much drunk by then. We danced some more and kissed during another slow song.”
Mac rubbed his jaw with his fingers. “I most definitely recall kissing you. I think we decided we would catch a cab and come back to the hotel. You were feeling dizzy or something.”
“Okay, well how did we go from getting a cab back here to getting married? That seems like quite the leap.”
“Well, maybe you just found me irresistible,” Mac said, with a lopsided grin that I was beginning to find irresistible. But I didn’t want him to know that.
“I’m sure many women find you attractive, but I was waiting to give myself to the man I love, not some guy with an overinflated ego.”
“What do you mean by waiting?” he asked, with a scrunched up face.
“What do you think I mean?” I practically barked back at him.
Mac sat there for a minute not saying anything. “I think we both need some aspirin and a drink. He got up and made his way to the mini fridge. Opening it, he found a beer, cracked it open and took a sip. He came toward me and handed me the bottle.
“A few sips will help you to feel better.”
I took a few sips, mortified at what I had just admitted to him—that he had taken my virginity—that I had handed it to him on a silver platter. I gave the beer back to him after taking one last swig.
“So, we had…”
“Yes, we did.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Did you have a good time?” At that, I laughed, which hurt my head.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“Then how do you know we did anything?”
I got up and lifted the covers on the bed. “Here’s some evidence,” I said pointing to the bed. “Also, I can just tell,” I said, giving him a hard look.
“Okay,” he said, nodding.
I sat there for a moment, an unreal moment. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. I stared off into the distance as if taking a mental vacation would somehow bring clarity to the situation.
“Can I ask you a question?” Mac inquired.
“Of course.”
“Did you basically just tell me you were a virgin until last night? That you were waiting to have sex until you got married?” Oh, he finally got it. I groaned quietly.
“That would be correct. I had promised my mother on her death bed I would do things the right way in my life. Part of that promise was waiting until marriage to have sex. I just wanted her to be proud of me even if I can’t hear her express the words.”
Mac picked up the marriage license. “Well, it looks like you haven’t disappointed her. We are married. I know it’s not ideal, but you technically didn’t break your word to your mom.”
I took a moment to let his words sink in. “You’re right. At least we are married. Thanks for pointing that out. But what are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been in a situation like this before. What do you think we should do?”
“Well, for starters, I don’t want to tell anyone. I don’t want to steal the limelight from Kate or Charlie. They each deserve to be the center of attention.”
“I can agree with that. What else?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Why don’t we figure this out when we get back to San Diego.”
“Okay. We can get an annulment if you want to,” Mac said. He didn’t look convinced about that. Odd.
“An annulment seems like the most logical thing to do,” I said, looking around to find my purse and clothes. As I moved past the bed, I tripped on the bedspread and fell onto Mac. Fortunately, he broke my fall and there I was covering his body with mine. We were nose to nose for a minute and I couldn’t help become dizzy by his heavenly manly scent. A flash of him kissing me blazed a trail through my mind, and how good it felt to have his lips on mine. Mac’s eyes were locked with mine and I saw a fierce passion resonate in them. I quickly pushed myself up, using his shoulders to do it, not wanting to reveal my desire for him.
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