Pursuing Aries

by Linzi Baxter

  “I was worried you would say no.”

  “Nope, you’re stuck with me now.”

  “I’m glad. Do you want to go inside and see your little man? He’s been kind of lost without you. Paolo gives him a lot of attention, but my brother had to head back to New York this morning. Something about his boss needing help with a job.”

  “Do you think he is going to do a mob hit?”

  Paolo had a dark side to him, and I believed the articles written online that he was the right-hand man for the mob boss in New York City. I’d asked him one day, and he tried telling me that people watched too much television and that wasn’t how the mob actually ran.

  “I hope it’s not for a hit.” I opened the door to the house, and Benji charged me and licked my face. He ran circles around me before running a couple around Brandon. “I told you he missed you.”

  When I entered Brandon’s home, I stopped in my tracks. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I hope you’re not mad.”

  “No, I’m not, but when did you do this?”

  Brandon moved my furniture into his house. Before, he had mostly man-cave furniture in the living room and a folding table. Now his home actually looked like a home and not somewhere a frat boy might live.

  “What happened if I said no?”

  “I wasn’t going to let you say no.”

  Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my lips to his and whispered, “I love you.”

  18

  Brandon

  We sat on the couch and watched the local news. They were talking about four college students found dead in their apartment. A drug dealer was selling synthetic weed at a discounted price. Numerous students had taken the drug and found themselves in the ER.

  Sasha frowned at the television. I had assisted on the case the day before when the parents were notified. No parent would ever want the news that their child had died. The news reporters were solemn as they broke the story.

  I was dressed in a pair of gym shorts, and Sasha put on her pink pajamas after getting home from work. The incident with my aunt was over a month ago, and Sasha’s gunshot wound had healed up nicely. Every night, I had flashbacks to the blood pouring out of her chest and found myself reaching over to make sure she was still breathing.

  “Did they find the drug dealer?” Sasha gasped and pointed to the television.

  They had located the dealers on the street, but they weren’t the ones bringing in the drugs. It was coming from somewhere else. The DEA was working on trying to turn someone. It might be more accessible now that four women died. Sadly, it might take someone else losing their life to get to the men behind making the drug.

  “Not yet. They hope they find the maker soon,” I said, my eyes still on the newscast. I wrapped my arm around her, bringing her in closer to my chest.

  She rested her hand against my stomach. “I can’t believe someone makes something like this and takes it to a college to sell. These kids don’t know any better; they want to have fun and still think they are untouchable.”

  She was right. The college was trying to notify everyone not to take weed from anyone, but some of the students still weren’t listening. The next story to flash across the screen was one I knew would be one of the main stories. Fredrick Langley had died at the age of sixty-five from lung cancer.

  “We can turn it off.” Sasha reached for the remote.

  I grabbed her hand before she could turn the channel. “It’s fine.”

  It had only been a matter of time before it happened. Paolo and I talked, and we both made a choice not to visit him.

  Sasha ran her fingers along my abs. “Are you sad?”

  “He was like a stranger to me. It’s always sad when someone dies, but I didn’t feel any other emotions for him.”

  “Do you know what the lawyer wants to talk to you about?”

  “My grandmother was extremely wealthy even though she lived in that small house. When she died, the money went to my mom and dad. Now they want me to have it. I plan to divide it up amongst a few charities for kids.”

  Sasha and I both spent time in foster care, and I planned to give more money to kids who were struggling.

  She tapped her fingers on my chest. “I think that is amazing you are taking the money and giving it back to the kids.”

  “When I have everything in order, I plan to give most to the Hope for Kids Foundation. Do you think you would want me to help pick out other kid charities?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I would love to help, and I know Lily spent time using different organizations when she was running from her husband. She might know a good one to donate to.”

  Sasha ran her fingers along the waistband of my boxers and looked up at me. I was drowning in the love that shined in her eyes. Each day, I couldn’t wait to get home to see her and hear about her day.

  “You know I went to the doctor today?”

  “And,” I asked.

  She smiled up at me. “I’m clear.” I was worried she might reopen the wound above her heart, so we hadn’t had sex. That didn’t mean I hadn’t spent hours between her legs, listening to her call out my name over and over.

  I pressed my mouth to hers and swiped my tongue across her lips. I’d wait days to hear her say the words. It felt like forever since I was inside her. I ran my hand under her pajama top, wanting to feel my skin against hers. I pulled back for a second so I could lift her pink top over her head, and my lips went back to hers the second the top hit the floor. My hands cupped her breast and she moaned against my lips. I ran kisses down the side of her neck, worshipping her body.

  I stood and dropped my boxers to the floor. Before I sat back down on the couch, Sasha wrapped her mouth around my member and looked up at me with her green eyes. I stood there watching her as she worshipped me like I had to her so many nights. I ran my fingers through her tangled blond hair and slowed her pace.

  When I couldn't take it anymore, I tugged on her hair gently for her to stop, and she smiled up at me. I sat back down on the couch, and she quickly took off her pajama bottoms and straddled my lap. My hands ran down the soft skin on her sides, and I pressed my lips to her taut nipple. She bit her lip and slowly lowered herself on top me. I held her hips, so she didn’t go too fast. I wanted to spend all night inside her, making up for the last month.

  “Damn, baby. I’m not going to last long.” I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in tighter as she slowly raised and lowered herself onto me. The scar on her chest had faded a little. I leaned over and pressed a kiss above her heart. It was hard not to think about how close I’d been to losing her.

  Sasha ran her hands through my hair. “I love you so much,” she whispered. Her eyes filled with love.

  Her wet heat wrapped around me was so intense, I bit the inside of my cheek to help keep my body under control. “You feel so good.”

  I didn’t understand what love was until I met Sasha. She completed me in every way and made me want to be a better man and fix the things my parents had done wrong in the world.

  I reached between us and pressed my thumb to her nub. She threw her head back and called out my name. “I’m… so… close,” she whispered.

  Gently, I flipped her on her back and angled her hips. Her eyes closed as I pressed into her. She met every thrust. I couldn’t hold on much longer. “Come with me.” And she did and screamed my name as she went over the edge.

  I turned on the couch so her back was pressed to me. “We didn’t use a condom.”

  She intertwined her fingers with mine. “Does that bother you? I’m clean.”

  My other hand went to her stomach. “No, I would love to see you pregnant.”

  She didn’t say anything right away, and I worried I’d overstepped.

  “Until I met you. I told everyone I would never have kids, and I wondered why some people did. I know every childhood wouldn’t be like mine. The older I get, the harder it is to hold onto the memories of when things were good at my ho
me.”

  “We’re not going to turn out like our parents.”

  “Thank God. I’m not sure I would be any good at the serial killer thing your family has going on,” she joked.

  “That makes two of us.” I paused for a second. “I know you said you never thought about having kids, but did you ever think about adopting?”

  “I did.” She let out a sigh. “If it weren’t for my foster mom, I would never have gone to college.”

  “Wait here a second.” I jumped off the couch and ran back to the bedroom. I grabbed the ring that had been in my drawer since I’d brought her home from the hospital. I kneeled next to the couch. “I kept telling myself I would wait a few more months before I asked, but I know you are the only person I ever want to spend the rest of my life with… Will you, Sasha, marry me?”

  Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. “Yes… Yes.” Her hand shook as I placed the prince diamond on her finger. “It’s so pretty.” She looked up from the ring and pressed a kiss to my lips.

  “Let’s go practice making those babies we talked about.”

  Sasha nodded before I lifted her off the couch and carried her back to the bedroom. “I love you.”

  Jax had everyone over to his house to have a co-ed baby shower for Jacob and Lily. I couldn’t help but smile at the happy couple. Six months had passed since Brandon had asked me to be his wife, and I couldn’t wait to walk down the aisle. At first, we wanted to get married right away, but when I started to have morning sickness, we both agreed we wanted to wait until our little one came.

  “How is my beautiful future wife?” Brandon asked as he wrapped his arms around me. “And my little one?” he whispered in my ear. We hadn’t told anyone and were planning to wait until after Lily had her baby. She was due any day now.

  Kaylene walked over with a smile on her face. SA Carson was at the baby shower. He made it down to Houston often. “You two look happy. I want to know when the big day is going to be.”

  We still didn’t know if we were going to have a big wedding. When I started to look at wedding ideas, I found that I was leaning toward a destination wedding. Brandon and I had discussed just making it him and me and coming back to have a party. So often, wedding days became so much about others and not the two people actually getting married. I wanted a day where Brandon was the only person I needed to worry about.

  “We haven’t set a date. But probably in nine months.”

  “Oh, after you have the baby.” Lily was walking toward us, and I didn’t know how to answer. I wanted to tell my friends, but I didn’t want to take anything away from Lily’s day, and we’d only figured it out a few days ago.

  I hadn’t even made an appointment with a doctor yet. I had taken twenty pregnancies test. We had an appointment to go in a few days…

  “How do you know that?” I said the words softly so no one around us would hear.

  Kaylene walked up and wrapped her arm around my waist. “Did she finally tell you she was pregnant?”

  “How do you guys know this? I just found out, and today is not about me—it’s about you.”

  Lily let out a huff and rubbed her hand over her large belly. “This isn’t my first go-around at being pregnant. I noticed it a week ago. When I hugged you and you winced.”

  “Well, we are happy for you.”

  I couldn’t imagine closer friends.

  Jax Black

  Everyone was in the dining room cutting the cake when the doorbell chimed. Everyone close to us was already at the house. I ran my hand over my face and let out a sigh. For the past year, I had been working nonstop, mostly overseas.

  When I originally planned to have the party for Jacob and Lily, I hadn’t realized it would be the day after I got back from China. No matter how comfortable the seats in first class were, sleeping on a plane never worked.

  I hadn’t been to bed in over forty-eight hours, and someone kept hitting the bell to the front door. Since it was my house, I figured no one else was going to answer it. I pulled myself away from my family and pulled open the door. A short, stocky woman with short hair stood on the steps, tapping her foot.

  “Can I help you?” I asked.

  “Are you Jax Black?”

  “Yes.”

  “Here.” She picked up a baby seat and pushed it toward me.

  My hands automatically went out to catch it. “What is this?” My words woke the sleeping baby, and he let out a cry.

  She turned and started walking back down the stairs to the waiting taxi.

  “You can’t just bring a baby to someone’s house and leave it.”

  “Well, since it’s your baby and the drug addict mother left her baby at my house, I figured you might want to take care of it.”

  A ringing in my ears started. “My baby? I don’t have any kids.”

  “You do now.” She threw her hands up. “I let his mother stay with me, but she decided her new boyfriend or drugs was more important than her kid. I looked you up, and you have money—enough to take care of the baby.”

  He had tons of money, but that didn’t mean he knew what to do with a kid. “What am I supposed to feed it? Hell. you didn’t even tell me the kid's name.”

  “I put everything you need in the diaper bag.” She pointed to the bag on the stairs. “He’s not my problem anymore.”

  She jumped in the taxi and left. The baby in the car seat belted out a cry. I carried him into the house and set his carrier down on the couch. Gently, I unbuckled the car seat and pulled him into my arms. He stopped crying the second his head rested on my shoulder.

  “What’s your name, little fella?”

  I reached into the back and pulled out a piece of paper. His birth certificate Jace Jax Black. The mother was listed as Sarah Williams. “I don’t remember a Sarah.”

  Jacob walked into the living room. “Whose baby did you steal?”

  “Some lady dropped him off on the doorstep. She said he was mine.” I handed him the birth certificate while I searched the bag for more information.

  “Congratulations!”

  “I don’t know the first thing to do with a baby.”

  Jacob grinned. “I don’t know a new a parent that knows what to do. Luckily, I have Lily, and she’s been through this, or I would be scared.”

  The little fella let out a grunt, followed by the worst smell in the world.

  Jacob belted out a laugh. “Well, it’s time to change your first diaper.” Jacob stood up. “I’m going to grab the girls, and they can help you get settled.”

  “What am I going to do with you?”

  The End

  Pre-order Nathan’s story now Pursuing Pegasus

  OTHER TITLES BY LINZI BAXTER

  White Hat Security Series

  Hacker Exposed

  Royal Hacker

  Misunderstood Hacker

  Undercover Hacker

  Hacker Revelation

  Hacker Christmas

  Hacker Salvation

  Hacker Enclosed - July 7, 2020

  Nova Satellite Security Series

  (White Hat Security Spin Off)

  Pursuing Phoenix

  Pursing Aries

  Pursuing Pegasus

  Immortal Dragon

  The Dragon’s Psychic

  The Dragon’s Human

  The Dragon’s Mate

  The Dragon’s Warlock - July 28, 2020

  Montana Gold (Brotherhood Protector World)

  Grayson’s Angel

  Noah’s Love

  Bryson’s Treasure

  A Flipping Love Story (Special Forces World)

  Unlocking Dreams

  Unlocking Hope

  Unlocking Love - June 2, 2020

  Siblings of the Underworld

  Hell’s Key

  Hell’s Future

  Hell’s Vacation - April 28, 2020

  Visit linzibaxter.com for more information and release dates.

  Join Linzi Baxter Newsletter at Newsletter

  G
rayson’s Angel - Preview

  Kara Davidson clenched her teeth and considered ignoring the call. She glanced at the iPhone, wishing a different name had flashed across the screen. This was the seventh call in the same day. He wasn’t going stop until she answered. A mixture of remorse and anger churned in her gut. He was her last family member, and she should answer to find out what he wanted. The only reason he ever called was because he wanted something from her.

  She took a few breaths to get her emotions under control. Then she gripped the steering wheel with one hand and clicked the hands-free button with the other. “Hello, Father.”

  “Is this Ms. Davidson?” The voice on the other end was a woman with a scratchy voice, probably from too many years of smoking.

  “Yes. May I ask why you have my dad’s phone?”

  “This is Bozeman Health. We tried calling you from our main line many times, and you didn’t answer. Your father was admitted to the hospital this morning, and you are listed as next of kin.”

  The only missed calls on her phone were from her dad’s number. This lady was mistaken if they called her from the hospital. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. Can I speak to my father?”

  “Mr. Davidson is in an induced coma. We feel it would be best if someone from his family came as soon as possible. The doctors are uncertain if he will make it.” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone before she continued. “When can I tell the doctor you’ll be here?”

  “I will try to find a flight tomorrow.”

  The hospital employee clicked the phone off before she could ask more questions regarding her father’s health. Kara would make it to Bozeman tomorrow to see her father. She would look at his chart herself and make up her own mind. Kara tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and screamed, letting out the frustrations of the past five years.

  After her mother died, Frank, her father, turned to booze and gambling to deal with his depression. He started to hit her during his drunken stupors. When her father didn’t look like he would change his ways, Kara packed up her life and moved to Denver, Colorado. She had watched one of her parents die in front of her eyes. She would not watch her father kill himself.