by Shayne Ford
He smiles.
“What took you so long?”
“Not your business, Harrington.”
I spin on my heel.
“It is my damn business, Preston. You have one job to do, and it’s my wedding day. How are you supposed to handle a company if you mess this up?”
He waves me off, annoyed.
“I did just fine when you were gone. Stop nagging me.”
I study him.
A smile breaks onto his lips.
“Ask James if you don’t believe me,” he says, pointing at him.
James nods.
“He did.”
“See?”
I examine him for a few more moments.
Sensing my stare, he glances at me. His eyes glint with mischief.
“Tell me you’re not up to your eyeballs in some messed up shit,” I say.
He clicks his tongue while running his hand through his hair.
He probably is.
“Nope.”
“Yeah... As if I believe you.”
Laughing, he sways his head side to side.
“I’m not.”
“Just keep it in your pants for one fucking minute.”
His chest rocks with more laughter.
“I’m not. Seriously.”
I shift my eyes to James.
“If he does anything while I’m busy, rip his balls off for me, will you?”
James grins wolfishly.
A soft knock draws our eyes to the door.
“Come in.”
Wearing a pastel, beaded gown Rain walks in.
Her eyes sparkle as she floats to her man and gives him a kiss.
She turns to me.
Smiling.
“You look great,” she mutters, giving me a swift once over.
She closes the space between us and runs her fingers over my bow tie, making sure it sits straight.
Our eyes lock.
She wraps her fingers around my neck and pushes up to her toes.
“She looks stunning,” she whispers in my ear.
We tear away from each other, my cheeks burning.
“What did she say when you give it to her?” I ask.
“She couldn’t talk. You left her speechless.”
Tears well up in her eyes when she runs her fingers over the lapel of my jacket and murmurs.
“I’m so happy for you. Both of you.”
“Thank you, baby,” I say, and shift my eyes to Ed.
He no longer smiles.
“What’s with the broody face, Preston?”
Startled, he flicks his eyes up and focuses on me.
“Nothing.”
“It will happen to you too.”
He breaks into a chuckle.
“I’m not interested,” he says, and James and I share a laugh.
“I’m sure you’re not,” James says, pushing off the table and straightening his back.
His arm wraps around Rain as she gives him another kiss.
Ed holds the door open for us, and we all walk outside.
A few moments later, we are all ready, and the music starts playing.
My eyes set at the end of the aisle where Dahlia will show up any moment now.
As guests’ eyes train on me, and I wait for her to walk through that door, a distinct feeling hovers over me. This is the kind of moment when life smoothly shifts tracks.
Most of the time, the changes are subtle, too slight to catch our awareness, but when life brings everything together as it does on a day like this, it’s hard not to observe it and put things in perspective.
Two decades ago, three boys, a dark-haired one, a brown haired one and a blonde haired one were camping by the fire, next to a lake in the woods. We laughed and played and planned our lives the best we knew and could.
My father accompanied us many times. James’ dad did the same.
Many things have happened since then, none of them the way we have imagined them. Some have surpassed our imagination while others took us completely by surprise.
One thing has never crossed our minds though. That one day the bond we had would morph into something different. That one day we would become men, and then a different kind of men. That our hearts would change as well and long for something different.
A woman stands next to James today, and mine is ready to walk down the aisle. And as much as he resents the idea or chooses to ignore it, Ed’s woman will eventually show up too.
The door opens, and Dahlia’s eyes lock mine.
As she takes the first steps, she looks at no one else but me. And her heart beats for no one else but me. Her smile lodges in my memory, telling me all I need to know.
She is the other part of my heart.
The sapphire necklace I bought a year ago in London sparkles around her delicate neck. She catches the direction of my gaze as I run it over the sparkling gemstones and down on her stunning chiffon gown.
Her bare shoulders gleam with the tan of Spain.
As she gets settled at my side, she softly murmurs.
“You knew it all along. That’s why you bought it for me, isn’t it?”
I softly nod.
Her eyes swim with tears.
I love you, she mouths to me.
My eyes narrow with a smile.
“I love you too. With all my heart,” I quietly say.
Not far from me, James’ lips curve into a knowing grin.
“Ready?” asks the wedding officiant.
I shift my eyes to Dahlia, my lips curling into a soft smile for her.
Her heart throbs in her eyes for me.
“Yes,” I say, and the ceremony gets started.
The End.
THIS IS THE END OF LEX’S STORY
EDWARD Excerpt
This is an excerpt from Edward (Night of the Kings 7)
Chapter 1
EDWARD
Los Angeles
“It was fun,” the woman says, a dazzling smile rippling across her lips as she runs a long-fingered hand through her wavy brown hair.
She slips into her heels and runs her hand over the bottom of her dress, smoothing the fabric.
“Call me next time you’re in LA,” she chirps.
“Mmm-hmm,” I mutter as I bring my drink to my lips.
She’s about to say something else when the door opens, and Lex walks into my hotel suite. Discreetly, I nod her goodbye.
She gets the hint and slithers out of the door.
Glancing at her as she sashays by him, he graces her with a small smile before he closes the door behind her.
A starched white shirt stretches across his shoulders, dark wool pants fitting him smoothly.
He spins around, his bright, blue gaze landing on me.
“Did you have fun?” he asks as he sinks into an armchair, his gaze promptly roaming over me, taking inventory of my suit pants and dress shirt that now is hanging open.
His eyes linger on my neck for a few more moments. The woman’s lipstick must be on my skin.
A slow, knowing grin tilts his lips as he cocks an eyebrow at me.
I smile.
“You’re like a pestering conscience that shows up when I need it the least, Harrington.”
He lets out a soft laugh, his eyes sparkling, blue and bright like the morning lining the windows.
“There’s nothing wrong with having fun if you actually... had any fun,” he says.
I watch him from above the rim of my glass.
He looks rested, his eyes beaming with light, his clean-shaven skin glowing. Unlike me, he wears a different set of clothes than last night.
Keeping my eyes rooted to him, I prop myself against the window sill while he leans back in his chair.
“What makes you think that I haven’t had any fun?”
Tipping his chin, he motions to my drink.
“It’s ten o’clock in the morning. You drink scotch, and you look as if you slept in your car. Your neck looks as if a kid got a box of crayon
s for Christmas and tried them on your skin.”
“Haha... Funny,” I say, not at all amused.
“Have you had any sleep?”
“Nope.”
“The woman worked up an appetite, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm,” I mumble in my glass.
“Why don’t you try something different, Preston?”
“Like what?” I ask, plopping my glass on a side table.
I cross my arms over my chest and glance at the LA skyline.
His response lags, so I flick my gaze back at him.
He studies me, no longer smiling.
“Take a break from all of this,” he says.
Silent, I tear my eyes away from him and shift my gaze back to the window. The sky looks fuzzy in the distance, the ocean gleaming in the sunlight.
“Why would I do that?” I finally ask.
“It clearly no longer works for you.”
I start to chuckle.
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m not talking women here.”
I whip my gaze to him again.
“What are you talking then?”
“You’ve been doing this for too long.”
His eyes stay on me, glinting like the ocean outside.
“You rarely spend time at home. You work too much, and you clearly fuck too much.”
A smile curves my lips.
“Are you keeping track now?”
“It’s the truth. You know what I mean.”
My grin dies out.
“I know. But it has nothing to do with me, or with me missing anything.”
A few moments of silence slip by as I contemplate the life outside the hotel windows.
“This is how life works, Lex. Things come and go, and people do the same. You know that better than me. It all goes away at one point or another,” I say, my thoughts a bit disjointed and different than the conversation, but the sparkle in his eyes when I turn my gaze to him, tells me that he knows what I am talking about.
He studies me for a brief moment.
“These women won’t do it for you, Ed. And too much work only makes you more unhappy and numb if you already are,” he says, shifting the conversation back on track.
I uncross my arms.
“Maybe that’s all I need right now. Not to think about it, and have some time for myself.”
He searches my eyes again, trying to find a hidden meaning in my words, but there’s nothing to be found.
“Have some time for yourself doing what? Spending night after night with women you don’t care about only to start all over again the next day?”
“Not long ago you and James were doing the exact same thing.”
“Not long ago, it was fun.”
“Maybe because all of us were doing it.”
“Yeah. Perhaps.”
“You don’t expect me to get married just because you two did.”
He gestures.
“That’s not what I was saying. Try a different crowd if nothing else. Get a taste of something different.”
I start laughing.
“You mean the boring crowd.”
He breathes out a chuckle as if it’s a good joke, but we both know that it’s not.
“That’s not what I had in mind.”
“You want me to start with someone who has no idea how it’s done so that I can find some entertainment in it.”
“James did it, and look where it’s gotten him.”
I gesture dismissively.
“James was lucky. And Rain is a special kind of woman.”
He tips his gaze down, silence rolling over my words.
“Dahlia is that kind of woman too.”
The name of his wife rolling off my lips makes him tilt his gaze up.
“Yes, they both are,” he says before he turns quiet again.
Raking both hands through my hair, I look at the ceiling for a moment and let out a sigh.
“You’re in a funk right now,” he finally says. “And it’s normal in a way. That’s why I think that you need to try something different.”
I weigh his words for a few seconds before I push off the window sill and slip into a chair not far from him.
“You know me well,” I say, my eyes trailing away from him for a second. “You know how much I hate to get close to someone.”
Our eyes meet again.
A soft smile curls his lips.
“I wish there were a different way.”
He injects a shred of humor in his words, trying to make it sound like a joke, but it falls flat for both of us.
I let out another sigh before I speak again.
“I can’t do it if I don’t feel something, and I don’t remember when was the last time–– if ever, when I felt something for a woman, other than pure physical attraction.”
I pause for a moment, and then I continue.
“I’ve had all kinds of women, but I never felt that any of them could’ve done it for me. Sex is fine. I have nothing against it. More than once sex with the same woman? If she’s hot? Sure… Why the hell not? But doing the relationship thing is out of the question. It will never happen to me. I know every damn trick in the book, and I’m too set in my ways to fall for it at this point. I don’t care for innocence either as much as I don’t care if she fucks me fifteen ways. I’m not gonna lie. I’m in this solely for myself to satisfy my needs, not to romance or promise things that I could never deliver. There’s no way in hell I can meet someone who can change my opinion on this. Perhaps it could’ve happened a few years back when I wasn’t jaded, but not now. I know too damn much, and I know exactly what I won’t do. No matter how pretty she is, or clever, or hot between the sheets, I’m not gonna take the bait.”
He searches my eyes as if he’s hoping to find something else––something that contradicts my words when the door opens, and James walks in.
Clad in a suit that fits him perfectly, raven hair combed back with only a couple of strands brushing his brow, green eyes brimming with a smile, he stops in the middle of the room.
He fashions a white shirt as well, the smooth, bright fabric setting off his bronzed skin.
His gaze swings between us before he lets his eyes rove down on me.
Like Lex, the man looks fantastic. In fact, he’s never looked better.
Smoothly, he retrieves a cigarette from inside his jacket and tucks it between his lips.
“What the hell happened to you, Preston?” he mumbles around the cigarette as he flicks the lighter open and lifts the flame to the unfiltered end. “Have they barged into your room, stole your shit and left you with one set of clothes?”
Stretching a sly grin, he takes a long drag before he tips his face up and releases the smoke, his eyes locked with mine.
I can’t help but smile.
He flicks his head to Lex.
“Has he had any sleep?” he asks Lex.
“I’m here, you know,” I say.
He shifts his gaze back to me.
“Have you?” he asks me this time.
His eyes narrow as he takes another drag.
Slumped against his chair, Lex laces his fingers together, watching me amused.
I pick up my drink from nearby.
“That’s a fucking no,” James says.
The alcohol goes down my throat as he slips his hands into his pockets, flicks the filtered end of his cigarette with the tip of his tongue and runs his eyes on me again.
A wolfish smile tilts his lips.
He swings his eyes back up to my face, pulls a hand out of his pocket and tears his cigarette away from his lips.
I barely put the glass down when he starts talking again.
“You look like a rundown neighborhood with ugly graffiti on your neck,” he says, pointing with the hand holding his cigarette in my direction.
Lex bites a laugh back.
“What the hell did she do to you?” James asks as he motions to my neck again.
“She sucked him
real good,” Lex offers.
“I was talking about his neck,” James says.
Lex's hands go up in the air.
“Me, too,” he retorts.
We all burst into laughter.
“Fucking James Sexton...” I murmur, running a paper tissue over my neck and throwing the box at him.
He ducks out of its way, sparks flying from his cigarette while his chest keeps rocking.
“You and the smartass over there,” I say, pointing to Lex who can’t suppress another chuckle. “You two forgot how bad you were not far back.”
Smiling, I push out of my chair and shed my dress shirt.
“You’re just fucking jealous,” I mumble, balling up my shirt and throwing it in James’ face.
He ducks again, and catches it, laughing.
“You need to hurry, princess,” James says, checking his watch. “The meeting is in half an hour.”
“Stop pestering me,” I toss at him on my way to the bathroom.
With that, I slam the door over their laughter.
End of excerpt.
This book is available in the store.
Also by Shayne Ford
LOVE IS WAR SERIES
A Dark Mystery Romance
FALLEN (Love is War Series #1)
BROKEN (Love is War Series #2)
TAKEN (Love is War Series #3)
OWNED (Love is War Series #4)
NIGHT OF THE KINGS SERIES
A Billionaire Romance
JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #1)
DARK JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #2)
TAMING JAMES (Night of the Kings Series #3)
ALEXANDER (Night of the Kings Series #4)
HARD LEX (Night of the Kings Series #5)
LOVING LEX (Night of the Kings Series #6)
EDWARD (Night of the Kings 7)
WILD ED ( Night of the Kings 8)
DARK HEART SERIES
A Dark Romance
JADEN (Dark Heart Series #1)
WILD JADEN (Dark Heart Series #2)
JADEN’S HEART (Dark Heart Series #3)
SHADES OF LOVE
A Billionaire Dark Romance
DARK MCKENNA (Shades of Love #1)
REAL MCKENNA (Shades of Love #2)
MCKENNA (Shades of Love #3)