by Sheila Kell
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Epilogue
Did you enjoy this book?
About The Author
Fantasies can come true.
“Maddie,” he said in a low, gravelly voice, before his hand reached out and gently touched her cheek.
Heat surged through her body from his touch down to her fuchsia-painted toenails. This was a bad idea. Yet she struggled to ignore the pull of him and even hoped he’d kiss her like before, when they’d been all over each other at the hotel in Vegas.
“Maddie,” he whispered this time. She had a split second to decide whether she’d let him kiss her or push him away. With her heart pounding, she chose, and he lowered his head, touching her lips gently.
Electricity arched its way through every nerve ending in her body and had her wanting to throw her arms around him after ripping off his clothes. Like before—before he’d opened his mouth and spouted those words that cut her to the core—this felt right. She figured the first time they’d been thrust together was foreplay of sorts, even though neither had seemed to notice how that interlude had fed into their desire for each other.
He drew back, and his eyes darkened as he looked down at her, a question residing in the depths of his mesmerizing golden-brown eyes.
Breathless and against her better judgment, she said, “Don’t stop kissing me.” After listening to her sister, deep down she knew he wasn’t the crass guy she’d had a glimpse of that one time, but she really didn’t know him, so maybe it was wishful thinking. Come to think of it, she never did hear a story in the National Enquirer or other ragtag magazine about them sleeping together. All she knew was that her body heated with the desire for his touch… his loving… his caresses. At the moment, she wanted it more than her next breath. How could that be wrong?
With a sly grin, his mouth covered hers again. She opened immediately, and his tongue swooped with the same force of when he’d tackled her on the bank. Her palms went up his biceps, and she felt the rippling muscles in her hands and the strength he held in them. Continuing her trek, she wound her arms around his neck where her fingers played with the short, dark hair. She kissed him back with all she had as her body trembled with desire. Their tongues brushed then dueled, and she felt each warm, wet stroke throughout her body.
“Sheila Kell is a mistress of the genre…”
—Readers’ Favorite
Other HIS Series Novels
by Sheila Kell
His Desire
His Choice
His Return
His Chance
His Destiny
His Family
His Heart
Hamilton Investigation & Security
HIS Series, Book Eight
Brad & Madison
HIS FANTASY
Copyright © 2018 by Sheila Kell
Publisher: Cunningham Books
Editor: Hot Tree Editing
Interior Design: Polgarus Studio
Cover Designer: CT Cover Creations
Cover Models: Zeke Samples and Kelsey Krugman
Photographer: Eric Battershell Photography
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, Cunningham Books, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
ISBN 978-0-9992496-2-8
Printed in the United States of America
To my valued readers
You keep the joy in writing
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Epilogue
Did you enjoy this book?
About The Author
Writing Brad’s story was another work of collaboration and input from many sources. I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize them and their contributions to HIS FANTASY.
First and foremost, I want to thank my editor, Becky Johnson of Hot Tree Editing, and her staff for their tireless efforts in helping me bring Brad’s story to life and making it as enjoyable as possible for the reader. They make the story better before it is final.
In collaboration with Eric Battershell Photography and CT Cover Creations, I have another outstanding cover in the HIS series. Together, they’ve helped bring the covers to life.
I have a fabulous reader group, and when I needed a name for Madison and Rylee’s boutique, I had a great number of suggestions. I could not choose them all, but did use suggestions from Teri McGill, Dawn Stanton Tohill, and Linda Dossett in the story. I thank every member of my Smokin’ Hot Heroines for participating.
Hypnotherapy was new to me so I sought out Melissa Ratliff, LCSW, ACHT, CRT, PsychoSpiritual and Transpersonal Clinician at Conscious Healing Therapies, LLC, to help me understand how it could help Brad in his story. It was informative and intriguing session that helped me make his session as realistic as possible.
As always, my most valuable partner in writing a novel is my mother. She takes the time to read through my drafts and provides exceptional feedback. I appreciate all that she does to support me.
A CHILL SLID down Madison Maxwell’s spine and froze her thoughts. That unwelcome feeling didn’t happen often, but when it did, something bad usually happened and had affected her in some disastrous way. What’s to come my way now?
“Maddie, are you still there?” her sister, Rylee Hamilton, asked through the Bluetooth car speaker.
Giving herself a mental shake, Madison smiled at the thought of seeing her older sister again. Granted they were step-siblings, but they were closer than most sisters and shared their hopes, dreams, and secrets. Her smile grew. Lots of secrets. That secret sharing tapered off as they became adults, though. Lately, Madison hadn’t shared all of her secrets with her sister. She still held a big o
ne in her pocket from when she’d attended Rylee’s wedding in Vegas. That was to say her second wedding for the family nearly a year and a half earlier. In a nutshell, Madison had slept with one of Rylee’s brothers-in-law. The one who’d turned into an arrogant asshole. Madison adored the rest of the family, even though she hadn’t seen them since the night she’d lost all common sense and slept with Brad Hamilton. She was too embarrassed to face anyone.
What if they knew how completely stupid she’d been? Had Brad bragged that he had a supermodel in his bed? After his words to her, she wouldn’t put it past him. He’d done enough of it when next to her on the mattress after they’d had sex. Madison still didn’t know if his boasts had been playful or his true character. She didn’t take the chance at the time and had got the hell out of there.
She mentally slapped herself for her idiocy. That’s what you get for going to bed with a man you don’t really know that well. In fairness, she hadn’t just met him. He’d all but kidnapped her when Rylee had been in trouble, forbidding her from helping search for her sister. Of course he said he was there to protect her and then let her know he couldn’t participate in the rescue operation because he had babysitting duty. She hadn’t been any happier about the situation. While housed together, they’d only exchanged hostile words and glares before he’d released her when Rylee—and presumably Madison—had been safe.
For the love of the bride and groom, she and Brad had tried to be civil at the wedding. The alcohol afterward had helped. She’d met an entirely different man. It had been like going to bed with someone she’d just met, which she’d never done before, but they’d been drinking, ignoring their brief past, and getting to know each other, and one thing had led to another….
Thankfully Rylee hadn’t said anything about Madison’s indiscretion. Either she was playing it cool, waiting for Madison to bring up the topic, or she truly didn’t know the truth. Nodding to herself, Madison went with the second option because it put her mind at peace.
Unfortunately, she’d probably see Brad on this trip—her final trip from New York City—and she still wasn’t prepared to face him after she’d cowardly run from his room. As a strong, independent woman, Madison turned into a wimp at the thought of seeing the man who’d rocked her world, then treated her like a celebrity to be awed by instead of the real person he’d had his hands all over. He’d told her that she was his fantasy come true. That’s when she’d realized he’d taken the supermodel to bed and not Madison as his sister-in-law, of sorts. Her heart sank at the memory. She’d been such a fool.
“Yeah, I’m here.” Madison pushed the entire drama away so she could focus on her driving and the conversation.
“You’re sure you want to turn PYNK into a lingerie boutique? I know we don’t have any interest in running the club, but our manager is good, so there’s nothing to worry about. If you don’t want it, we could sell it.”
A wave of panic surged through her at the thought of losing her dream of running her own business and not the club. “Do you want to sell it?” Please say no. Please say no. Madison didn’t know what she’d do if her sister made that choice. Although financially sound, Rylee had contributed most of her nest egg when they purchased the place. The last thing she wanted to do was lose it for her sister. Sure, Madison could purchase another place—smaller even—to open a boutique, but she’d planned out every bit of space in the current location of their small, exclusive women’s club.
“Only if you do. I’m excited about the boutique, but I wanted to make sure you want to take on that much space.”
Too much space didn’t bother her. Heck, what business owner wouldn’t love extra space? The great thing was that she and Rylee had purchased the place outright several years ago as their fallback for when they decided it was time to change careers. Only later did they realize that Rylee didn’t have an interest in managing a nightclub and neither did Madison. It had been a steal they couldn’t pass up at the time. In the beginning, Madison had thought it would be exciting, but she’d changed and wanted something else. Something without drunken women and then men trying to crash the party. And the protesters. God, she’d had enough of that. Why couldn’t women sit and watch male strippers without going to hell?
“Are you kidding?” Madison said with a laugh. “I have all kinds of ideas for space utilization. I can’t wait to show you the line Javier has created. The best news is it will be exclusive to our brick and mortar store and our online store.” As a designer, Javier ranked in the top five in the US and was a friend in the cutthroat fashion industry. True friends were few and far between in that business. She’d been lucky to work with him early in her career, and he’d eventually become a true friend.
“Didn’t you help him design the pieces? Wasn’t that why it’s in your store?”
“First, it’s our store. Second”—her smile grew with excitement at her accomplishment—“I did. I may not have the fashion design degree, but after years of modeling for top designers, I know fashion and lingerie.”
“He’s in love with you,” Rylee joked with a chuckle.
“Don’t even think it. Javier is happily engaged to a nice man named Justin. Javier just believes in me. He’s always been my biggest supporter, even when a photographer was on my ass during a photo shoot. What gets even better is that once the line takes off, he said we’d talk more about other pieces—we did limit it to a few items since I’ll be the only one selling them—and expansion. Imagine, there will be a line of clothing called ‘Madison.’” She almost squeaked out the words with delight. For some reason, she was happier than when she’d made People magazine’s most beautiful people list. There was satisfaction in this emotional storm she felt. Satisfaction and joy—lots of joy—yet fear lurked deep in there. Could she make the boutique a success? She was hoping her name would bring people in the door. Would it be enough to entice them to come in and meet her and then purchase merchandise? She hoped so, but always in the back of her mind, she worried. “It won’t be the only line we carry, but it will be the cornerstone of the store.”
“I’m so proud of you, sis. This is big. We need to celebrate. Wear your cocktail dress. We’re hitting the town.”
Laughing at her sister’s sudden thirst to party, she wondered if Rylee’s husband, Devon, took her out often or if she just missed girls’ night out. Madison did miss those fun times that seemed so long ago. “No. I’m tired, and I’m not even sure if I’m in Maryland. How about dinner at home another night? Maybe we can pop some champagne or something.” She hoped her sister didn’t ask how she could be so tired with only a three-and-a-half-hour drive. Sleep had eluded her the last few nights. She’d been too worked up over the change in her career and her move. It had been hard leaving a lucrative modeling career for something so uncertain.
“Done. Day after tomorrow since we’re meeting already.”
“Done. What’re you cooking?”
Rylee laughed. “That’s a really good question. I may have to pull Devon into the kitchen. He cooks better than I can.”
Madison wasn’t going to say one word about her sister’s cooking abilities or lack thereof. Rylee had been learning from her brother-in-law’s wife, Kate, but her sister had vented her frustration at not making successful meals every time. Since it had been so long since she’d had Rylee’s cooking, maybe she’d be pleasantly surprised. She crossed her fingers on the steering wheel.
“Actually, Brad has been my guinea pig lately.”
Madison started at the mention of Brad. “Really?”
“Yeah. Single guys need to eat, and he’s been great in trying out what I’ve made. He’s nicer about it than Devon.” Rylee chuckled.
Nice? Brad? She’d seen that on him for a short time, but her other experience with him hadn’t been so pleasant. He’d been demanding and dominating. He’d been a true alpha. Could she be wrong about him? Had he just shown the wrong side of himself to her?
Out of the blue, Rylee assured her, “You’re doing th
e right thing, Maddie.”
“I know,” Madison said. “I’m ancient in the modeling world. I’ve had my turn, but times are beginning to be tough.” When she’d lost her multi-million-dollar cosmetic contract to a younger model, she’d known it was time to begin a new path. She couldn’t blame the company, but she didn’t have to like the decision. It’s not like she didn’t know the day would one day come, but no one liked being put out to pasture.
Finding herself gaining on a black town car, she checked her speed and noticed she’d been driving fifteen miles over the limit, so she eased off the accelerator some. Being pulled over for a ticket while leaving her old life behind and embarking on a dream wasn’t something she cared to experience. Of course, she never wanted to experience it. She didn’t need an omen like that to begin her new life.
“You’re not ancient. Christ, you just turned thirty-one.”
Madison laughed, but it was stilted. “That’s ancient in the modeling world.”
“They don’t know what they’ll be missing,” Rylee stated, in support of her sister. “Would you do even one shoot if they called you?”
Thinking for a moment, she glanced in the rearview mirror. Empty except for woods and green fenced fields. Would she accept a job? She’d decided to leave the entire life behind—constantly starving herself and always being on display—but if Javier asked her, she’d do whatever she could for him. But only him. “Maybe,” she said hesitantly.
A loud sound ripped the air and the town car flipped over the small bridge it had been approaching. Dumbstruck and watching with wide eyes, Madison’s breath caught in her throat and seized her voice. One minute the car was driving and the next it was airborne before landing in the water upside down.