My Sinful Desire (Sinful Men Book 2)

by Lauren Blakely

  Though I was flying across the ocean, the advice about not going to bed angry still seemed to apply, as well as talking, being honest, and making time for each other. I wanted him to know I was here for him. The reality was, he had a more complicated life than me, and if that was what I was signing up for, he was worth it.

  Love was a choice, one that sometimes came with rampant uncertainty.

  I might never have stability with him. I might always experience moments, and even days, of pure unsteadiness. But what we shared was worth the risk, the anxiety, and the utter unpredictability of his family life. I’d confronted risk head-on as a businesswoman, and surely I could weather the ups and downs in a relationship.

  For so long, I’d been seeking what my parents had, that perfect kind of love, with passion, support, and security. But I might not ever have security with Ryan Sloan, and I was going to have to buckle up and enjoy the highs and lows, the thrills and drops of loving that man.

  Before my phone even downloaded any new messages, I tapped out a text.

  Sophie: I’ll be thinking of you the whole time I’m gone, and I’ll be looking forward to our roller-coaster ride when I return. Every second of it.

  There. Done. Said.

  It was enough, and I was choosing to believe in the two of us rather than listen to my own fears.

  I closed my eyes, took a few breaths and tried to calm my nerves as we drove.

  I was about to tuck my phone into my purse when my phone downloaded the rest of my messages, including one from him, just as the car pulled to the curb at the airport.

  The time on my phone screamed at me. I was really late.

  Oh God.

  Nerves swamped me. I was dying to read his note, but I needed to get inside. Now.

  Jamming my phone into my purse, I raced to baggage check-in, then on to the TSA PreCheck, making it through security without having to slip off my shoes.

  Safely on the other side, I took out my phone.

  Opened the message.

  And burst into a wild, wicked, happy grin.

  Ryan: I meant it when I said I can’t stay away from you.

  I spun around, hunting for him, half expecting to see him. He wasn’t there, of course. But that was okay. He’d sent this beautiful note. He’d reached out.

  These words were all I needed before I left the country—the reassurance that we were fine. After rushing to my gate, I showed my boarding pass to the agent and headed onto the plane, taking my seat in first class in the second row.

  From the cool comfort of my cushy gray leather seat, I started a reply. I stopped typing when I spotted someone standing by my row. My skin prickled with awareness, just like it had at Aria. Before I even confirmed with my eyes, my body knew.

  My gaze roamed up the jeans, the trim waist, the pullover shirt, the day-old stubble, the soft lips, the nose, the navy-blue eyes, the golden-brown hair.

  The face of the man I adored. My heart danced in mad circles, like a wild bird.

  “You’re here,” I said, stating the obvious.

  He gestured to the seat next to me. “This may be presumptuous of me, but is this seat taken?”

  I patted it. “Would you like this seat?”

  He looked at his watch. “For the next twelve hours, yes.”

  “It’s yours.”

  He sat down and didn’t say a word. He placed a hand on my cheek, pulled me gently to him, and breathed my name as if it were his oxygen. “Sophie.”

  The way he said it sounded like a poem, like a love song. He swept his lips over mine. I shivered. I shuddered. I soared.

  “Hi,” he said when he broke the kiss.

  “Hi.” I was on cloud nine. I was floating high above the earth, and I didn’t want to come down.

  “Do you want company for your trip?”

  “I want your company.”

  “Good, because I took the liberty of buying a ticket.”

  “I can see that. But is this really your seat?”

  “Mine’s one row up. When the person who has this seat shows, I’ll convince him or her to swap.” He looked me square in the eyes as he ran a finger over my cheek. “You once told me the things you want from me don’t cost money. Well, the ticket cost money, but that’s beside the point. The point is you told me you wanted to go for a ride together in your new car. And I’d like to go with you.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You’re joining me because of the car?”

  He shook his head. “I’m here for the woman,” he said, his voice so sexy, so certain, so full of passion.

  My eyes fluttered closed momentarily, and happiness rushed through all the highways inside my body, infusing my heart and soul with joy. When I opened my eyes, I asked, “Are you taking off work for the whole time?”

  He nodded. “I told Michael to run the shop without me.”

  “Where’s your dog?”

  “Colin has him.”

  “When did you plan this?”

  He looked at his watch. “About two hours ago.”

  I shook my head in amazement. “And you bought a ticket, and took care of all that, and figured out what flight I was on in two hours?”

  “There was only one flight to Frankfurt at seven in the morning, so I took a chance. Oh, and don’t forget, I showered too,” he said with a grin.

  “I like when you take chances for me.”

  “I’ve spent eighteen years living with uncertainty. There are only a few things in my life that I know for sure right now. I love my brothers and my sister and my grandparents and my dog.” He stopped to take a beat and hold my gaze. “And I love you. I’m not going to sit around and wait and wonder and question it. I’m just going to feel it. I don’t want to stop taking chances with you, Sophie,” he said, brushing his lips over mine once more. He tasted so good. I wanted the kiss to turn into so much more.

  But not right here. Not as the flight attendants began their announcements.

  Pressing a hand to his chest, I asked, “So that’s it? You’re mine for the next week and a half? All mine in Europe? You, me, and my emerald-green Bugatti?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a casual shrug. “If you’ll have me for that long.”

  “I want you all to myself,” I said, dancing my fingers up his chest. “I’m greedy like that.”

  “Be greedy with me. I want your greed,” he said, then fingered a lock of my hair, turning more serious. “Sometimes I retreat when things get crazy, but I want to keep coming back to you. I know I’m just figuring this relationship stuff out, and I’m sure I’m not an easy man to be with, but I’ll do everything I can for you.” He kissed my cheek, murmuring my name. “Sophie Winston.” Then another time. Softer. Barely audible. “Sophie Sloan.”

  I wrenched back and widened my eyes. “What did you just say?”

  72

  Ryan

  What had I just said?

  “Um . . .” I started. “Your name?”

  She shook her head and pointed to herself. “My name is Winston. Not Sloan.”

  I shrugged, trying to cover up my unexpected gaffe. “It was a slipup.” Then I thought, Fuck it. I was on a plane with her, headed to Europe. I might as well tell her the truth. “I was trying it on for size.”

  Her lips quirked up. “You were? How did it sound?”

  “Hot. Sexy. Perfect. Beautiful. Like you,” I said, keeping my gaze pinned on my gorgeous woman. “Did you like how it sounded?”

  Her eyes sparkled. “I think I did.”

  “Someday,” I said, threading my hands in her hair and pressing my forehead to hers. “Someday, I want to make you Sophie Sloan. Someday soon. Is that too much? Have I said too much?”

  “Oh God, Ryan. You’re crazy. You’re here on a plane with me, and I have never been happier in my life. All I’ve ever wanted is a love like this, and you’re here. With me. Don’t you get it? You’re all my fantasies come true.”

  I kissed her nose. “Look what you’ve done to me. You’re everything I never knew
I wanted, and now I can’t live without you. Hell, I couldn’t even let you leave the country without me.”

  The dress, the woman, the car.

  Any one of them would be amazing. Together, they were a triumvirate of beauty.

  I snapped a photo because I wanted to look at this image again and again—Sophie Winston wearing a sapphire-blue pinup dress and ruby-red lips as she stretched out her lush body on the shining emerald-green hood of her sleek, stylish million-dollar car. We were parked on the side of a road somewhere outside of Rüsselsheim. Trees canopied us from the hillside.

  “You like how she drives?”

  “I love how she drives,” I said, putting my phone away and wedging myself between her legs. “I love everything about her.”

  “And me too?” she asked with a wink.

  “Yes, you too,” I said, laughing. “Now let’s put this vehicle to the true test.”

  It would be the first time in her Bugatti, but I was certain it wouldn’t be the last. That it would be the start of a countless number of times.

  I tugged her up off the hood, and we slid inside the car. God, this car should be classified a sacred space. Everything from the leather seats to the gleaming dashboard to the gorgeous hum of the engine was a dream. But better, because it was real. Sitting in the passenger seat, I lowered it with her in my lap and kissed the hell out of her, sealing my mouth to hers. She ran her hands through my hair and sighed sexily as I kissed her harder. Soon we were swallowing each other’s moans and groans, and she was rocking her hips into me.

  I broke the kiss, hiked up her skirt, and tugged her panties to the side, giving me access.

  “Take me, Ryan,” she whispered.

  I unzipped my jeans, pinned her wrists behind her back, and gave her what she wanted.

  It was what I wanted too. Her. And me. Together.

  Like this.

  Like bliss.

  Like everlasting love.

  Later that evening, we’d be together in other ways. Eating dinner at a café. Making love in our hotel after the lights fell in the town and only stars winked in the sky. Then the next day too, cruising along the autobahn in a sleek new car, living life to the fullest, loving without limits.

  Epilogue

  Ryan

  Johnny Cash bounded across Colin’s front lawn and into my outstretched arms on the sidewalk when I returned. “Hey, buddy,” I said, kneeling down to say hi to my pooch at last. My heart hammered as I reunited with my four-legged friend.

  The border collie licked my face and whimpered as he thumped his tail. I wrapped my arms around his furry neck, bursting with happiness. I hadn’t seen Johnny Cash in nearly two weeks, and even though the time with Sophie had been the best days of my life, I did miss my canine friend.

  Colin walked down the steps from his house and joined the reunion on the sidewalk. “Looks like someone missed you.”

  I stood up and gave my brother a quick hug, glad to see him too. “Thanks for watching him. I really appreciate it.”

  “He’s easy. Welcome back. How was it?”

  I briefly considered the question. I could answer it with patent honesty and say out of this world, amazing, incredible, fantastic, or a dream come true. Instead, I answered with another truth. “I’m going to ask her to marry me next week.”

  Colin’s dark eyes lit up. “Guess you had a great time.” He extended a hand and then clapped me on the back.

  “Yeah, we did,” I said, still grinning over what I had planned for Sophie.

  His smile seemed to grow wider, like mine. “Congratulations in advance. Couldn’t be happier for you. It all happened so quickly.”

  “It did. The whole thing happened so damn fast. But I guess when you’re certain of something, you have to go for it.”

  Colin knocked fists with me. “Couldn’t agree more. How did you decide?”

  As I petted a happy Johnny Cash, I told Colin the story of how I’d said her name on the plane, illustrating with my hand over my mouth, as if the words were spilling out of their own volition.

  My brother cracked up. “Awesome. So you just let it slip on the plane that you wanted her to be Mrs. Sloan?”

  “I hadn’t even thought that far. It just came out, and then I realized I wanted that. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  His gaze turned serious. “She is, and don’t ever forget it.”

  “I won’t,” I said, then walked to my car, and opened the front door to let my dog jump in. A nearby engine rattled, then stopped quickly. I turned in the direction of the car.

  The hair on my neck rose. The Buick. Parking outside Colin’s house. What the hell? “He’s back. Looks like he knows where we all live,” I hissed. “Sophie told me he stopped by my house right before we went to Germany.”

  I straightened my spine, kept my eyes on the guy, and waited, arms crossed, feet planted wide. The guy walked around the back of his car, then stopped short when he saw us.

  “Hey,” he said softly, a little shy, then he spoke again, louder, more confident. “Hi.”

  I lifted my chin. My eyes were narrowed. Colin had said something on the phone to me earlier this week about this guy. “What’s the deal? My fiancée told me you stopped by my house the other week. Just man up and tell us what this is about.”

  The guy walked closer, taking big steps toward us. He stopped a few feet away. He was younger than I expected, maybe even a teenager. He had a tough-guy edge with the boots, jeans, the tattoos that snaked up his arms, and a stubbled jaw, but his eyes were young.

  And something in them looked eerily familiar. Like I recognized them. My blood froze, and all the hair on my arms stood on end.

  Epilogue

  Marcus

  I’d like to say the last few weeks had prepared me for this.

  But I wasn’t sure anything could.

  I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready.

  That didn’t matter.

  Some things you just had to do.

  I had to do this.

  No, I wanted to do this.

  It was as necessary as breathing.

  Ryan stared at me, waiting for my answer, waiting for me to answer him: Tell us what this is about.

  Drawing a steadying breath, I tried to shed all my nerves, but before I could speak Colin cut in with a shocked “Marcus?” His jaw fell open as he said my name.

  Because I wasn’t a stranger.

  I wasn’t a stalker.

  And Colin knew me.

  He just didn’t know who I was to him. To them.

  “You know this kid?” Ryan asked his brother.

  Colin nodded, unable to speak, eyes wide as he stared at me.

  The surprise was only going to deepen, like a canyon. The surprise he felt now would be nothing compared to what was coming in just a few seconds.

  Could I do this?

  Yes. Yes I could.

  I cleared my throat and cut in. It was now or never. If I didn’t get the words out in the next ten seconds they might never come. “I want to talk to both of you,” I said, voice as steady as could be, as I forced an evenness into it that I damn well didn’t feel. I looked to Ryan, to Colin, and kept going. “We all have something in common.”

  “What are you talking about? And why are you here?” Ryan asked, fists clenched, like a fighter poised. But he didn’t need to worry about me.

  I wasn’t on that side of their story.

  I was on another side.

  Ryan looked to Colin, searching for answers “Who is he?”

  But Colin was still speechless.

  I was not.

  I spoke the words I’d practiced in the mirror for months. They were all my truths, and they were their truths now too.

  “My name is Marcus. I was born seventeen years ago at the Stella McLaren Federal Women’s Correctional Center. My mother is Dora Prince. I’m your brother.”

  THE END

  Want to know what happens next to the Sloan family now that they’ve learne
d they have a new brother? Find out in Colin’s love story, told in MY SINFUL LONGING, as he falls for Elle Mariano, a woman who knows some of the secrets the Sloans need to unravel the mystery of their father’s murder! AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE!

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