Perfectly Loved

by Lacey Silks

  “You’re hurt,” I said.

  “I’ll live.”

  “Good, because if anything happened to you…”

  “It’s all right, Millie. It’s all over now.” His brows scrunched as he looked at my gun on the bed. “Is that yours?”

  “Yes, it’s registered. He never gave me a chance to use it.”

  “You got a gun to protect yourself and didn’t tell me?”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Yes, but only because I wish you had trusted me enough to tell me everything.”

  “He would have gone after you, Dave. If he found out we were together, he would have killed you.”

  “Oh, baby. I wish you hadn’t had to go through all this on your own.”

  “I wasn’t on my own. You were there. You were always there.”

  “Apparently not enough to keep you safe.”

  “Why did you hesitate to shoot him?”

  “Millie, there’s something you should know. I don’t know how to say this… Mark… he was your half-brother.”

  “What?”

  “I shot your second brother.”

  By that time, the police had arrived. We were taken into the same ambulance, where Dave explained to me how my father was with Savage’s mother before mine came along, and how Mark had blamed my mother for seducing and stealing his father away from his family. That hatred was later transferred to Timothy and me. While it wasn’t difficult to believe that my father had spread his seed all over the Earth, I wished it weren’t Savage who was related to me. Of all the people in the word, I wished we never shared the same blood.

  Dave held me against him, smoothing my hair back. “I didn’t want to kill another one of your brothers. That’s why I hesitated.”

  Well, I was glad that he had. Otherwise, I’d be the one bleeding out on that floor.

  “He was nothing, Dave. And I don’t care how much DNA I may or may not have shared with him. He was, is, and will always be nothing to me. You’re the only family I have.”

  Dave’s body went rigid underneath me as if he wanted to say something else. But I was too tired to ask him. Soon after I closed my eyes, we were at the hospital and I was prodded with needles, hydrated, and the wound in my back was being looked after while Dave went into surgery.

  When I woke up, April was sitting beside my bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “Dave?”

  “He’s fine. The surgery went well, but he’ll be off work for a while. You’ve been out for eighteen hours, Millie.”

  Yet my body still felt spent. The door to my room opened, and Justin wheeled in Dave in a chair. My mouth curved into a big smile. He looked awful, but it was so good to see him. His face was shaded with a couple of days’ growth, still making him look sexier than any other man on Earth. Last time I’d seen him looking at me with so much love was at…

  Shit! Mrs. Bowers!

  “What about Mrs. Bowers? How is she?”

  They all looked from one to another, and their silence was making me more nervous. “She’s at the hospital. But Millie, she has severe injuries, as well as pneumonia. The doctors still don’t know if she’ll make it.”

  “She’s at this hospital?”

  “Yes. And Millie, there’s something you should know.”

  “Whatever it is, it can wait. She’s all alone, and I need to see her.”

  Dave nodded to April and after the doctor’s approval to leave the room, she helped me into a wheelchair. Mrs. Bowers was two floors above us, and when I first saw her in that bed, all wrinkled and pale, I thought they’d already prepared her for the coffin.

  I touched her hand, and she opened her eyes with a heavy sigh.

  “He saved you,” she said.

  “He did. And you’re going to be fine as well.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “Well, I can get you a new coat. You know, in case hell is still frozen,” I tried to joke. Mrs. Bowers looked tired and her eyes were quickly losing their usual shine.

  “Whatever’s been written will be.”

  Why was she talking in riddles? Mrs. Bowers then looked to Dave and asked, “Does she know?”

  He shook his head.

  “Know what?” I asked, and watched as her eyes filled with tears. “You’re not going to die. You’re too strong. And we have to find your heir for the farm. You can’t leave us like that.”

  She chuckled and reached out to touch my face. “I don’t know why I didn’t see the resemblance before.”

  Had she gone senile? Mrs. Bowers coughed and the whole bed shook. Everyone was quiet. And why was April crying?

  “You’re going to get better, Mrs. Bowers. I promise.”

  “Will you do me a favor, Millie?” she asked. “Will you call me grandma? I want to hear it, even if it’s just once.”

  How much morphine did they give her?

  “Grandma?” She really was crazy, but if that would make her happy and get her better, I’d comply. “Okay, grandma. You will get all healthy. I promise. Besides, you still have a litter of kittens left to raise.”

  She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Would someone please help me here? Someone other than Millie.”

  Dave rolled to my side and took one of my hands. “Millie, I found her granddaughter.”

  “That’s great! Where…”

  “Let me finish. When your mom passed away and you left, I was asked to look over some forms… Millie, your mom’s maiden name was Bowers.”

  All the blood drained from my face, and April was sobbing even harder.

  “Welcome to the family.” Mrs. Bowers said her voice a bit more frail than earlier.

  “You’re… you’re…”

  “Not a witch. Just a grandmother.” She closed her eyes, and then opened them. “And I couldn’t be happier if it was anyone else, Millie.”

  And then her eyes closed. “Mrs. Bowers…” I shook her. “Grandma…Please, open your eyes.”

  She did.

  “I’m… tired. Promise me a litter of your own,” she said.

  “Okay, I promise, but you need to be there to scare them with your broom. You hear me?”

  She let out a long breath and the monitor beside her changed from a periodic beeping to one constant sound.

  “No! You can’t die now! I won’t let you. You don’t get to tell me that you’re my grandmother, make me promise you great-grandchildren, and die today!” I screamed, as the nurses and a doctor rushed in. Dave pulled me aside and Justin quickly got me out of the room.

  “You can’t die! You hear me, old witch? You can’t!”

  I’m not sure how long it was before they let us back into that room, but I knew that my life would never be the same.

  Epilogue

  Millie

  Six months later

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Dave had blindfolded me as soon as I got in his car. I’d officially moved back into his house, and for the first time in my life, I could finally enjoy that perfect love he breathed into me each time we kissed.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Will you be naked?”

  “No.”

  “Meh.”

  “You really thought I’d take us to naked yoga?”

  “A girl can dream.”

  “Just be patient. It won’t take long.”

  Half an hour later, Dave took my hand and helped me out of the car. Birds chirped, a warm wind whistled, and fresh air filled my lungs. I got a funny feeling in my stomach and bit my lip.

  “Dave?”

  “Yes.”

  My throat tightened, and I shook my head. Were we at Mrs. Bowers’ house? The time it had taken us to get here was about right, and the sounds and smells of nature were so familiar.

  “Never mind,” I whispered.

  “Well, Millie. I thought I’d never see the day when you were speechless.”

  I followed his lead for a minute before we stopped. Dave shifted behind me, leaned down to my e
ar, and whispered, “I hope this makes up for all the fails you faced.”

  He removed the blindfold from my eyes. It was bright, and for a moment, I didn’t recognize the place. The house – my childhood home, the only one where I had some fond memories – was standing upright, had windows and new doors, and was painted. Around it, the property was landscaped. Pots of plants, new shrubs, and flowers decorated the front. As I stepped closer, a few ornamental stars hung underneath the porch roof. They gently clanked together as the wind passed through their hollows.

  “How could you afford this? When?”

  But Dave ignored my question.

  “I thought you’d like a home of your own. A permanent one, that’s rightfully yours. It’s all fixed up inside too. I got rid of that one room upstairs, though. It’s an open space above the family room now. There’s nothing left of him, Millie. Nothing.”

  No matter how much pain he’d caused me, I promised myself to never think about him again.

  “Is this really for me?”

  A movement at the front door caught my attention as Mrs. Bowers stepped outside.

  “Grandma!” I ran toward her. It was still hard to get used to the fact that she was my grandmother. I squeezed her hard and frowned at the earmuffs she was wearing in the late spring.

  “Don’t get your panties all twisted for me.”

  I helped her sit on the porch bench. “I can’t believe you left your house to come here. You never leave that house.”

  “Well, change is good, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, this time it is.” I held her underneath her arm, not wanting to let go.

  “Millie, you’ll squeeze me to death.”

  “Nah, witches have eternal strength.”

  She chuckled.

  “So, when do we move in?” I asked Dave.

  “Phew, I was hoping you’d include me in your move, given that I already sold my house.”

  “Dave, I never want to be without you ever again.”

  “Ever?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then that’s a good thing since I never want to be without you either. And I was thinking, well…”

  “Whoa! Dave. I love you and all, but hell already froze over, and I’m not sure we want to venture into an ice age. Grandma doesn’t have enough scarves and gloves to withstand that one.”

  That’s when she reached underneath her thick sweater and pulled out a wool hat.

  “If it means you two will be together, then I’m willing to cross Antarctica on my own.”

  And that’s when Dave knelt in front of me and my grandmother, turning toward her first. “Mrs. Bowers, I love you like my own grandmother. And I love your granddaughter with everything that I am. Will you please give me your blessing to marry her?”

  She cried. Actually, she wailed, nodding over and over again.

  Dave then turned to me and reached into his back pocket from where he pulled out the wooden box he had gifted me on my eighteenth birthday.

  “This rightfully belongs to you already.” He then opened the box. Inside was a blue stone, the same size and shape I remembered on my pendant, but set in a ring. “But I would be honored if you wore it as a sign of my promise to love you forever, every day, including the day you marry me, Millie. Will you be my wife?”

  Grandma passed me a tissue. I blew my nose loudly before screaming “Yes!”

  “She said yes!”

  Dave grabbed me in his arms, kissing me hard until we almost fell over. That’s when I heard loud cheering from inside the house as Justin, April, Mr. Mayers, Sean, Charlie, and Parker all came outside to join us.

  And I never felt as perfectly loved as at that moment, surrounded by the most wonderful family that I had stumbled upon and was reunited with.

  My family.

  Afterword

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed Millie and Dave’s story. If this is the first or second time you’ve read my work, flip the page to see my other books. Most of them have a complimentary prequel.

  What’s next? I need to take a couple of months to plan the next series. It will be big and I need to make sure that it works before I commit to any dates, but the plan is to have all 4 books out before the end of the year. When they’re released, I’ll either do them all at once, or space them out couple of weeks apart. You’ll be able to read them as stand-alone novels and/or as an entire series. This is a top secret project so that’s all I can say for now.

  Cheers and Happy Reading!

  Lacey

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  Also by Lacey Silks

  Dazzled by Silver (prequel to the Layers Trilogy)

  Layers Deep (Book 1)

  Layers Peeled (Book 2)

  Layers Off (Book 3)

  Crossed (prequel to the Crossed Series)

  Layers Crossed (Book 1)

  Double Crossed (Book 2)

  Crossed Off (Book 3)

  When Things Go Wrong (short prequel)

  Cheaters Anonymous (Book 1)

  Loyal Cheaters (Book 2)

  Broken Cheaters (Book 3)

  Perfectly Equipped (short prequel)

  Perfectly Seduced (Book 1)

  Perfectly Kissed (Book 2)

  Perfectly Loved (Book 3)

  My First, My Last: a standalone erotic romance novel

  Short Stories

  My Only One | Dance With Me | Teacher’s Pet

  Bossy Request | Over The Limit | My Neighbor’s Will

  Mistresses (a five story collection)

  Connect with Me Online:

  Twitter | My Blog | Mailing list | Facebook

  About the Author

  USA Today Bestselling Author Lacey Silks writes erotic and contemporary romances with a touch of suspense. Her stories come from her life, dreams and fantasies. She’s a happily married wife with two kids who uses her husband to test out the more intimate scenes for her writing – he said he doesn’t mind it at all.

  Lacey likes to make her readers blush and experience the story as if they were the characters. Drawing on the reader’s most sensitive emotions through realistic stories satisfies her more than… …ok not really, but you get the point ;)

  She likes a pinkish shade on a woman’s cheeks, men with large feet and sexy lingerie-especially when it’s torn off the body. Her favorite piece of clothing is a birthday suit.

  If you enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review. All authors depend on the support of their readers to find an audience. Make your opinion count!

  Mailing list | Goodreads

  @laceysilks

  LaceySilksAuthor

  www.laceysilks.com

  Acknowledgments

  Yikes, I can’t believe the Perfectly Series is over. After Layers, Crossed and Cheaters, this is my fourth series. Funny thing is that it came out of nowhere and wasn’t even planned (which resulted in me writing two series at the same time) and turned out way better than I hoped.

  I am so grateful to be surrounded by so many amazing authors who offer help, knowledge and mutual support. I absolutely love the writing community and will forever be grateful to the people I met along the way.

  I consider myself one lucky lady who is able to do what I love for living and hope to do it until physically or mentally impossible (which hopefully won’t be anytime soon).

  To my readers: I love your emails and adore your excitement. There’s nothing better than knowing you’ve enjoyed my work and that it has changed your life. Keep them coming and I’ll try to answer them all.

  To anyone who took a chance on my books – thank you!

  To my family, I could not do what I love without you. Mom, your go getter attitude has rubbed off on me. Dad, your humour is infectious. Mike, “all you need is love” (thank you for doing all the chores when I can’t). Maya and Alex, you are who I live for. You are my life.

  I am grateful to my editors, beta readers
and friends for their invaluable input, critique, support and love.