While rocking his son, he looked over at his wife. She was disheveled and looked a bit tired but just as beautiful as the day he first saw her at law school. That day he’d known she was the perfect woman for him. They’d had an instant attraction, but they also had an instant rapport that was comfortable and endearing. He took great pleasure in knowing they were great friends before they’d ultimately become lovers. And he was grateful they’d reconnected when they both returned to D.C. to attend their friends’ engagement party. So much had happened since they’d become a couple. She’d opened up to him and let him support her while she recovered from the cancer. She’d fought like a champ to get better and she fought even harder to have a family with him. It could have been all the prayers, home remedies, and his mama’s fertility altar. Whatever it was, he was grateful they’d gotten their miracle.
“OK, boys. We’re going to get you fed and changed then we’re off to grandma and grandpa’s house for the family photo.”
Later when they pulled into the driveway, the family was waiting for them.
“How are the newest football players?” Seth said as they approached.
“They’re up all the time.”
“That’s just growing pains,” Tate added. “They’re excited about everything going on.”
The kids crowded around for a good look at the newest additions to their gang.
“Everyone, I’ve been telling Brady, Aiden, and Drew all about how much fun they’re going to have with their cousins.”
“Brady, Aiden, and Drew.” Jake furrowed his brow. “When you put their initials together it spells the word bad.”
Channing and Cassidy looked at each other.
“I didn’t realize that.” She blinked. “Is that some kind of sign of things to come?”
“It’s nothing. Just a coincidence.” Channing smiled.
As they got into the pose for the photographer, Channing couldn’t help but feel his heart overflow with the love he felt around him. Tyler looked content with the adorable Tucker on his lap. They’d celebrated another important milestone together. He looked over at Cassidy and smiled. She was trying to smooth the boys’ hair for the photo. He took solace in knowing they had the kind of love, passion, and friendship that came once in a lifetime. He looked forward to loving her and the kids and spoiling them rotten for the rest of their lives.
The End
~ About the Author ~
Rhonda Laurel is a contemporary interracial/multicultural romance writer whose two great loves are writing and landscape photography. She uses both as a vehicle to convey the complexity of the human spirit and the beauty of the world around her. Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and Masquerade were released in 2012. Shutter, Memories of You, Star Crossed, MVP, California Bored and Tourism and The Blake Legacy in 2013. The print anthology, The Rhonda Laurel Collection, featuring Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and Shutter released June 2013. Texas Heat, Love Notes & Football and The Perfect Storm, books 4, 5 and 6 in The Blake Boys Series released in 2014. Slow Burn, Hollywood Heat, Cowboy’s Heart, Tempting Fate, Executive Desires, Meet the Blakes, and The Final Play released in 2015. Stranded in Paradise, Slap Shot, Off Season, Worth the Wait, Double Exposure, and Leap of Faith released in 2016.
The author is happily building her backlist.
Discover more about Rhonda Laurel here
http://www.rhondalaurel.com
http://www.facebook.com/authorrhondalaurel
http://www.twitter.com/rhondalaurel
http://pinterest.com/rhondalaurel/
~ Coming Soon ~
Begin Again
~ Also by Rhonda Laurel ~
Worth the Wait
The Blake Boys Book Sixteen
Rhonda Laurel
The best things in life are worth the wait.
The minute handsome college student Wyatt Connelly laid eyes on Avery Reed at a Blake family gathering, it was love at first sight. She's smart, gorgeous, driven, and they're attending the same college in Texas. But the path to romance gets off to a rocky start when the Blake men warn him to stay away from their sweet and inexperienced niece. And to make matters worse, Tomcats quarterback Riley Sloane has been flirting shamelessly with her. Wyatt's trying his best to look out for her without crossing the line as he struggles with finding his own future career path. But watching Riley make a play for her is killing him. If Wyatt isn't careful, he might just lose the thing he wants most—the very person he's been waiting for...
Avery Reed can't figure out Wyatt Connelly. They'd grown close since attending school together, but Wyatt's sudden cold shoulder has her rethinking their relationship. The change leaves her confused and disappointed, so when quarterback Riley Sloane shows interest in her, she quickly develops a friendship with him. The sports star is fun, handsome, and successful, but she can't get her mind off a certain gorgeous, brooding college student who loves to tease her. As Avery gets ready to graduate college, she has to navigate passionate feelings and a complicated friendship headed into uncharted territory. Wyatt's certainly taking his time, but will she believe their love is worth the wait?
Buy Worth the Wait here
https://www.amazon.com/Worth-Wait-Blake-Boys-Book-ebook/dp/B01IYH8NCW/
Double Exposure
Hollywood Heat Book Three
Rhonda Laurel
A movie star. A studio mogul. The ultimate Hollywood power couple...
Hollywood is never boring, especially for the Cavanaughs. Kate is now at the head of both a movie studio and a record label, but recently it seems as though everyone is looking to either bring her down or buy her out. When she has the chance to uncover the secret behind-the-scenes world of the Hollywood power players, she jumps at the chance, hoping to gain information about recent attacks against her and Chris.
Meanwhile, Chris is looking to scale back his acting roles in order to spend more time with Kate...until he's drawn into a dangerous gambit to save an old friend. Along with Scar, his fearless bodyguard, Chris must face off against the criminals who are holding his friend for ransom. But now that he's lived the real thing, will playing an action hero on screen ever be satisfying again?
Buy Double Exposure here
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Exposure-Hollywood-Heat-Book-ebook/dp/B01KB5DIRU/
Off Season
The Blake Boys Book 15
Rhonda Laurel
Retired quarterback Seth Blake is looking forward to the next chapter of his life with Morgan and the kids on the Twelve Horseshoes ranch. But when an old family friend and owner of the Texas Tomcats asks him to have a chat with Riley Sloane, his troubled star quarterback, Seth is reluctant to get back into the game and the celebrity that comes with it. Riley is arrogant and a wildcard, yet Seth can’t help but see a little of himself in the budding superstar—even if the two of them can't stop butting heads long enough for Seth to keep his promise. Even worse, a family crisis quickly forces him to put the brakes on his future to be there for those he loves.
While Morgan Blake is happy that the family has settled into ranch living, part of her misses the hustle and bustle of her old life in Philadelphia. As she tries to get her footing again and oversee the expansion of another bookstore, an unforeseen crisis arises that threatens everything. As she struggles to deal with the changes in her life, she fears Seth will put his career plans on hold indefinitely to be there for the family. She's desperate to find a way to keep Seth from putting off a new career opportunity, even as her world begins to crumble around her...
Buy Off Season here
https://www.amazon.com/Off-Season-Blake-Boys-Book-ebook/dp/B01FN4H37U/
Slap Shot
The Blake Boys Book Fourteen
Rhonda Laurel
Sometimes the only thing harder than redemption is love...
Derek Popovich has it all. He's a hot hockey player and owns a booming restaurant, the Slap Shot, which caters to professional athletes. Unfortunately, his off-field romances are infamous in the media, an
d he's growing tired of his playboy image. But when Charisma Reed begins to work with him on his restaurant renovation, he can't help but be attracted to the beautiful, sassy woman who is strangely resistant to his charms. Everyone is warning him that she's trouble, but Derek is curious about what's beneath the hardened shell of the sexy Ms. Reed...
Charisma is having the worst luck ever. Just as she's finally escaping the notoriety of her last tumultuous relationship, she stumbles into the heated breakup between the gorgeous Derek and his ex--and the photograph that shows up in the gossip rags throws her right back into the limelight. Exactly what she wanted to avoid as she struggles to put her past behind her and grow as a person. She swore she was done with professional athletes, but the hunky hockey player with the smoldering blue eyes pushes all her right buttons. Charisma just wants to finish the renovation and get on with her life, but working so closely with Derek makes him so much harder to resist...
Buy Slap Shot here
https://www.amazon.com/Slap-Shot-Blake-Boys-Book-ebook/dp/B01D3QEJMC/
More Romance from Etopia Press
North of Forty
Chamein Canton
North of Forty is the new twenty...
Cecelia Carter, Sasha Simms, and Nadine Peterson have worked hard and gained the upper hand in work, life, and love. As curvy women in the bridal world, an industry that's more about size and image than about the actual marriage, they do their best to keep their clients focused on love, and a life well-lived beyond the "I do."
When Sasha's approached about doing a wedding reality series, she's intrigued, but she doesn't know if she can sell Cecelia on the idea. The format is supposed to focus on their bridal businesses, women’s challenges in the business world, with a little bit of their personal lives thrown in, culminating in Cecelia's own upcoming wedding. It seems innocuous enough—until the cameras start rolling. And when they catch moments they shouldn't, things begin to spin out of control—Cecelia's vindictive ex looking for a payday. Nadine's engagement hanging in the balance over a secret that could ruin her life with her new fiancé. Sasha’s boyfriend caught on camera, turning what she thought was a dream man into a heartbreaking nightmare. And Cecelia's own upcoming nuptials...
Buy North of Forty here
https://www.amazon.com/North-Forty-Chamein-Canton-ebook/dp/B018IIMQXE/
Love of a Marine
The Wounded Warrior Series Book Two
Patty Campbell
Wounded Marine veteran, Cluny McPherson, is ready to throw in the towel. Why are his PTSD nightmares worse now, more than ten years after the ambush outside Fallujah? He hates his growing feelings of hopelessness and doubts he'll ever live a normal life. He loves women and kids, and he desires a loving woman in his life, one who wants a family as much as he does. But with the nightmares getting worse, the only female he dares spend an entire night with is his loyal service dog, Queen, a war vet herself. Until one day on a California beach, he meets a beautiful Brazilian woman and her young boy and everything changes. For the first time in years, there's a chance of healing...and a chance at love.
Graciella Jefferson, SEAL widow and single mother, is wary of the man who sits for hours on the sand by the Point Dume rocks, staring at the ocean. But her nine-year-old son, Santos, is increasingly curious about the dog that wears a vest and stays next to the tall, dark-haired man in the baseball cap. When she finds out Cluny was saved in Iraq by her late husband, a friendship begins between them that quickly heats up into something much more. But Graciella has been burned before. Can she lower the walls around her heart and learn how trust again?
Buy Love of a Marine here
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Marine-Wounded-Warriors-Book-ebook/dp/B01JQKP4WI/
Flirting with Danger
Ellie Eden
When Michael goes on a photographic assignment to Brazil and fails to return, Kristi and her son fly to Rio de Janeiro, desperate to find him. Instead she finds that during the cold New Jersey winter, her husband has spent his time in steamy chat rooms with Nara, a young woman desperate for attention and involved in the Rio drug world.
As she searches for Michael in exotic but crime-ridden Rio, Kristi finds herself way out of her league. She turns to Italian-Brazilian Federal Agent Tony Lamazzo for help. As the harsh truth of her marriage brings a dose of reality to her life, she finds the temptation of getting closer to the strong, capable—and totally hot—Tony difficult to resist. She's in Brazil on the Day of Dead, a day when Brazilians go wild. Why shouldn't she go wild with Tony, for just one night, before returning home to start the new life alone she'll have to learn to make for herself?
But when her son vanishes too, Kristi doesn't know where to turn. Michael's affair with drug-dealing Nara has exposed them all to the murderous wrath of a ruthless drug lord, and while she longs to trust Tony, she can't trust his powerful and politically corrupt family. But in the dangerous slums and rainforests of Brazil, the danger mounts for both Kristi and her son, and a cold-blooded enemy has an agenda of his own. If she trusts Tony, she might save her son. Or it might just get them all killed...
Buy Flirting with Danger here
https://www.amazon.com/Flirting-Danger-Ellie-Eden-ebook/dp/B018RBXM7G/
Nowhere to Run
Jeanne Bannon
What’s a girl to do when she falls in love with the man whose mission it is to bring her down?
With the murder of her only sister, Sara, just a few months past, Lily Valier—a woman of beauty and substance—tops the sheriff’s list of suspects in small town Maine, and for a very good reason. Dear old Dad had willed his fortune to Sara and only Sara, leaving Lily to fend for herself. However, with no murder weapon or witnesses, the evidence against Lily is only circumstantial.
Enter P.I. Aiden O’Rourke, black-haired and blue-eyed, charged with gaining Lily’s trust and learning her secrets, all to finally get the goods on her. Things move fast and feelings run deep, yet when Lily discovers the truth about Aiden, everything begins to come apart.
Buy Nowhere to Run here
https://www.amazon.com/Nowhere-Run-Jeanne-Bannon-ebook/dp/B00NU9GF2K/
Table of Contents
Look for these titles from Rhonda Laurel
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
~ About the Author ~
~ Coming Soon ~
~ Also by Rhonda Laurel ~
More Romance from Etopia Press
Leap of Faith (The Blake Boys Book 17) Page 17