by KB Winters
Finn shrugged. “Well, then I’ll do that too.”
“Really?”
“Why not? Peanut can come with us and play with all his friends.”
I marveled up at him. “You’re amazing.”
Finn’s grin turned wicked. “I seem to recall you’ve already told me that once today…”
My skin warmed and I squirmed against him. “You know, maybe I’ll make you the repair man around the shelter. You can wear a tool belt and really tight jeans…”
Finn laughed. “Tool belt, yes. Tight jeans…I might need a little convincing.”
I slipped a hand under the sheet and slid down his flat, sectioned abs until I grazed him with my fingertips. “I think I can find a way to make you see it my way. After all…my office might need a light bulb or two replaced and if my panties happen to come off while you’re working…”
Finn groaned and his eyes slid shut as I stroked his already hard cock. “You’re killing me, woman.”
I laughed and nipped at his ear. “You better build up some endurance, ’cause I plan on torturing you like this for a very, very long time.”
His eyes popped open, sparkling with mischief. “Mmmm, I can assure you, I have all the endurance you’ll ever need.”
To prove his point, he rolled, pressing me flat against the bed and hovered his impressive body over me. My fingers slid down to cup his balls and I smiled up at him as his expression shifted and he clenched his teeth. “If you start that, I’m not gonna be held responsible for what happens next…”
I teased him again. “Oh yeah?”
His eyes lit with fire as he slid deep inside me. I lifted my hips to meet his, surrendering to the pleasure he delivered with each stroke. Every sense was already heightened from the steamy session in the shower and we both built to a quick, intense release.
“How long is a very long time?” he asked once we’d crashed back to the bed, coated with sweat, and breathless.
“What?”
He rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow, his chest still heaving as he caught his breath. “You said you were planning to torture me for a very long time. I’m wondering what I’m in for here.”
I laughed. “As long as you want.”
“Good answer.” He leaned closer and captured my still-swollen lips. “How does forever sound?”
Flutters swirled through my stomach as I met his eyes. “You know, that actually sounds pretty damn perfect.”
****
“Can you tell me now?”
Finn chuckled. “Not yet.”
“Ugh.”
“Patience, baby.”
I flailed out in an attempt to smack him but only found air. We’d been driving for twenty minutes and Finn insisted that I wear a blindfold the whole way. It was driving me insane not knowing where we were going or why and my curiosity was verging at the boiling over point.
“Easy there, tiger. We’re almost there.”
“You said that five minutes ago.”
“Correction, that was three minutes ago.” I opened my mouth to argue and he added, “Hey, which one of us can see the clock?”
“You know I don’t like surprises.”
“Why do you think I’m doing this?” he asked with a chuckle.
I frowned. “Guess that means the honeymoon phase is over…”
He just laughed some more and then turned on the radio.
A few minutes later, the truck came to a stop and he killed the engine. I didn’t wait for permission before ripping off the blindfold. Finn growled at my impatience but didn’t say anything as I scanned my new surroundings. The pieces all connected and my heart sank. Why on earth did he bring me here? Of all the places…
A large park spanned in front of me, a wetlands preserve with a walking path cut around and through it. Large, mature trees provided a soothing canopy and lush gardens lined the paved trail. I’d been there dozens of times before. All of them with Finn. And if it weren’t for one particular occasion, I would have happily accepted the trip down memory lane.
But…
“Come on,” Finn said, not leaving me space to voice my question.
He jumped out of the truck and came around to open my door since I was still paralyzed in the passenger seat. He reached for my hand and helped me from the truck. “Let me explain…” he started, leading me through the small parking lot to the beginning of the walking path. “I know that the last time we were here, it was under completely different circumstances.”
I scoffed. “Yeah. Not exactly something I needed to remember in such detail…”
“I know. But hear me out.”
I drew in a deep breath, trying to steel my racing heart. “All right.”
Everything was so familiar, it was even the same time of year, those handful of weeks where summer turned over to fall. The trees were green and vibrant and most of the flowers were still in bloom. It was beautiful, but haunted and the farther we walked, the more anxious I felt. Finn and I had been together for close to six months and by all accounts, things were damn near perfect. He spent every weekend in Atlanta with me and I surprised him a couple times a month with a spontaneous weekday visit to his place. He helped me out at the shelter and I kept him company at work. We’d found a comfortable groove and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so light and free.
Finn stopped at a park bench and as I watched him standing against the backdrop of the setting sun and the park, my mind ran wild. “What’s going on, Finn? Why are we here?”
He held tightly to my hand. “As you know, this was our place. We made so many wonderful memories here. I can come here and it’s like opening some kind of time capsule of us. Unfortunately, that also includes the worst memory—The day I ended things.”
I glanced down at my shoes. It wasn’t something I wanted to dwell on. I’d done enough of that. However, the fear of having the bottom fall out was still a whisper in the back of my mind, and being in the exact same place that it’d happened before was doing nothing to calm my nerves.
“I figured if I asked you to come here, you’d say no, but I wanted to bring you here for a specific purpose.”
I nodded. “Okay?”
“Three and a half, hell, almost four years ago, we sat here on this very bench, talking about my deployment and what it would mean and I blurted out the stupidest shit I’ve ever said. By some kind of miracle, we’ve managed to move past all that, and I’ll be forever grateful that you gave me this chance. So, in an attempt to right this one final wrong, I want to reclaim this park as ours. And I can think of no better memory to give this place than this one…”
Still holding my hand, Finn dropped to one knee in front of me in the soft mulch. I gasped, instantly crying, as he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small, Tiffany blue box. With the flick of his thumb, the box opened and revealed a stunning diamond ring. “Alyssa Monroe Archer, please say yes, and officially make me the luckiest man in the world. Marry me?”
“Yes!” I reached for him and he stood up and gathered me into his arms. “You might be three and a half years late, but damn, Finn. No one can say you don’t have style. I can’t believe you went to Tiffany’s without me!”
“That’s the most shocking thing here?” He laughed into my hair. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
We pulled apart long enough for him to slide the beautiful solitaire onto my finger and we marveled together at the flecks of sunset dancing in the facets. “It’s beautiful, Finn.”
“Beautiful ring for a beautiful girl.”
I smiled at him. “A beautiful forever…”
Epilogue
Growing up, the holiday season was something that always felt like standing in front of a store window, peering in at things I could never possibly have, but wanting them all the same. For the majority of my childhood, my mom’s drinking only got worse and things tended to spiral out of control in the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving and Ch
ristmas. Those dark days were far behind my family, but going home for Thanksgiving was always an uncomfortable prospect and dredged up memories I’d rather leave buried. Two years back, when Miles invited me to Thanksgiving, I’d accepted, mostly out of courtesy but now, with Alyssa at my side, it was more like going home.
An incredibly loud, chaotic, overwhelming family. The group had grown even since the year before by two new little additions. As Alyssa and I entered the room, I smiled at the large gathering of my friends and adopted family.
Colton and Karena were seated on the couches in the front lobby of the Open Road Garage, chatting with Becca and her husband, Jason. Rose, a vibrant four-year-old, was sitting on the floor, playing with her new baby brother, Klein. Becca had a bundle in her arms. How a six-week old baby could sleep through the deafening noise in the room was beyond me. Colton had recently been promoted to major, making the day something of a dual-purpose event.
Lucas and his entire brood consisting of his wife Isla, his younger siblings, and Isla’s daughter, Lily, were sitting around one of the oval shaped tables, playing some kind of board game. Isla stood at Lucas’ side, their six-month old daughter Laurel on her hip. They flew in from Washington just for Thanksgiving and were the main reason the festivities were held at the garage instead of someone’s house.
Last, but certainly not least, the host and hostess of the feast: Miles and Penny. They weren’t on the baby train just yet, but had plenty of good news to celebrate as Penny had just completed work on her third photography book after winning awards on her second book just months before.
Everyone was doing damn well for themselves.
But even among the abundance of joy in the room, I knew the truth—I was the luckiest bastard in the room.
I smiled over at Alyssa. “Welcome to the party.”
She smiled and took my hand. “Thanks.”
Miles and Penny had arranged for the entire event to be catered and the wave of savory scents from the plated food mingled with the rich pine tree scent from the three Christmas trees Miles had brought in and decorated, went a long way toward covering the usual smell of grease and gasoline.
Penny raced over to greet us and took our coats. She might come from one of the wealthiest families on the Upper East Side but she didn’t act it, not for a minute.
“It’s so beautiful,” Alyssa told Penny.
“Yeah, you guys killed it,” I added, wrapping an arm around Alyssa once Penny had her coat.
Penny smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Come in, come in, we’ll introduce Alyssa to Lucas and Isla since they haven’t met. I’m pretty sure you know everyone else here. And Finn, of course you know everyone from last year.”
Penny made the introductions and we mingled through the space to say hello and catch up with everyone. When dinner was served, Miles took the spot at the head of the table, the official master of the feast. Food was dished out to everyone and loud, indiscernible chatter filled the room as new conversations began.
Karena stopped at our corner of the table, each hand wrapped around a bottle of wine. “Red or white for you, Alyssa?”
Alyssa smiled over at me. “Well, actually, I think I’ll have to pass.”
All eyes swiveled to Alyssa as she placed her hand over her wine glass. Isla and Karena exchanged a smile.
I reclined back, drinking it all in. “Should we tell them?” I asked, draping an arm over Alyssa’s shoulders.
Alyssa, beaming at the members gathered around the table, nodded. “Baby Clarke is going to be set to make his or her arrival in June.”
An eruption of squeals.
“Does this mean there’s gonna be a wedding?” Karena asked, her eyes wide.
Miles laughed. “Yeah, of the shotgun variety.”
Penny and I both elbowed him at once.
Alyssa, unfazed, smiled over at me. “Should we tell them that part, too?”
“I suppose.”
Alyssa returned her smile to the rest of the group gathered. “We actually already made things official. When we were in Hawaii last week.” She held out her hand and showed off the sparkling band of diamonds nestled beside her engagement ring. “We didn’t want anyone to feel left out but we decided something private and intimate would be the best option for us.”
Another round of gasps and cheers echoed through the room. Penny jumped up and ran to the other room. She returned with bottles of champagne. “This deserves a toast! Someone pour Alyssa a sparkling cider!”
Drinks were handed out and Penny remained standing to make the toast. “Congratulations to the bride and groom, Alyssa and Finn!”
Everyone echoed the sentiment. “Congratulations!”
“Oh!” Penny raised her glass again, stopping short of taking her first sip. “And Alyssa, I officially welcome you to the Army Wives club and pass the baton to you, our newest member!”
Karena looked around. “Bummer. We don’t have some poor, young single dude to scare this year.”
Becca laughed. “I’m sure you can hunt one down for next year.”
Karena nodded. “It is kind of part of the tradition now.”
I smiled at Alyssa. “See what I had to put up with before you came along?”
“So, that’s why you put a ring on it, huh?”
“Among about a million other reasons.” I kissed her cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving, Mrs. Clarke.”
THE END
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Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for making my books a s
uccess! I appreciate all of you! Come chat with us in our FB Group, Bitches, Babes and Bad Decisions! We’d love to hear from you!
Thanks to all of my beta readers, street teamers, ARC readers and Facebook fans. Y’all are THE BEST!
And a huge very special thanks to Jessie! I’m such a *hot mess, but without your keen sense of organization and skills, I’d be a burny fiery inferno of hot mess!! Thank you!
And a very special thanks to my editors (who sometimes have to work all through the night! *See HOT MESS above!) Thank you for making my words make sense.
Copyright © 2017 KB Winters and BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
About The Author
KB Winters is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author of steamy hot books about Bikers, Billionaires, Bad Boys and Badass Military Men. Just the way you like them. She has an addiction to caffeine, tattoos and hard-bodied alpha males. The men in her books are very sexy, protective and sometimes bossy, her ladies are...well...bossier!
Living in sunny Southern California, with her amazing man, her kids and the fur babies, this embarrassingly hopeless romantic writes every chance she gets!
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