Sideswiping Mr. Lane: Fielding-Stone Gallery Book One
Page 4
Callie bites her lip and stares at the wall for a moment before she looks at her companion for his opinion, but he just shrugs. She finally sighs and says, "Okay, but if you hurt my little sister again, I will personally cut off your dick." I wince and follow them to the elevators. While we walk to their suite, Callie introduces me to Thane Quinlan, her boss's son.
When we walk into the suite, Cassie is sitting on the sofa, sobbing softly. The other two quietly leave the room, and my heart breaks from the pitiful sight. After walking over and dropping down in front of her, I take her hands in mine. She tries to pull her hands out of my grasp, but I hold firmly.
"Baby, you need to listen to me. You misunderstood everything you heard at my office. I was telling Miranda that her baby would be loved after her fiancé broke up with her, not that I love her baby. That baby has nothing to do with me." I place my finger on Cassie's lips when she tries to interrupt me. "Miranda isn't my fiancée. She lied to you because she thought you were robbing my apartment. I don't have an explanation for why she would do something so idiotic, but you are my only fiancée."
After I finish my explanation, Cassie pushes me back so she can stand and walk away to stare out the window. "How can it all be so messed up?"
Her shoulders continue to shake from the sobs, and I walk over and wrap my arms around her. She stiffens up for a few seconds then slowly relaxes into my arms. "This is nothing that can't be fixed. Look at me."
When she turns and lifts her tear-stained eyes up to mine, I smile and tell her, "I love you so much. I refuse to let all this other shit interfere with our life together." I pull the ring from my pocket and slip it on her finger. When she looks down at it, the tears start again, but this time a small smile is gracing her lips.
After claiming her pouty lips to remind her who she belongs to, I lead her to the bedroom to reacquaint myself with her beautiful body. Two days without my love is way too long.
The next morning, we are leaving for Las Vegas. I'm tying her to me immediately. Callie convinces Orion Quinlan, her boss, to give her a couple of days off to attend the wedding. The relationship between Callie, Thane, and Orion still baffles me, but Thane is coming to Las Vegas with us. Orion is even allowing us to use his private plane.
Before we leave Europe, I call home and get things resolved. To preserve Cassie's feelings and to attempt to be fair, I have Jared transfer Miranda to another branch with an extensive relocation package. Jared is frantically searching for a new secretary to replace Miranda, but I'm too caught up in wedding details to worry about the problems at my office.
After calling Jeremy and asking him to be my best man, I have to listen to him bitch about the short notice and the horrors of finding someone to cover him at J&A Grille, but he manages to arrange everything and get a flight. When we arrive in Las Vegas, he is waiting for us at the hotel. He even manages to distract me until it's time for the ceremony.
Callie whisks Cassie away a couple of hours before the ceremony to get ready, and I miss her the entire time. I'm not nervous about the marriage, but I fear letting my girl out of my sight. After nearly losing her, it will take quite a while before I recover from the trauma of the situation. When the time comes for her to appear at the end of the aisle, my palms are sweaty, and my heart feels like it’s about to beat out of my chest. The sight of her nearly brings me to my knees, and I thank God that I managed to find her and convince her to marry me.
When she gets to my side, she leans over and whispers in my ear, "Looks like I can start calling you Big Daddy." My eyes widen, and the room gets fuzzy. Holy Shit. Does she mean what I think she means? Cassie takes my hand and places it on her flat stomach, and happiness flows through me. The rest of the ceremony passes without me realizing. All I can picture is blonde little girls with big cornflower blue eyes. The night my car was sideswiped at Fielding-Stone Gallery was the luckiest night of my life.
Epilogue
Big Daddy
I pictured blonde-haired, blue-eyed twins, and I got my wish. Boy did I ever. My two sons come running by, chasing the dog, and I shake my head. "Boys, it's almost time to take baths."
Identical expressions of horror cross their five-year-old faces, and I have to cough to cover my laugh. Cassie will kill me if she returns home from Callie's and the boys are still up. Every Tuesday night, the sisters have a girl's night with the friends they met at the Saturday morning painting class all those years ago. And every Tuesday night, I fight to get Evan and Reece to take a bath and go to bed without their mother around.
"But, Dad…" Reece begins, but I cut him off and point at the door.
"Inside, let's get this over with." Even the dog pouts as we walk into the house. Our bedtime routine takes over an hour, and by the time the boys and the dog are down for the night, it's well after dark. After pouring myself a drink, I sit in the living room of our home and wait for my wife to come through the door.
When we realized Cassie was carrying twins, we put the penthouse on the market and found the perfect house, which happens to be located halfway between my office and Callie's place. The sound of the garage door opening catches my attention, and I meet my wife in the kitchen.
"Hey, did the boys give you any trouble?" She walks over and kisses me lightly on the lips.
"No more than usual. I've found a way to handle the two of them." I grab her by the back of the head and kiss her until she is sagging against me. I lift my head and place my forehead against hers as I smirk down at her.
"I wonder how you are going to handle three or even four?" She smirks right back.
The fuzzy, room-spinning feeling comes over me again, and I step back and sit on the nearest barstool. "Am I going to have to take care of three or four?" I manage to croak out.
"In seven months, you are." She smiles, and my heart soars. I grab her and spin her around.
"Fuck, yes! You keep sideswiping me every time I turn around, Mrs. Lane." I laugh before I grab her hand to drag her upstairs.
"That's my job, sideswiping Mr. Lane."
Thank you so much for reading Sideswiping Mr. Lane. I hope you enjoyed this book and will consider leaving a review.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed the first book in the Fielding-Stone Gallery Series. I will be releasing two more books in the series in the coming weeks.
I also have a few standalone stories and the fourth book in the Ryan Family Series coming soon.
About the Author
Loni Ree is an emerging author of Contemporary Romance. She plans on releasing several books in the upcoming months that will be available on Amazon.
Loni Ree is a very busy mom of six who loves to read, and she finds that it helps her escape the chaos of everyday life. She likes quick reads that are red-hot and on the excessive side. Writing has also been a passion of hers, and Loni decided to share the stories floating around in her mind. Her short, steamy stories are a little over the top because she believes reading should be an escape from real life. She writes steamy romance that turns Alphaholes into pussycats, and her books always have a happily ever after, guaranteed!
Website: lonireeromance.com
https://linktr.ee/loniree19
I’d love to hear from you! You may write me at:
5636 Telegraph Road
#510362
St. Louis, MO 63151
Also by Loni Ree
Lukas’ Angel (Ryan Family Book 1)
Blake’s Bombshell (Ryan Family Book 2)
Drew’s Undoing (Ryan Family Book 3)
The Merger: The Ryan Family Books One-Three
Aiden’s Second Chance (Ryan Family Book 4) Coming this Fall
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