COWBOY ROMANCE: Justin (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 1)

by Amanda Boone

  “You’re what?”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  “Sweet Jesus, that’s why you had the puke bucket. It makes so much sense now!”

  “I’m glad you’re so excited.”

  He reached out to hug her close to him. In his arms, all her fears about the child melted away. Even the fear from the danger outside softened. With him, she knew she and her child would always be protected and loved. He kissed her tenderly, sweetly.

  “Stay here, okay?” he whispered. “Don’t come out, no matter what. Understand?”

  “I understand.”

  He kissed her forehead before rising, listening at the wall, and then slipping out. She crawled toward the bat and searched for the cat.

  “Tess,” she whispered. “Tessy darling.”

  She heard no response.

  “Tess?”

  Nothing.

  “Tess!” she tried to hiss as loudly as she could.

  A small “meow” came from the loveseat. Isadora kept crawling on her hands and knees until she touched the soft sofa fabric. The cat emerged from under the couch and rubbed against her human. The human took her into her arms and listened to the intruders’ voices move down the hall.

  One of them yelled in surprise, and gunshots erupted through the house. Tess didn’t jump this time; rather, she allowed Isadora to clutch her closer.

  Chapter 7

  “Doran fought valiantly,” Isadora said to Fiona softly as she laid on a picnic blanket in the sun. “The house went completely silent, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, I guess. It’s all over.’”

  Fiona watched ducks float along the pond water. “It sounds frightening.”

  “Tess was curled up in my arms – the two of us the lone survivors.”

  “Uh huh. I am totally listening to this.”

  “And then he burst into the room like some kind of action hero. It was like he was Ben Affleck from Armageddon.”

  “God, that movie sucks.”

  “It does suck. Anyway, it turned out the hitmen that came to our house were the same ones that killed the Rosellis. They were actually just supposed to scare them, but they accidentally killed the hostess, and then had to kill them all.”

  “I definitely haven’t heard this story a hundred times.”

  “They actually started offing other mafia members to make it look like Doran had done it. It was all a conspiracy because they knew what he’d done in Europe.”

  “Right. I didn’t write a whole article about this and win an award or anything.”

  Isadora smiled, “Every time I tell that, it takes you a little longer to tell me to stop.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes. “You’re evil.”

  “Izzy, Gaea is hungry, I think,” Doran appeared with a baby in his arms. “She humored me, but I think she wants her mom.”

  “I was telling a story,” Isadora snapped playfully.

  “I’m sure it was fascinating, my love,” he smirked. “Your child wants you though.”

  She rose and held out her hands. Doran kneeled down to kiss her before placing the baby in her hands. She reached for the cooler near her and pulled out a bottle.

  “Thank you for saving me, Doran,” Fiona grinned. “You really are Ben Affleck from Armageddon.”

  “I don’t know what that means, but okay.”

  “Doran, come over here and help me with the barbeque,” Mario called from a short distance away.

  The small park grill smoked more than seemed normal. Angela threw up her hands and stomped off to sit next to the other girls on the picnic blanket. Doran held back his laughter and jogged to help.

  “I don’t think Dad can be trusted over there,” Isadora said as the baby finished her bottle. “Can you take Gaea?”

  Angela smiled wide and held out her hands, “I would love to take her.”

  Isadora laughed and gently handed her baby over. She moved to grill and tapped her father out. He happily abandoned his failed pursuit to sit with his wife and the now sunbathing Fiona.

  “Hello, stranger,” Doran smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist. “It looks like it’s up to you and me to feed the masses.”

  “I think we are up for the challenge,” she smiled back. “Can you believe it’s been a year since you got back from overseas?”

  “No, I can’t. I can still taste the coffee grounds now.”

  “It adds nutrients.”

  He smiled, “You know, when I was on the plane coming back, I tried to imagine what you’d look like after all that time. Then when you approached, I realized you were better than any of my fantasies.”

  “And then you drank the coffee, and realized maybe the fantasies were better.”

  “No, I realized I’d always have to stay on my toes,” he laughed. “And that made me want you even more.”

  “I love you, Doran.”

  “I love you too, Izzy.”

  In the heat of the day, he stepped forward and kissed her. The year before, she only dreamt of having Doran so close and felt frozen with the promise of his love. Now, she felt warmed and sustained by it. Her life had completely changed thanks to the boy she once despised.

  The sun sparkled against the pond, reflecting their shadows across the park grass. Their shadows held each other, converging into the other to appear as one single being. For the first time, Isadora no longer longed for the past – instead, she excitedly embraced the future.

  THE END

  SEALed by my Stepbrother

  A Military Romance

  Chapter 1

  Ana thought of Dante when she was alone at night and when she looked over at their daughter sleeping next to her. She was five now, which made him gone for almost six years. They had cut ties before he had left to join the Navy. He didn’t want anything holding him back to the small town that he came from. Ana had agreed, agreeing to anything to make him happy. She loved him more than life, but she knew that he had to go, never being happy in a place as small as Orson. It was too small for him and so was she, as a small town girl.

  But it had not ended the way she had thought it would. She had been pregnant, but with his real feelings clear, she never called him. Ana figured that Dante didn’t want to know, so she quit school her senior year and got a job to support them both. She got a lot of help from her mother and then, her mother’s new boyfriend the last couple of years, had stepped in, in some capacity for a male role model. Even after a couple of years of them dating, she didn’t know too much about Jeffrey’s other family. She knew he had some older kids, one about her age that was in the military. It never occurred to her that it might be Dante he was talking about. How could she have known? Things like that don’t happen for no reason.

  It was when she saw a photo he flashed from his wallet. It was a picture of Dante his last year of high school. He was a year older than her and had graduated the year before. Her heart raced and she held her daughter, their daughter closer to his chest. “I can’t wait for you to meet him Ana. I think you guys will get along good. Don’t you remember him from school?”

  “Yea, but he was older, so it was just in passing. I think everyone made comments that he should’ve tried to keep going in football.”

  “Yes, yes, well after what happened to his mother, there was an anger in him that had to be run through. He is only home for a time, but it has been six long years since I’ve seen him in Orson and I hope I can talk him into staying a little longer. He is only supposed to be home for a couple of weeks. It is just not enough time after so long away.”

  She couldn’t agree more, but Ana was more nervous to see him again after all those years. Their parents were getting married the next weekend, just to make it all more unseemly and to make it seem as bad as it really was. He didn’t know of course, she was sure of it. Dante hadn’t been bothered to come home in many years and he had long since forgotten about the girl down the block that he used to fool around with. If only she had been granted the same reprieve to forget about him, maybe she
could have moved on in the last few years. Instead, Ana was reminded of him on a daily basis.

  “Are you okay dear? You have been really quiet this evening.”

  Ana shook her head. “Yeah, I guess I am just tired is all. I have to run to Mary’s for some studying.” Ana started to get up and her mother frowned.

  “Well I thought you were going to meet Dante dear?”

  “I will be back later mom. Really, we will have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

  “Okay. I just want everyone to get along.”

  Ana took her daughter’s waiting hand and headed over to her friend’s house. She really didn’t need to study, but she had to get away from all of them. Ana had one last semester in school and she would graduate with her Bachelors. When she dropped out of high school, she thought she would never get to go back, but she found a way and now was almost to the end of the tunnel. Ana knew then that no matter what, she would be able to take care of her daughter. She had no illusions that she would have any help, so her plans were for her to do it all alone.

  And she was fine with that, she really was, but the idea of having to be around Dante, left her questioning everything. No one knows who the father of Christine was and Ana didn’t know if she should even say anything to him. If Christine didn’t have the same dark eyes and hair as her father, no one would ever guess. Would he notice that her eyes were the same as the ones he saw in the mirror every morning? Should she say something or just let it go and be however it is going to be?

  “Where are we going mommy?”

  “We are going to see Mary and Ashlea baby.”

  “Yay.”

  She fastened her into her seat and Ana started towards her friend’s house on the other side of town. Mary was actually the only person in Orson that knew who Christine’s father was. She was the only person in the world that she trusted to not say anything. She had to tell her the news that she had heard. Dante was going to be back in town that night. It wasn’t just his daughter that he had left, he had left her dying inside and she wasn’t sure if she could stand to be around him again. All the pain of when he left came back three-fold.

  They pulled up to the small clapboard house and Christine was out of the car before she could stop her. She was at the door banging before she got her purse out. “I wish I had that kind of energy” She thought to herself.

  Mary let her in and she bounded to her daughter’s room. The girls were almost the same age and they even had the same teacher in school, fast friends that were never apart for more than a few hours. It was heartwarming to see their kids playing, as they had when they were girls.

  “So I got your text, what’s up? You said you had some big news?”

  Ana shook her head and took a sip of the coffee her friend had waiting for her. “So guess who is back in town?”

  The blonde-woman shrugged, her short curls bouncing with her uncertainty. “You know I hate that game.”

  “And you know I love it. Just give it a shot.”

  “I don’t know, Billy?”

  Ana sighed. “I forgot how much you suck at it. You ruin it every time.”

  “Jeez, this better be good cranky ass.”

  “I have a right, I swear.”

  “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  “Dante is back in town.”

  “What? How do you know?” Mary sat up in her chair and her eyes widened.

  “Because I am supposed to meet him before the wedding.”

  “What, why? This doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Well Jeffrey is his dad. When we were dating his parent’s had split up and Jeffrey had moved out of the state. Well when his mom got remarried, he moved back, met mom and the rest is history.”

  Mary was on the edge of her seat. It was enough drama to keep the masses entertained and she was there in the front row. If only there was popcorn, she thought to herself. “Okay so Christine’s dad is back in town and will soon be your stepbrother?”

  “Don’t laugh. It is not funny.”

  “I know, but Ana come on. You can either laugh or cry about this. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up.”

  “Yeah I know. Such an excitement in my life.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  Ana shrugged. “I don’t know. He has changed I hear. Jeffrey says he barely recognized him last time he went to D.C. to visit him. What if he doesn’t remember me?”

  “Is that what you are worried about? You guys dated for almost a year. I think he will remember you. I was talking more about Christine. But, I like where your mind is going.”

  Ana sighed. “This is a damn mess and I don’t know how to fix it. I can’t tell him or anyone else. He is only supposed to be here for a couple of weeks and then he will be back living his life and won’t even think of me. Just like last time.

  ***

  Chapter 2

  Dante did think of his high school sweetheart from time to time. He was her first and he still remembered her face when he had told her that he was leaving and not coming back. She was the only thing he regretted, but even as he drove back to the familiar place that had seemed a cage in his youth, his mind went back to Ana. He wondered if she was still around, figuring that she had moved on. She was probably married with kids, he thought to himself.

  He was home because he had to be. His father was getting married to a girl from Orson and the wedding was that weekend. He had a few stepsiblings he was supposed to meet and though it didn’t matter what he thought of the new family, Jeffrey had asked him to come. His father didn’t ask for much, so he figured he had to do at least that one thing for him. Dante would be his best man and though it was far different then what he did nowadays, it was nice to be back as a civilian.

  Dante had gone into the Navy with his heart set on the SEALS program. He wanted to be the best and he knew that if he could become a SEAL, he would be able to help more people. His mother had been victim of a deadly mugging in the city and he knew that part of him leaving was to run away from that. In the military he could hide his feelings of what happened, as well as position himself to help others or stop similar things from happening. He got to get the really bad guys as a job and Dante couldn’t think of anything better than that. It had been a win-win in his eyes, except for the girl he had left behind, her sad blue eyes haunting him for the past six years. She was the stick that others were measured from and none of the women he had dated ever measured up.

  Pulling up to the old house that his parents had fought over and his father had finally received in the divorce, Dante realized he was slightly nervous. He hadn’t seen his dad in over a year and he knew that meeting his new fiancée was important to him. They were actually getting married. It made him think of his own love life or the lack there of. If his old man could find his love in his late forties, Dante figured it was about time for him to find his own lady to love. Ana. Why did she keep going through his mind? It surely must be because he was back home and so many things reminded him of her.

  Jeffrey was at the door, opening it as he got out of the car. He smiled big and moved down the stairs to give him a hug. Dante was still in uniform and it impressed his dad. Jeffrey beamed with pride, proud of what his son had accomplished. It was not every day that he got to see him, so it was several minutes before he let him go in the house. The questions started as a barrage and he even forgot to introduce him to his fiancée.

  Dante took the offered hand of the fair-complexioned woman that was standing in front of him. Her eyes were dark blue, the same as the one he was thinking of. He wondered if it was a sign that he was supposed to find out what had happened to Ana. Ana was a little darker, but she had the same eyes and the same features. Clenching his jaw, he told her he was happy to finally meet her, the one that had changed his father along so drastically.

  “It’s nice to meet you Dante. You have certainly grown since the picture was taken that Jeffrey showed me. You are quite huge!”

  He chuckled. The training
made him grow out every muscle he had and then some. When he had left he was not scrawny, but his muscles had been wirier, whereas now he was bulky. Jeffrey sent his to-be wife a look. She was practically fawning over him.

  The threesome went into the kitchen and they all got something to drink. “We are planning to go out to The Village Inn that you liked so much, but we are waiting on Carol’s daughter.” He turned to Carol. “Sweetie, why don’t you call Ana and see when she is going to be here?”

  “Ana?”

  “Yeah, you guys used to go to school together. She and Christine will be here in a bit.”

  “Is Christine your other daughter?” His throat was dry, but he hoped that she was. Then it would not be the Ana she was thinking about. Surely her daughter wasn’t his Ana. Or was his Ana.

  “No, that is her daughter, my grandchild. I know I don’t look old enough to be one, but Ana insisted on starting early.”

  There was a moment of silence and the older woman went into the other room to make the call. Dante waited until she was out of ear shot and leaned in. “What is her last name?”

  “Ross.”

  The color drained from his face and he realized then that he was going to get to see his old flame, a lot sooner than he had expected. Guns, grenades and bombs didn’t bother him, but the very idea of seeing Ana again, made his heart lurch in his chest like it wanted to escape. He was not ready to see her, but then the front door opened and a small little girl with dark brown curls ran into the kitchen and gave Carol a big hug.

  The little girl named Christine, turned around and stared at him for a minute. Her dark brown reflected his own consternation. “Who are you?”

  ***

  Chapter 3

  “Now Christine, don’t be rude. Why don’t you introduce yourself first sweetie?”

  “How do you do? My name is Christine Ross. What is your name?”