Lawson: Cerberus 2.0 Book 1

by Marie James

  “Stop.” Her eyes dart to the front of the vehicle before turning her fiery blue gaze back to me. “We haven’t told them yet.”

  Rob twists the knob on the radio and turns the volume down. “What was that, sweetheart?”

  I chuckle finding Dad’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

  “N-nothing, Pop.”

  Rob insists on taking our suitcases upstairs the second we make it through the front door, and my fingers itch to guide Delilah to the dining room with my hand on the small of her back. Knowing she’ll freak out is the only reason why I don’t.

  The last three months have been the most blissful time of my life. Sure we fight and argue, but I can always pull her back before she storms off. We don’t say things in anger or bring up our past. We left all of that on the floor of my bedroom the night she told me she loved me the first time.

  “Smells great in here,” I say to the room, but my words ghost over Delilah’s back and I revel in the sight of goosebumps crawling up her back.

  She steps away as if I swatted her on the ass.

  “I’ve missed you,” she tells Samson as she wraps her arms around his neck.

  He gives me a quick nod before spinning her around. It’s not the evil eye, so it seems like progress. When he releases her, he shakes my hand and pulls me into a back-slapping hug, I wonder what Dad used to bribe him with. Samson has never been my biggest fan, so the olive branch is a little weird.

  “How was the trip?” he asks when we separate.

  “Good,” Delilah answers giving us a wide berth. I hate the distance between us right now, but I know how seriously freaked out she is about informing them of our relationship.

  I spend the next couple of hours talking with the guys while Delilah, Rob, and Dad take turns baking, mixing, and preparing things for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

  I love spending time with them, but exhaustion hits me hard in the chest and my night isn’t even close to being over. I tell everyone good night while Delilah is in the pantry searching for a lost can of sweet potatoes. She’s made a plan, one we discussed ad nauseam about how we will go about the next four days.

  One of us is to go upstairs while the other waits an acceptable amount of time, then the other can go up. At first, she insisted we just sleep separate, but after a three-hour session where I toyed with her but didn’t let her come, she agreed to let me join her after she was sure everyone else was asleep. That’s not happening either.

  The wait is miserable, thirty minutes of lying in her bed waiting for her to join me.

  “You can’t be in here,” she hisses but closes her door quietly. “Damnit.”

  She cusses when she damn near trips over my suitcase.

  “Why did you bring your luggage in here?”

  She’s still standing in the middle of the room, petulant fists on her slim hips.

  “I didn’t bring them in here.” Her arms fall. “Rob did.”

  She hisses, but remembers herself. After looking over her shoulder, she closes the distance between us.

  “They know?”

  “Do you think we could hide it from them if they didn’t?”

  “I’m an open book.”

  “You are, baby.”

  Her bright white teeth scrape over her bottom lip as she reaches for me, and the rule she’d made me swear to chooses this moment to infiltrate my brain.

  “You can hold me at night, but we can’t have sex.”

  “Keep looking at me like that, Princess and I’m going to break my promise.”

  “The last time we were in here together,” she begins, and my blood runs cold.

  I have no idea what being back here is making her feel, but I pray we’ve made enough progress that we can work through her feelings quickly.

  I groan when her hand runs over my cock. He’s been behaving but gets her message loud and clear as he thickens for her on contact.

  “The last time we were together here, I started something I didn’t finish.”

  I’m breathless by the time she drops to her knees and molten lava when she unzips my jeans and pulls my cock free.

  It’s my turn for my teeth to sink into my lower lip, and when I look down at her, I see a different expression on her face than I did back then. Tonight, the softness of her features are combined with more love than anyone has ever offered me.

  “Baby, you don’t have to.” In fact, she never has before, and I’m not asshole enough to even raise the subject around her.

  “I want to.” I wobble as her tongue snakes out and swipes the dew from the tip.

  “Fuck,” I moan as she widens her jaw, cheeks hollowing as she sucks rhythmically on the tip.

  She smiles, lips pulling away revealing the slight contrast of my deeper pink tinted cock on her perfectly pink tongue.

  “Say it,” she urges me.

  “I love you.” My hand trembles as it cups the delicate curve of her jaw.

  “Not that.”

  “No.” With resolute surety, I shake my head and try to take a step back. She clings to my thighs with both of her hands preventing my retreat.

  “Say it,” she repeats.

  “Baby, I can’t. I won’t.”

  “Please?” Begging isn’t something she often does, so I’m well aware of how serious this situation is. “Say it.”

  She must see the resolve to please her in my eyes because her mouth goes to work on my cock, sucking, stroking, and teasing her fingers over my tight sac.

  “I told you, you’d have those pretty pink lips wrapped around my cock.”

  Brightness fills her eyes at the same moment I fill her mouth.

  “Goddammit,” I groan when she sucks me through my release. “Stop.”

  The sensation of her tongue licking the tip sends bolts of electricity up my spine.

  She smacks her lips, grin never faltering as she stands. I accept her mouth against mine and hiss when her tongue, heady with the taste of me, slides against my own.

  “I bet I can still make you come with one finger.”

  Her pants become my own as she pushes against my chest until I’m flat on my back on her childhood bed.

  “Add in that talented tongue of yours, and you have a deal.”

  “Be quiet, baby,” I warn when I grip her hips and position her over my face.

  A minute is all it takes with my tongue, my finger, and the grinding of her hips. She, in fact, doesn’t stay quiet as she comes down my throat with a roar.

  “Do you think they heard us?” Even in the soft light of the moon, I can see the pink tint to her cheeks, there, I’m certain, from both her orgasm and the embarrassment of being heard by her family.

  I chuckle as I slide off the bed and dig in my suitcase.

  “Answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.”

  She rolls over to her side, unconcerned about the exposure of her breasts and the shadow at the apex of her thighs that is hiding the luxury between her legs.

  “And what is your question?”

  I hit my knees on the edge of her bed. With the odds in my favor, the moon hits the diamond in the ring at just the right moment.

  “Lawson?”

  “Put me out of my misery and marry me?”

  “But Dad—”

  I press my fingers against her lips.

  “Your Dad accepted my love for you long before you did, baby.”

  “You asked?” I can hear the wobble in her voice, but I know what she’s going to say because there’s only one viable answer to the question.

  “Three months ago.”

  “Three?” I smile at the edge of shock in her voice.

  “The night you told me you loved me.”

  “I love you so much.”

  “Baby, you still haven’t answered my question.”

  A tear streaks down her face as she looks from the ring and back up to me. “Ask me again?”

  I swallow, emotion clogging my throat in the best way. “Delilah Donovan, will you marry me?”<
br />
  “Yes!”

  Her arms wrap around my neck, the warmth of her happy tears on my chest. I slip the ring on her finger at the exact moment I slip my cock inside of her. Bliss.

  Chapter 43

  Delilah

  “Jesus, everyone is here already.” The sounds of multiple conversations wash over us as we enter the clubhouse from the back door.

  “That’s perfect.” Lawson pecks me on the lips. “Stop shaking. Why are you nervous?”

  He stops near the door to the laundry room and pulls me to his chest.

  “Are you happy?” I nod against his soft t-shirt. “Then they’ll be happy for you.”

  I take a deep breath, kiss his perfect lips, and let him lead me to the family room.

  “She said yes!” he yells the second we cross over the threshold.

  “Real fucking subtle,” I mutter as applause and yells of joy fill my ears.

  Dad and Pop are the first to reach me.

  “I couldn’t be happier for you,” Dad says in my ear before releasing me to wrap his arms around Lawson.

  “Sweetheart,” Pop says before engulfing me in his big arms. I edge away from the tickle of his beard on my neck, laughing as he squeezes me again.

  “Congrats, brother.” I freeze at the sound of Samson’s voice and nearly faint when I look over to see him hugging my fiancé.

  Hell has officially frozen over.

  “Thanks,” Lawson says just as shocked as I am.

  “I couldn’t imagine a better man for my sister.”

  Lawson only nods, the same emotional look on his face when Drew gave his approval three months ago. I know if he talks right now, his voice will crack, so I do the only thing I can; I cry for him.

  The endless line of congratulations and hugs seem to take forever but stops eventually. It isn’t until I see Gigi across the room that I realize she’s the only one who didn’t walk up to us during the procession of well-wishers. She gives me a small smile, and there’s more heartbreak in that one action than I’ve ever experienced for myself.

  I go to walk in her direction, but Lawson pulls me against his chest.

  “I told you everything would go just fine.”

  I’m lost when I look up into his eyes, forgetting all about the pain in Gigi’s eyes.

  “I’ve never been happier.”

  “Let’s go have a seat until dinner,” he suggests, but I pull away from the warmth of his chest.

  “Can’t.” I step away from him. “I have to make the rolls.”

  I expect him to head over to the guys and talk about manly shit, but he follows me into the kitchen, helping me butter the tops before slipping them into the oven.

  Wrapped around my back with his hands low on my belly, he kisses my neck. “I can’t wait to put my baby here.”

  I smile but shake my head. “Not for some time. I want you all to myself for a while. Plus, I need to get through school.”

  A throat clears behind us, and Lawson turns both of us without releasing me. Dad is standing there, and I freeze. I know he knows we’re together. I know he said he was happy for us, but it doesn’t make facing him all wrapped up in Lawson any easier.

  “Do I need to spray you two with the hose?” His voice is serious, but the smile on his face makes me think he’s joking, mostly anyways.

  “No,” I say and try to pull away. Lawson only holds me tighter.

  “What were you talking about?”

  “Babies,” Lawson answers immediately.

  Dad’s hand stills mere inches from the handle on the refrigerator. When he turns and shoots lasers at Lawson, I freeze.

  “You promised me at least two years, Law.” He holds up two fingers for emphasis. “Two.”

  “About that.” My eyes widen when Lawson runs his hand low on my belly. “Will Pop still go by Pop when he’s a granddad? What do you want them to call you?”

  I swear my dad stops breathing.

  “Them?” I’ve never heard my dad’s voice squeak before.

  “Quit.” I step out of Lawson’s arms and reach for my dad, laughing at how wide his eyes are as they focus on my stomach. “I’m not pregnant, Dad. He’s messing with you.”

  Dad’s eyes narrow as he looks at Lawson. “You’re sleeping on the couch.”

  “The bunk bed would be more comfortable,” Lawson counters.

  “Like hell,” Dad mutters. “You snuck in her room two years ago, and I know you’ll do it again. The couch is all yours.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Not the response I was expecting, but I also don’t expect the wink Dad gives me before he walks out to repair his damaged nerves.

  “That was fun,” Lawson says with a wide smile on his face.

  “You’re awful,” I tell him with a soft laugh and turn back to the oven to pull out the first batch of rolls.

  ***

  “How are you liking that cream pie?”

  I nearly choke on the bite in my mouth when Lawson whispers those dirty words in my ear.

  When the wheezing stops, I turn and glare at him and shrug. “I’ve had better.”

  “It’s a shame that so many people think Boston makes the best ones, but I know mine is better.”

  “I’d ask for proof, but that would be rather difficult from the couch.”

  He chuckles, but when he focuses on something across the room his brow furrows.

  “What’s going on with those two?”

  I follow his line of sight and see Griffin talking to a very straight-backed Ivy.

  “Don’t you know,” I tell him in a low whisper. “Ivy is so in love with that boy she doesn’t see anyone else when he’s around.”

  “Really?” He sounds surprised. “I thought he was into Gigi.”

  “And thus lies the problem,” I mutter.

  The mention of Gigi’s name causes me to look around the room and search for her. She was abnormally quiet during dinner and excused herself before she’d eaten half the food on her plate. Something’s going on, and everyone at the table could feel the tension between her and her parents.

  When I find her, she’s across the room and Diego is in her face. I can’t hear what they’re talking about, but if the tears on her cheeks are any indication she’s not happy one bit.

  “Gigi doesn’t have a clue, and I’m pretty sure Griffin is clueless about Ivy,” I respond to him without pulling my eyes from the parental confrontation.

  “Shit. That’s kind of sad.”

  “Incredibly,” I agree.

  “Ready for bed?” The suggestion in his tone has my thighs squeezing together.

  “That’s not even a possibility. It’s barely seven. There’s not one person in this house that would believe we’re going back to the room to sleep.”

  Lawson, facing the challenge raises his arms over his head and yawns. In a voice loud enough for everyone near to hear, he says, “Man, that turkey is making me sleepy.”

  I swat at him even though he gets several agreements from the room.

  “Worked like a charm,” he says with a quick grin. “Let’s go.”

  “Not so fast.” I tilt my head in the direction of my Dad and Pop.

  “Dammit,” he mutters when Dad glares at him and shakes his head.

  “You should’ve kept your damn mouth closed.” I lean my head on his shoulder. Just the mention of being sleepy in relation to the big meal I just ate makes me truly sleepy. “Too bad because now I have to sleep alone.”

  “We’ll get a hotel ro—”

  “I forbid it!” Diego roars across the room.

  “Yeah, well. I’m fucking grown so what you say doesn’t even matter,” Gigi hisses before turning and walking out the front door of the clubhouse.

  I make to stand, but Lawson puts a hand on my shoulder. “Stay out of it, baby.”

  “She’s upset.”

  “She’ll be fine,” he assures me.

  Little does anyone in this room know we won’t see her for a very long time, and when we d
o, we won’t even recognize the woman she’s become.

  Hound

  Cerberus 2.0 Book 2

  UnEdited Sneak Peak

  Chapter 1

  Hound

  “Best job ever,” I mutter to myself as the topless waitress bring me another glass of whiskey.

  Leaning in close, she runs her hand down my arm. “I don’t normally offer private lap dances, but for you, I’ll make an exception.”

  I only acknowledge her with a quick wave of my hand and keep my focus on the stage. The best pair of tits and abs tighter than I’ve ever seen on a woman before, I’m mesmerized as the red-headed seductress as she twirls around the pole in the center of the stage.

  I toss back half of the whiskey in my glass but never take my eyes from the woman I plan to have before the sun comes up.

  The girl I came here to find is nowhere to be seen. I did my job for the night, looking for the whiney kid who’s giving her dad fits by not staying under his command. I searched the front of the house as well as the back of the house where the girls getting ready before taking it all off on the center stage. The blonde girl with bright blue eyes that I tasked with finding and removing is nowhere in the building. Determining that she must be off tonight, I let loose. Having a few drinks and watching the topless entertainment is only a perk of the mission. Of course, it’s not recognizance, infiltration, and extraction, but there are benefits to this type of works as well.

  The girls flitting around with bare tits and asses exposed in glittery thongs are nice to look at, but they each pale in comparison to the siren on the stage.

  Hips rolling and long red hair following her like a smoky shadow dancing at her command, she’s got the attention of every single man in the room, and I’m not immune to her charm. Hell, if all of my money wasn’t tied up in savings accounts I’d write her a check for the sum of all of them just for the taste of her skin and the tight embrace of her cunt.

  My mouth grows dry as I breathe heavily, short panting breaths taken in an attempt to keep my cock from busting through the seam of my suddenly too tight jeans.

  Strippers are nothing new. Seventeen years in the Marine Corps traveling the world has led to more adventures with loose women than I can count, but there’s something about this beauty that has me chomping at the bit to get her beneath me. The great thing about underpaid whores is that for the right amount, they’ll let you do just about anything to them. I imagine this one will be no different.