by Tia Louise
She laughs, and her body arches against mine. Her head falls back, and she lets out the most amazing happy squeal. I was above her, but she pushes me back against the pillows. I’m on my back watching her hold her brow and shake her head.
“It’s like a dream,” she says. Then she catches my face in both hands again and kisses me. I can’t help laughing now. “Do you remember how awful you were in Montana?”
“Hang on,” I try to act offended and fail. “You came at me out of nowhere.”
“You are literally the man of my dreams, Stuart Knight.”
“Don’t forget,” I say, smoothing both hands over her cheeks, sliding her brown hair back. “You’re the woman in mine, too.”
“Would you make love to me again?” Her lips curl as her hand moves down between us. Her fingers wrap around my cock, and my body immediately responds to her touch, hard and strong.
“With pleasure,” I say, before kissing her lips, her chin, her neck, making my way down her torso to the place I know will have her screaming my name.
Epilogue: Proposition
Stuart
Mom’s on the phone, and I don’t like the agitation in her voice. “He’s getting too old to run the ranch by himself. He needs your help.”
Mariska’s head is on my chest, and as far as I can tell, she’s still asleep. I thread my fingers through her long, wavy brown hair and glance around our king-sized bedroom.
When I came back to Princeton from Montana last January, this place was for sale. So what did I do? I bought the identical, overly plush three thousand square-foot condominium I’d given my partner Derek Alexander hell for buying. It’s actually right across the hall from him.
Traveling back to my reason for doing it, all of my arguments were bound up in this beautiful woman whose body is held close to mine. I wanted Mariska to have a palace. I wanted her to be protected by two layers of security if I’m ever out of town on a job. I wanted her to feel like a queen.
It more than paid for itself last spring when we had to hide a former client, Star Brandon, from a blackmailer we feared might try to kidnap her baby girl Cami.
Still, none of this is who I am. I couldn’t be more of a fish out of water in this place.
I try to keep my voice even so I don’t wake my sleeping fiancée. “I need you to stay calm. It’s not good for your heart to get so worked up.”
“My heart is fine,” Sylvia counters. Who ever said our mother was gentle never met her. “You promised to go with me this summer. I want you to consider how much you love being there and think about your future.”
A loud breath exhales through my lips, and I rub my forehead. “We’ll stay a month. Six weeks at the most. But I’ve made commitments to Derek and Patrick here.”
“You hate being there, Stuart William. Don’t tell me you like it.”
“I’ll do what makes sense for Mariska and me.” My voice is sharp, that old alpha-dog coming out, and as much as I love my mother, as much as her heart attack scared the shit out of all of us, I can’t not be who I am.
She immediately softens. “That’s all I’m asking you to do.”
Irritation fans in my chest at her quick surrender. It’s almost like she was just trying to get me worked up. “We’ll see you in a few days.”
“I love you,” she says before disconnecting.
My arm lowers too hard, and the beautiful girl on my chest sits up. Her eyes glow like the sunset, and a sexy smile is on her lips.
“Stuart William?” I love her soft voice. “It sounds like your mother has a bee in her bonnet.”
I laugh as desire bubbles in my chest—my anger momentarily forgotten in the light of this gorgeous creature who agreed to be mine. Lifting her in my arms, I turn us so her back is against the mattress.
“My mother wants us to move from the penthouse suite I’ve given you here to a horse ranch in the toughest wilderness in the continental U.S.”
Leaning down, I kiss her neck, inhaling her jasmine scent. She hums a satisfied sound, threading her fingers in the sides of my hair. “We have some amazing memories at that horse ranch.”
Lifting my head, I look into her eyes. She’s everything I love, and at the same time, she’s quite a bit younger than I am.
“Bill’s house is nice, but when the winter sets in, it’s pretty isolated. You sure that wouldn’t bother you?”
She smiles, tilting her head to the side. A wavy lock of chestnut hair falls across her beautiful face. “As long as I’m with you, that’s all I care about.”
My brow lines, and I think of my mother and my sister. I think of all the women I’ve known. Wilderness life might sound exotic, but when reality hits, is not their cup of tea.
We’re young in love, and making a commitment to that life, taking her away from her friends, access to her art… It’s not a decision I’m comfortable asking her to make on a permanent basis.
“We’ll help out this summer while you’re out of school. Derek won’t mind if I telecommute.” Cupping her small face in my hand, I kiss her lips. Lifting her hand, I kiss the rose engagement ring on her finger. “I’m not ready to take you out of this palace. I want to give you everything.”
“I’ve never been a princess, Stuart.” She shakes her head, blinking up at me through thick lashes. “I’m just a gypsy girl. You know that.”
Catching her face, I look deep into those sunset eyes that haunted me every day we were apart. “I want you to have every beautiful thing I can give you.”
Her hands are at my neck, and she meets my gaze with equal force, the amazing strength inside her that’s always matched mine. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever wanted. You and our babies and our family.”
Our mouths meet, and I kiss her hard, tongues sliding together. How I found this girl is one of those twist-of-fate mysteries I’ll never solve, yet here we are.
Stepping off the private jet in Great Falls, I hold her hand as I carry our bags to the parking lot where my uncle left us a classic Silverado to drive back to the ranch. She’s dressed in a filmy white dress, a flower in her hair, and I help her in the step-side before closing the door and going to the other side.
We drive miles down the lonely dirt road to the ranch situated in the middle of nowhere. The big main house appears on the flat lands, and I pull into the yard to park by my uncle’s orange Ford.
I get out and go around to the passenger’s side to help her down. “It’s as incredible as I remember,” Mariska sighs, and I pause to follow her gaze past the barn where the horses wait, and across the great plain.
The sky spreads out as far as the eye can see in orange, yellow, and blue twilight, and it’s nothing but brown grasses and big sky.
My soul aches for this land as much as my heart beats for the woman at my side. My mother’s right. I belong here, but I’ll be damned if I’ll sacrifice Mariska to have it.
We’ll have to find another way.
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Author’s Note
It’s been a year since we met Stuart Knight, the wounded Marine turned cowboy in One to Leave. A year since Mariska Heron slipped in and stole his heart.
In preparation for the next chapter in their love story One to Take, I thought it would be FUN (and super hot) to release a collection of “critical scenes” from their beginning.
Of course, Stuart and Mariska are combustible. That’s what readers love most about them.
I hope you enjoyed meeting our sexy cowboy and the gypsy girl who stole his heart.
And as always, thanks so much for reading!
Books in the One to Hold series are:
Derek & Melissa: One to Hold, One to Protect, One to Save
Patrick & Elaine: One to Keep
Kenny & Slayde: One to Love
Stuart & Mariska: One to Leave, “Taken,” One to Take
Marcus Merritt & Amy Knight: One to Chase, “Runaway”
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Paranormal Romances:
Derek & Melissa: One Immortal
Stitch & Mercy: One Insatiable
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All are stand-alone novels.
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Thank you so much!
ONE IMMORTAL is the HOT paranormal version of Derek & Melissa’s love story with Stuart and Patrick as his sexy shifter partners.
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NOTE: All are stand-alone novels. Adult Contemporary/Erotic Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, books are not intended for readers under the age of 18.
One to Hold
Derek Alexander is a retired Marine, ex-cop, and the top investigator in his field. Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past.
When the two intersect in a bar in Arizona, their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But what is revealed during their "one week stand" only complicates matters.
Because she'll do everything in her power to get away from the past, but he'll do everything he can to hold her.
eBooks on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Google Play| Kobo | ARe
Print copies on Amazon | Createspace | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble
Audiobooks on Amazon | Tantor | iTunes
One to Protect
When Sloan Reynolds beats criminal charges, Melissa Jones stops believing her wealthy, connected ex-husband will ever pay for what he did to her.
Derek Alexander can’t accept that—a tiny silver scar won't let him forget, and as a leader in the security business, he is determined to get the man who hurt his fiancée.
Then the body of a former call girl turns up dead. She’s the breakthrough Derek’s been waiting for, the link to Sloan’s sordid past he needs. But as usual, legal paths to justice have been covered up or erased.
Derek’s ready to do whatever it takes to protect his family when his partner Patrick Knight devises a plan that changes everything.
It’s a plan that involves breaking rules and taking a walk on the dark side. It goes against everything on which Alexander-Knight, LLC, is based.
And it’s a plan Derek’s more than ready to follow.
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One to Keep
There’s a new guy in town...
“Patrick Knight, single, retired Guard-turned private investigator. I was a closer. A deal maker. I looked clients in the eye and told them I’d get their shit done. And I did…”
Patrick doesn’t do “nice.”
At least, not anymore.
After his fiancée cheats, he follows up with a one-night stand and a disastrous office hook-up. His business partner (Derek Alexander) sends him to the desert to get his head straight--and clean up the mess.
While there, Patrick meets Elaine, and blistering sparks fly, but she's not looking for any guy. Or a long-distance relationship.
Patrick’s ready to do anything to keep her, but just when it seems he’s changed her mind, the skeletons from his past life start coming back.
eBooks on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | ARe | Google Play
Print copies on Amazon | Createspace | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble
Audiobooks on Amazon | Tantor | iTunes
One to Love
Tattoos, bad boys, love…
Boxing, fame, fortune…
Loss.
It’s the one thing Kenny and Slayde have in common. Until the night Fate throws them together and everything changes.
It’s a story about fighting. It’s about falling in love. And it’s about losing everything only to find it again in the least likely place.
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One to Leave
Some demons can't be shaken off.
Some wounds won't heal.
Until a pair of hazel eyes knocks you on your ass, and you realize it's time to stop running.
#SexyCowboy
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One to Save
“I lost myself in the darkness of trying to protect you…”
Some threats come at you as friendly fire.
Some threats take away everything.
Family won’t let you go down without a fight.
The Secret isn’t as secure as Derek’s team originally thought it was, and a person on the inside of Alexander-Knight is set on exposing him, breaking him, and taking away all he holds dear.
Refusing to let anyone suffer for his crimes, Derek takes matters into his own hands. He’s exposed, he’s defenseless, but his friends are determined to save him.
#SaveDerek
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One to Chase
Paris fashions,
Chicago nightlife,
Secrets and lies...
Welcome to the North Side.
Marcus Merritt doesn't chase women. He doesn't have to. But when the spirited and sexy blonde who left h
im wanting more shows up in his office looking for work, little things like the rules seem ready to be rewritten.
Amy Knight is smart, ambitious, and back home in Chicago to care for her mother. A courtesy meeting with one of the top lawyers in the city should be a boost to her career...
Until the polished green-eyed player turns out to be the same irresistible “random” she hooked up with at a friend's wedding in Wilmington. Bonus: He's the brother of her older brother's new wife. What the hell?!
Who's chasing whom? It all depends on the day. Or the night.
#SexyLawyer
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**Get a taste of Marcus and Amy FREE in “Runaway”: A One to Chase prequel!
“Runaway” is a FREE ebook on Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | Google Play | Barnes & Noble | ARe
One Immortal
Melissa is a vampire; Derek is a vampire hunter.
When beautiful, sad Melissa Jones flees to New Orleans with her telepathic best friend, she is looking for a cure—not an erotic encounter with a sexy former Marine.