by Alexis Anne
Yeah. We were getting the house.
Being close to Greg and Marie suited me just fine. Getting a little distance from Zoe’s nanny days seemed really important. I liked the vibe of the neighborhood and could picture kids running around the backyard at our family barbecues.
So it was a win in my book.
“You smiled.”
She rolled her eyes, wandering back into my arms where I liked her best. “You act like I never smile.”
“You do.” I kissed her once on the lips. “But you have a lot of different smiles. There’s the fake oh my god I hate being here but I’m supposed to smile so I’m smiling smile.” She laughed at that one. “There’s your work smile, your sex smile.” I kissed her hard that time. “You have a different one for the kids and one for when we’re hanging out. But,” I stepped back and framed her face with my hands, “you only smile with your lips and your eyes and sigh at the same time when you are really, truly happy.”
She did exactly that as she looked up at me.
“See? You’re very happy right now.” I knew my woman.
“So we’re really buying a house?”
“We’re really buying a house.” And spending the rest of our lives together. Happily ever after and all that good stuff she made money writing about.
True to his word, Brian’s team dug up a treasure trove of information on Tony, who was now locked in a very lengthy criminal trial. He wouldn’t be getting off and he would most definitely be spending a very long time in jail.
The past was no longer a shadow looming over our lives. Buying a house was the perfect next step.
Then she got that glint of mischief about her that always spelled the best kind of trouble. “We should pick where we’re going to have sex in each room.”
“We can start right here.” I gathered her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Erik! You silly man.”
“Would you prefer the kitchen? There are countertops!” I walked her into the room I couldn’t wait to make shirtless breakfast in for all her friends. There was enough space that they could come visit and write with Zoe any time.
I hoped she’d have them over when I was on long road trips. I also hoped she’d be with me on some of them.
Turned out the counters were a bit too high for what I had in mind so I set her down and took her into the room where I imagined we would set up a record player. Maybe a card table. I still wasn’t sure of the specifics, but I knew I needed a room for dancing.
I got out my phone and went to the playlist I’d made for tonight and set my phone up on the fireplace mantel. “Music and dancing were always part of our house growing up.” I spun her into my arms.
The opening chords of “Despacito” filled the air.
She smiled. “I remember some talk of this, yes.”
She’d been part of it a few times now, too. Dinner at my mother’s always involved music and dancing.
“Some of my favorite memories are of my parents dancing after we were supposed to be in bed.” I moved us around the room. “And one of my favorite memories of you involves dancing to this song.”
I pulled her tight and stopped.
“It’s one of my favorite memories, too.” She looked up at me with those big green eyes and I almost forgot everything I planned to do.
“I was thinking we could put a really kickass stereo system over here and maybe one day our kids will sneak down and find us dancing in here?”
She smiled with her whole face and sighed. “Perfect.”
“We took everything slowly, Zo. We needed to. I’m glad we did. But now that we’re together, I don’t want to do anything slow and I hope that doesn’t scare you.” Holding back, taking our time, it was all worth it. I had Zoe because of it. And maybe it was because of her that all my other dreams came true. I’d never know for sure, but it felt like it. I was a different person after we fell in love. I knew it affected the way I played the game and the championship ring on my hand proved it was a good kind of effect.
“It doesn’t scare me at all,” she whispered.
Good. That meant I was doing my job. I took her face in my hands and kissed her, nibbled down her jaw to her ear where I whispered, “Be my wife.” The enormity of what I just asked hit me square in the chest and even though I was positive she would say yes, in that moment I was suddenly struck with the overwhelming fear she might say no.
I could not live with a no.
So I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed our foreheads together. “I love you so much, Zo. I know it’s fast but I also know it’s right.”
She kissed me. “I would love to be your wife.”
Oh, thank god. I turned that kiss dirty real fast. Kissed her as deep as I could before remembering I had a ring in my pocket. I did what so many men had done before me and dropped down on one knee, looking up at the only woman who made me believe I could do anything.
“Zoe Burke, I request the honor of loving you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
She smiled and sighed all over again. “Yes. I will marry you.”
An overwhelming feeling of peace settled over me as we shared this moment. I slid the ring onto her finger, then kissed the back of her hand.
I flipped it over and kissed her palm. I worked my way up her arm until I couldn’t reach any higher and moved to her body, kissing my way back down, worshipping the woman I loved. There was really only one way to properly celebrate an engagement.
“May I also have the pleasure of defiling our new house with you right now?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” she whispered, bowling me over and straddling me. “You touch me and kiss me like that and all I can do is think about getting you inside me.” She unbuttoned my jeans and lifted my shirt, running her hands all over my skin.
My dick sprang to life at record speed, heat-seeking missile mode engaged. I reached under her skirt and felt for her underwear. Nice. They were the tiny ones. I ran my fingers along the edges, searching and finding all those warm places that made her throw her head back and moan.
Thunder rattled the house and lightning lit up the house as a late evening thunderstorm rolled in from the bay. The patter of rain filled the air suddenly as it broke free of the clouds.
As I arched up into Zoe, saw that look of abandonment only I could give her, I smiled because she was just like this thunderstorm. Crashing and striking until all the right things came together in a beautiful burst of rain. All that rain had to fall; she had to let it go if she wanted something new. The brightest, greenest, most beautiful things grew out of a good storm, and my god was she a beautiful woman.
So even though I wished day in and day out that I could erase her pain, I was also grateful that I was able to love this woman and give her so much more. This new life of ours, this new house, we were going to make a beautiful life together.
“Erik, it’s too much,” she cried as her legs began to shake.
I pulled her down on my chest, ran my hands through her hair, held her hard against me as I pumped into her until we both came apart.
“I’ve got you, Zo. Always,” I whispered against her ear.
She turned and kissed me deep, her body trembling around mine. “Now we get to find out what happens after the happily ever after. I’ve never done that before.”
I flipped her beneath me and looked into her eyes. “This is the best part.”
“The best, huh?” she cocked her hips up waggled her eyebrows. “Why is that?”
“Because,” I hitched her knee up,” we get to write it together.”
Thank you for reading Zoe and Erik’s love story.
Come back after your e-reader prompts your rating screen for a first look at pitcher Chris Kaine and his brothers, Scott and Ben, in the brand new series Calusa Key (Coming April 2018)
And then find out what really happened between Jack and Berlin in my Mistletoe Key sneak peek!
What To Read Next
Welcome to
AlexisLand. The characters in my books tend to pop in on other books, even when they aren’t technically in the same series. Zoe made a sneak appearance in 5 Dirty Sins with her Butterfly Rebellion books. It was also in 5 Dirty Sins when we first met Scott Kaine, Lucy Davis, Nora Phillips, and Brian Templeton.
Scott appears again in 7 Dirty Lies, alongside Lily Lawrence and Colt Landry.
And coming soon, find out what happened with Jack and Berlin in Mistletoe Key, plus my all new Calusa Key series featuring Scott and Chris, along with their oldest brother Ben. I think Seth might even need to make an appearance. And will Lucy be there??
Turn the page for some sneak peeks!
Author’s Note
Hey everyone!
Zoe and Erik made me really happy. I want to hug everyone now. They just have that effect on me. But I had no idea how they were going to turn out when I started writing them.
When I slipped Zoe into Never Let Go I knew she’d come to Tampa in a rush and that she was escaping a dangerous situation. I spent a lot of time getting to know Zoe over the course of Summer Heat and Night Games. She’s a smart, feisty woman. The man who would eventually become her other half had to be a special guy. I formed Erik as a compliment to Zoe without a ton of thought as to who he was on his own.
So I had a lot of work to do once I sat down to write this book. I knew Erik was serious. I knew he was kind. I had the feeling he was a family man. But other than that, I didn’t know what drove him. And as I thought about the kind of man who would understand how special Zoe was, and be able to be her hero, it became clear to me that Erik needed to be the ultimate Alpha in the Streets and a Beta in the Sheets. He needed to be the big brother who loved and protected everyone around him, but needed a place to be more than that with the woman he loved.
I fell madly and deeply in love with Zoe and Erik. After Nate finished reading the book he said the were so real and down to earth. I think he nailed it. That’s what makes me want to hug them, More than any other couple I’ve written, I felt like they were my friends.
And of course she’s a writer. I promise she isn’t me. She is, however, a wonderful amalgamation of myself and all my writing friends. Zoe’s writing group isn’t fictional. Those women are my best friends, my sisters, and my fellow writer army. I wrote them into this book to give you guys a little (okay glorified) window into our world, but I also wanted to take this opportunity to honor these women. Julia, Mary Chris, Lindsay, Laura, and Alexandra are all gifted writers with great big hearts and being connected to them by app everyday is what makes the five-day-no-shower-writer-zombie life bearable.
We’re still working on the six to eight writing retreats per year, though. Maybe writing it will make it happen in real life?
The other magical thing that happened while writing Last Fall was that I was able to start bringing all my writing worlds together. I loved bringing my Tease series into the Storm Inside world. Seeing Scott, Lucy, and Brian fit seamlessly made it all seem—right. Which makes this new chapter in Calusa Key feel like fate. So many years of pondering where this new story would eventually land…apparently I needed to be patient. It’s time was coming…after Last Fall! I can’t wait to write more Chris, Scott, and Jack. I also can’t wait to introduce you to Berlin and Ben. This next year is going to be a lot of fun!
Now for the thanks!
Thank you to Nate and the boys for always being the best support team a writer could ask for. Thanks to the entire (growing!) HBIC Nation. Thanks to all you readers for continuing to pick up my books! Especially the gang in Coffee Whiskey and all Things Frisky! You ladies make me smile everyday.
And special thanks to Jenn for naming our hero, Erik!
Thank you for reading Last Fall. Stay tuned for Come For Me, Darling in Calusa Key!
xoxo
Alexis
Calusa Key
Where: a sleepy island on Florida’s gulf coast
Why: it was the one place the wandering Kaine family never forgot
When: Being traded to the Mantas felt like fate to pitcher Chris Kaine. Why not drag his older brothers along with him?
Benjamin Kaine: Oldest brother and master carpenter, he’s become a reluctant home improvement celebrity thanks to his much more famous brothers
Scott Kaine: The middle brother and reformed Hollywood bad boy
Chris Kaine: Youngest brother and Mantas pitcher.
Sign up for the release alert!
Read Zoe and Lucy’s deleted scene about the Kaine brothers…
“Scott and Lily are excited to meet you.” I really liked her warm smile.
“I actually know Scott’s brother, Chris.”
Her eyes lit up, turning a brighter shade of green. “I love Chris to pieces.”
“You know him?”
She nodded. “I was Madeline Faints assistant for many, many years, so I got to know Scott pretty well when they ‘dated.’ When she retired I helped Scott out for a bit, got to know his whole family during that time. Chris, Benji, Mama Kaine is a trip. If you ever meet her . . . just be prepared.”
I wasn’t entirely sure why she air-quoted dated but she had my attention on everything else. “Is that their mother?”
“Grandmother. She’s wild. Full of stories and prophecies. She swears she had a vision when the boys were little.”
Well this was interesting—and totally distracting from my stressful day. “A prophecy?”
“Mmmhmmm.” A secret smile curved her lips and I had to wonder just how much time Lucy actually spent with the Kaine family. “She talks about it constantly. I think it irks her that it hasn’t come true yet. I’m fairly certain she’ll refuse to die until it does.”
She sounded like a perfect character for my next book. I’d been pondering a grandmother-type character to help drive the plot. Maybe I could wrangle a meeting with Mama Kaine before I started writing . . .
“Anyway, as she tells it, she was taking a nap on the front porch when she was struck by the vision of all three boys in the woods. She goes into excruciating detail about the fireflies and the crickets and how it was like a fairy land.”
“It sounds magical.”
She held up her hand. “Just wait. They were around an old tree stump that had been hit by lighting years earlier when it was struck again, sending all three boys backwards.”
Lucy shrugged and looked out the window.
She didn’t say anything else.
“I don’t get it. Did it really happen or was it just a dream? What’s the prophecy?” There had to be more than getting struck by lighting as boys. Prophecy involved the future, after all.
“Right, yeah,” she murmured. “So it did actually happen just as she said. The boys were found by their friends … everyone except Scott. She claims that in her vision the boys were all bound together with their friends forever. I should probably note here that the friends were girls.”
A forever girl for Chris and Benji. “And Scott? What’s his future, according to Mama Kaine?”
“She says he’s destined to wander until the old is new again.”
“Say what now?”
Lucy threw her head back and laughed. “Exactly. She starts getting really vague and full of riddles the longer she talks. Scott was thrown the furthest, out by himself. She says that means he’s destined to wander, and man oh man has he done that.”
Scott was a Hollywood bad boy for many years. He became famous very quickly thanks to his good looks and charm, but he was young and definitely indulged in that young, rich, and famous lifestyle. But after he dated Madeline he seemed to completely reform, taking serious roles and winning awards. He and Lily Lawrence formed one of the best teams in Hollywood.
“Until the old is new again?” I prompted.
“Yeah, I don’t really know what that means. Apparently when the old is new again it will bring everyone back together and that’s when the prophecy will be fulfilled. She says their destiny is tied and will bring them together again when the time is r
ight. They won’t find true love until then.”
“Ah, so Mama Kaine is a romantic? This prophecy is about love?”
“Aren’t they all in the end?” Lucy laughed. “I think it’s about a lot more, but she doesn’t ever tell me those parts. There are a lot of weird looks that get thrown around the family when she starts talking and she always eventually folds her hands in her lap, cocks an eyebrow, and says, “that’s what they’ll let me tell you, dear. The rest of the story is for another day.”
I hope you enjoyed reading this scene I had to cut from Last Fall. It gives you a little sneak peek into the family dynamics you’ll find in the new Calusa Key Series! Be sure to sign-up for release alert!
Mistletoe Key
An island in the Florida Keys that celebrates year round.
“Stuck Under the Mistletoe”
a Jack & Berlin short story
It was a mistake to come home for Christmas. Of course it was also a mistake to agree to a divorce I didn’t want and to intentionally leave behind the place I loved. I was good at making mistakes.
I managed to deal with the ache of leaving most of the time because I was too busy working my tail off to dwell and it was what she wanted. I might not like Berlin very much right now, but I’d always love her, and if this was what she wanted, then it was what I was going to do.
No matter how incredible it felt when my feet sank below the surface of the soft sand, the chilly brown water rushing over them again and again as the tide sucked everything out to sea, leaving the weak, the old and the discarded, stuck and festering in the afternoon sun.