by Ashlee Price
“Are you happy, Mia?”
“Why do you ask me such questions, Logan? Can’t you see how happy I am? I feel like I walk around with a stupid grin on my face all of the time and I blame that on you. Is that what you mean?”
I felt the same way, and I could still remember the comment that Jesse had made about it. “Yeah, that’s what I mean, Mia. I just want to know if there is anything that I can do that will make you happier. I don’t want this to be the top, just the tip.”
Mia looked at me as if she wasn’t sure what I was talking about. “I don’t know if we need to top this one, honey. I mean, kidnapping and all of that makes for a good story, but it’s not something I want to live through.”
There was a part of me that agreed, but I realized that there was another part of me that really liked what had come out of it. I’d learned more when she was gone than I ever would have learned otherwise. It was because of her that I was who I was that day. She’d changed me in so many ways, and I hoped that I could give her as much back as she had given me.
“Well, I don’t want you to ever have to go through something like that again, Mia. I don’t know how you’re so strong and so delicate all at the same time. I always thought of you as my little delicate flower, but you aren’t just that. There are so many other parts of you, and I want you to be my wife.”
It just kind of came out, and it was not at all what I’d hoped for when I’d set out that day. I’d run many words through my head, and all were more elegant than that. Mia heard me, though, and I could see tears starting to form in her eyes before she turned away.
“Are you serious?”
I thought she was talking about the way I’d asked her, and I told her that I didn’t mean to ask like that. “It just came out like that, Mia, really. I had something better in my head.”
She shook her head like I was a silly child. “No, I mean, did you really just ask me to marry you?”
“Yes, in a very bad way, yes I did. Will you marry me, Mia? I don’t want to go another day without you as my wife.”
I knew the answer once our eyes met. Her blue-green ones were on the verge of tears and I knew that they were good ones. She nodded her head for several moments before she actually said the words that I’d been waiting for so long to hear. I needed to kiss her and that stopped all other sounds from coming out of her mouth.
Pulling her in, I kissed her for several minutes until I was ready to have her under me again.
It was then, her underneath me and my need at her core, that I realized I hadn’t even gotten the ring out. I asked her if she wanted it right then and she nodded her head with her eyes closed. “Yes, Logan. I need you inside of me right now.”
I chuckled and didn’t correct her. It was good to see that she was back to her one-track mind. I pushed in slowly and rejoiced in the low gasp that came out of her mouth. There was no way that I could ignore that sound, and I surged forward quickly. It was good to be back where I was supposed to be.
The end for now…
Epilogue to Fully & Completely
Mia
I was excited. I knew that Rocy was going to have her babies any moment, and I would have been excited if she were just a pet about to give birth, but it was so much more than that. Rocy was one of under a hundred Amur Leopards left in the world, and one had not been born into captivity in the last twenty years. It had been thought that maybe they couldn’t reproduce in captivity, but she was about to. The number was going up for her species, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Standing up, I pushed in on my lower back and talked to Rocy as she lay there. She didn’t look happy, and I had to feel a kind of kindred spirit to her then. Soon I would have my own family to create and take care of. The idea was a great one, but also incredibly daunting. I looked down at her and tried to think of what it would be like. It was hard to do, but I knew that it was coming.
My phone rang and I answered, knowing it was Logan. I wouldn’t say that he called too much, but there was a fine line that he tiptoed on several times a week. I knew that it was because of what had happened with Ryland. I got that, but I just didn’t seem to get what he thought it was going to do. I was safe, but in Logan’s eyes, if I wasn’t in his sights, I was in danger. I was working with him on it, but this was the fifth call in so many hours since I was supposed to be off of work. I was staying late for Rocy and I didn’t plan to be home until morning. I’d told him that twice now, but I knew that it was just his way of checking on me without actually having to say it.
“Hey, baby.”
“Mia.”
He said my name in a raspy whisper, and the sound sent shivers down my spine. He was going to make sure that I was dying to get home. I don’t know if he did it on purpose or not, but it certainly made me feel like I was going to burst if I had to stay too long.
“What are you doing, baby?”
“Nothing, just wondered if you were hungry?”
It was an odd question to ask, but Logan knew me too well. Lately I was always hungry, it seemed. It was just the thing to distract me, even more than making love to me.
“Yeah, but I’ll have a pizza ordered or something like that later. It is no big deal.”
“It is. I don’t want you eating that. It is not good for the…”
“Fine, I’ll see if I can sneak away to find something that isn’t deep fried and covered with cheese later.”
The deep voice chuckled in my ear and made me shiver a little. I loved the way he sounded. “Why don’t you just let me in and I’ll give you what I have in my hand?”
I checked the newly installed security system and saw to my surprise that he was standing there with a brown paper bag. How did he always know everything? It really was daunting sometimes. It seemed like he even knew my own body better than I did.
“I thought you had to work tonight?”
He shrugged through the lens and I buzzed him through. Logan was not going to let me go a night without him, and I couldn’t have been happier. I hadn’t liked the idea of it either, but I needed to be there for the births. It was a great time for the sanctuary, and I was secretly really glad that I was going to get to spend it with him too.
I hung the phone up as I went to the back door to unlock it. It hadn’t been left unlocked in a long time. All of the security measures had been tightened up, and it was all because of Logan insisting on it. That part of him hadn’t changed since we had gotten married, but he tried to be a little more open about other people’s ideas, even if he didn’t necessarily heed them.
Giving him a kiss when he came in, I had to push him away when he was trying to make it into something that it couldn’t be.
“I thought you were just bringing me food?”
Logan grinned and pulled me to him gently. “What can I say, Mia? I’m full service.”
I pushed against him and told him that I didn’t have time for that.
“Later?”
I nodded and told him that I would think about it. There really was nothing to think about, though. The fact of the matter was that I felt like I was going to explode from a kiss and a hug. I needed space or I was going to miss everything. I wasn’t under the misapprehension that Rocy really needed me there, but I did want to be there, so I had to get his hands off of me.
“I don’t want you to think about it, Mia. I just want you to take your clothes off and come to bed. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Feeling my face getting hot, I looked away and pulled him towards Rocy’s enclosure. Her mate, Marco, had been taken out for the birth, and since Logan was already familiar, I knew that it should be okay to take him in there. She was in the middle of labor, but Rocy looked at Logan differently, just like me, and I trusted her.
“It shouldn’t be long now, and then after a bit of work I’ll be home. I thank you for bringing me that, but I hate that you had to come all the way out here for this.”
He told me that it was no problem. “Do you mind if I stay?�
�
I was a little surprised that he would want to, but Logan was always surprising me, so I should have been used to it. It had been a year since we had been married, and everything was going far better than I would have imagined possible. There were still those moments in the middle of the night that I was so afraid when I woke up it would all be a dream. It didn’t happen often, but it would all come back to me and I would hold onto him just a little bit tighter than before. It was hard not to.
“No, I don’t mind. It’s not going to be very interesting for you, though. Their birth is really long and drawn out, especially when it’s their first time.”
He nodded his head, but Logan wasn’t really listening. He was looking at my lips as we talked, and I knew that there was something dirty on his mind. That grin was not from good thoughts, but naughty ones that I wished I knew about. I wasn’t able to do anything about it, but I was addicted to him and wanted to be turned on anyways.
“Logan?”
“What?”
“You aren’t even listening, are you?”
He tried to look like he was angered that I would suggest such a thing, but I think we both knew that he was failing quite miserably. “I was too listening.”
“Uh huh, what did I say?”
Logan shook his head and his blue eyes looked around like there was going to be a secret message written somewhere to help him. There was nothing, and apparently nothing had come to mind when his gaze came back to me. “Something about Rocy.”
“Uh huh.”
I waited for more, but finally let him off the hook. “There’s no time for that right now. I want to be here if she needs help. If anything happens to her, I would never forgive myself. I owe her.”
“I know, Mia. I just can’t help looking at you like that sometimes. You’re so beautiful, and I get that glowing bit now, because you’re actually glowing.”
He made me blush. Sometimes I was sure that it was his intention all along. I knew that there was something that he liked about me turning red as my hair, but right then I was just nervous and a little horny with him there.
“Baby, be good.”
Logan said that he would, but I didn’t trust him to keep his word on that. I could see his eyes looking around the enclosure, and I had a feeling I knew what he was thinking about. The problem with Logan at times was that he just didn’t know what to do with the word no. He didn’t hear it very often, and when he did he was always trying to weasel his way out of the no and find a way to get a yes.
“I’m just thinking that maybe you would like to spend a little alone time together while we are waiting for Rocy to make a move.”
His blue eyes held me as much as the grip on my wrist. I had an idea of where he wanted to go, and before long I was convinced to go there with him. It was almost impossible to say no to Logan, and I secretly think that he knew it and used it against me. I couldn’t prove it, but I don’t think that I had to.
***
It wasn’t too long after we were finished and in each other’s arms that Rocy started. I was glad that he’d come, because she ended up needing some help and Logan was about the only other person I knew of who she would let get that close to her. She wasn’t exactly happy about it, but I could tell that she was at least going to tolerate it.
The cubs were beautiful, and as I watched her cleaning and nursing her little furry balls, I wondered if everything would come that naturally for me. There were another couple of months to go, but as I rubbed my stomach, it became clear to me that it wasn’t that far away.
Logan came up behind me and held me around the waist. He was obsessed with my burgeoning stomach, and he had a strange look on his face when he moved in for a kiss. I wished for the umpteenth time that I knew what he was thinking, just once.
“I’m happy that she had them, Mia. They all look healthy.”
They were, and I was pleased on a personal level, as well as a professional level. The number of Amur Leopards had gone up, and though it was too soon to tell, I had a feeling that Rocy was just getting started. I wondered if I was just getting started as well. Would we have many or just the one?
“What’s on your mind, Mia?”
I shrugged and felt the familiar heat creep into my face. It was hard to tell him what I was thinking. Although Logan wanted children, I was sure that he didn’t want to think about a litter.
“Nothing really, just thinking.”
He was quiet, and I knew that it was him waiting for more. He always insisted, whether I wanted to or not, and it was one of those times.
“I was just wondering how many we are going to have. I know it’s silly to think about – we don’t even have one yet – but do you ever think about stuff like that?”
He smiled and nodded his head. “All the time. I want a big family, Mia, but I’ll take as many as you will give me.”
“Oh.”
Logan chuckled and assured me that we would take it one at a time. He had a glint in his eyes, though, and I wasn’t necessarily that encouraged by his answer.
~The End~
Billionaire’s Domination
A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance
(An Alpha Billionaire BDSM Romance Boxed Set)
By: Ashlee Price
Billionaire’s Domination Book 1: Insist
By: Ashlee Price
Prologue
Nicola King is close to graduating from culinary school and is looking for her first real job. She has big expectations, but they’re dashed when all she can find is a position making deliveries for a local catering service. Nicola tries to tell herself that it’s the first step up the ladder, but just days into her new job she is already starting to question that assumption.
A chance meeting leads to a daily delivery to a rich and handsome investment group CEO. Jerold instantly takes to Nicola and offers to give her a real opportunity. This could be the break she needs to start her career. All she has to do is say yes.
But there are many things that Jerold wants to ask of her, and if she isn’t ready to say yes, Jerold knows that he’s going to have to insist.
Chapter 1- Nicola
I waited in line like everyone else, but I wasn’t sure why I was there. The temp service had called and asked me to come in. I thought that I was there for a job, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d been called in that day. I started to worry that I was going to have more hoops to jump through. I really didn’t like the idea of having to compete with all of the people lined up in the office.
“Nicola King?”
I raised my hand like I was in school and weaved my way through the standing people to the voice in the front. She smiled at me and ushered me into her office. I remembered Nadia from when I had come to Algon Temp Service months ago looking to get a jumpstart on my job hunting. She was very helpful, and after I took all of her tests, Nadia told me that she would do her best to find me something. I was really hoping that today was that something she was talking about, because I was ready to get started.
“It’s good to see you back here. Sorry about the lines in the front. We just got a new client and I think the news of it has made things a little chaotic, but don’t you worry, Nicola, I have found you something that I think will be perfect for you.”
“Really? I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. I graduate in a couple of weeks and I have been worried about finding something.”
“You got a head start, and I think that’s going to help you down the road. You would not want to be behind all of those other applicants.”
I looked back towards the small glass window in the door and I knew that what she said was true. If I had to wait behind all of those other people, my chances of getting a job were going to be even smaller than I’d imagined. In a town like Brewer, there were always more college students graduating than there were jobs to support them. I didn’t want to move away from Brewer, though; it was my home, and going down to the temp service had been a way of trying to ensure I co
uld stay.
“I’m happy to hear that. I tried starting early because I figured with over a hundred students about to graduate, there was going to be a lot of competition.”
The older blonde just kind of nodded her head and looked through some documents in front of her. She was reading something to herself and I could see her lips moving slightly as she read. I tried not to look too bored. I was feeling restless, and if Nadia had something for me, I would be more than happy to take it. It didn’t really matter what it was, as long as it was in my field of study.
“So, this is what I was able to find.”
She told me about a local catering service that needed some help. They worked with many of the larger businesses in town to supply their employees with lunches and dinners, even breakfast sometimes as needed. I was getting excited because it sounded like a good fit, but I wasn’t prepared for the actual job.
“So will I be cooking?”
Nadia looked up at me from behind her thick-framed glasses and shook her head. “Since you have no real experience, they want to start you out doing some delivering. I know that it is not exactly what you were wanting, Nicola, but I think this is a good opportunity. It will give you some experience and you will get to meet a lot of people that are in the business. That’s how you can build up your connections and get into something more attuned to your skills.”
I was graduating from culinary school in a couple of weeks, and I hoped that she was right. I didn’t know how I was going to tell my family that I was going to be a glorified delivery driver. It was not going to be easy to convince them that I had been right to go to the school in the first place. Now I didn’t know what to say, but I was nodding my head and agreeing to the job before I really thought about anything else. One way or another, it was still a job, and that was something that I needed at the moment.
“I thank you for finding me something so quickly, Nadia. I look forward to starting the next chapter of my life.”