“Good morning, boss,” Rita chimed. “Don’t you look like you’re in a good mood this mornin’.”
He smiled, strolled past Edith and Cameron, and stood right in front of Farren. He took her face in his hands, tilted her head up, and planted a loving kiss on her lips.
Farren blushed profusely, but she loved every moment of it. She wasn’t about to turn him away, especially not with Edith getting a show, which is what she suspected he was playing at in the first place. She didn’t mind one little bit.
He let her go and looked around, finally acknowledging the others in the room. “Ladies,” he greeted.
At that, Edith stood from her seat and stomped out of the lounge mumbling, “I’m getting to work. Got a lot of catching up to do.”
Rogan looked down at the large box on the floor and the contents from inside it laid out around them. “Did you need some help with the heavy-lifting, Rita?” he asked.
“No, I think I got the lifting part. It’s the putting it all together part that’s got me stumped. This thing has more buttons than one of those new-fangled washer and dryers you see up at Home Depot.” She shook her head. “There’s only one button I need, and that’s to brew.”
Farren laughed.
“If you need some help, I’m pretty sure Farren could put this thing together in her sleep,” Rogan said as he looked at Farren with pride.
“Sure, I can help, Rita.”
When she and her Southern, red-headed friend finished getting it all put together, Farren went to her office and pulled out her phone. There was still one person to call, and she had some mixed feelings about it.
Shea picked up after the first ring. “Hey, Fair Child,” she greeted upon answering.
“Hey. Are you free for lunch today?” Farren chewed her bottom lip waiting for Shea’s response.
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything’s great. It’s just… well… I need your help with something.”
“Of course, what is it? Am I going to need to hurt someone?” Farren could hear the sound of Shea pounding a fist into her hand through the line.
She chuckled. “No! Calm down, there, killer. It’s just… you and I have a wedding to plan.”
Farren cringed as she waited for her friend to respond, not because she wasn’t obviously ecstatic about it, but because of the conversation she’d had a few days ago with Shea when Shea had divulged that she had been waiting for her own proposal from Devin. Farren felt like a bit of a jerk telling her best friend that Rogan had proposed to her now, thinking it might make her upset.
“What? Are you serious? Farren, that’s… awesome! Oh my God, congratulations! I can’t believe it, I’m so happy for you!” Shea’s overwhelming response sent a thrill through Farren’s heart.
“You’re not upset?”
“Upset? Of course not. Why would I be? This is one of the happiest times of your life,” Shea explained, as though Farren were being silly.
Relieved, she smiled and straightened in her seat from where she’d been hunched over her desk. “Thank goodness. I was just worried because… you know…”
Shea scoffed. “Girl, you know Devin isn’t going anywhere. So noon?”
“Okay, see you then.”
Farren dropped her phone back into her bag that she closed in a file drawer. She powered on her computer, and while she waited for it to load, she got up and walked to the door connecting her office to Rogan’s. She opened it a small way and knocked, peeking through to make sure he wasn’t preoccupied.
He looked up and motioned for her to come in.
“What’s up, baby?” he asked, and his low, growly voice sent tingles through her.
She walked around his desk, and he pulled her into his lap.
“Thank you,” she said.
He smiled, then removed his black-rimmed glasses and reached his arm around her to set them on the desk. She brushed the scar that divided his right eyebrow with soft fingertips and looked lovingly into his eyes.
He knew what she was referring to, of course, which was putting Edith in her place without having to say a word. It meant a lot to her that he was willing to do that for her, even if it meant a public display of affection in front of his other employees.
He pressed his smiling lips to hers, then mouthed the words against her, “I’d do anything for you.”
Maybe she didn’t think she was the type of girl people would move mountains for, but if this man would do anything for her, that was more than enough for her.
EPILOGUE
It was a warm evening in June as a soft breeze blew in from the water off the shore of the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston. The entire strip of white-sanded beach had been reserved for the momentous occasion as rows of their closest friends, family, and coworkers filed in to sit in white wood chairs facing a platform decorated with rich, vibrant colors of tropical plants.
Rogan stood wearing a formal tux sans jacket with his white, button-down shirt rolled up at the sleeves in the middle of a platform as the sun began to set in the distance. The sky glowed a beautiful shade of orange, and the sound of crashing waves blended with the soft music that played low on surrounding speakers, Jason Derulo’s Marry Me.
Elaina Evans stood next to him wearing a coral colored, off the shoulders, form-fitting mini-dress. No one batted an eye at the odd gesture that she stood in as his best man, representing her brother, Craigan.
On the opposite side of the platform stood Shea, the Maid of Honor, in a similar, coral-colored mini dress with a halter neck and flowing skirt.
The music that had been playing changed, indicating that the bride was about to make her appearance and the crowd of guests all stood and turned to face the back of the aisle. Farren, wearing the most beautiful, white-laced, mermaid dress designed by none other than the esteemed, Italian designer, Bartolo Bianchi, was arm-in-arm with her Gramma who held a now nine-month-old Harley in the other arm. The three of them marched slowly together down the aisle, but Farren’s gaze was fixed on one sole point among the beautiful scenery: him.
When they reached the edge of the platform, they stopped.
“Who gives this woman to this man?” asked the wedding officiant who stood upright before them in a solid-black tux.
“Harley and I do,” Gramma answered, keeping her eyes glued to Farren’s as she did. She kissed her granddaughter’s cheek and moved to take a seat in the front row with Harley in her lap.
Rogan walked to the edge of the platform and held his hand out to her, helping her up the few steps to stand with him before the people they loved.
They said their vows, and the audience whooped and hollered when Rogan kissed his bride. After the wedding, they moved to a large tent where they held their reception beneath the twinkling, string lights and the stars above.
When Farren came to the table where Shea, Devin, Rita, and Cameron were all sitting, she hugged each of them. She sat next to Shea and held hands as Shea gushed over how beautiful everything was.
“Shea, what’s this?” Farren asked, turning Shea’s hand over in hers to see an engagement ring where there hadn’t been a few days prior.
Shea beamed with joy and looked to Devin.
“He asked me last night!”
Farren pulled Shea in for a tight embrace. “Oh, I’m so happy for you,” she said. She let go and turned to Devin. “It’s about time!”
He laughed. “I know, I know.” Then he wrapped his arms around Shea from behind and Farren watched her best friend sink back into him. She knew they would be so happy together, and it made her day even that much better if that were possible.
She looked around to see Rita who had gotten up to dance with her husband, and Cameron was being led off by her date as well.
Rogan came up from behind and handed Farren a glass of sparkling champagne. She took a sip before taking him by the hand and pulling him over to sit in the empty chairs next to Elaina.
“Thank you for standing with Rogan up t
here today,” Farren told her quietly. “I know it meant a lot to him.”
Elaina smiled and set her drink down on the table. She leaned forward as if to share a secret. “I’m just glad he didn’t make me wear a tux,” she teased.
They all laughed.
“So where’s your date?” Farren asked her, shifting in her chair to adjust the wedding dress she still wore.
Elaina waved a hand dismissively in front of her. “No date for me. I’m too busy for dates.”
“Don’t listen to her. She has time, she’s just too stubborn,” Rogan interjected with a chuckle.
She quirked an eyebrow as if she were about to protest, then she paused. “Okay, maybe I am a little stubborn,” she admitted. “What can I say? It’s going to take a tough man to break me.” She shrugged.
“I can’t wait to meet him,” Rogan said, raising his glass for a cheers.
“Me too,” Elaina teased, and they all laughed once more.
That night, Rogan took home his beautiful bride and insisted he carry her across the threshold. Her eyes didn’t leave his as he held her in his arms all the way to the edge of their bed.
Gramma had Harley, so they had the entire night and entire place to themselves.
He gently released her legs so that she stood upright against his body. He ran his fingers down the bare skin of her back to the top of her zipper and then peeled it down as his lips hovered just shy of touching hers. He pushed the fabric down the curves of her body and traveled down with it, pressing soft kisses against her skin until the dress was around her ankles.
She stepped out of it and he buried his face between her legs, lapping at the silky fabric of her panties and causing her knees to buckle.
She fell back onto the bed, and he stood over her, pressing a palm to the flesh of her stomach and trailing it down her legs to remove the garter he hadn’t been granted the pleasure of removing earlier in front of the crowd. He liked this way much better, he had to admit, where his were the only eyes seeing the beautiful body that he could now call his. Her panties soon followed.
He loosened his dress shirt and suit pants, stepping out of them and his boxer briefs before climbing over her on their bed and pressing his hardened erection into her sensitive crease. He rubbed and teased while he pinned her wrists above her head bent his head down to suck in a hardened nipple.
She was already wet, and as his length rubbed up and down, she began to moan and writhe beneath him, letting the sensations consume her.
“Rogan, please don’t stop,” she breathed, aching for him to take her, to press into her, to feel him inside of her.
In an unhurried movement, he shifted his hips and sank deep into her, giving himself to her. She felt the stubble of his jaw brush against her cheek as his lips went to her ear, and he whispered.
“I don’t ever intend to.”
Continue Reading the Boss Series
Keep reading below for a sneak peek at Boss Unwavering!
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you again for choosing Boss Unavowed out of all the books out there you could have spent your time reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this story and the added glimpse into Rogan and Farren’s lives as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
I do hope you’ll spare a few moments to leave an honest review of this book and let others know what they’d be missing if they didn’t pick it up.
If you want to find out when the next book in my Boss series will release, be sure to sign up for my newsletter at https://nicolerlocker.com/subscribe.
In the next book, a familiar character – Elaina Evans – gets her own story, and this time, she’s the boss!
Warmest regards,
Nicole R. Locker
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without a few key people helping me along the way. I’d like to thank Everrett Young, my consultant of all things tech and gamer related. (Gamer tag: dvsghostphreak). I’d like to thank my well-travelled and knowledgeable friend, Ben Vasquez, for consulting on the Houston area and ideal, nearby wedding locations. I cannot leave out my trusty editor, Swati Hegde, who smooths out my rough edges… because mine aren’t as pretty as Rogan Rayner’s.
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Boss Unwavering – Sneak Peek
Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next Boss book – Boss Unwavering, featuring Elaina Evans and a brand new, former military turned private investigator Alpha Hero, Sebastian Stone.
ONE
Sebastian Stone, the incorrigible bastard. Of all the auctions he could be outbidding her on, it had to be this one.
“Eight-thousand,” Elaina called out, raising her numbered paddle high in the air.
“Ten,” Stone countered.
The showroom spotlights gleamed off the custom paint of the Harley Davidson FXDC Dyna Super Glide, circa 2007, and she had to wonder what a motorcycle snob like Stone would want with a salvaged bike like the one before them. She supposed he could be wondering the same thing about her, but that was nobody’s business but her own.
“Ten-five,” she called, casting a poisonous glare in Stone’s direction. She couldn’t drop a penny over twenty-grand on this little hog, and though the machine itself wasn’t worth near that much, its sentimental value put it at a hundred times that much to her, easy. She just couldn’t spare it with the budget she was working with at the moment.
Stone noticed her scowl, and with a self-satisfied grin, raised his paddle once again, driving the bid higher and higher.
When he jumped up to seventeen-five, she began to feel the panic tightening in her chest.
“Eighteen.”
He came across almost bored at that point, which grated on her even more, as they kept the bid moving.
Pompous ass.
She hoped like hell he had a limit he’d hit soon without surpassing her quickly-approaching maximum.
“Twenty-thousand,” he called.
Damn-it!
All eyes in the room that had been bouncing from Stone to Elaina fell on her and waited with eager anticipation. She looked around, meeting their gazes and feeling the pressure, but anything higher was impossible. She was done.
She shook her head, and the crowd’s eyes went to the auctioneer.
“Twenty-thousand dollars, going once… going twice… sold to bidder number one-six-five.”
Sebastian Stone turned to her with a gloating look of triumph, but she was already pushing her way to the back exit, grabbing her phone to call Leo for a ride back to the bar.
*
“Elaina?” Leo called to her through the open window of his truck as he coasted beside her along the sidewalk.
She looked over, and recognition sparked her to slow and veer toward him to hop into the passenger seat. Then Leo sped off, heading back to Elaina’s Lounge.
“You couldn’t wait for me to get there?” he asked as she buckled her seatbelt.
She gave him a sideways glance but didn’t answer.
“I take it you didn’t win the auction,” he guessed.
“What gave it away, Mr. Obvious?” She was angry and didn’t want to talk about it. “Just drive, Leo. I’m not in the mood for twenty questions right now.”
“You’re the boss,” he said, punching his steel-toe boots to the floor, sending the truck speeding through town.
She had expected to leave on a 2007 Harley that night, but Sebastian Stone had come along with his tatted up biceps bulging out of his skin-tight, white tee-shirt and his wallet bulging out from the back pocket of his well-worn, dark-washed jeans.
Arrogant prick.
She walked into the Lounge once they arrived and went straight to work stocking the bar, helping Mindy, her bartender, fill drinks, and clearing off used glasses.
When the rus
h died down and her staff looked like they had it handled, she went back to her office in the back and breathed a disappointed sigh as she sat with her hands to her temples.
A soft voice coming from her opened, office door startled her. “There will be other bikes,” Leo said, trying to soothe her.
She shook her head. “This one was different.”
He leaned against the door frame and crossed his thick, muscular arms across his wide expanse of chest.
“The one he was driving is long gone, Elaina. You’ve got to give up this morbid obsession. It’s fucking with you. I don’t like seeing you like this. It’s got to stop.”
She looked up at her teddy-bear of a bouncer, shocked by the tone he was taking with her. No one spoke to her like that, and he wasn’t going to start now.
“I’m sorry, I don’t recall asking for your input, Leo.”
His hands went up in surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. I don’t like seeing you like this,” he admitted.
Her anger deflated and the fight went out of her. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl. I can handle my own.” She smiled and Leo laughed.
“Actually, you’re a tiny little woman, but you’re the last person I’d ever want to piss off,” he joked.
She nodded, chuckling in agreement. “All right, get back to work. I don’t pay you to stand around chit-chatting.”
He tapped the side of the door frame before he disappeared down the hall toward the floor.
She was just about to pull out some invoices and work on new inventory plans when she heard a crash resounding down the hallway. Shouting and yelling broke out, and she sprang from her chair to see what the hell was going on.
TWO
Boss Unavowed: A Love On the Rocks Romance (The Boss Series Book 2) Page 10