by Kim Desalvo
InHappily Ever After
Kim DeSalvo
Copyright © Kim De Salvo
All rights reserved
For Mumsy and Pops, who never let me forget that dreams really can come true.
Acknowledgements
Wow, has this been a different experience. Never in a million years did I expect that my first novel—self-published by an unknown author—would experience the success that Incidental Happenstance enjoyed. I’ve learned a lot since I first started it; first and foremost, that there are a lot of people in my life who helped to make it all happen. Some were in my face, some worked behind the scenes, and others came from places I never expected to help make this book happen. First and foremost, Mumsy and Pops, who read every word over and over, let me bounce crazy ideas off of them, and were a constant source of encouragement and support. Next, all of those who read parts or all of the story and put in way more than two cents—my wonderful sister Gianna, Dorothy, Amy, and Sue; who kept asking for more pages and helped me push forward. Thanks to Teri, self-proclaimed InHap junkie turned editor extraordinaire, for her great suggestions and for helping me get commas in all the right places. My appreciation to Nathan, for helping get all my legal ducks in a row, and much love and gratitude to Tyler, for giving up entire days for photo and video shoots, and for always being willing to lend a hand; even dropping his own projects to help me with mine.
As always, I am grateful for my wonderful readers. You kept me motivated, inspired, and upbeat throughout this whole process, and I am incredibly thankful for you. So many of you feel like dear friends, and your kind words and support have meant more to me than you will ever know.
About the Cover
I’ll admit; when I published my first book, I was pretty clueless. It was an overwhelming process, and nothing gave me more difficulty than designing the cover. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a visual artist, and have a tremendous respect for those who are. Not too long after the first book came out, I reconnected with Jennifer Blocker, a dear friend from my own “pinky-swear-friend-days.” She had been doing some fabulous modeling, and we started talking about how cool it would be if she could do shot for my cover. She sent all kinds of pics—and although they were all fabulous, I didn’t see one that summed it all up. Until I went and stalked her portfolio, that is. This pic, taken by Tim Hufford of Digital Northern Exposures, jumped out at me right away. I loved how the moon glowed at the top of the guitar, but what really struck me was the confident swagger of the woman—a swagger that Tia was trying so hard to achieve. It captured an essence—a power—and I was thrilled when they both agreed to allow me to use the photo. Thanks, Jen and Tim, for helping me give Tia her swag!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 1
“Oh Dylan, I can’t believe you’re here. Am I dreaming?” Tia closed her eyes tightly for a brief second, shook her head, and opened them again, a smile slowly spreading over her face. “I’ve had this same dream at least a thousand times.”
“No baby, not a dream.” He pulled her into his lap so that she straddled him and felt his heart melt at the joy he saw in her eyes. All the worry, all the doubt drifted away; she’d never stopped loving him either. He was a very lucky man. “This, my love, is what they call a dream come true.”
“Oh yeah,” she agreed, tears trailing down her cheeks even as she laughed out loud. “Definitely a dream come true.” She raised her hands to trace his features; running her fingers over the shadowy stubble of a beard and through the carelessly unkempt waves of his hair; streaked lighter from his months in the sun. Her thumbs traced the curve of full brows shaped over impossibly blue eyes rimmed in long lashes and down the strong nose to his full lips, curved in a telling smile. He tucked one hand around her lower back, pulling her in close before taking her hands into his own, kissing her palms in turn before returning them to his face.
“Oh, God, I can’t believe this,” she said, “you really never broke up with me?”
“Not even for a second.”
“The email was a fake?”
“Completely.”
“And the pictures in the tabloids—all forgeries?” Her voice broke as the realization sunk in.
“Every single one of them.” Dylan’s lips curled up then; the smile he saved just for her; the one that crinkled the corners of his eyes and puckered a tiny dimple in his left cheek. The one that melted her heart every single time she saw it. “Bloody hell I missed you,” he said with a rasp of raw emotion in his voice. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and pulled her in; cocooning her in an embrace that even a few hours ago she believed she’d never feel again. She thought she might shatter with the pure intensity of it all.
“Oh God, Dylan, you can’t even imagine how much I missed you, how much I love you…”
“Believe me, I know exactly how much,” he whispered. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply, holding his breath for a moment before releasing it on a long sigh. “I love you so much, Tia. Thinking I lost you was the worst kind of hell. I’m so sorry that I let you down…”
Tia pulled back and looked hard into his eyes. “Don’t you apologize—you were going through the same thing I was. You didn’t do anything wrong, Dylan.”
He pressed his lips together, his features contorting. He squinted and cocked his head, and she could read the pain in his eyes. “Yes I did, baby girl.” She opened her mouth to protest; to tell him that none of it mattered now that they were together again; but he silenced her with a soft brush of his lips over hers. “Just let me say this, because I need to for my own peace of mind.” He took her face in his hands and held her gaze. “I doubted you, love, and I never should have done that for even a second. I knew there was something off about that bloody email—I just knew in my gut that it wasn’t you—could never have been you—but I fell for it anyway. Then I doubted Jessa’s loyalty, and sent her packing without even giving her a chance to defend herself. Two of the most important people in my life—two people that I trusted without fail—and she managed to break it all apart. I let that bitch get into my head, Tia, and I can’t stop kicking myself for that.”
“Oh, sweetie,” she said softly, “I fell for it too. I believed it, even though Lexi said it reeked of Penelope and couldn’t have been you that wrote it…”
“Yeah, and then you had the added complication of seeing those damn pictures in the tabloids,” he growled. “I don’t know if I can forgive myself for not protecting you from that. I should’ve been more diligent,
I should’ve…”
“How could you have known?” Tia interrupted. “I mean, who would even consider that another person could do something so...so…heartless?”
“But I knew what she was after from the start. I should have seen through her bullshit from the beginning. Why did I even trust her for a minute?” He dropped his eyes and balled his hands into fists.
“Because you’re a good person, Dylan,” Tia said, gently unclenching his fingers and forcing him to meet her gaze. “You want to believe the best about people; look for the good in them. She knew that, and she used it to her advantage.” She put her hands on his shoulders and added, “But she didn’t win, baby. We won. We’re together, and none of the rest of it matters now.”
Dylan ran his fingers roughly through his wavy locks. “I know you’re right,” he said, pressing his mouth into a firm line, “but it kills me that you spent so much time thinking that I’d abandoned you and given up on us, when nothing could be further from the truth.” He touched his lips to hers and let them rest there for a moment.
“It’s a drop in the ocean compared to the time we have ahead of us, Dyl, and I’d much prefer to focus on that.”
His features softened and he smiled. “Oh God, you’re absolutely right—regardless of everything else, this is a happy day. No more secrets, no more hiding. It’s you and me against the world now, Tia. Officially and forever.”
“I really like the sound of that,” she whispered. “Officially and forever. That is really all that matters.”
He pulled her to his mouth slowly, their lips and tongues moving in a familiar dance and building to a crescendo that took her breath away. He shifted, laying Tia against the long seat and pressed his body to hers, crushing her mouth with a more demanding kiss. Tia lost herself in warm velvet, wet tongues, the softness of his lips and his touch. She inhaled sharply as his hand slid over her breast, cupping it firmly and giving it a possessive squeeze. Tia squirmed closer, pressing her hips into his and moaning softly when she felt his desire pushing urgently against her inner thigh.
“I can’t even tell you how badly I want you right now,” he growled into her ear, sending a long shiver down her spine.
“Show me,” she whispered back, sliding her hand over to press it to his jeans, stroking him through the soft fabric and pulling another snarl from deep in his throat. There was no “slow and easy” in his eyes or his touch, and Tia felt her own urgency rising to meet his.
Finally, the limo pulled into her driveway and they all but tumbled out of the car. Tia fumbled for her keys as Dylan scooped his bags from the driver’s hands. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door, finally managed to flip the lock, and then they were inside.
For the briefest moment they just stared at each other, the intensity of their combined gazes speaking what it would take hours for words to say. There were a tremendous number of tangled emotions in them both; relief, disbelief, apologies, forgiveness, joy. A rogue tear spilled down Tia’s cheek, and Dylan caught it with his fingertip, then pulled her to him.
“My baby girl,” he growled, his lips vibrating against her ear. He nipped her earlobe and slid his tongue along the contour of her neck down to her shoulder, the slight stubble on his cheeks sending shivers along her nerve endings.
“Oh Dylan, I missed you so much,” Tia murmured as his hands roamed over her body rough and fast. As she slowly inhaled her heart recognized his scent; dark and animal and masculine and woodsy; and a thousand delicious memories rolled over the back of her closed eyelids. The ragged echoes of their breathing slithered off the walls and then his mouth was on hers and she surrendered to pure sensation. Dylan caught her just as her knees went weak and pressed her against the door, her soft body molding itself around every line of his hard frame.
Dylan couldn’t think of a time he’d wanted anything as badly as he wanted Tia at this moment. His girl; his everything; was looking at him with such desire, such trust, such intense need. He was suddenly transported back to the first time he and Tia had made love.
He’d wanted her so badly that night—there was something about her and the way she made him feel that he couldn’t explain at the time. But as badly as he’d wanted her, he was filled at the same time with an intense desire to protect her. He was only in Chicago for a few days; and because he’d believed that he’d have to walk away, his lustful feelings fought savagely against those compelled to respect her honor. In the end, though, it was beyond their control—wanton desire had claimed an undeniable victory over chivalry, and the spark that would become their love had burst into flame in an instant. He could feel that same heat singeing him right now.
They’d been there and done that since that opening night; fumbled through the first touches, bumped heads and teeth going in for kisses, seen each other with too little sleep, too much to drink, and with noses red-rimmed and running from head colds. They’d had a crash course in each other that summer in Europe, and had grown closer and more comfortable with every passing day.
He thought at the time that he couldn’t possibly feel a more desperate need to be joined with this woman, but the blood coursing through his veins in this moment was a fire that could only be cooled by sexual release. She was his drug of choice and he was way overdue for a fix. He hooked his thumbs in the shoulders of the jacket she’d worn that day and pushed it down, bunching it at her wrists and holding her fast. With his other hand, he tore open her blouse, buttons skittering across the wood floor, and bent to bury his face in the swell of her cleavage. He kissed and nibbled his way around the curve of each breast, then skimmed his lips over the fabric of her bra, nipping at her hardened bud through the lace.
“Ah!” she cried on a sharp intake of breath. “Oh Dyl, I’ve dreamed this so many times…”
Dylan’s response was a look that contained so much fire that Tia thought she might actually burn. There was no tenderness there; just raw and primal hunger as he unhooked the front clasp with one quick motion and greedily sucked one hardened nipple into his mouth, rolling the other between his thumb and forefinger. The sensation was pure ecstasy, and Tia arched her back as every nerve ending in her body pulsed with electricity, each streak of current connected to the spot directly between her legs that swelled and throbbed in anticipation. She felt a floodgate open, and pressed her hips into him insistently.
“No dream could feel this good,” Dylan snarled, moving his free hand to unbutton and slide her pants down in one swift motion to pool at her feet. She whined in the back of her throat as she stepped out of them and kicked them aside, trying to wriggle her arms loose. She was overcome with the depth of her need; more than anything she wanted to touch him; to rake her fingernails down his naked back; run her hands over every inch of his body and pull him deep into the place inside her that only he could fill. She groaned in protest as he tightened the grip at her wrists, but then moaned with pleasure when he pinned her to the wall with his body, put his hand behind her neck, and kissed her with undeniable urgency.
Dylan took a small step back and ran his gaze slowly up and down her body, chewing seductively on his upper lip. Goosebumps popped up on her flesh despite the inferno that burned inside. She’d lost the power of speech and perhaps even the ability to form cohesive thought, so lost was she in the intensity of his stare. Her breath came in ragged gasps until Dylan finally settled his eyes on hers and took in her own longing.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said, his voice rough and raw.
“Oh Dyl,” she whispered, “I just want to touch you. Please let me touch you.” She tugged at her bindings once more, but she had little strength to resist.
“Soon,” he croaked. “Very soon.”
Dylan gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, then raised his index and middle fingers to her lips and pushed them inside her mouth. Tia groaned, running her tongue along and between his fingers while fighting the urge to wiggle free. With his eyes blazing into hers, he slid his moistened fingers inside
her panties, gliding them slowly over her sex before spearing her with them. Tia arched into him and cried out as he pushed them deep, nearly lifting her off the floor. She threw her head back as the entire focus of her being centered on the place where they were connected, on the heat and the wetness and the sensations that were rising up more quickly than she could control. “Look at me, baby,” Dylan commanded, “I want to see everything I make you feel.”
“Mmm,” she moaned and forced her gaze to his; no easy task as Dylan swirled and scissored his long fingers, slowly stroking the place deep inside her that sent waves of pleasure rolling over her entire body.
A slow wail was all she could manage as he slid them out ever so slowly, nearly making her come by running the length of one slick finger along her swollen core.
Dylan held her eyes as he lifted his now glistening fingers to his own mouth, sliding them inside. Tia moaned when his eyes lidded and clouded with desire as he licked her juices from them. “God, I missed the taste of you,” he hissed as he slowly pulled them out, running his tongue over his lips before finally releasing her arms.
“Oh God,” Tia shuddered quickly shrugging out of her jacket and ruined blouse and tossing them to the floor. “I need you inside me right now,” she pleaded, her voice guttural. She‘d never in her life felt such intense need—a physical ache to have their bodies joined. She shoved her hands underneath his shirt and pushed it roughly over his head while he snaked out of his jeans and finally, they were flesh to flesh.
“I like the way you say that,” he growled as they crushed together; their hands moving possessively over reclaimed territory. “Tell me again.”
“Now, Dylan, please!” she insisted, desperately needing the space inside her filled. He bent and scooped her up and they fell together onto the couch, frantically tossing pillows to the floor. Dylan shifted his weight and lifted her hips, plunging himself into the slickness of her; planting himself to the hilt in one swift motion. She came instantly on a strangled cry, and he forged a rhythm that was rough and hard and fast as wave after wave of delicious pleasure ebbed and flowed through her entire being.