Married. Wait! What?

by Virginia Nelson

  “She doesn’t want that, Dad. She signed the papers.”

  “Who had them drawn up?”

  “What?” Chad’s fists clenched.

  “A woman cares for a man, wakes up and finds herself somehow married to him. Then he shows up immediately after and shoves divorce papers under her nose.” His father shook his head. “I’m not going to pretend to know her, son, but I see enough. That girl wears her wounded soul on her sleeve. There’s no way she’d cut you deep like Sheila did. Hell, she couldn’t even muster enough defenses to keep herself from getting carved up just now.”

  Damn.

  “I think all this is a bit rushed, but your mom thinks you’ll want this.” His father set an ornamented box on the table.

  Chad didn’t need to ask what was inside. His great grandmother’s wedding ring, the one thing his mother treasured more than anything else. She’d been given two. The first had gone to Chad’s brother.

  He expected Chloe to get this one.

  Emotion clogged his throat. He battled unshed tears, not bothering to hide them from the man who’d taught him to be man enough to own his thoughts and express his emotions. He’d done wrong by him today.

  “I love you, Dad,” he said.

  “I love you too, son.” He drew his into a hug. “Now you go and set things right with Megan.”

  6

  “Outside, sis,” Chad ordered as he entered the bedroom she’d retreated into, an empty one just down the hall from the one they’d shared last night.

  Megan clenched her teeth and turned away as Chloe stood up to her big brother.

  “I’m not leaving her alone with you, not after the stunt you pulled this morning. Do you kiss Mom with that asshole mouth of yours? Do you have any idea how much of a dick you were?”

  “Yeah, I do, actually.”

  Megan turned, too started by the admission to pretend to ignore his existence.

  “I wanted her to hear the apology in private first, then I’d make one to you and Mom and Dad, but okay.” He crossed his arms and settled his turbulent gaze on Megan. “I lied to you last night, Spaz.”

  Oh God, this wasn’t going to go well. Okay, hear him out then you can leave once and for all.

  “I said we’d slay our demons together later, but we can’t do that.” His voice softened. “Last night…”

  “Last night what?” Chloe prodded. Arms crossed, she tapped her foot and looked between the two of them as if watching a tennis match.

  “Chloe, maybe you should go,” Megan suggested.

  “Like hell. Not until I know he’s not going to be a dick again. No one guts my friend.”

  While Megan appreciated her protective best friend, she wasn’t prepared to let Chad spill his guts like this if he wasn’t comfortable. He shifted his stance and uncrossed his arms.

  “Last night you slayed mine, Megan.” His voice was thick with emotion. Moisture pooled in his eyes. “The way you trusted me to…” He broke the sentence off. “I knew you slayed a few of yours to give me that trust. Then we…”

  Megan squeezed her eyes shut, blinking away the tears.

  “Okay, and I’m gone,” Chloe said. “Sorry, this is way into TMI territory. Love ya like a sis, Meg. If he gets dickish again, you let me know.”

  Chloe clomped away, high heels striking marble all the way down the long hallway.

  “Then we made love. I’ve never had that connection with anyone, Spaz. Never.” He grasped her arm and stroked upward to her cheek. His thumb swiped a tear from her cheek.

  She reached up and did the same with him.

  “I woke this morning and found you caring for my kid and I knew. I knew what I’d stupidly given up in Vegas by making you sign those papers.” He shook his head. “Funny how we’re in the city of winning and losing. I won the biggest game of all by waking up married to you, then I crapped it all away with a quickie divorce.”

  Holy. Crap.

  Megan clutched her stomach as he drew her closer. Heat flooded her insides, a warmth spreading along her synapses as though she’d unearthed a hot spring. She basked in the anticipation pounding in her pulse.

  “Give me another chance to prove I’m worth you and I swear you’ll never regret it, Spaz.” Determination deepened his voice. It echoed off the bedroom walls.

  “Your grandparents will never accept me.”

  “I don’t give a shit about them. We’ll walk away from this estate today and never look back. You will never breathe the same air as them. Neither will Hunter.” The adamancy thundered through the room. “You will never be put through what you went through last night. Mom and Dad are on your side. Chloe is. I know my brother will be when he comes up for air. As far as we’re all concerned, the Chambers family ends at Mom and Dad’s generation.”

  Wow.

  Megan reeled from the pronouncement. While she was glad he would make such a strong stand for his son, she wasn’t sure doing so for her as well was a great idea.

  “What about Sheila? The quickie marriage will hit the media. She’ll raise hell and make things hard on Hunter. Chad, he’s been through hell. I can’t let him get dragged through more.” She took a teary breath. “I love you, Chad. I think I have for a long time. I know it’s stupid because we haven’t really gotten to know one another, but when I’m with you….”

  Megan took another breath.

  “You know I didn’t have much family growing up. What I did have wasn’t worth a damn. I guess that makes me hang onto what I love fiercely the second I realize it’s important to me. I started falling in love with you years ago, the way you raised your son. The little man he’s becoming because of you.”

  “Jesus,” Chad whispered. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it, Megan. This morning I woke and you weren’t there and I thought you’d left. I lost it, realized I’d done that. I’d made you sign away your place in my life, my bed. My heart.”

  Shock rippled through her. His hand cupped her face. His mouth hovered near hers. Their breaths collided.

  “I love you Megan Chambers. There’s no way in hell I’m giving you up. You are my wife, my life, my heart and soul.”

  Megan attacked. No other word described her reaction. One second they were a hair’s breadth from a kiss. The next they were horizontal on the bed and ripping at each other’s clothes. She remained on top, growling whenever he attempted to take control.

  She loved him on top, but right now she wanted him too bad for him to toy with her like he had last night. Slow and seductive rocked, but she needed fast and hard.

  Their tongues collided, dueled for control he ceded easily, as if sensing the raging fire burning deep within her. She tossed the last of her rage and regret into the fiery flames and fed him the love and desire she craved. For every stroke she gave, she got two.

  They stripped one another quickly, but this was her play time. She squeezed and stroked her way down his arms, across his shoulders and along his ripped abdominals. The small v along his hip bone made a perfect path for her curious mouth. And tongue.

  His body clenched and rippled beneath her ministrations, but Chad remained beneath her. Giving her whatever she wanted. She moaned her approval and wrapped her hand around the hardened length of his arousal. Precum trickled from the head.

  “You have a thick, long cock, husband.” She smiled down, liking the way the word rolled off her tongue. “Is this all mine?”

  “Yes,” he growled. “Only yours.”

  “I’m going to enjoy sucking you off,” she whispered against the hardened length. She kissed a path up, then down.

  By the time she’d payed sufficient homage to her man’s body, her entire body trembled with need. He explored her body and plunged two fingers into her slickened pussy. She moaned and pumped his cock a couple times, then positioned him at her entry and guided herself home.

  “Husband,” she whispered.

  “Wife,” he growled.

  She rode him fast and hard, the pace born of desperation and
carnal need. Breathing proved difficult, but she didn’t give a damn. She collapsed atop him and relished the way he snuggled her beneath him immediately, as though sealing her away from the world.

  For now she was his and he was hers. Nothing and no one else mattered. There’s be time to handle the fallout from Vegas later. Sheila. The grandparents. The media.

  Hunter.

  “We didn’t use a condom,” Chad whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  “It’s okay. I’m clean. I trust you,” she replied.

  “Fuck I love you, Megan,” he said. “I’m clean too, never had that happen with anyone. I lost my brains the second your grasped my dick.”

  She liked knowing she undid his control.

  He reached over to the pile of clothes strewn on the other side of the bed. He pulled out a gorgeous, ornamental style box. A small one like you’d see in museums or antique stores. He lifted the lid and her entire body melted into him.

  “My great grandmother gave this to Mom the day she died. It’s been in the family for hundreds of years. No one knows exactly how old it is, but we all know the legend. Whoever wears the ring shall have a lifetime of happiness and love.”

  Tears sprang from Megan’s eyes. This wasn’t happening. Dear heavens, this was the ring her younger self heard about from Chloe, who whispered her hope that it’d be passed down to her.

  “Chad, my gosh. This ring. Chloe…”

  “Don’t, baby.” Chad kissed her temple, then along her watery cheek. “Mom wants you to wear this. And I do too. Let’s get married, Spaz. For real.”

  “I-I don’t know what you say.”

  “Yes is a good start.” Chad smirked. “I love you, Megan.”

  “I love you too, Chad Chambers. Yes, yes, a million times yes. But we have to get Hunter’s permission first. I’m not going to traumatize him by springing this on him.”

  “You’re the goddess who discovered ketchup eggs. He’s going to love having you as his mother.”

  Her heart clenched. “He has a mom.”

  “No, that woman gave birth to him. She’s never loved him enough to crawl out of bed at five a.m. and fix a breakfast fit for a king. She never put herself between him and his great grandpa when he was on a rampage.” He cupped her face. “That’s a mom, Megan. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

  “I just wish I could remember how the night in Vegas all started,” she whispered. “I mean, what the hell do we tell our kids, Chad?”

  “Kids, huh?” He grinned big and wide. Heat smoldered her insides. “How many do you want?”

  She burrowed deeper into his embrace and buried her head in the crook of his neck, unsure whether she should admit the truth or not. Chad’s body shook with the force of his laugh. He squeezed.

  “That many, huh?” He squeezed her tight until she looked up at him. “I’ll build a house that makes this monstrosity look like a trailer if that’s what we need for all those kids, Spaz. Whatever you want, however many you want. I just hope they all have your gorgeous smile and hair and eyes.”

  “I want lots of little boys with dark green eyes, dark hair and curious minds,” she whispered.

  “It’s a good thing we’re having a baseball team of kids then,” he commented dryly.

  “How many are on a baseball team?” she asked, running her fingers down his chest.

  “Eight,” he replied. “Is that enough for you?”

  “It’s a start,” she whispered. “Though I kind of like us being a football family.”

  “Jesus, baby. That’s a lot of babies for you to carry,” he replied, concern in his voice.

  She held the tension, the doubt inside a few beats, then relaxed and gave the idea in her heart, her soul the breath of life it needed. If he said no she could move on. But if he agreed…

  “What if…” she swallowed and shifted, throwing her leg over his. “What if they weren’t all ours? What if we adopted a few?”

  Silence ticked by a few moments. She peered up at him. Nervousness crawled within her.

  “There are so many little ones out there with no one to love them and no real home. I look at Hunter and…” She squeezed him tighter. “I remember how lonely I was growing up, no one to love me. No one who cared in my corner. Then Chloe came into my life and everything changed.”

  “Baby, I love the idea of adopting. I’ll be honest, though. I want at least one that’s you and me. I’ll love them all the same, but I want those gorgeous eyes of yours looking back from a baby I hold in my arms.”

  “I want that too.” She smiled. “So a baseball of originals and a football team of refurbished.”

  Chad’s laughter filled the room. She cackled alongside him, even though she knew she was half serious. She’d love nothing more than have a massive family with her hubby.

  “We’d better get started on those originals then,” he whispered.

  Oh yeah. Megan laughed. She never expected a drunken night in Vegas to turn into the answer to an unspoken prayer.

  About the Author

  Born in small-town Texas, Cara Carnes was a princess, a pirate, fashion model, actress, rock star and Jon Bon Jovi's wife all before the age of 13. In reality, her fascination for enthralling worlds took seed somewhere amidst a somewhat dull day job and a wonderful life filled with family and friends. When she's not cemented to her chair, Cara loves traveling, photography and reading.

  For more information, check out her website at www.caracarnes.com.

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  The Ice Bride

  Ripley Proserpina

  Copyright © 2017 Ripley Proserpina

  All rights reserved.

  The Ice Bride

  She crashed into their life, and changed everything.

  Betha lives for adventure. A photojournalist who’s used to taking risks, it takes a lot to surprise her. Then her plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness and she comes face-to-face with her destiny.

  The Jötnar are born and bred as warriors, but the world has changed, and brothers Raynor, Grim, and Fenris have no place in it. Without a battle to win, they struggle to find meaning in their lives. Until Betha.

  One glance is all it takes for them to realize she’s meant for them, except for one glaring fact— Betha’s human. With a little help from the boys’ mother, Betha, Grim, Raynor, and Fenris’s lives are changed forever. Will they accept what their hearts know to be true? Or will they deny the connection binding them together?

  Prologue

  Freya

  Raising three boys alone would test the patience of any woman. I loved my husband, but if he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him for leaving me this way. It wasn’t that I minded being a matriarch. Even if he was with me, I’d have been in charge. It was the way I was built.

  But there were times when I needed a little support. Someone who could listen to me and say, “You know what, Freya? You’ve had some good ideas and some bad ideas, and this is not good.”

  This was one of those times.

  My three boys were hurting, and they were at risk of making a mistake they couldn’t take back.

  I watched the sleeping human, tiny compared to me and my boys, but big trouble. The moon reached a zenith, and I could feel it in my bones. It pulled at my power, and beneath my skin my magic hummed and ached for release.

  I’d never done this before, not without the full consent and knowledge of the people involved. My mother had done it for me when I’d met my husband, but we’d been wide awake and preparing for the event for months before it happened. As a bride, I’d met my man beneath the stars and our mothers had thrown herbs on the fire and whispered the magic to tie our souls together in a knot so intricate only death had undone it
.

  And even then, sometimes I wondered if he was still with me. On the wind, I could smell his scent, and when the change came over me, ice covering me from head to toe, I swore I heard his voice whisper in my ear.

  Creeping closer to the sleeping woman, I pushed her thick blonde strands away from her face and tucked them behind her ear. My magic began to gather, tingling like a bite of frost on my fingertips.

  “It is time for you to know your mates.”

  The girl released a breath, a puff of white in the quickly chilling air.

  It was working.

  Without a doubt, I knew it would find my boys and embrace them. They'd awaken, and the truth would be laid out. No longer would they be able to deny what they’d felt the moment they’d laid eyes on Betha.

  Betha’s hand fell out of the covers, opening and closing as if reaching for something.

  I knew what it was.

  Her soul reached for my sons as surely as theirs reached for her.

  I sighed. What would Om have said if he saw those boys of his push aside the person the universe created just for them?

  You’ve done the right thing.

  I smiled. My thoughts sounded in his voice, and I let myself believe it was him speaking to me across the cosmos, all the way from the afterlife where he waited for me.

  If things went as planned, he’d be waiting a while yet. I’d have the children of my children to hold in my arms before I joined him.

  The darkness began to wane, turning from black to blue and then gray. The smell of snow came in through the open window, and with it the moans of my three grown boys, awakening with the knowledge they’d been tied for eternity with their perfect mate.

  There was a crackle, the sound of ice snapping and breaking. The change had come over them, and their magic would alert them to the truth they needed to face.