Finding Peace (Breaking Free Series Book 2)

by Becca Taylor

  “I promise I will, Kat.”

  She kisses my cheek before she embraces my wife.

  After the toasting and the speeches end, we have our cake cutting ceremony. Instead of the traditional three tiered wedding cake, we made the decision to have cupcakes. Of course, after multiple taste-testings, we ended up with seven flavors to choose from, and I approve of each one. Aly liked the idea of giving people a variety. Our favorite is the coconut cake topped with key lime frosting. When the time comes for us to cut the cake, I feed my wife first. Aly follows, feeding me a piece with extra icing. Gladly, I lick the icing from her fingers. Slowly.

  I’d asked Hunter to set up a surprise for Aly earlier in the evening.

  “Pardon me, folks, but I need to steal my bride for a minute. Please eat, drink, dance and enjoy.”

  Excitedly, she asks, “Where are we going?”

  I lead her to the garage. Hunter already has the door open and has even set up the giant bow like I asked. When Aly sees the trike similar to the one she sat on at the dealership, she squeals.

  “This is for me? But I don’t have a license.”

  I hand her the envelope with the class registration. “You will soon. Classes start after the honeymoon.”

  Aly jumps in my arms, covering my face with kisses. “I can’t believe you did this! I love it!”

  “I knew you would. Now go sit on it.”

  She jumps from my arms and is on the motorcycle in a flash, looking sexy as hell in her wedding dress. The crew walks over just as Aly starts the engine. Jade starts snapping pictures as always, and I’m grateful that this moment is being captured on film. Reluctantly, Aly climbs off her new bike to return to the party.

  When All I Want by Staind plays through the speakers, I bring my bride to the dance floor. Aly places one hand on my shoulder, the other hand in mine. My other hand is low on her exposed back, keeping her close to my body. We dance a slow two-step to the music.

  “Best day ever.” Aly whispers as she rests her head on my heart. I hold her tighter as I nod in agreement. Life can’t get better than this.

  We spend the rest of the evening dancing and having a wonderful time. When the last person finally leaves, the cleanup crew works efficiently and gets out in under an hour. Aly won’t go inside until their truck pulls away.

  The moment they pull out of the driveway, I hold my arms open to my bride. Finally, I have her all to myself. “Come here, Mrs. Jacobs.”

  Aly willingly comes into my arms, giving me the kiss I have wanted all night. This woman has the ability to knock the wind out of me with a touch of her lips. This time is no different. If anything, it is better, knowing she is mine forever.

  “I need to give you my present.” Aly leads me up the stairs to our bedroom.

  It’s been a week since I’ve been inside her. I want nothing more than that. She asks me to unzip her dress. I slide the zipper down. Aly slowly lets the dress fall to the floor, revealing her body to me. I knew there was no way she was able to wear a bra. The white silk panties are nothing more than a scrap of material that I want to tear off.

  Her body distracts me, so much that I almost miss it. She turns sideways, revealing my present: a tattoo on her hip. The words we just spoke during our wedding in the shape of a heart. In the center, today’s date. My fingers trace the heart. “Do you like it?”

  “No, Angel. I love it. It’s beautiful. Our forever anniversary.”

  I kiss her gently at first. She helps me remove my shirt, too slowly. I remove the rest, needing to be inside my wife.

  I pick her up, bridal style, since today she is my bride. Gently, I place her on the bed. As much as I want to tear her panties off, I remove them carefully.

  “Come here, my husband.”

  Her words make me even harder than I am.

  I lay next to my wife, taking her in a tender kiss. She climbs on top of me, temporarily taking charge. She kisses down my body, but I don’t let her reach her mark. I flip her on her back, needing control back. I kiss down her body to her new tattoo. With a gentle touch, I trace the artfully drawn words. It’s beautiful and feminine just like her.

  I position myself above her entering her slowly. Our fingers entwine, and I kiss the ring I placed on her finger.

  Mine.

  Tonight, I take time making love to my wife, never wanting this day to end.

  Her legs wrap around my body, helping her to move in perfect rhythm with me. With each inward stroke, she tightens around me as if she wants me to stay deep inside. My eyes never leave hers and hers stay connected with mine. She breathes my name and it’s my undoing. Her orgasm sets me off. She’s squeezing me tighter than she ever has, milking me.

  My body is spent and collapses next to hers. She curls into my body, falling asleep in my arms. My eyes grow heavy as I let her breathing and scent lull me to sleep.

  My love, my wife, my angel.

  Aly

  BENTLEY WANTS TO GO out and celebrate tonight, but I want to cook a romantic dinner at home. It’s our second anniversary. I take the day off from work to prepare the biggest meal I have ever cooked: rack of lamb, roasted fingerling potatoes, and fresh green beans.

  As I prep the meal, I think back to the moments that brought us here. There have been fights over silly little things, like how he manages to get his socks in the tiniest balls and he just tosses them by the laundry, or the way I squeeze the toothpaste in the middle, or the never ending fight over which way the toilet paper should go on the holder: everyone knows it’s over, not under.

  Then there are good times, like our Saturday motorcycle rides, the lazy days at the beach, and those date night Wednesdays. I think about all those memories as I set the table. I look at the time and realize I have just enough time to shower and dress before Bentley gets home.

  The front door opens as I come down the stairs. Bentley is holding not flowers, but a baby palm tree. We talked about the need to update the landscaping in the yard, so we had agreed no gifts this year. He places the pot on the mat by the front door, meets me halfway, and gives me a kiss that still makes my toes curl.

  “Happy anniversary, Angel. There’s three more just like it outside, ready for planting tomorrow. Do I have time for a shower?”

  “Yes, dinner will be ready in thirty minutes.”

  He starts to head upstairs, but stops.

  “You look beautiful, Aly.”

  I look down at my maxi dress. The perfect balance between dressy and comfortable. I pour our drinks and set them on the table. The finishing touch? For dessert, I replicated the flavors of our wedding cupcakes. Bentley comes bounding down the stairs just as I ice the last bit of the cake.

  “Dinner smells great. I can’t wait to try it.” He stands behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist, placing a soft kiss on my neck. He grabs my wrist holding the spatula, tingles run down my spine with the seductive way he licks the icing from it.

  “Delicious.”

  I nudge him away. “No dessert before dinner.”

  I’m saved by the oven timer. While the meat rests, I prepare the green beans. I arrange everything artfully on the table. Bentley cuts the meat, and I serve the sides. The food couldn’t have turned out better. Bentley raves the entire time.

  With the dishes cleared and put away, I take out the small cake and place it in front of Bentley. “Can you cut it for us?”

  Bentley takes the cake server and cuts the first slice. I place his plate in front of him and he puts the piece on it. He looks at the cake, then up at me. I colored the inside of the two-layer cake with one pink, the other blue. Reaching across to the chair next to me, I hand him his gift.

  “I thought we said no gifts.” Bentley’s hands shake slightly as he lifts the lid on the box. Inside is the pregnancy test I took a few hours ago; the word on it: pregnant. He falls to his knees in front of me, placing his hands on my stomach. “We’re going to have a baby?”

  “Yes.” I run my hands through his hair as he looks up at m
e with a smile.

  “Best fucking anniversary present ever.” He kisses me gently, scoops me up in his arms, preparing to carry me up the stairs.

  “We have to work on that language of yours, Daddy.”

  “I have nine months to work on that.”

  “More like seven and a half, if I did the math right.”

  Bentley lowers me to the bed. “You are my world, you know that,” he says as he lowers his head to kiss my belly. “Now, you both are my everything. Thank you for making me a husband, father, and the happiest man on Earth.”

  The end of The Story of Aly and Bentley

  Stay tuned for a preview of Finding Reason

  Dear Readers,

  I hope you enjoyed The Story of Aly and Bentley. I fell in love with these two in Finding Home, and knew they needed their own book. My next book, Finding Reason, will be about Hunter and Lexi.

  Thank you for all your support.

  Love,

  Becca Taylor

  Preview of Finding Reason (Breaking Free Series Book 3)

  Chapter One - Hunter

  SWEAT POURS DOWN MY face, neck, and back. My legs and arms work together in unison, without me even having to think. I pound away, working out the frustration that is my life. The only thing that calms me down after a day like this is locking myself in my soundproof room, putting on my head phones, blasting some music, and drumming it out. With each beat, my lungs expand, taking in oxygen.

  The song I choose at this moment is fitting for my life, because my life is a nightmare. One big fucking nightmare. Why? Because of the woman that just ran out the front door. No one knows the truth behind my relationship with Gabby. I do my best to hide it from my boys, from everyone. I know they don’t like her. Hell, most days I don’t like her. Even more, I hate myself for staying with her.

  Once upon a fucking time, I was happy. I was with my high school sweetheart. The birds chirped fucking love songs, the sky was filled with fucking rainbows, and I was on top of the goddamn world. I was two years older than her, and did a lot of waiting. But for her, I was willing to. The day after she graduated college, I was ready to propose. She had other plans, telling me how she met the love of her life, how they were moving away together.

  While she’s off living her fairytale life, I’ve created a life in hell. After a year of feeling sorry for myself, I woke up. I was done with being alone. Where most guys like to live the single life, I wanted the opposite. In walked my cousin, Melanie. She introduced me to Gabby, saying we would be perfect together.

  Gabriella was hot, sweet, and fun. One date turned into another, and here I am three years later, wondering how I can fix this. After the first year it was like she had a personality transplant. Out went the nice girl, and in came her evil twin.

  It started with her not liking any of my friends.

  “Hunter, why do you hang around with those losers? What kind of job is driving around in a bus serving food to people?”

  I am one of those guys who “serves food” for a living. Two of my best friends’, Bentley and Caleb, ran a food truck. I cooked for them. Business kept growing, and now they run a deli, Butter My Bread. When it opened, I stayed on as their cook.

  At a young age I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. My father didn’t have the patience to handle me. He just thought I was just an out of control punk. He’d slap me around when he thought I was misbehaving, and by slap I mean, beat the shit out of me. My mom left him for that reason. I never saw him again once I hit my teenage years.

  My mom, on the other hand, had the patience of a saint. She would redirect my energy, knowing, instinctively that if she kept my hands busy, I wouldn’t act out. She bought me my first drum kit. I remember Christmas morning seeing it under the tree. If I wasn’t banging on my drums, I was playing every sport I could. I needed something to focus on, to keep out of trouble, and playing sports did that. The coaches gave me the male role model I was lacking in my life.

  The other thing she found helped if I’d had a rough day was cooking. She would have me help cook every meal. Turns out, I was a pretty damn good at it too.

  My job isn’t included in my problems. It’s women, and Gabby is the first one on that list. When we go out, she’s a bitch to every girl. I’ve never given her any reason to be jealous, but she is; always accusing me of checking out this “skank” or that “slut”. I’ve just stopped going out, or I just don’t bring her along. She’s started checking up on me all the time, texting or calling me non-stop, twenty-four fucking seven. At first I thought it was cute, until her questioning changed from “What ya doing?” to “Who the fuck are you with?” The real kicker is that she is the one who cheated on me.

  One night, she came crying to me saying she made a mistake. She’d got drunk, and hooked up with some guy at a party: a party at my cousin’s house that I left because she was yelling at me.

  “Are you checking out that blonde?”

  I’d looked around the room confused. “I have no idea who you are talking about. What blonde?”

  The whole night, I’d had my eyes focused on the inside of my cup while Gabby made her rounds around the room.

  “The slut wearing the short skirt. I don’t even know who she came with. Melanie doesn’t even know who she is.”

  I’d finally spotted the girl she was talking about when she threw her drink in my face.

  “What the fuck, Gabby?”

  Everyone in the room stared at us.

  “I knew you were checking her out. I hate you, Hunter.”

  Then she ran into my cousin’s arms, crying.

  The woman lives for drama, Miss ‘I need to be the center of attention’, something I do my damnedest to avoid. Rather than continuing the show for everyone, I’d just left.

  We split up for a few months after that happened. It was the first time I could breathe again.

  Finding Peace Playlist

  The Story by Brandy Carlile

  Every Breath You Take by The Police

  Outside by Staind

  Creep by Radiohead

  Love Yourself by Justin Bieber

  Sorry by Justin Bieber

  Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke

  Epiphany by Staind

  It’s Been Awhile by Staind

  Chains by Nick Jonas

  Everything Changes by Staind

  Right Here by Staind

  So Far Away by Staind

  Thinking About You by Puddle of Mudd

  Breaking Free Series by Becca Taylor

  Finding Home

  Finding Peace

  Coming 2016…

  Finding Reason

  Finding Memories

  Follow me on…

  Facebook https://facebook.com/authorbeccataylor/

  Twitter https://twitter.com/beccat76

  Instagram https://instagram.com/rebeccavv76

  Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/authorbeccataylor76