Forget Me Knot

by King, Lori

  “That’s pretty,” she marveled. “I bet the sunrise is phenomenal from up on the mountain.”

  Drannon nodded as he climbed down off of Toto. He helped her down and rubbed the small of her back when she stretched her muscles. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

  She followed along as he took the blanket and Toto’s reins and led her to a rock ledge that seemed to hover over the valley floor unsupported. It was a half circle about eight feet wide at its widest point.

  “You want me to go on there? Is it safe?” she asked warily.

  Drannon rolled his eyes. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t risk your safety. It’s a piece of a much larger boulder, and it’s been here for centuries, I’m sure. We can stay back here, but you’ll get the best view from the ledge.”

  Swallowing back her fear, Lacy took his hand and carefully moved onto the platform. Drannon spread the blanket on the rock, and then gestured for her to sit down.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked.

  “Watch. It should happen in the next few minutes.” He propped his back against the cliff, and she leaned into him, grateful for his support even if they were on stable ground. Turning her eyes in the direction of the mountains again, she watched for something spectacular.

  It was a couple of minutes before she realized that the line of light was traveling slowly down the mountain as the sun crept higher in the sky. With every foot gained, more of the breathtaking vista came into view, and she heard herself gasp with delight as a blue carpet of flowers spread out in front of them.

  “The forget-me-nots!” she exclaimed, remembering his comments months ago about this being his favorite place and time. He’d brought her to share it with him, and that meant the world to her. Each day, he seemed to show her more how much he loved her, but this was overwhelming. Tears slid down her cheeks as she stared out at the majestic site before her. It was the perfect combination of strong mountains and soft flowers. No artist could have done it justice. “It’s magnificent. So beautiful.”

  “I knew you’d like it.” Drannon shifted, turning to face her, and pulling her hands into his. “Lacy Denvers, I realize we’ve only known each other for a few months, and before I met you I laughed at the notion that someone could fall in love so quickly, but that’s exactly what happened. I love you more than anything else in the world, and I want to watch the sunrise with you every day for the rest of my life.” Dropping to his knee, he slid a small white velvet box from his pocket. “Will you marry me?”

  Lacy swallowed hard, struggling to keep control of her emotions. As always humor was her first reaction, “I’m not much of a morning person, but if you’ll consider sunsets rather than sunrises…”

  Drannon laughed, and shook his head. “As long as you say yes.”

  “Yes! Of course yes! I love you Drannon Russo, and I’ll never forget this moment for as long as I live.” Their kiss broke any record they’d already set for passion, as they both poured their hearts into the connection.

  When they separated, he held up the box and laughed, “Are you going to look at the ring?”

  “Yes!” she snatched the box and clicked it open to find a ruby and diamond engagement ring inside. Eyes wet with tears, and cheeks hurting because her smile was so wide, she slid it on her finger. “It’s beautiful.”

  “I picked it out while you were packing up your stuff in Chicago last March, but I wanted to give you some time before I asked. The color reminded me of your hair when it’s wet.” He said, kissing the spot on her finger where the ring rested.

  “You’re perfect for me, cowboy. I would have said yes then, too, but I’m glad you waited. I will enjoy telling this story to our grandkids someday.” She whispered, wrapping her arms around the man of her dreams.

  As her future husband began to make love to her, Lacy couldn’t help but think how lucky she was, and how glad she was that she’d taken a leap of faith. With Hawke’s ingenuity, and her skills in marketing, the ranch was already well on its way to becoming a therapeutic retreat for individuals seeking solace from their demons. Soon they would have their first foster child on the ranch, and a new therapist was scheduled to start a permanent position at Crawley Creek next month.

  Her future was clear, and as bright as the sunshine kissing the valley below them.

  The End

  Rough Ride Romeo

  (Crawley Creek 2)

  Coming June 2, 2015

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  Weekend Surrender

  By: Lori King

  Chapter One

  Rachel slammed the closet door behind her as she emerged dressed in her sexiest, country cutie clothes. Her stonewashed blue denim miniskirt barely covered the bottom curves of her ass cheeks. It was paired with a man’s red and blue plaid dress shirt, and the shirttails were tied just under her perky B-cup breasts. She left the buttons open so her tits were clearly visible rising out of the top of her blood-red satin pushup bra.

  Her tanned midsection was completely bare except for the crystal belly ring that dangled in her belly button. From the back she knew the view would be of the half dollar size daisy tattoo she had gotten when she turned eighteen, just above the top of her black belt. The hand-tooled leather was clasped between her hips bones, with a large belt buckle in the shape of a star. On her feet were a pair of black cowboy boots with silver embellishments, and her long, slim legs were bare.

  She was dressed to kill with every intention of causing a few heart attacks tonight. Her chestnut brown hair hung down to the middle of her back in large wavy curls, and she ran her fingers through it carelessly as she walked.

  Her makeup was applied with precision so her oversized chocolate brown eyes were nearly as prominent as her blood-red lips. She had always hated the fullness of her lips, but men seemed to love them. Mitch always called them dick sucking lips.

  She hated Mitch now.

  Mitch deserved Connie Sanders. The bleach blonde tramp had been trying to sink her claws into Mitchell Edwards for more than six months, and she had finally gotten her way. Well screw them both. If plastic boobs, and a spray-on tan was what Mitch got off on, then he deserved Connie.

  Rachel was going to go out and find a man to fuck her heartbreak away. She wanted raw, dirty, raunchy sex. Not the soft, gentle missionary sex Mitch seemed to favor. She wanted to be shoved against a wall, or held down by her wrists as a large muscular man devoured her completely. That’s why she created this plan.

  It was a Friday night, and that meant a packed house at Robin’s, the local bar that Rachel had waited tables at through college. She had met Mitch there, and he would no doubt be there tonight playing darts with his cronies, while Connie giggled and preened over a watered down margarita. So in order to prove to the world that Rachel Lia Morgan was completely and utterly over her ex-boyfriend, she was going on the prowl on his turf.

  There were usually dozens of hot men at Robin’s on the weekends. All of the local ranchers and ranch hands from the outskirts of Stone River usually hit the bar on Friday night looking for some action. Never before had Rachel considered indulging in a one-night stand, but tonight was her night.

  She spritzed a little bit of her favorite perfume on her throat, and then grabbed her small purse. On her way out the door she noticed her cell phone was blinking with a missed message. She climbed into her silver Ford F150 as she hit the play message button.

  “Rach, I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I want to apologize. I didn’t mean for you to find out about Connie like that…Rach? Please call me so we can talk this out. You can’t just throw two years out the window. I made a mistake, damn it—”

  The voice clicked off as she hit the delete button, and dropped her phone back into her purse. Mitch could beg and plead all he wanted, but she had already made her peace with their breakup. She wasn’t interested in his excuses anymore. She turned the volume up on her truck radio, so Miranda Lambert’s tune “Mama’s Broken Heart” blared out the windows
into the night, and headed toward her freedom.

  The bar’s parking lot was packed with work trucks. With exception of only a handful of cars that probably belonged to the female patrons of the bar. Rachel backed her truck into a small parking stall at the back edge of the lot, right next to a black Dodge Ram Quad Cab that looked like it had rolled off the lot and onto the ranch just a few hours ago. Realizing she had parked rather close to the truck, she carefully opened her door, and slipped out into the small space.

  A large masculine hand covered hers, where it rested on the top edge of her truck door, and she gasped.

  “Sunshine, if you nick my new truck with your door, I’m going to have to spank that cute little ass raw.” The voice in her ear sent a shiver over her skin, and she flushed at his words.

  She turned her head to see who was behind her that would have any right to speak to her like that, and she nearly groaned out loud when her brown eyes met those of Parker Brooks. Parker Brooks was one of the four Brooks brothers who owned Brooks Pastures-a local cattle ranch. The four brothers shared two things in common, their love of ranching, and their smoking hot good looks. Dark hair, dark eyes, long lean muscular cowboy bodies, all tucked up under a cowboy hat. It made Rachel’s blood sing just thinking about the four of them.

  Holding her breath she dropped her gaze from his dark eyes down to his sexy mouth, and she felt her own tongue dart out to wet her lips unconsciously. His raised eyebrow told her that he noticed, and she shook her head slightly to clear her lust fogged brain.

  “I’m sorry, Parker. I did park a little close there, but no worries, I was careful,” she said with a smile she hoped would distract him from the increase in her breathing, and the rise and fall of her breasts.

  It clearly didn’t work, because his eyes shifted from her lips directly down the front of her shirt, and then they dragged lower. His gaze drifted from her golden colored abs, down to her booted feet, and then he reached out and tugged her hand free of the truck door. Surprised, she followed his lead when he turned her around so her back was to him again. A long, low whistle had goose bumps forming on her arms, but the finger stroking over her tattoo in the small of her back was what had her creaming her panties.

  “Holy shit, sunshine. Who let you out of the house dressed like that?” he asked in a gravelly rough voice that nearly knocked Rachel’s knees out from underneath her.

  The meaning of his question sunk in, and her irritation overcame her libido. “Last I looked in the mirror I was a grown woman, cowboy. I don’t need anyone’s permission or approval of my wardrobe.”

  Parker let her go when she tugged her hand out of his. She slammed her truck door and started to move out from between the two vehicles. “You might be grown up, but wearing a skirt like that is asking for trouble.”

  She paused and looked back over her shoulder. “Maybe that’s exactly what I wanted,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

  His slow, sexy smile made her mouth go dry, and she swallowed hard. “If you want trouble, little girl, all you need to do is ask.”

  Trying to cover up her nerves at his deliberately seductive invitation, she snorted out a laugh, “If I decide I want your kind of trouble, I won’t need to ask.” Tossing her hair back over her shoulder, she headed for the door of the bar.

  Before she could pull it open, a large hand reached around her for the door handle, and another equally large hand settled on her hip. Whipping her head violently, ready to give Parker Brooks a piece of her mind, she froze in place when it was his brother, Hudson’s face only inches from hers.

  “Hey, honey,” he said with a quick smile, and a wink, “Let me get the door for you.”

  “Thanks, Hudson,” she responded, sighing with relief that that was all he said. She wanted a wild fling, but the Brooks brothers were out of her league for multiple reasons.

  They were all at least ten years older than her twenty-four years, and they were all wickedly sexy men. The rumors around town were the four brothers shared their women, and right at this moment, looking into Hudson’s heated cocoa-colored gaze, she would have believed it. She had an inkling he had heard her interaction with Parker, but she wasn’t going to tempt fate by asking.

  Instead she tipped her chin up and turned back to the door, only to realize that it wasn’t Hudson’s hand on her. Sawyer Brooks stood on her other side with his hand resting lightly on the curve of her hip, and the rest of his body leaning nonchalantly against the door jam.

  “Rachel,” he said softly, and her pulse took off racing. Okay, the idea of having a sexy one-night stand had merit, but now that she was surrounded by large muscular men, she wasn’t so sure she could go through with the reality. “No need to rush off. How are you tonight?”

  Blinking in surprise, she answered automatically in a snotty tone, “I’m fan-fuckin-tastic, Sawyer, thank you for asking.”

  His eyes darkened with irritation, and his lip curled up in a grimace. “Don’t use language like that, you’re a lady, and ladies shouldn’t curse.”

  Rachel couldn’t help it. She burst into a roar of laughter. Not giggles, or chuckles, but large loud belly laughs. “Are you kidding me? Sawyer Brooks, I have seen you compete in the local rodeo, and heard the nastiness that spews from those luscious lips. Do you really think you can tell me not to curse?”

  Sawyer focused in on the one phrase from her whole little speech that he liked, “Luscious lips, huh?” Those sexy lips curved up into an equally sinful smile that had her pussy tightening, and her thighs clenching.

  She forced herself to roll her eyes, even as a blush covered her cheeks. “Whatever. I’m going inside to get a drink, dance a little, and maybe play some pool. Excuse me, gentlemen.” She reached again for the door handle, only to have a new set of hands settle on her shoulders and tug her backwards until she stumbled. Instead of falling on her ass though, her plump butt cheeks settled against the rough denim of a man’s Levi’s, and a heavy arm banded under her ribs holding her upright.

  “Apologize, Rachel, you were rude to Sawyer, and he was just trying to teach you a few manners,” Parker’s voice rumbled against her ear, and she bit her tongue hard to swallow her moan of lust.

  “No. Let me go, Parker, this isn’t funny,” she ground out, and she began to struggle to get out of Parker’s strong grip.

  “Stop it. You’ll end up hurting yourself. Now, Sawyer and Hudson deserve a sincere apology, and then I want an explanation as to what you’re doing at Robin’s dressed like a two bit hooker on fight night?” Ice coated his words, and she stilled in his arms. A wave of hurt and embarrassment went through her. Did she really look so bad? She had put on the clothes that made her feel the sexiest.

  “I apologize if I’ve offended anyone, but I have plans inside the bar that include a bottle of tequila, and a few spins around the dance floor. You are currently delaying my plans. I have no intention of prostituting myself, because I’ve never in my life felt the need to ask a man for sex. I’m dressed in clothing I picked out, and like. I don’t personally give a damn if you approve or not, Mr. Brooks.” She focused all of her anger on her words, and when he finally released her she sighed heavily, “Thank you. Have a lovely evening, gentlemen.”

  Hudson tugged the door open, and Sawyer stepped back from the doorway allowing her to saunter past him. Once she was safely in the bar, she let out a heavy, shaky breath and made her way across the room directly into the bathroom to settle her nerves. It might take more than a drink or two to wipe the Brooks brothers from her fantasies tonight.

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  www.LoriKingBooks.com

  Excerpt from Forsaken

  (The Found, Book Two)

  By Caitlyn O’Leary

  Chapter One

  “Put on your clothes. You disgust me.” Seth was beyond tired, and seeing his wife on his bed, naked and spread for him made his bile rise.

  “Carson, I need you, remember how it was?” She tried to entice him by playing with he
r breasts.

  Seeing her gown on the floor, he picked it up and tossed it on top of her. “That’s the problem Portia, I don’t remember anything, let alone it ever being any good.”

  “That night together was the best night of my life. It could be like that again if you’d just try, dammit.”

  “Get out of my room,” his voice deadly. Her eyes widened and she scrambled off the bed.

  “Fine, but don’t think this is the end. You are going to make me pregnant again. Daddy wants a grandchild.”

  “Oh cut the bullshit, there was never a baby in the first place. You dragged my ass to the altar under false pretenses.”

  “Carson, you got me pregnant that night. You believed me before, why don’t you believe me now?”

  The million dollar question. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her she was a criminal and likely involved in drug smuggling with her father. He intended to put her behind bars, and instead he had married her to protect his unborn child. A child that likely never existed.

  “Get the fuck out, Portia, before I do something we both regret.”

  She slung the gown over her shoulder and left his room, uncaring if the servants saw her naked or not. His wife was quite a piece of work.

  Seth…Carson, whatever the fuck his name was, Hell he was beginning to question his own identity. Yanking at the bowtie of his tuxedo it knotted tighter instead of opening.

  “Good, maybe I’ll choke.” He was sick of living the double life. Finally he pulled, ripping it apart at the seam. “God damn motherfucker!” He did the same with the cuffs of his shirt, satisfied when the cufflinks flew across the room. They were gold with diamonds. Maybe the maids would steal them. “Good for them.”

  Fuck, he needed to shut the hell up, it was a bad habit to talk out loud. He knew his room was bugged. There was a damn good chance of video surveillance too. Once when Portia was high she said she hoped there was, that it added to the spice.