by Adams,Claire
“You ready to do this, kiddo?” my father asked as he held out his arm and smiled warmly.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I smiled and took his arm just as the music started.
We walked through the kitchen to the backdoor where we stopped and looked at each other and laughed because we knew we were both waiting for my mother to yell at us.
“Stop dawdling and start walking,” she called from her seat out in the yard. The whole crowd burst out laughing because they, too, knew about my mother and her floors.
The music started as my father took a step forward, and I followed down the stairs and across the lawn. The backyard had been landscaped especially for this occasion, and it looked like a botanical garden with all the trees and flowering bushes. I smiled as we started up the center aisle, lined with flower petals that led all the way to the handsome man waiting for me at the end of it.
I held his gaze the whole walk to him. And when I reached his side, my father took both of our hands and joined them before he said, “Be kind to one another. Always.” He turned to go join my mother, but before he reached her, he looked back at us and added, “And, stay off your mother’s floors.”
The crowd erupted into a fit of laughter and the officiate began, “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony…”
When we got to the vows, I looked up at the handsome man in front of me and in a confident voice I said, “Mr. Malone, I promise you a lifetime of love, joy, laughter, and warmth. I promise that I will cherish and respect you. I promise that I will listen to you and talk with you. But most of all, I promise that our home will always be a place where you will want to return to after you’ve been out in the world. I promise to be your partner, your friend, your lover, and your biggest supporter. As long as I’m with you, I will always be at home.”
Dax smiled warmly as he looked into my eyes and said his vows, “Brooke, you had my heart from the moment I met you. And every day I’ve spent with you has simply served to confirm that I’ve found a home for my heart. I promise that I will protect, respect, and love you. I will support you and listen to you, and I will strive to make a home for your big, beautiful heart as we spend our lives living and loving together.”
There was not a dry eye in the house as he slipped the ring on my finger and the officiate pronounced us man and wife. Dax lifted one hand to brush the stray hairs from my cheek before he bent down and wrapped his arms around me. He looked deep into my eyes as he mouthed, “I love you,” before he bent and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and returned the kiss as he lifted me off of my feet and raised one arm in victory.
“Hey, don’t drop me, Malone!” I cried as I felt myself slipping out of his grasp. “This dress cost a fortune, buddy!”
“Don’t get sassy with me, Mrs. Malone,” he said as he kissed me again and gently lowered me to the floor. We joined hands and as the crowd of friends and family clapped and cheered, Dax and I walked down the aisle into the next chapter of our lives.
Epilogue – Dax
In the low light of our bridal suite, I looked at my wife and shook my head. How had I gotten so lucky? This had been a day more perfect than I ever could have imagined. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have my parents alive to see it.
Brooke looked beautiful, in a dress that was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It started out deep blue at the base and got lighter and lighter until at the top it was the lightest shade of robin’s egg blue. I knew this because I’d been the one to help her pick it out. We’d decided to reject all the traditional wedding dictates and create a celebration that reflected everything we valued and loved.
We’d had a rough time after the shooting while I’d recovered. And we’d had to go to court to support Riza as she was put on trial for Lydia’s murder. When the judge asked her why she’d done it, Riza simply said she didn’t know. There was no good reason for it, and she couldn’t remember doing it. I still had my doubts about whether she’d actually done it or whether she’d been the fall guy for someone else’s crime, but she had seemed to make peace with it. Roger proved to be a solid lawyer and a good friend to her.
After the trial was over, I’d kept my promise to Brooke and done everything in my power to extract myself from the drug trade. I’d made a deal with one of the north side guys to let him be silent owner of Apex if he’d let Kesha run it the way she saw fit. I wanted to sell it to her, but she just didn’t have the cash to buy it. So I did the next best thing and retained ownership of the club until Kesha could raise the cash to buy it. I let the north siders do their thing in the back room and didn’t ask questions. I knew that Kesha had made her own deal with them, but I didn’t interfere. Once she’d made enough bank to buy the place, I’d be out of that world for good.
Then, I took the profits I’d been banking and bought a couple of properties on Skid Row and set out to develop them so that folks living there could have a grocery store and other small neighborhood stores. I trained the workers and only hired people from the neighborhood. I would never want for money, so I figured I could use my good fortune to help change the neighborhood for the better and maybe benefit kids who were in the same situation as Beck and I had been.
Beck got clean, and I bankrolled his college degree. He was now a sophomore at UCLA, working on a degree in nursing and hoping to enter the rehab sector once he graduated and earned his license. All in all, we were doing pretty well.
I looked at my wife and smiled as she wrestled with the zipper on her dress. She’d never looked lovelier than she had looked standing in front of me reciting her vows, and I’d never loved her more than I did today.
“C’mere, and let me help you with that, silly woman,” I chuckled as she walked over and turned around. I couldn’t help myself as I reached up and swept her hair off of her neck before I leaned down and kissed her softly. She sighed as she leaned into my kiss and I slowly unzipped her dress, letting it sink in a brilliant blue pool on the ground at her feet.
“Mrs. Malone, you were the most beautiful woman at the party today,” I whispered as I slipped my hands around her body and ran them up until I gently cupped her full beautiful breasts, one in each hand.
“And you were the most dashing man at the party, Mr. Malone,” she sighed. “I’m so lucky to have married such a handsome man.”
“And talented,” I said. “Don’t forget how talented I am.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll ever let me forget that, Mr. Malone,” she whispered as I bent down and ran my tongue up her neck.
“Not if I have my way, you won’t,” I said, smiling as I teased her nipples with my fingers and drew a soft moan from between her lips.
“You do that so well,” she sighed as I slid my hands under her lingerie and began teasing in earnest. I quickly undid the rest of her trappings and before I knew it, my wife stood before me naked and shining in the low light.
“My God, you are beautiful,” I murmured as I scooped her up and carried her to our wedding bed. “I’m never going to be able to get enough of you.”
“Mmmm,” she replied as she stretched up and wrapped her arms around my neck so she could pull me down into a deep kiss. “Get those clothes off and come test that theory out!”
I quickly shed my wedding suit and climbed into bed next to her. I loved running my hands over her bare skin, not only because she was so soft and warm, but because it elicited a response I loved no matter how many times I did it.
“Do you think we’ll ever get tired of this?” she asked as she ran her hand up my arm and watched me admiring the curve of her hip as she lay pressed against me.
“I doubt it, but I’ll let you know if it ever happens on my end,” I said with a wink. “We may need to bring in a pinch hitter if that happens.”
“You’re such a jerk!” she laughed as she reached down between my legs and firmly grasped me with her hand. “You’d better be careful because I now own half of
this.”
“You wish!” I said as I slid my hand between her thighs and slipped my fingers between her silky lips. She cried out softly as I began stroking. “Then, this is half mine.”
“Mmmmm,” she moaned as she continued squeezing and stroking in time to my rhythm. I leaned over and kissed her deeply as we lost ourselves in the attempt to please each other. I could feel her becoming more aroused, and I knew I was growing harder in her hand. When I slipped a finger just inside her tight wet entrance and felt her grip me, I knew I had to have her.
I pulled her on top of me as I rolled onto my back and slid my shaft between her dripping wet lips. She moved back and forth, coating me in her wetness as we both moaned and ached for more. The intensity of the teasing drove us both to the edge of our raging desire. In one swift movement, she gripped the base of my shaft and slipped the tip just inside her tight opening. She rocked back and forth a little, teasing me by pushing in and pulling out as I felt her juices running down the length of my shaft and coating everything below it.
I moaned loudly, wanting to thrust up inside of her and feel myself buried in her warm wet womb, but I knew better. I knew that if I waited for her to make the first move, it would be that much more intense and amazing. And when she did, it was.
She teased until I begged her to stop, and then she looked down at me with those beautiful blue eyes as she took me inside of her in one quick motion.
I cried out as I felt her enveloping me and then rocking back and forth before she began the familiar rhythm I’d come to know and love. I gripped her hips as I thrust up to meet her downward motion and felt her riding me harder and faster as she rocked. I reached down and began stroking her sensitive little nub, knowing full well that she was on the edge of a huge orgasm and that all I had to do was stroke her enough to send her flying off the edge. And so I did.
I felt it building as she tightened around me and I thrust up into her harder and deeper as I felt her begin to climax. She cried out and fell forward as she braced herself against my shoulders and rode me harder. I held her thighs and thrust up again and again, feeling my own release just moments away.
“That’s it,” she moaned. “Oh God, yes! Dax, please! Yes!” The sound of her pleasure sent me flying off the edge of the cliff. I felt my whole body go numb for a moment as the heat moved from my feet to my head and then engulfed me in a wave of pleasure so intense that I cried out as my hips pumped upward of their own volition. I couldn’t stop as I rode the wave with her, both of us moving and sliding against each other.
When we were finally still again, I lifted her damp hair off of her face and said, “I don’t think I’ll need a pinch hitter.”
Brooke burst out laughing and lay in my arms until we both fell into a deep, deep sleep.
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LAW OF SEDUCTION: THE COMPLETE SERIES
By Alexa Davis and Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Alexa Davis
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
ALICIA
Never in my twenty-seven years on this earth have I met anyone so infuriating. I was standing in the alcove of the ballroom at the annual Thanksgiving ball the partners of my firm put on and wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I’d let Adam drag me here when I should have known better. I had no idea why we had to hide our relationship. We didn’t start seeing each other until his wife had already moved out. I don’t understand why she still has so much control over his life. He and I had begun to fight about it almost constantly.
“What is wrong with you?” Adam asked me, mirroring my very thought, “You were rubbing yourself all over Nico on the dance floor. You made a spectacle out of yourself. Is this what you meant last night when you said you refused to play the other woman?”
His green eyes were cold and unforgiving. It’s hard sometimes to believe they are the very same eyes that I had melted into the first time I looked into them. I found it funny how Adam had the ability to morph in the blink of an eye from a sweet, handsome, charming man that I could barely resist into this arrogant, condescending person standing in front of me now. What I really couldn’t understand was why I was unable to just walk away. Instead, I reduced myself to playing stupid games like dancing with Nico and even letting him kiss me when I knew for sure Adam was looking. Of course, there was no “rubbing.” I was raised by a Lord and a Lady in the U.K. and taught how to be a lady from the age of two on up. “Rubbing,” as Adam had implied, was not even in my public repertoire.
“I’m not doing anything wrong,” I told Adam, trying to feel as strong and determined as I hoped I sounded. “I’m a single young woman. I have every right to dance with a single young man.”
Adam’s dark green eyes smoldered, “Single? That’s funny. I had assumed that since you’ve spent the better part of the last six months in my bed, we were in somewhat of a relationship.”
I sighed. This conversation was already giving me a headache. Forcing myself to keep my chin up and look him in the eye, I said, “Maybe you should tell Marjorie that,” I knew full well that if he wasn’t already angry, he would be now. I didn’t care. I was sick of being the peacemaker.
“I have told you over and over that sharing our…intimate life with Marjorie will only cause her to fight that much harder to destroy me. She’ll want to take you down in the process of ruining me. I told you last night, I am doing my best to finalize this divorce so that she can be out of our lives once and for all. You know that I want nothing to do with her. The sight of her makes me sick. I don’t know what you want from me, Alicia.”
I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I blinked them back. I refused to cry in front of him. My cheeks burned hot as I said, “If you don’t know what I want, then maybe we’ve been wasting our time all of these months.” I stared at him for a moment, and when he said nothing I went on.
I was angry now. I shouldn’t have to explain myself, but then again, I shouldn’t have put myself in this situation in the first place. “What I want, Adam, is you. I want your time and your attention. I want the Adam that you were when we first met, not the Adam who is constantly exhausted and angry from fighting all day with his soon to be ex-wife. I want a man whose arm I can be on in public. One that I can be dancing with at our own ball, instead of pretending like we’re only business associates in order to keep up appearances until your divorce is final. Imagine how it feels for me to have to watch you dancing with other women all night.”
Adam’s eyes softened and he said, “Maybe the same as it felt to watch you with Nico.” I felt a stab of guilt, but I wasn’t quite ready to give in. He reached for my hand. I let him take it and he said, “Alicia, I want all of those things, too. I am trying so hard to get Marjorie to agree to this latest settlement offer that we’ve drawn up. It’s that damn lawyer of hers. He keeps telling her to fight for more, that bastard, David Rogers. He won’t be happy until he’s goaded her into breaking me completely. He seems to have more than a professional stake in this. Maybe she's sleeping with him.”
I felt my anger ebbing away already. I’m a sap where Adam is concerned. “I know you’re trying. It’s just so damned hard feeling like we’re sneaking around all the time when we’re not even doing anything wrong. You’ve been separated for almost a year. You should be free to see whoever you want. My parents are visiting from England next month. I wanted so much for you to meet them as my boyfriend, instead of the head partner of the firm I work for.”
He pulled me in close to his chest. I felt him nuzzle his face into my hair and breathe it in. “I�
��ll work harder on it, I promise. Just stop going around kissing my associates, okay? I’d hate to have to beat him up after I fire him.”
Adam’s voice hadn’t changed from its somber tone, and when I stepped back to look up at him, I was a little worried that he was serious. I honestly hadn’t meant to goad him into fighting with Nico, or firing him. I’d feel so awful if I were to blame for Nico losing his job. When I saw Adam’s face, though, I knew I needn’t have worried. He had a handsome smile forming at the edges of his mouth. I knew then that he’d only been joking. I punched him in the arm lightly and with a smile of my own I said,
“You infuriate me sometimes, do you know that?”
“Yes, I know,” he said, still smiling. He caught me off-guard then as his sexy lips came crashing down on mine. My head was chaotically telling me to walk away and make him wait until he’d finished with his divorce, but as usual, my body told me differently. I rose up on my tiptoes and leaned my body into his. Against my better judgement I returned his kiss with the fervor welling up inside of me. Just about the time I was ready to consent to getting naked in the alcove and making love right there on the floor he pulled back and said,
“We better get back before someone notices us missing,”
“Maddening, maddening, maddening,” I whispered, mostly to myself as he straightened his tie and I smoothed down my rumpled gown.
“What was that?” Adam asked, pretending not to hear me.
“I said yes of course.” My voice had a sarcastic edge to it that I’m certain he didn’t miss.
“Fantastic,” Adam said, as if settling a business deal in his favor, “We’ll talk more about this later, but thank you for being so understanding.”
I rolled my eyes and as I left the room first, I turned back to him and said, “You can bet we’ll discuss this later.”