by Aria Cole
Caruso’s eyes bulged, Knox’s grip tightening at his neck as he slammed a knee squarely into his pelvis. Then Knox grabbed him by the head with his left hand and smashed his other so hard into Caruso’s face I heard the sound of bones shattering. Crimson red swam in my vision, pooling on the floor and splattering the walls. “Get the fuck out of here, Caruso. And don’t fucking come back to my jobsite again.”
“Fuck you, Knox. I’ll get you fired. I’ll talk to my brother and get you off the crew! I’m going to make sure your ass is thrown in jail!”
Knox’s grip tightened at Caruso’s throat, cutting off the air. His forearm flexed, veins bulging as the muscles flexed. I couldn’t help noticing how much bigger he was, how much taller and broader. The way Knox towered over Caruso was just plain scary. “Just try it, Lon, and I’ll fill him in on your little coke habit. Only reason you’re still on this job is because your brother thinks you’re clean.”
Caruso’s eyes rounded, his hands gripping at Knox’s hands at his throat. “Fine. Fine. I’ll fucking leave. Just let me go.”
Knox did just that, releasing Caruso, giving him one angry shove and sending him flying across the floor. “Don’t make me call the police, Caruso.”
Caruso turned and caught Knox’s eyes before he shot to his feet and sped out the back door, sending it flying on its hinges as he went.
“Oh my god.” I would have crumbled onto the floor if it weren’t for Knox’s arms circling me.
“Tell me everything he did.”
I shook my head, fighting frustrated tears. “I’m fine. I shoved him in the chest with the broom and sent him flying onto the floor.” I shook my head, a little proud of myself all over again.
“You did good, sugar.” His hands wrapped around my shoulders, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head. “You want me to get the police down here? Report him?”
“No. He didn’t really do anything, just said stuff. I’m so glad you showed up.”
He shook his head, grin tipping to the side. “Looks like you had things pretty well under control.”
I looked up into his warm eyes, sliding my fingers under the waistband of his worn jeans. “I did, didn’t I?”
He nodded and pecked me softly. “You’re badass, sugar.”
I grinned up at him, feeling a new sense of confidence fill me up. I didn’t need Knox to save me—I’d saved myself—but having him for backup was pretty awesome.
“Ready to get home?”
“So ready. I need a pillow for the next two days.”
A cute chuckle fell past his lips.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. Thinking you’re getting sleep on Valentine’s Day. You’re cute.”
“What? I don’t celebrate, I don’t really support the whole artificial concept of romance fed to us by—”
“Valentine.” He pressed a finger to my lips. “You run a bakery. For god’s sake, you run around in frilly dresses and fancy little aprons all day. Don’t tell me you don’t like romance. You just haven’t been romanced by the right man yet.”
“And you’re the right man?” I smiled up at him, butterflies dancing around inside my heart at the prospect of romance tonight with Knox.
“I’m definitely the right man, sweet Valentine.” He took my lips in a kiss then, hands caressing my face as he swept me off my feet, one swipe of his talented tongue at a time.
“And I should just believe you because you’re old and wise?” I teased, lips still hovering against his.
“Damn right.” He clutched my ass cheeks in his huge palms and pulled me against his body. I wrapped my legs around his hips and continued to kiss him as he walked me through the bakery, stopping to pick up my purse and flick off a few lights along the way. “Let’s get home, Valentine.”
Chapter Seven
Knox
“I have to say, I didn’t expect home to be twenty-five miles up a mountain road.” She sat next to me in my truck, one of my hands on her thigh as we climbed up the road to my cabin, freshly dusted with snow.
“Bakery’s closed the next two days, right? Figured it’s the perfect time for us to get to know each other.” I turned down another, narrower, road.
“I can’t believe they even plow up here.” Her voice was laced with worry.
“Sometimes they don’t. Depends how stressed they are, but that’s part of the fun living up here. Never know what Mother Nature’s gonna throw at you.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun.” Valentine shook her head.
“Almost there, sugar, don’t get to simmerin’ just yet.”
“Simmerin’?! I’m fine! I’m just wondering how you get the hell out of here if you get more than six inches of snow.” Her thighs shifted as the road grew bumpier.
“You get a truck.”
“I don’t see myself buying a truck.”
“Luckily you won’t need to. You’ve got me as your chauffeur.”
“Chauffeur?” she giggled, pushing her arm into the warmth of my coat. “Lucky me, I got a wise, old, and sexy chauffeur then.”
I shook my head, loving the way her laugh filled the cab of my truck, filled the chambers of my heart, made me want to drop to my knees and beg her to be mine forever.
I clutched at the wheel as unfamiliar feelings of love and forever washed over me.
Never had a woman done this to me. I was officially tied up in knots over the sexy sweet little Valentine. I didn’t know if it was right or wrong, but I did know some people might look at us and wonder what the hell made us work.
Did I give two shits what they thought? Hell no, they had only to see the way I looked at her and they’d know.
I flipped the brights on high as the road narrowed and the snowflakes whirled wildly in front of the windshield.
“You really are a mountain man, huh?” she quipped at my side.
“Close to it as you can get, I guess.” The road curved, and I slowed as we opened up into the clearing.
“This is your cabin?” Her mouth popped open in shock.
“Yeah, been here for more than fifteen years now.” I pulled to a slow stop, pausing to take her in, moonlight streaming through the car windows and hitting her hair like a sweet halo. Valentine was so beautiful it made my heart ache.
“This is more lodge than cabin, Knox.”
I nodded. I guess she was right. It had six bedrooms, four baths, and a fully furnished second living space in the basement. “Got forty acres as far as the eye can see.”
“I’m glad we’re not out in that tonight. It looks like it’s going to get nasty.” She slid across the seat and opened the door.
I swiped for the duffel bag I’d forced her to pack before heading up here and hustled up to the front porch with her. I shoved a key in the lock, then ushered her in and flipped on some lights. “Supposed to get eight inches by morning. I think we’re as good as snowed in the next day or two.”
Her eyebrow arched, a warm smile pulling at her lips.
“Love seeing you in my house, sugar.” I advanced, scooping her up into my arms and carrying her with fast strides up the stairs to the second floor. “You fit right in.”
Her hands tucked behind my neck, her lips hovering against mine as she sucked in sharp breaths, grinding her curvy body against my straining cock.
I was so goddamn desperate for her I thought I could pound a hole into the ground to relieve some pressure.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Knox.”
I pushed through the door of my master bedroom, lips connected to hers before laying her down on my bed, caging her in my arms as we kissed. “I’ve been waiting a lot longer, sweetheart.”
I pushed up the hem of her dress, enjoying the way she shuddered and sighed with my touch, tiny goosebumps racing across her skin. My cock pounded furiously against the zipper of my jeans, and I popped the button and pulled the zipper, thankful for the relief.
“I’ve never done this before, Knox,” she whimpered against my
lips, and my cock surged against her. Drops of pre-cum beaded at the tip, the flesh angry and searing hot as it pressed between her silky thighs.
“You’re a virgin, Valentine?”
She nodded, peering up at me, eyes wide and open, like she was offering me her very soul.
Call me a bastard, but I’d take it.
“You are made for me, Valentine. From the moment I first laid eyes on you I knew you were different. I knew you were special. It wasn’t much longer after that I knew you had to be mine.” My hands trailed up her delicate body, smooth curves and creamy flesh hot under my fingertips.
I pushed the dress over her head and discarded it, eyes devouring the gorgeous woman before me.
“You do things to me no one has ever done before. You make me feel things no woman has ever made me feel.” I pushed her gorgeous tits together, licking and nipping at the exposed flesh before pulling at her puckered little nipples beneath the fabric. “It’s been years since I’ve been with anyone, and I’m tested regularly, Valentine.” I nipped at her lips, nestling my cock over her lace-covered pussy. “But I need you bare.”
Her lips caught mine, her hips grinding against my pelvis as she wound her hands in my hair. “Yes, Knox. Yes, please. I want you.”
My heart hammered in erratic beats as her words registered. I fisted the scrap of lace in my hands and yanked in one swift motion, discarding the lace on the floor before nudging my cock against the hot flesh.
She sighed, and her nails dug in deep when my cock touched her flesh for the first time. The way she arched and groaned like an erotic symphony only further fueled my passion. She was beautiful. She was sinfully gorgeous, I wanted to corrupt her, own her, claim every inch and not let her go until she’d had her fill. Or until I’d had mine.
“Valentine…” I whispered, catching her lips in a kiss as I rocked my cock against the wet seam of her pussy.
“Knox,” she gasped, hands in my hair as she kissed me feverishly. One hand slid against us, sliding against the steel rod of my cock and making it jump and jerk. “Knox, I don’t think you’re going to fit.”
A low growl forced its way past my lips before I pushed the fabric or her bra aside to suck on her nipple. With torturous strokes I sucked and pushed my cock past her entrance, feeling her get slicker and more turned on with every movement I made.
“You’re so fucking wet, Valentine,” I uttered against the hard little peak. “Have you been thinking about my cock inside you?”
She whimpered, nails digging into my back as her hips rocked against mine, sliding me a little deeper, a little further each time.
I pinched a nipple between my thumb and finger. “Answer me.”
“Yesssss,” she hissed, and my cock grew impossibly harder.
“This is gonna hurt, Valentine,” I grunted, pressing an inch deeper, feeling the soft barrier that marked her virginity.
“It already does,” she moaned, teeth at my earlobe. “But I like it.”
In one swift move I pushed past the thin wall, her body shaking, her muscles tensing, before I ground out deep inside her, swiveling my hips and swirling one of her sweet nipples in my mouth to ease the pain of my intrusion. “You okay, sugar?”
“Perfect. I’m perfect, Knox.”
“Me too, baby. Me too.” I slipped a palm between her thighs and pushed against her clit, reading the soft pants and pleading whimpers as a sign that her orgasm was near. Sliding one palm up her chest, I cupped her chin in my hand and kissed her with as much passion and fire as I’d built up in the last few days. Watching her had been torture, seeing her smile, watching her nibble on desserts, seeing the way she flipped her hair and giggled when she was embarrassed…
I loved everything about her.
“Valentine,” I shivered at the sound of her sweet whimpers, my fingers speeding as her legs began a slow shake. A soft moan finally fell from her lips, her nails sliding down my back, her eyes rolling back in her head. With her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip, she came in long waves all over my cock, squeezing and tightening around it until I couldn’t hold myself back anymore and I came in long jets into her hot body.
Coating her sweet womb, I lost myself in everything Valentine was. As long as I had her in my life, I would count myself a lucky man. As if the earth had shifted on its axis, my world now revolved around her.
“Knox…” Her breaths came out in shallow pants. I slid out of her body, my cock still half hard and eager for more of her.
Her tummy growled just as I flipped her in my arms. I chuckled softly and chased a lock of hair out of her face. “Sounds like we need to get food in you.”
“Mmm, I don’t want to move…” She stretched, beautiful tits round and full, nipples hard with the cool air.
“You stay here. I’ll whip up something and bring you dinner in bed.”
“Dinner in bed? What are you, crazy?” She shook her head, pulling the sheet around her body, wrapping herself up like a mummy, before scurrying out of the room.
“Valentine!” I pulled my jeans up my thighs, not bothering to button them as I followed her across the hallway and down the stairs. “What in the hell—”
“Where’s your sugar?” She spun around, one hand clutching the sheet, the other on the cupboard door in my kitchen.
“Sugar? Whaddya need sugar for?” I pulled her into my arms, placing a trail of kisses across the line of her neck.
“Making us dinner. I’ve got a recipe for spaghetti sauce, but it calls for a dash of sugar and you don’t have any.”
I frowned, thinking this was as good a time to tell her as any. “I don’t really, ahh…” I pushed a hand through my hair, catching her eyes and smiling sheepishly. “I don’t really eat sugar.” Her eyes grew at my confession. “Much.”
“Much?” She crossed her arms and cocked her head. “Or, like, at all?”
I grinned wider then, pulling her to me and brushing her lips with mine. “At all. For the most part. Until sweet little Valentine came along.”
She pushed her hands into my hair, smiling against my lips. “So let me get this straight—you’ve been coming into my bakery this entire time, under the guise of having a sweet tooth, and you really don’t even like to eat sugar? I just don’t see how this is going to work, then.”
“It’ll work alright. I’ve got a feelin’, and my feelin’s are never wrong.” I slipped a finger in the fold of the sheet and pulled gently.
“Oh yeah?” she breathed, kissing me again. “Is that an old, wise thing?”
I laughed, smacking her on the ass for that crack. “Like keepin’ me on my toes, huh, sugar?”
Valentine pressed up on her tiptoes and kissed me on the lips. “Live for it, Ford.”
“Hey, call me that again and I will spank you. It’s Knox, baby.”
“You’re a hard man, Knox. But it just so happens I like a challenge.”
“Then it just so happens I’ve got the hardest challenge for you yet.” I held her face in my hands, kissing her in slow, deliberate strokes.
“Oh yeah?” she murmured, a little breathless. I really loved that I took her breath away.
“Mm…a long, hard, challenge…” I kissed her once more, soaking up every glorious moment focused on her gaze. “Marry me, Valentine.”
First Epilogue
Valentine - Two Months Later
“I don’t know how it happened, Ford Knox, but you swept me right off my feet.”
“Fate, baby. You were meant to find yourself in my arms,” Knox murmured at my ear, hand threaded with mine under the table.
“Took fate long enough to find us.”
He shrugged, taking it in stride just like he did everything in life. One of the things I loved about him. “I was fifteen years ahead of you. Had to wait ’til you were legal.”
My mouth shot open. “Why, Mr. Knox, did you just confess your age to me?”
His grin deepened, his eyes cutting to me. “Possibly. Does it change your mind? Does the fact th
at I’m 39 want to send you running?”
“Not a chance in hell, Knox. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
“You might be singing a different tune in twenty years,” he quipped.
“Nah, I love a silver fox.” I dusted a fingertip along the salt and pepper at his temple. “You’re safe.”
He laughed, shaking his head and fueling my own giggles.
“Who’s ready for the first dance?” the DJ called from his place at the head of the ballroom, interrupting our little bubble. This entire day we’d spent on display for the ones we loved while we exchanged our vows, but I was ready for alone time with my new husband. So ready.
“Ready, sugar?” Knox pulled me from my chair as our closest friends and family looked on.
“I wish I knew what we were dancing to,” I whispered, smile plastered on my face as we wove through white linen-covered tables.
“I may have another surprise up my sleeve.” He winked just as we reached the middle of the dance floor, and he spun me in his arms.
“The first dance for Mr. and Mrs. Ford Knox, I’m told, is something special the groom put together,” the DJ said.
One of Knox’s arms circled my waist as the first few strings of something slow came over the speakers.
I tipped my head, smiling up at him. “I don’t recognize it yet,” I breathed just as a warm, honeyed male voice began singing. “Wait.” I peered up at him. “Is that you?”
Knox’s grin shot to one side, curling my insides and filling me up with waves of warmth and love.
“Recorded it last week in Mario’s home studio.”
My eyes widened as the song continued, the lyrics now becoming more familiar to me as he sang. The chorus finally started. Knox’s deep voice was singing a slowed down, acoustic rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond, only this version was replaced with the words ‘Sweet Valentine.’