by JC Harroway
‘Okay,’ he says, done waiting for my reply. ‘I’m just going to say what I need to on the doorstep—I wanted to chase after you earlier, to explain properly, but my father’s appointment came through—the specialist had a cancellation.’
I waver, compassion warring with self-preservation. ‘Is he okay?’
He nods and his eyes hold such vulnerability I want to reach out and catch him the way I said I would. I curl my fingers into my palms.
‘The news was as we expected,’ he says. ‘Certainly nothing new to add. He’s having a good day today though, waxed lyrical about you and put me straight on a few things, just like the old powerhouse Graham we know and love.’
‘Oh?’ Hope flutters in my chest. Stupid emotion. I don’t need hope. I’m mistress of my own destiny. I don’t need Reid. I just want him, but only if he wants me as fiercely.
He swallows hard, so I know something momentous is coming. ‘You were right about me. I couldn’t trust.’
‘Okay.’ I rest my hip on the doorframe, blocking the entrance, uncertain if it’s to prevent him entering or me leaving, my breaths shallow at his confirmation of what I already know.
He rushes on. ‘But it was myself I couldn’t trust, not you. I kept myself closed off, busy, thinking my business, my family needed me, which they do, to a degree, and that stopped me looking too closely in the mirror. Because I’ve been hiding for years, keeping busy so I don’t have to face what a mess I made of my personal life, unwilling to admit that my family, the business—they don’t need me. Certainly not as much as I need you.’
My pulse leaps. I want so badly to believe him.
He reaches for my hand, but then drops his arm back to his side before making contact, and every cell in my body strains his way. ‘I did doubt you at first, because I was trying to keep a lid on everything—my father’s diagnosis, the business. On us. Trying to protect myself.’ He sighs and rubs at a spot above his eyebrow. ‘And I interfered with the mural because it freaked me out to see my father almost become a part of the Faulkner’s history—it felt like I was already losing him, and I reacted with emotion, not thinking to talk to you, or explain. But you were just helping him to leave the legacy he’s worked for his entire life, a legacy I’m proud to carry forward. I see that now and I’m sorry I undermined you. But I need you by my side as I carry that legacy, because you’re already a part of the family I was trying so hard to protect. Not just any part either, but the vital part. The part I need to breathe, to be whole, to cling to every day for the rest of my life, if you’ll let me.’
Heat builds behind my eyes. These are the words I wanted to hear, and I feel his pain. I ache for him and his family and Graham, because loving him means caring for them.
‘You make me a better version of myself, Blair. You make me laugh. You make anything seem possible. You make sense. You push me and support me and catch me. And you were right—I don’t need to carry everything on my shoulders. I’m allowed to find happiness for myself. But I want that happiness with you. I’ve found it with you. I just allowed other stuff, trivial stuff, to get in the way. I trust you with my life, Blair. I trust you with my fucking hotels, even my family’s lives. I trust you. Is it too late? Please don’t let it be too late...’
I step back, too close to flinging myself into his arms as I breathe and try to untangle my matted feelings. The past longing, the present yearning to be loved as I love and the future possibilities. Can I have everything I want? Can I truly have this man for ever? I’m speechless for so long a million emotions cross his handsome face. Perhaps as many as there are building inside me—a torrent. But one persistent thought emerges, time after time.
I love him.
Time to tell him.
‘I don’t know, Reid... I’m done settling. I’ve fallen in love with you.’ My sad smile knocks the joy from his, which followed my declaration. ‘But I want you to want me with the same fierceness with which I want you. I don’t want half measures or broken promises.’
He steps one foot onto the doorstep and reaches for my hand. ‘I agree. You deserve to be loved like that. But what if I love you more? What if the burden of my love, the weight of it, is too big for me alone, and I need—?’ His voice breaks, and I almost reach for him then. ‘I need you...to help me carry it.’
I let out a long sigh, squeeze his hand, trying and failing to contain my euphoria. He’s laid himself open, as open as me, and I see what I need shining in his eyes.
‘Well, that’s not how I saw that fantasy play out.’ I can’t resist teasing him a little more—after all, if we’re going to be together, he needs to get used to it.
‘What fantasy?’ Hope flickers in his eyes. A ghost of a smile.
‘The fantasy where you tell me you love me and you’ll never, ever be a dick again, for as long as you live.’
His full-blown smile threatens, but he pulls back, as if he can’t quite believe the turn of events, can’t quite believe me. He opens his beautiful mouth to speak and then closes it again.
But I’m impatient now. ‘Come in,’ I say, swinging the door wide. ‘You need to show me.’
‘Show you what?’
‘The fierceness of this love you claim to feel.’ My lips twitch with the barest hint of amusement.
‘Oh, I feel it.’ He steps inside the doorway and scoops me into his arms, kissing me as if he’s forgotten how it feels and needs to remind us both.
I break away. ‘Close the door—I want you now. I want you always and for ever.’
Reid kicks the door closed and wraps one arm around my waist, lifting me from the floor.
‘Thank fuck for that, because that’s exactly how I want you.’ He presses his forehead to mine, his eyes open so I see the sincerity shining there. ‘I love you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. The day you walked into my office changed my life. I want it all with you—I’m already way ahead of myself, plotting our own family. Kit’s baby will need a cousin.’
I laugh, wrapping my arms around his neck to stop him escaping. ‘You are? Don’t you think you should ask me if I even want children?’
‘I should. Do you?’ he says, his grin wide. ‘Although I don’t care either way. You’re enough for me, in every way. Perhaps too much for me in some ways, but I’ll die trying to satisfy every fantasy you have.’
I try to keep a straight face. ‘I want six actually. A big clan of Faulkners.’
He splutters. ‘Six?’
‘Yes.’ My lips twitch. ‘Up to the task? Because you’re not growing any younger.’
He throws his head back and laughs. ‘Whatever you say.’
‘Good, let’s get started, then—trial run.’ I head for the stairs, dragging him behind.
We strip and kiss and touch. When he pushes inside me and grasps my face in his palms so there’s nowhere to hide, he slides his mouth over mine and whispers, ‘Did you ever fantasise about me loving you?’
I nod, too overwhelmed, too full of Reid and our love, to speak.
‘Don’t worry,’ he says, lacing his fingers with mine and holding me tight. ‘I’m going to make the reality of loving you so much better than any fantasy.’
Slowly and thoroughly he proves it to me with a hundred tender touches, and I believe.
EPILOGUE
Three Months Later
Blair
I’M TOO HAPPY, my cheeks aching with the wide smile that just won’t leave me. Drake and Kenzie’s wedding, an intimate family affair in the newly renovated Faulkner ballroom, has been a day I’ll never forget. Drake had both Reid, Kit and Graham as groomsmen, the four of them dashing in morning suits. Mia and Kenzie’s sister, Tilly, were bridesmaids. And me? Well, I had the best job—taking care of my godson, Ryan Abbott-Faulkner.
Of course, he’s breastfed and teething, only wants his mother, and I’m relieved to hand him back after the
ceremony. But that’s mainly because I need both hands for holding Reid.
‘Did you cry?’ He presses a kiss to the top of my head.
‘A little. It was a beautiful ceremony. They’re so in love, aren’t they?’
He nods, tugging me closer into his arms, an indulgent smile playing on his lips. ‘Let’s get some champagne and check on the wedding breakfast.’ He leads me towards a waiter and we take our glasses out into the foyer, which is filled with light on this beautiful day.
‘I’m sure everything is in order,’ I say, taking a sip and remembering a thousand Reid-flavoured champagne kisses I’ve tasted since the first one. ‘You don’t need to oversee everything.’
He pulls me to a stop and kisses me. ‘You’re right. Just like you were right about this space and knocking down that wall.’
I give him my best I-told-you-so face, but then he distracts me with his lips on mine, which are soft but demanding, as they were this morning when we made love, and champagne-flavoured. A thousand and one...
‘And we need as much light as we can get in here,’ he says, ‘so I can see your exquisite face.’
‘Okay, charmer.’ I laugh. ‘What are you after, because we have a whole wedding reception to get through before we can go home?’ Although it’s a tough one to call—Reid is as addictive as ever.
‘Well, I wondered if you’d ever had the particular fantasy I’ve had in my head for a while now...?’ He quirks one eyebrow, his eyes sparkling.
I shrug, stare searching for a possible hidey-hole and mind calculating how long we have before we’ll be missed. ‘Personally, I’m happy with any fantasy—mine or yours.’
‘Mmm... I think you’ll like this one better than all the others,’ he says.
‘I will?’ My pulse roars.
He nods, a wicked twist to his mouth. Confident, sexy sod. ‘It goes like this.’ He leans close, his mouth millimetres from mine, and holds up a black velvet box as if from nowhere.
I’m struck dumb, my eyes burning and my mind blank of even the most basic functions of breathing and heart beating.
Reid opens the box and drops to one knee. ‘Blair, will you marry me? I promise to fulfil your every fantasy to the best of my ability until the day I die.’
I cover my mouth, holding in ecstatic laughter. But what else is there to say, because we’re exactly where we’re meant to be?
‘Yes.’
* * *
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Hot Mistake
by Cara Lockwood
PROLOGUE
THEY TUMBLED DOWN onto the plush cushions of the poolside lounger and she found herself on top of his hard, fit body. The shock of the impact jolted all her senses at once. The cruise ship’s pool was deserted, the silver moon high above their heads. No one was around. No one could see them. All her senses came alive then, rousing needs she’d long denied. Their bodies fit together perfectly, the thin layer of clothing between them not enough to contain the heat they generated. Everything about him screamed sex: the lopsided smile, the thick muscles across his chest on display through his thin T-shirt, the barely there hint of stubble on his chin. She glanced at his hazel eyes and the way he stared at her told her everything she needed to know: he wanted her. Her heart thudded in her chest as her brain struggled to realize what her body already understood: she wanted him, too.
This was the man she’d been warned about, the man with the reputation for breaking hearts. But none of that seemed to matter now. Nothing mattered but the feel of his body beneath hers.
He waited patiently for her to make the first move. Almost challenging her as he kept still, their lips nearly touching. All she had to do was dip down to taste him. She inhaled his scent: sandalwood and something muskier, something dangerous. She wanted that smell on her, she realized. She wanted him, period. An inner voice of warning pinged in her head. Don’t do this. It’s a mistake. He’s going to use you.
Not if I use him first, she told the voice.
Oh, she liked that idea. Play the player. Take what she needed...and she would. She’d denied herself for months. She’d been good for far, far too long. What had being tight-laced gotten her? Nothing. She needed this. She needed him. She was tired of being polite. What she wanted was a bad boy, someone who was off-limits, someone who wouldn’t play nice.
Her inner wild child roared to life. She’d been held down too long beneath the prim and proper, the straight and narrow path she’d struggled to w
alk. Tonight she wasn’t going to be a good girl. Tonight she was going to let the bad girl out. Her real self, finally. Wild, free, a woman who knew what she wanted and took it.
She dipped down and kissed him, pressing her lips against his, tasting the caramel-sweet sourness of bourbon. But she wanted more. So much more. Her tongue flicked out, meeting his in perfect unity, as if he anticipated her every move. Every nerve ending in her body stood on end, her blood buzzing in her veins, as she tasted him, drank him in. Her hand skipped down, running the length of his fit chest, finding him even harder, even more ready than she’d imagined.
She knew he’d had plenty of women. His reputation preceded him, after all. But she knew for a fact he’d never had a woman like her before. She reached for his fly and pressed her fingers against the length of him through the fabric and he groaned. Yes, that’s it, groan for me, her inner wild child thought. Get ready for the night of your life.
Copyright © 2019 by Cara Lockwood
ISBN-13: 9781488048722
Forbidden to Touch
Copyright © 2019 by JC Harroway
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.