“No! No wash hands!” Olivia protests as she disappears around the corner with Autumn.
“If you don’t wash your hands, then you can’t eat lunch.”
I listen to their chatter as I grab food for lunch. It makes me happy hearing them, the noise of their laughter echoing through the house. I never thought I could be still, and yet, now that I am, I can’t imagine things being any different than the way they are now.
Except better. There’s only one thing that would make things better, and that’s why all of our friends and family are coming to dinner tonight.
I take the box from my pocket, and pop it open again, just to see the ring. I never thought I’d be asking this question of anyone, and I feel like the luckiest man on earth, getting to ask it of Autumn.
39
Autumn
“Is this super lame?” I whirl around so I can see June’s reaction. She’s holding Callie in her arms, bouncing her because she’s fussy from teething, while Cade and Luke keep an eye on Stan and Olivia, who are most likely in the middle of trashing the playroom.
“The dress?” she asks. “No, I love it. That’s not new, is it?”
“No, not the dress,” I say. “The box. This.” I hold out the gift bag, pink and blue patterned, the only thing the drug store two towns over had in stock that wasn’t plastered with “happy birthday” wishes all over it. I had to drive thirty minutes to make sure I didn’t let on about this secret before I told Luke.
June looks at me and then at the bag. “It’s… oh. Oh!” she says. “You’re pregnant!” She wraps her arm around me, hugging me, the baby between us. “Is that for Luke?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “It’s not going to be completely lame, is it?”
“Are you kidding?” she asks. “He’s going to be over the moon. He’ll love it, whatever is in the bag.”
“I’m nervous about this,” I tell her. The butterflies in the pit of my stomach aren’t going away anytime soon. I haven’t exactly had the best of luck with pregnancy announcements, after all.
“It’s going to be great,” she says. “I’m so thrilled for you.”
“I never thought it would end up this way,” I tell her. “It’s more than I hoped for.”
June smiles. “Everything works out in the end,” she says. “Even if it takes some time.”
“Is that how it was for you and Cade?” I ask.
She laughs. “Honey, our road was definitely a winding one.”
I check my hair quickly in the mirror, tucking a loose strand behind my ear, and take a deep breath. “Cade is a good man.”
“So is Luke,” she notes. “We’re both lucky.”
“Cade still has friends in his motorcycle club,” I say, choosing my words carefully. I don’t know what happened, or how Cade is connected to it, but the rumor is that a biker club from California took out Jed Easton after he made it to prison.
“He does, indeed,” June says. “And if a motorcycle club saw fit to be involved with that terrible prison murder, well then, I’d probably guess that Sheriff Easton had done something so wrong that he deserved it.”
“He was a bad man,” I agree. In two years, June hasn’t told me much about her past. But I guess we all have secrets that are sometimes better left alone, and that’s okay. “Hey, we should go down there now and at least make sure the children haven’t completely destroyed the house.”
At dinner, we sit around the farmhouse table in the middle of the kitchen – totally renovated and completely gourmet now, a positive side effect of the fire, I suppose. It’s Luke’s domain – and I’ve gained ten pounds from being the test subject of all of his dishes. He’s cooking for June’s bed and breakfast now and has been inundated with so many catering requests that he can’t keep up with them. He’s looking into opening a restaurant in town in the next few months, and I know that with his cooking skills, it’s sure to be wildly successful.
I look around at the people sitting around the table talking and laughing over cider and wine and beer and passing platefuls of food from one person to another. Everyone who means something to us is here – Elias and River, Silas and Tempest, Cade and June. Even Killian is here, off the oil rig and back in West Bend. He’s seeing a girl, I think, or at least that’s what Luke says, but he hasn’t mentioned anything to me yet. Killian is the quiet type – kind of brooding, but a good guy. He doesn’t like to admit that he has a soft side, but it’s obvious to me that Olivia and Stan already have him wrapped around their little fingers.
Luke stands, tapping his fork against his wine glass. “I didn’t just bring you here for dinner,” he says. “I’m afraid I had an ulterior motive. I have an announcement to make.”
I clear my throat, reaching down into my purse for my gift bag and standing. “I actually have an announcement, too.”
Silas laughs. “You both should do them at the same time,” he says.
“Let Autumn go first,” June says. “She has a big announcement.”
“Same time, same time,” Elias chants.
I grin at Luke from across the table. “Same time?” I ask, keeping the bag behind my back. “I’ll show you yours if you show me mine.”
Luke sighs in mock exasperation, but he can’t hide his smile. “Fine,” he says. “Even though I had a whole speech prepared.”
I hold the bag in front of me, watching as Luke brings a small box from behind his back and opens it. And then I start crying, full-on sobbing, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Olivia yells, trying to get out of her booster seat.
“Happy tears, Olivia,” I say, wiping my cheeks. “I’m crying because I’m happy.”
“What’s in the package?” Elias asks, and River slaps him playfully on the arm.
“Hush, Elias,” she says. “She’s having a moment.”
Luke walks around the table to stand in front of me, and I set the bag on the table, wiping the tears from my cheeks. Taking my hands in his, he kneels down, as everyone at the table collectively utters a huge “awwwww”. Except for Olivia and Stan, who are blowing raspberries at each other and then laughing hysterically.
“Autumn Mayburn,” he says, and the formality makes me giggle because it’s so not Luke. Now I just look like I’m losing my mind as I try to stifle nervous laughter, the rims of my eyes red from crying. “I’ve never wanted to be tied down. The best I’d hoped for in my life was to keep moving, keep going, with no ties to anyone and no responsibilities. Then I met you – and you’re the most stubborn, smartmouthed woman I’ve ever met.”
“Is this supposed to be a proposal?” I ask, laughing. “This is starting to sound like a list of my flaws.”
“Hush, woman,” he says. “Those are the reasons I love you. I love you and I love Olivia and I love this life we have.”
“I love love,” Silas mocks him, snickering, and from the corner of my eye, I see Killian slug him in the arm.
“So, I’m asking if you and Olivia will have me.”
“Of course,” I say, and he stands to slip the ring on my finger. He slides his arm around my waist and kisses me full on the lips, and everything in the world stands still for a moment. He only pulls away when Elias groans.
“Get a room, you two,” Elias says, feigning disgust.
“I can’t answer for Olivia, though,” I say. “Would you like Luke to stay with us?”
“I got ice cream for dessert,” Luke says.
“Ice cream!” she yells.
“I think that’s a yes in toddler terms, right?” he asks.
“I think that’s a yes.”
“What was your big news?” he asks. “Am I supposed to open the bag?”
I nod, suddenly mute, as he pulls out the t-shirt for Olivia, with Big Sister emblazoned across the front in pink script. “It’s for Olivia,” I say.
“You’re –” Luke looks at me, his eyes wide.
“Yes.”
“Yes?” He picks me up, and whirls me around in his arms,
before setting me down on the ground. “Holy crap. You’re pregnant!”
“That’s good, right?” I ask. “I mean, you’re happy?”
“Are you kidding?” he asks. “That’s amazing. Insane.”
He leans close and kisses me again, amid the groans and whoops of his brothers. When he draws back, he cups my face in his hands. “I promise I’ll love this family of ours forever.”
And I know that to be true, with more certainty than I’ve known anything else in my life.
40
Bonus Epilogue
Autumn
"Get in here," Luke whispers, pulling me into the cloakroom at the restaurant. "Cloakroom" is really a fancy term for an oversized storage room we converted to hide guests' coats. The restaurant opened last year, and has been doing better than we could have anticipated. Luke is happier than ever, getting to dream up new dinner creations every night that showcase local food and of course, cider from our distillery. We're partners in the restaurant with Killian and his wife; I'd never in a million years have expected that, when I first met Killian.
But that's life – it's unexpected and unpredictable, and that's what makes it fun.
Luke's hand goes straight to my ass, gripping it as he pulls me against his hardness.
"What are you doing?" I ask, laughing. "A couple of the guys are still working in the kitchen!"
"So? Let them work, because I'm going to feel up my wife."
"Oh, you think so, huh?"
"I know so," Luke notes, his hand moving over the top of my dress, up my abdomen and over my breasts as he makes his point. When he puts his lips on mine, heat rushes through me, pooling between my legs the way it always does when he touches me.
"You're incorrigible. The staff is totally going to know we snuck in here."
"Not if you're quiet." He pushes up my skirt roughly, his fingers going right down the front of my panties and finding my clit. "Think you can be quiet?"
"Mmm…" I groan softly. "If you keep doing that, I'm not sure."
"It's our restaurant anyway," Luke notes, his fingers rolling over and over my clit, sending goose bumps across my skin. "I should be able to fuck my wife in the closet after the guests are gone. Besides, the kitchen staff was almost finished. They're probably all clocking out as we speak."
"Uh-huh," I murmur. I care less and less about the kitchen staff the more Luke touches me.
"You're so wet already," he growls, his fingers slipping easily inside me. "I love how you get so wet for me."
My breath hitches in my throat as his lips press against mine, my tongue finding his as he strokes me in a come-hither motion with his fingers. "Knock me up, Luke."
He growls near my ear. “Ooh, baby, I love it when you talk dirty to me."
I laugh as he slips his fingers from between my legs, pulling my panties down. They fall to the ground, getting stuck on one of my heels but I don't care because I'm too busy unbuckling Luke's pants. I wrap my hand around his shaft, my thumb grazing the pre-cum on the tip. "Put a baby in me," I say, mock-serious, my voice over-the-top sensual.
We really are trying for another baby. Olivia is seven now and Allison is five, and we decided we're ready again. We've been trying for a few months, sneaking time in the shower and in the cider distillery and in cloakrooms. Luke is totally glad I haven't gotten pregnant yet, since he says knocking me up is half the fun.
He pulls my thigh up to his waist so that I'm standing on one leg with his hand cupping my ass. When he pushes me back hard against the cloakroom wall, he slides easily inside me, aided by my slickness.
I moan at the sensation of Luke's bare cock inside me, his lips on the side of my neck, kissing along my jawline until he reaches my lips. I pull him tighter against me, my breath coming shorter as he thrusts, the movement of my hips matching his in a well-practiced, familiar dance as our need becomes more urgent. I don't need to tell Luke what to do or what I like. After this much time together, he knows exactly how to play my body.
I'm practically panting as Luke whispers in my ear, telling me how much he loves my tight pussy and how he's so close to coming inside of me. "God I love fucking you," he whispers. " I can't get enough of you."
I'm so close. My pussy swells tight around his cock and I'm moaning, probably too loudly, as I tell him I'm going to come.
Luke thrusts inside me, gathering momentum as he gets closer. "I'm going to fuck a baby into you," he groans.
That pushes me over the edge, and I come hard, my muscles squeezing him as he releases inside me, thrusting into me again and again. My pussy milks him of every last drop.
After, he brushes my hair off my forehead. "Standing was a terrible idea. We need to get you on your back with your legs up."
I laugh. "Is this your way of getting me into bed now?"
"Mmm-hmm,” he murmurs. "Standing probably wasn't that effective in terms of knocking you up. We should try again later in bed, with your legs in the air."
Later, in bed – after we've tried again, of course – I lay with my head on Luke's chest while he snores quietly beside me. Olivia and Allison are sleeping, and the house is quiet. It won't be quiet for long, not if we add a new baby to the mix, but that's okay. Quiet is overrated. The life we've built together in West Bend is about as perfect as I could ask for.
The final book in the West Bend Saints Series, Killian (Book Four) can be found by going back to the FRONT of this file, or by navigating to the front using the table of contents.
Also by Sabrina Paige
Thanks for reading Killian! I hope you enjoyed it! If you’d like to keep up to date on my upcoming releases or get a free review copy of my next book, sign up for my mailing list! I promise not to spam you, but I’ll send you advance notification before I launch my next book, so that you can get it at a discounted price during the launch! I also send out calls for review readers via my newsletter, so if you’re interested, sign up and keep in touch!
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Other Books by Sabrina Paige
Sports Romances
Tackled
Stepbrother Romances
Prick
Tool
Cannon
Prince Albert
A Very Dirty Wedding
*This is a novella sequel to Prick and should not be read before reading Prick*
West Bend Saints Series
Elias
Silas
Luke
Motorcycle Club Books
Taming Blaze
Saving Axe
Breaking Hammer
About the Author
Sabrina Paige writes about smart, sexy, sassy women and hot, possessive alpha males. She especially loves writing about hate-to-love relationships and likes funny, over-the-top scenarios in her books. Her newest novel, Tackled, hit #1 on the Amazon Kindle Bestseller list in March 2016. In November 2015, her novel Prince Albert hit #1 on the Amazon Kindle Bestseller list. Prick, Tool, Cannon, and Luke have been Top 10 Amazon Kindle Bestsellers, and Elias and Saving Axe have been Top 20 Bestsellers.
She has found her own happily ever after with her active duty military husband and adorable daughter.
I would love to hear from you!
@sabrinapaigerom
SabrinaPaigeRomance
www.sabrinapaigeromance.com
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
Thanks to all of the readers and bloggers who support my work — and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your patience with me as I’ve finished this series!
As always, thanks to Yoly Cortez of Cormar Covers for her always amazing designs and for being so understanding when I inevitably panic last-minute about my covers.
And my heartfelt thanks to my editor, Daryl Banner, who is so awesome and gave me so much good feedback on this book. Sue Banner, thank you for proofreading and for the encouragement.
Lastly, thanks to the fabulous indie author commun
ity that I’m a part of, and to all the authors who sufficiently distract me on Facebook and prevent me from getting any work done.
Killian: A West Bend Saints Romance Page 82