We’re out of the pool lying on one of our loungers, me sprawled out on top of Asher, his hand’s running up and down my back.
“I want another, baby,” Asher says softly to the top of my head. His hands slowing move up and down.
“Already?” I ask, not that I’m surprised. He loves our daughter and is amazing with her, but she’s only two months old and I want to enjoy her for a little while longer.
“I want our kids to be close like me and my brothers. And I also miss you being pregnant.”
“You miss me complaining about everything, late night store runs, foot massages and my weight gain?” I ask.
“I never complained, and you already know how I felt about your belly. Something about you waddling around with my baby inside you was fucking sexy.”
“You’re a strange one, Asher James.”
“So, what do you say?”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he says, pulling me up his body. “You’re going to give me another baby?”
“Yes, I'm going to give you another baby.”
“Well, then.” He smiles, giving me the dimple. “Let’s get started,” he says against my mouth and we did get started. It took a few tries, but two months later, I found out I was pregnant. A few months after that, we found out we were having a girl. Five girls later, Asher gave up on his dream of a boy.
Seventeen years later
“You listen to me, young lady,” I hear Asher say. “You are not going on a date. You’re only sixteen.”
“Daddy,” I hear our daughter cry, and I know that she’s giving him the puppy dog eyes. Each of our five girls had perfected the puppy dog eyes by the time they were old enough to talk. I shove my face into my pillow so they can’t hear me laughing through the open door. I keep listening, but all I can hear now is mumbling. This lasts awhile. Then Asher walks into our room, closing the door behind him. His face is blank as he sits down on the bed, takes off his shoes, then stands, and takes his shirt off. After seventeen years, his body is still amazing. He looks at me and I see so much love in his eyes that it makes it hard to breathe. The pillow is still against my face with my eyes peeking out over the top of it.
So, what did you say?” I ask in a muffled voice.
“She’s going on a date on Friday,” he grumbles and I fall back in bed, laughing so hard that tears are streaming down my face.
Yes, this is bliss, I think to myself.
Acknowledgements
Fist I want to thank God. Next I need to thank my husband for being my biggest fan and supporter. Your love and encouragement means the world to me and without you this book would not have been done. To my cookie for always keeping my head in place I love you like a sister and I’m thankful every day that God brought you into my life and I'm able to watch you grow into the beautiful woman you are becoming. A special thanks to my editor, Kris Kendall, for taking on the task of the mess I called Until November. You’re awesome and I appreciate all your hard work. I need to give a special thanks to all my family—adoptive and real—your support means so much. To my mom, you’re the first one who read Until November (even with the sex) and you said I had something, love you. To mommy for telling me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. To every book blog who took a chance on an unknown author you are all amazing. To every reader out there who has been willing to give a new author a chance, thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart. Last but not least my Beta Readers Jessica, Carrie, Marta and Laura. Thank you so much for all your involvement in the “Until” Series.
XOXOXOXOXO
About the author
Aurora Rose Reynolds is a navy brat whose husband served in the United States Navy. She has lived all over the country but now resides in New York City with her husband and pet fish. She's married to an alpha male that loves her as much as the men in her books love their women. He gives her over the top inspiration every day. In her free time, she reads, writes and enjoys going to the movies with her husband and cookie. She also enjoys taking mini weekend vacations to nowhere, or spends time at home with friends and family. Last but not least, she appreciates every day and admires its beauty.
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A NOTE TO MY READERS
I hope you enjoyed Until November. Please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. The next book in the “Until” series will be Until Trevor. Enjoy the first chapter below.
Bonus Excerpt of Until Trevor
Trevor
"You’re really fucking tight!" I say, sliding through her wetness, feeling her wrap tightly around one finger. "How long has it been?" I ask her while biting down on her earlobe. Damn, I love the sound she makes.
"Never," she whimpers, raising her hips up to meet my hand.
Jolting awake, I look at the time and see that it’s just after two in the morning. "This shit is getting ridiculous," I say, scrubbing my hands down my face. Ever since the night that I had my hand down Liz’s pants, this shit has been plaguing me.
The second the word "never" came out of her gorgeous mouth, everything stopped. I couldn’t fuck a virgin. Especially one that was as sweet as Liz.
"You’re awake?" Anna or Amber, maybe it’s Angie, says from the other side of the bed.
"Yeah, time for you to go, sugar," I say, sitting up and wondering why the fuck I keep doing this to myself.
Fucking these other women is like walking with a bottle of saltwater through a desert. You know it might look the same but it still won’t fulfill the need you have.
"Can’t I stay?" she whines, running her fingers down my back.
"Nope," I say standing and pulling up a pair of grey AE sweats.
"So you’re just going to kick me out?"
"Nope, I'm telling you it’s time for you to go. Kicking you out would be bad manners."
"When can we meet up again?" she asks, putting on her tight blue dress. The way it resists, I’m wondering how the hell she slipped out of it so damn fast last night.
"I’ll call you. Just leave your number," I say walking into the bathroom. I know that by the time I get out, she will be nothing but a memory.
"Yo, T!" Cash says, sliding in the booth across from me. I smirk. He uses that word at least a hundred times a day. "What are you doing here?"
I raise an eyebrow and shove another piece of French toast into my mouth, answering without speaking.
"You’re going to Mom and Dads’ this weekend, right? Asher is finally lifting the ban on access to July so Mom’s having a big party," he says, looking excited.
"Does he know that Mom’s having a party?" I ask, thinking that if he doesn’t know anything about this, he’s going to flip the fuck out. Yep, I’ve only seen my niece twice and only held her once after November forced Asher to give her over.
Cash shrugs looking over my shoulder. "Yo," he calls, waving his hand. I see Liz standing near the front door, her long, blonde hair is over one shoulder in some kind of messy braid and her strapless summer dress is fitted around her perfect breasts reaching the floor. She waves. Her cheeks turn a pretty pink then I see red when some guy pulls her in for a hug.
"And who the fuck is that?" I growl, knowing that my brothers are used to my Liz issues.
Cash shrugs again. "Don’t know," he mumbles, watching them. "Yo, Liz, come here for a second," he calls her over. The guy she’s with walks to a different booth and sits facing us.
"Hi, guys," she says, her voice as soft as the curves of her body. Since I know exactly what she feels like and smells like, it fucks with my head.
"You’re going to Mom and Dads’ for the party this weekend?" Cash asks.
She looks at me, her face closing off before she answers. "I'm umm not sure."
"Who�
�s the guy?" I ask. She looks startled by the question for a second.
"Just a friend," she says, wringing her hands together.
"What’s his name?" I ask, looking over at the guy who has his eyes pointed right at her ass. He’s younger than me by a few years. His dark blond hair is a mess and he looks like a fucking bank teller in his cheap ass suit.
"Bill," she says, looking at Cash. "I'm going to go now. I might see you guys this weekend I’ll, umm, let your mom know." She turns and walks towards cheap ass suit Bill who’s watching each step she takes. I have to hold myself back from going over and smashing his face into the top of the wood table.
"When are you going to stop fucking around?" Cash asks.
“She’s fucking innocent, man,” I mumble, shoving my plate away.
"So what? Because she’s not a fucking slut bag like the bitches you normally fuck, you aren’t interested?" he asks. Deep down I know he’s right. She was mine from the first time I laid eyes on her at my parents’ house. She was sitting outside, laughing with my mom. Right then and there, I knew that she was mine. Then we became somewhat friends, one thing led to another the night my niece was born. I finally had her under me and she rocked my world with the news that she was a virgin. Ever since that day, I’ve tried to avoid her.
"Gotta go," I say, getting up I throw some money on the table. I look at Liz one last time. Great! The guy reaches across to put her hair behind her ear. It makes my blood boil and I know I need to get over it or step up to the plate. Either way, I need to make a move.
The guy looks over in my direction, his chin lifts in warning. "Game on, motherfucker," I say, heading out the door.
Liz
I get to the front door of the club and shove it open. My stomach is full of butterflies. In all the time I lived here, I’ve never been inside this club. I never thought I would even visit, let alone come seeking employment here. The inside was dark with the only light coming from the bar.
"Can I help you?" a very pretty older lady asks. She was standing behind the bar, wiping out a glass.
"I, um, need to see Mike," I say, taking another small step inside.
"Sure, honey, come with me," she says walking me down a long hall where she opens the last door.
"Shannon, give me a minute," Mike says without looking up from his computer. "November added some new program on this damn thing and now I can’t find my e-mail," he grumbles and I smile. I walk around the desk, take the mouse from him, and click on the e-mail icon. He chuckles.
"Hey, darlin’, how are you?" he asks in the fatherly tone that I’ve come to love. Mike and my dad were best friends until my dad passed away ten years ago. After his passing, Mike helped my mom out with me and my brother whenever she needed a hand. I used to pray that Mike and my mom would get married but they were never anything more than friends.
"Could be better," I say feeling the tears start to climb up my throat again.
"What’s wrong?" Mike asks, standing from the desk and pulling me over to the couch.
"Well, I need a job."
"Okay," he says and I can tell he doesn’t know what to think. "What’s going on with the store?"
I can no longer control the tears.
"Tim stole all our money and I can’t tell my mom," I cry, doing a face plant into his chest. I don’t know what happened to the brother that I used to know, the one who would come home at night to check on me after our father passed away. We used to be close but then he moved away to school and everything changed. When I graduated from high school, I worked at a local factory for eight years before it closed down due to the economy.
Every week when I got paid, I would put money away for savings. I have always loved to shop and there were never any stores in town that carried anything I would buy so I made a plan, saved my money, and finally my dreams were realized and "Temptations" was opened.
I sat up and looked over Mike’s shoulder. "Three months ago, when Tim came to visit, he asked to help me out in the store. I had been working so many hours and was exhausted so I agreed. I didn’t know that the real reason he wanted to help was so that he could rob me blind. Now he’s gone and so is all of the store’s money and mine. I can’t tell my mom what happened, and she’s getting married in a few weeks and doesn’t need the added stress from this situation.
“I have a private investigator looking into finding Tim and the twenty-three thousand dollars he stole but who knows how long that could take. I’ve already lost my apartment and had to put everything I own in storage while I stay in the back room of the store. I thought I was doing okay until I got a notice two days ago saying that I was late paying the rent for the store. I can’t afford to lose my dream," I whisper, my voice hoarse from crying.
"Shhhhh, darlin’, it’s okay. Everything will be alright. November is not using her apartment anymore so you can stay there, and I can give you the money."
I shake my head back and forth. "I can’t take your money. It wouldn’t feel right."
"I can’t have you work for me, Liz," he says as he places his right hand on my cheek. I feel bad pulling out the big guns but I know I need money and I can’t take it without earning it.
"Can you recommend another club?" I ask, pulling out my cell phone and looking like I'm going to take down whatever phone number he gives me.
"You’re not going to work at another club," he says, running his hands down his face. "Jesus, I don’t know what the fuck I'm thinking doing this shit." When his eyes come back to me, I can tell that he’s really torn. "Look, you can serve drinks but you can’t work on stage."
"Okay," I agree immediately. I never wanted to work on stage. I would if I had to, but the idea of taking off my clothes and trying to appear sexy just seemed like a lot of work.
"What’s Trevor going to say about this?" Mike asks and I turn away. Trevor liked to scare away any man who showed the least bit of interest in me. I was pretty sure that I was halfway in love with him already but I knew for a fact those feelings were not mutual.
For a while, I thought of him as one of my best friends until the day July was born. We ended up at his house, celebrating over a bottle of vodka. Things ended up getting hot and heavy. He had his hand down my pants and I was so caught up in the moment that when he asked me how long it had been, I told him never. I didn’t mean that I never had sex. I meant that I had never felt that kind of fire like my whole body was lit from the inside out.
As soon as I said the word ‘never,’ he stopped immediately. I tried to tell him that I didn’t mean it like that but he completely ignored me. He handed me my shirt from the floor, and left the room. He’s been avoiding me ever since. That’s been a good thing because I’ve never been more humiliated in my life.
"Trevor has no say in what I do. We don’t even talk anymore," I say, hearing the sadness in my own voice.
"Yeah, alright," Mike says, running his hand through his hair. "You can start tomorrow. Just ask Shannon to get you a uniform."
"Thanks a lot," I say quietly, looking at the hands in my lap.
"Don’t thank me yet, honey."
"This means a lot to me. I know this isn’t easy for you."
"Okay, darlin’." He sighs, pulling me in for another hug. "I’ll see you tomorrow. Your shift starts at nine but come around eight. I’ll have one of the girls show you where everything is and what you need to do."
He stands, taking a set of keys out of his pocket. "These are for the apartment. You can get in through the basement door that’s around the back of the house. Just let yourself in. Tomorrow, I’ll help you get your stuff from storage and get you moved in."
I swallowed hard, trying to control the emotions that are running rampant inside me. "Everything is going to be okay, Liz," Mike says again, pulling me in for another hug. "Now go get your uniform and I’ll see you tomorrow."
"Okay," I whisper, taking a step away. "Thanks again, Mike. See you tomorrow." I leave the office to find Shannon back behind the bar. She gives me wha
t is supposed to be a uniform but feels like a few pieces of silk and sends me on my way.
"Hey, girl," Beth, better known as Bambi, says, walking into the dressing room. When I first met her, I was a little intimidated. She’s about five-nine, all legs, long brown hair and perfect, sun kissed skin with golden eyes. She came to Tennessee from Montana around a year ago and has been working at Teasers ever since.
She taught me to wait tables, push drinks, and smile for a decent tip, if any. I asked her why she didn’t work the stage. I mean, I knew for a fact that she would make a lot of money up there. But she said she was way too clumsy and that the name Bambi wasn’t given to her when she started working here but when she was little. Her parents said she could never control her legs. It was like they weren’t attached to her body so they started calling her Bambi.
"Is it busy out there?" I ask, putting on light pink lip gloss.
Until November (Until series) Page 24