The music changes and my breath catches in my throat
This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting nearly two years for.
Brianna appears at the end of the aisle, her arm linked through her father’s looking absolutely stunning in her wedding dress. The silk dress wraps around her the same way I wish to be, showing off her sexy figure. But it’s the neckline that gets me. Her dark hair is up in some twisty bun thing, showing off her neck, making me jealous that all the men sitting amongst the guests can see her.
I hear Bobby suck in a breath as he takes in his twin sister, looking like an absolute goddess. I want to turn to him to see his face, but I don’t dare take my eyes off her. I’d be a fool to miss even a second of this.
The veil covers her face but I can still make out her eyes through the sheer material. The second her eyes land on mine, her whole face lights up and blows me the fuck away. Wow. She’s beautiful.
Nate notices his mummy at the end of the aisle and squeals in delight, making me a little jealous that I can’t do the same thing. Parker quickly joins in with his brother and before I know it, so does Georgie.
Brianna starts walking and I can’t tear my eyes away from her. I feel my future getting closer and closer with every step. Damn. I just want her to run so I can catch her.
Being back together for the past twelve months has been incredible. Every touch, every look, every damn moment has made me so incredibly blessed to have her back in my life.
She finally makes it to the end of the aisle and her father reluctantly hands her over. He still isn’t too thrilled about the whole break up and knocking up his daughter thing. He loves the boys maybe more than he loves Brianna, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’d hurt her. I don’t blame him though, I still hate myself for putting her through that.
I take her hands in mine but I can’t wait any longer to see her face. I step forward and raise the veil over her head. She grins at me and my heart practically explodes. Wow, just wow.
My hand slides up behind her neck and I pull her to me. My lips instantly come crashing down on her. I kiss her like I’ll never see her again and she returns the favor.
Laughter comes from the guests, but I ignore then, insisting on taking my time, enjoying the beautiful woman before me. Logan clears his throat beside me. “I think this is supposed to come after the vows.”
Again, I ignore him as I’m far too busy with my woman in my arms. I pull back and rest my forehead against hers. “You look beautiful,” I murmur for only her to hear.
“And you look like the rest of my life.”
Yep. That did it.
I press my lips back to hers until she pulls away. “Can we get married now?”
“Fuck, yeah.”
The end.
Sneak Peek
Sean – Denver Royalty (Book 3)
Chapter 1
Sean
I lay awake on my daughter’s bedroom floor staring at the picture of my wife on my daughter’s bedside table as I watch over my little girl as she struggles to find peace in her sleep. The sound of her shaky breath is the only noise heard within this big house. Her asthma has been playing up a lot lately, we’ve already been to the hospital three times this month.
It’s always bad but the second winter hit, it was like torture for my poor little Georgie. In and out of hospital when she should be running around the playground with her cousins. Instead, she sits and plays quietly while watching her cousins with longing in her eyes. All she wants to do is run. She must think I’m a monster always telling her no.
God, I just don’t know what to do. I wasn’t built to do this on my own.
I need my wife. My beautiful Sara. She was ripped away from me three years ago and I’ve spent every minute of every day wishing I could get her back.
Fuck, I miss her.
My heart aches just thinking about her, but I’m used to it now. After so long, you need to get on with life, you need to find a way to carry on. For me, it was my daughter.
Sara died after an emergency Caesarean and I’ll never forget that day. It’s forever ingrained in my memory.
It started as the best day of our lives. It was late at night and we were wrapped in each other’s arms, watching some ridiculous dance movie. She loved that shit. I could never get into it, I’m more of an action movie kind of guy, but Sara, all that dancing and lovey dovey shit, that was right up her alley.
Her hand was firmly in mine when she gasped and looked down. She was so embarrassed, she thought she had wet her pants, but really, it was just her water breaking. I didn’t even give her a second to worry about it before I swooped her up in my arms and deposited her in my truck.
We were about to have the baby we’d always wanted. Things could not have been better.
We were at the hospital in record time, she got dressed in a hospital gown, kissed me and climbed into the bed. Nurses came in and out, my family showed up and she screamed while digging her nails into the skin of my hand as she rode out her contractions.
The baby went into distress and Sara was wheeled down the hallway for an emergency Caesarean. I had some nurse launch a pair of scrubs at me and order me to hurry up while Sara was prepped for surgery.
She was terrified, I’ll never forget the look on her face. It still haunts me to this day. The last thing she wanted was to have a Caesarean, but we had no other choice in the matter. Our baby’s life was at stake. I held her hand and wiped away a tear as the doctor worked furiously to get our baby out.
At five in the morning, our little Georgia was born and placed on Sara’s chest. I’ll never forget the look on her face when she held her precious baby for the first and only time. I would give anything to have that with her again. It’s the most precious memory I have of Sara, apart from our wedding day.
I leaned down and kissed her as we watched our baby take her first breath before screaming the room down. “I love you, so much, Sara,” I whispered before she turned and looked up at me.
She gave me an exhausted smile and pulled me down to her again. “We did good,” she murmured against my lips before catching them in hers. I couldn’t have agreed more as I took in our little girl. I pushed Sara’s hair back off her face as she watched me with an overwhelming love in her beautiful blue eyes, eyes that I see every single day in my daughter. “Go tell them we have a little girl before they bust the doors down,” she told me, referring to my whole family who stood right outside the door, eager to know if they had a niece or nephew.
She ripped her eyes away from mine and focused them back on our little girl. I smiled and took it all in while taking a mental of the image of the sight before me. I never wanted to forget that moment. I ducked out the doors to tell my brothers and my little sister that the first Waters’ niece was just brought into the world.
We cheered and hugged and I got my ass straight back in the room as quickly as possible.
Only things had changed.
My daughter was no longer on my wife’s chest.
My wife was no longer smiling with love at her newborn baby.
The doctor was no longer stitching her up.
The room was a flurry of chaos.
I ran over to Sara and grabbed her. “Why isn’t she awake?” I demanded of the doctor.
He ignored me as he worked furiously on my wife’s insides. “She’s hemorrhaging,” he said to a nurse before she pressed something on the wall. Before I knew it, an alarm was sounding throughout the whole maternity ward. Nurses and doctors flew around the room while my daughter was rushed out the doors.
Nothing mattered to me in the moment but Sara. I ignored it all and focused on my wife. I shook her shoulders. “Wake up, babe,” I demanded. “Sara? Open your eyes.”
She didn’t move.
“We’re losing too much blood,” the doctor had said.
“What’s going on?” I demanded of anyone who would listen.
“Get him out of here,” the doctor ordered.
Han
ds started pulling at me, but I refused to move. Like hell was I going to leave my wife’s side. “Sean?” someone had said. “You need to wait outside.”
Refusing to leave, I eventually had another woman grabbing at me and together they were able to haul me out the door and slam it shut in my face.
I don’t remember a damn thing that happened after that, all I know is that when I went back in that room. My world shattered. I saw my wife’s lifeless body on the table with pools of blood on the floor.
I think I screamed or maybe I cried. All I knew was that my wife was gone.
She’d left me and my life has never been the same since.
Every day without her is a challenge.
I need her here to tell me what to do. Am I doing the right thing with Georgia? Am I raising her the way she wanted? Have I given her the life that she would have wanted for her daughter?
Fuck, Sara, please come back to me. I hate that her last day on earth was during a torturous labor but I’m happy that she had the chance to meet her daughter. It just kills me that she doesn’t get to raise her and that Georgia is growing up without her mother. Fuck, we need her here.
I’ve been a shell of the man I used to be. Without Georgia, I don’t know how I would have gotten past it. Georgia is my absolute world yet every time I look at her, it kills me. She’s the spitting image of her mother and has the same attitude as well. She has the same strawberry blonde hair, the same soft curls, the same big blue eyes, and she’s even starting to get a few little freckles, the same way Sara had.
I love her so much and I can honestly say that Georgia saved my life. I can’t wait to see the young woman she will grow into. I just hope I’m raising her right, that she aspires to be as amazing as her mother was.
I hope that one day, she’ll find a love like we had and she will know the joy of raising a child. I just wish she never has to experience the pain of raising a child by herself.
A coughing fit takes over the silence in the room and my eyes are instantly ripped away from the photograph of Sara as I fly to my feet. I instantly sit Georgia up and she cries at the intrusion on her sleep, though it doesn’t last long as she struggles to take a breath with her lungs screaming for Ventolin.
“Shhh,” I soothe as I reach across and grab her inhaler. I place the inhaler to her lips and she instantly breathes in the Ventolin with slow deep breaths, something that’s become routine over the past couple of weeks.
Fuck. There’s nothing worse than listening and watching your only child struggle for breath. And the fact that the Ventolin is something that my three year old has become used to, kills me. No child should get used to something like that.
I place the inhaler back on her bedside table as she climbs into my lap with tears in her eyes. She snuggles into me and I wrap my arms around my beautiful girl. “Daddy,” she cries.
“You’re ok, baby girl,” I soothe as I rock us back and forward trying to help her get back to sleep. I can never leave her. If I wasn’t there and she had an attack. Fuck, I can’t even think about what could happen.
She cries in my arms and I try my best to calm her down. The asthma attacks scare the living shit out of her and rightly so. She’s too young to understand what’s actually happening and the dangers of it but she knows she doesn’t like it and she knows it worries me.
She’s the perfect little daddy’s girl. She’s just as attached to me as I am to her. She’s my world, just as I am hers and I would never have it any other way… apart from Sara.
I tell Georgie about her mummy every single day. I know she would never remember her, but at least she can know her. There are photos of Sara all over the house. From our wedding day, from when we first got together in high school to when she was pregnant with Georgie and my absolute favorite, the photo of Georgie on Sara’s chest with her arms cradled around her protectively as we welcomed her to the world.
Georgia eventually calms down and her tears run dry. “You ok, baby?” I ask as a yawn rips through her.
“Yes, daddy,” she tells me as she reaches across for her water bottle.
I help her to reach it and place it back down on the table once she’s demolished the entire thing. She’s hit with another yawn and snuggles in closer.
I sing her Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, the way I knew Sara would have if she was here now and she eventually falls back to sleep. I slide down in her bed and prop my head up under my arm with my daughter snuggled in close, knowing that tonight is going to be another sleepless night.
If another attack happens, I’ll be rushing her straight down to the hospital for the fourth time this month. This is getting ridiculous, there must be something more I can do for her.
She’s asleep for at least a half an hour when the sheets become very warm and very wet. Great, she’s wet her pants. I should have known better than to let her drink so much water, especially when we’re right in the middle of toilet training.
I can only imagine the perfect little smirk Sara would have given me if she were here now.
For the fourth time tonight, I wake my daughter. I get her cleaned up and into new pyjamas before stripping her bed and throwing the wet sheets in the washing machine. Ten minutes later, I’m in my own bed with Georgie wrapped around me.
I start on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star again and sigh in relief when she finally falls into a deep sleep with even, steady breaths, allowing me the chance to finally get some rest.
Thanks for reading!
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For more information on the Kings of Denver & the Denver Royalty series, find me on Facebook
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Other Books by Sheridan Anne
Teen & Young Adult - Paranormal Romance
DESTRUCT – The Guard Trilogy (Book 1) - www.amazon.com/dp/B078X92GXH
DECIMATE – The Guard Trilogy (Book 2) - www.amazon.com/dp/B078X2Z91X
DOMINATE – The Guard Trilogy (Book 3) - www.amazon.com/dp/B079HPV4YC
An Angel’s Trust – Warriors of Light (Book 1) - Coming Soon
An Angel’s Soul – Warriors of Light (Book 2) – Coming Soon
An Angel’s Destiny – Warriors of Light (Book 3) – Coming Soon
Romance
Miller – Kings of Denver (Book 1) – www.amazon.com/dp/B078LCCRWJ
Jaxon – Kings of Denver (Book 2) – www.amazon.com/dp/B078MWD25M
Xander – Kings of Denver (Book 3) – www.amazon.com/dp/B07928QNNF
Tank – Kings of Denver (Book 4) – www.amazon.com/dp/B079Z49YFD
Logan –Denver Royalty (Book 1)
Carter – Denver Royalty (Book 2)
Sean – Denver Royalty (Book 3)
Carter: Denver Royalty (Book 2) Page 18