The show was going well.
I had arrived on the sets of the shooting for the second season, with a few healing bruises on my face. To my publicist and makeup artist, I lied and said that I had fallen and hurt myself and they had worked their magic on my face with the makeup.
Within two months, we had shot most of the episodes of the second season of the sitcom, and the streaming service had already signed us on for two more seasons. I was doing the talk show circuits around the country again, and in a few days, I was scheduled to be back in LA to complete shooting the remaining seasons.
Thorn traveled with me sometimes but he was heading up a serious budding operation now, and I was fully supportive of the fact that he needed to be in LA as much as he could. He had a business to run, something that he was the boss of.
When I got off stage, Jamison was waiting for me. He was on a twenty-four-hour security detail for me when I was traveling. Even though I tried explaining to Thorn that I didn't need Jamison with me, now that Ryan was out of the picture; he refused to listen. He believed that with my growing national popularity, it would only be some time before some other crazy fans started stalking me and he wanted to be prepared for that.
Jamison and I talked and laughed as he walked me to the dressing room at the back. In the past two months, we had become good friends, and I relied on him for everything when Thorn wasn't around.
"Oh, by the way, I was speaking to my co-star Julian today, and he wants Thorn to get in touch with him. He thinks he needs protection too," I told Jamison, who nodded his head, looking impressed. In the past two months, I had recommended their business to all my friends and coworkers in the industry. Hollywood was full of people who needed bodyguards, and they all had enough money to pay for it.
I was only too happy to help their business grow.
"I'll be waiting for you here when you're done," Jamison declared as I entered the dressing room.
"And then, straight to LA," I said, already giddy with excitement at the prospect of seeing Thorn again soon.
"Straight to LA," he chimed and I shut the door, so I could change.
At the dressing table, I started taking off the layers of makeup the makeup artists had plastered on my face for the interview. I was excited to see Thorn. I had been away from home for the entire weekend and even though we would only have one evening tonight before it was back to work early the next morning; we needed it.
It felt like I hadn't seen him in forever. We had both been so busy in the past few weeks, that we had no time other than to fall into bed together every night, have sex and fall asleep in each other's arms. It made me happy knowing that I went to sleep with him, but I also felt like we needed some time to ourselves.
"See you tonight?" I texted him quickly before I left the dressing room again. Thorn replied almost immediately.
"Can't wait, my princess" came his reply.
I had a skip in my step as Jamison led me out to the parking lot now. We were going to drive straight to the airport from here, and I was already counting the hours before I saw Thorn again.
I was grateful for having him and grateful for every wrong decision and twist and turn, that had brought me to this stage of my life. I wouldn't have changed any of it because it had led me to him.
***
I was on the phone with my publicist, when Jamison held the door of my limo open for me. I still lived in the same apartment in LA. The only difference was that now, I shared it with Thorn. On the days that I was out of the city, he spent his time in Pomona, in his old apartment so he could be closer to the MC and the business.
"Thanks, Jamison, see you later," I called out to him, while I rushed to take the stairs up. It was still only ten, which meant that chances were that Thorn hadn't reached the apartment yet. He was a workaholic, who worked late into the night.
"Thanks, Sandy, I have all of that, but I really need to go now. I'm almost home," I said to my publicist, who hurriedly ended the call.
Hopefully, I would have at least half an hour so I could change into something comfortable and prepare myself for the talk we were going to have.
I had been rehearsing this for four days now. Even though I was a professional actor, it had been pretty hard keeping a secret of this caliber.
I jiggled the keys in the lock and threw the apartment door open; only to find that I wasn't alone.
Our apartment had been covered in candles and vases of red roses. Thorn was standing in the middle of the living room, with his hands clasped in front of him and I had no idea how long he had been waiting for me.
"The longer you stay away from me, the more I regret not going with you," were the first words he said to me when I let my purse fall to the ground.
"You did all this?" I asked with a laugh, noticing the cinnamon and sandalwood scented candles burning on the window ledge. He knew I liked those particular scents and I also knew that he despised them. Clearly, he wanted to make this night special.
I rushed towards the man of my dreams, and he threw his arms open to me. I fell into him, and he hugged me close to himself. We were kissing before either of us had a chance to say anything else.
"Welcome home, princess," he murmured in my ear, and I looked up at him with nothing but pure love in my eyes. Thorn had given himself to me, in ways that I knew he had never imagined himself capable of giving. I had been keeping a secret from him for four days which he deserved to know about.
"Thorn, I have something to tell you," I said, and slowly, I loosened his grip on my arms and stepped away from him. I needed to look at him while I said it. I needed to see his honest reaction. Thorn's brows were crossed while he looked at me.
"I'm listening," he said, and I gulped.
"Four days ago, when you were away in Pomona, I woke up feeling sick and I went to my doctor for a checkup," I said. Thorn's green eyes darkened, and he closed the gap between us.
"Ensley, whatever it is, we will get through it together," he said, reaching for me again. I couldn't have loved him more than I did at that moment, and I nearly choked when I spoke again.
"Well, I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father," I said, and we both remained silent. Thorn was staring at me.
His hug came out of nowhere. His usual, all-encompassing, tightest bear hug. The hug that was capable of making me feel like I was safe. Thorn had me in his arms, and he nuzzled his head into my shoulder and stroked my back. I couldn't believe that I was nervous about telling him!
He released me, then knelt down in front of me so he could cradle my belly in both hands.
"There is a part of me growing inside you now, Ensley," he said, and when he looked up, I could see a hint of what he was feeling. He was proud and satisfied, and if he was protective of me before, I could see that the feeling had tripled in the last few moments.
I couldn't stop laughing. I felt like I was going to cry too. This was the happiest moment of my life, and I was glad that I was sharing it with this man.
"I was worried you wouldn't be so happy," I said, and Thorn stood up, to pull me into his arms again.
"There is nothing you can tell me, Ensley, that will make me angry with you. I trust you. You are going to be the mother of my child. I can't believe how happy that makes me!" he said, and as he held me, I knew that he meant every word of it.
We were holding each other tightly. Neither of us was willing to let go. I had a baby growing inside me. I had a career to grow too and a man to take care of, who was equally taking care of me. Even three months ago, I couldn't have imagined myself in a situation like this, and now, I had everything I ever wanted. I had things that I didn't even know I wanted.
We were kissing again. Thorn's tongue was in my mouth, his hands were in my hair and then protectively around my shoulders.
"I'm always going to keep you safe, Ensley. I'm always going to protect you," he said in my ears as I gently swayed in his arms. I had no doubt in my mind that he meant every word. That he would fight until the end if
that were what it took to keep our baby and me safe. My favorite music was playing in the background as we swayed together. He had remembered to turn it on before I came in through the door. Thorn had thought of everything, just so that we could have a memorable romantic night together.
The truth was that there wasn't much more I needed, besides this man and the baby we had made together.
Turn the page for Vacation Heat by Ivy Blake!
Vacation Heat
by Ivy Blake
Chapter 1
Austin
A loud smack pierced the silence in Austin’s room. Fuck, not again, Austin thought. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that his clan mate Logan was getting it on again with his flavor of the night.
The woman let out an audible moan of pleasure. God, that noise sounded good, Austin thought. His boxers started to tighten. Man, how he wished he could be the one with her, instead of Logan.
“You like that?” Logan asked.
There was a shuffle of movement and then the bed started to slowly creak back and forth, lightly hitting the wall behind the headboard. Austin closed his brown eyes as he imagined taking the woman from behind. As much as he hated how he could always hear Logan, the girls he was with always sounded so hot that he couldn’t help but close his eyes and pretend he was taking them himself.
Austin pictured his hands holding her thick hips tightly as he pushed deep inside her. The woman moaned louder, and Austin ran his hand down to his boxers. The creaking intensified and the headboard hit the wall with a loud bang.
“Oh God, fuck me harder!” the woman screamed, but her yell was slightly muffled in the sheets. Austin stroked himself in time with each pound of the headboard, imagining how tight and slick she felt around him. Logan growled in the other room, and an audible smack rang out again. The headboard of the bed pounded harder into the wall, and Austin imagined pumping into her from behind as her ass jiggled with each thrust. Her moans became louder with every squeak of the bedframe.
“Oh yes! Don’t stop,” she yelled. Her moans turned to wails as she teetered over the edge, and Austin could tell that she was almost ready to release, and he was just about there with her.
“Yes!” she screamed as the banging against the wall shook the whole room. Austin moved his hand faster, longing for release.
“Oh God, I’m coming!” The bedframe pounded into the wall as she moaned, falling into her orgasm. Austin’s body shook with her moans as he reached his climax.
Austin pushed his head back in the pillow. This is just fucking pathetic, he thought. Austin hated himself for what his sex life had become, getting off with the girl next door. But he couldn’t bring himself to actually take the plunge with another girl. He wasn’t ready to open his heart like that again.
Austin got up and cleaned himself off. The room next door was eerily quiet, and he hoped that they were done for the night. Take a bow, dude, Austin thought. She will be there in the morning.
As much as Austin loved and hated hearing Logan give it to some girl, Austin couldn’t blame him for getting with this one. She was a fine piece of ass. She had curves in all the right places and perfect pouty lips. If it were six years ago, Austin would have loved to throw her around in his sheets. But now, despite how he liked to imagine it was himself making her moan like that, he couldn’t bring himself to be with someone else. He was just too broken to let another woman into his heart.
Austin squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to stop the memories of her from invading his thoughts again. But it was no use. His thoughts always returned to her. He let out a low growl as he remembered her long, wavy blonde hair cascading over him, and how much he loved to tangle his hands in it. Her bright blue eyes had captivated him the moment he met her. He would give anything to get lost in her eyes once again.
Callie Jordan had been his everything. They had met the first night of their freshman year of college and had been inseparable. He had been instantly attracted to her, and once he got to know her adorable personality he was completely hooked. He could not get enough of Callie Jordan. Austin’s buddies always joked with him that he was completely whipped, but he didn’t care. He was happy to be whipped by Callie. Callie had made him feel whole.
Now, the wholeness that he once felt was gone, ripped from him by a drunk driver. Callie had been on her way to see him. Austin had told her it was late and that she could come over the next day, but she insisted that she wanted to spend the night in his arms before they left for summer break. She lived only ten minutes away from him, so she was Gavinant that she would be fine, and Austin had stupidly believed her. Callie was almost at his place when an idiot in a pickup truck took a turn around a corner too fast. The driver had lost control and slammed Callie’s car into a tree.
The night that Callie had died changed everything. It was as if part of his soul was gone, and he feared that there was no way to get that piece back. Without her light, he was only left with the darkest parts of himself. His sorrow over her death overtook his mind, and what was left was hatred and anger. Austin blamed not only the drunk driver for her death but himself as well, and he started to become self-destructive.
After Callie’s death, Austin’s personality completely changed. Instead of the fun-loving guy he once was, he was now just a hard shell with a very short fuse. His temper caused him to piss off a lot of people, getting him into several fistfights. After getting a high off the fighting, Austin was quick to pick fights just to take out his anger. One fight in particular got him sent to the emergency room with a black eye and broken ribs. His parents met him there and were worried sick about him. Austin’s mom had begged for him to get some help and talk to someone, but it fell on deaf ears. Austin didn’t want help; he wanted to wallow in his anger. The night after Austin left the hospital, Austin’s fighting record caught up to him. Charges were pressed against him, and while his lawyer father was able to get him off without a dent on his record, it did come at a price. His father had given him an ultimatum. Either Austin got his act together, or his father would do it for him. Austin hated ultimatums. However, he knew his father was serious. When he ran into one of his friends who had joined the army, he figured that would be the easiest way to fix things, a place to take out his anger somewhere far away from the constant soul-crushing reminder of Callie.
The higher ranks in the army quickly saw his inner demons and decided to use his rage for their benefit. Within a year he was transferred to a special ops team where he constantly put his life on the line for his country. He knew it was a stupid decision that could possibly kill him, but his rage had consumed so much of his soul that he no longer cared about what happened to him.
But even the constant noise of battle never silenced the rage that was deep inside of him. Several members of his unit tried to help him, but ultimately he lost his cool on his superiors too many times to count. The Army wasn’t prepared to deal with his anger issues, so he honorably discharged, with hefty severance package, and it was now this is what he had become. Luckily he had found a few other veterans that were just as broken as he was and they all lived together in the same apartment building. It was like having a support group right outside his door.
As evidenced by Logan’s nightly theatrics, Logan used sex to forget about war. He used dating apps to get his fix, and Austin would always stifle a laugh in the morning when he would see the girls depart of their walks of shame.
Austin wished he could bring himself to even think about going on a date, but he never could. Sure, he was still turned on by the thought of a woman’s legs wrapped around his waist, but his heart would never let him get to that point. He had built up walls so thick that he doubted they could ever come down. He longed for only one woman’s body, but being with her was impossible.
Chapter 2
Ella
Ella twirled the stem of her wine glass and shook her leg in anticipation. Gavin has to be here soon, she thought to herself. She pushed her long auburn hair behind her shoulders and took
a long sip of her Cabernet. She had worn her favorite dress tonight. It had small cap sleeves and cinched in right at her waistline, accentuating her very curvy hourglass shape. She always felt like a pinup model in this dress, and she wore it to give herself that extra confidence boost. Despite their year of dating, Gavin still made her nervous and self-conscious.
Gavin Halloway was the real-estate mogul who had captivated Ella’s heart the moment she laid eyes on him. He was tall and muscular, with a strong chin and perfectly cut and styled blond hair. He was 100 percent out of Ella’s league, and she knew it. Gavin had been notorious for dating stick-thin models, so when he had shown the slightest interest in her, she felt like she was in a fairy tale. They had met at a cocktail party for the investment bank she worked for. She’d been standing at the bar waiting for a drink when he had come up behind her.
“Need some help?” Gavin asked. Ella had been unsuccessfully trying to get the bartender’s attention for the last several minutes.
“Apparently,” Ella said. “Normally bartenders serve the ladies first, but this one, I think, prefers the gentlemen more.”
Gavin smiled at her. “Well, I can easily fix that, then,” Gavin said, and leaned over the bar. The bartender had taken one look at him and shot him a big smile, and they had had their drinks in an instant.
Their relationship had been easy at the beginning. Ella was so caught up that a guy like Gavin could be with a girl like her that she ignored a lot of the red flags. Now, however, the warning signs were becoming harder to ignore.
Ella looked around at the restaurant and eyed the couples around her. They all seemed so happy, sharing their meals and holding hands across the table. She let out a sigh. Why couldn’t her relationship with Gavin be that simple? How did things become so complicated?
Protected by the Biker (Grim Reaper MC) Page 15