by LK Collins
“It’s all such a shame. I’ve lived and breathed for that company since I was eighteen years old, and all along both of them were working against me.”
“I get why Charles did it, but why Ari?”
“We’ve all got a price, some more than others. Ari was willing to give his soul to the devil in exchange for an overinflated company that likely won’t last a decade being run the way those two do things.”
“I don’t know what to say, Merritt.” I’m at a loss for words, completely taken by surprise. I’ve known Ari for years; he’s like a brother to me. “Does Willow know?”
“No one knows, baby, but us.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why?” he scoffs like I’ve completely offended him.
“Because I can’t get my hopes up; I’m barely able to function as it is.”
“Quinn, did you or didn’t you write this on this paper?” He holds up what I wrote.
“You watched me write it.”
“Did you or didn’t you know Charles was my father?”
“I swear to God, I had no idea.”
“Then please, let’s get back to where we were.”
“But I lied to you.”
“Because you played into them. They put you in the worst spot imaginable. I’ve lost almost everything, Quinn; I will not lose you too. Do you understand me?”
I nod, holding back the tears the best that I can, and he stands, “Get up.”
I listen right away like I always do. He steps to me, and I wait as if this is all a dream that soon I will wake from. But as he places his palms against my face, I have found my place again. “Quinn Whitmore, I love you, more than anything in this entire world.”
His lips find mine before I can speak the words back to him. He tastes like heaven, igniting everything inside of me, bringing me back to life. The gaping hole I’ve lived with slowly closes. I love him, I love him too, more than anything.
44
Merritt
“Are they closed?” Quinn asks me with her tiny hand around mine as she walks me down an unsteady surface.
“Yes, I promise.”
“You better not be lying.”
“I’m not.”
We stop, and she says, “Step up again.” I listen to her voice, not knowing where we are going, but knowing that I’d follow her into the depths of hell if she wanted. For Christ’s sake, we’ve been there and back and survived, so there’s not much that could bring us down now.
“Okay, open ‘em!”
“Surprise!” a small intimate group of our closest friends cheers.
“Happy birthday, baby,” Quinn says, still holding my hand and I kiss her. It’s my birthday and as much as I wasn’t looking forward to it, seeing as what I’ve gone through lately, she still made it a great celebration.
“Whose boat is this?” I ask her, and she says, “My boss,” who comes up and shakes my hand. “Happy birthday, Merritt, it’s great to see you again.”
I met him the day Quinn and I got back together. Looking around I notice Kami and Jacob and Willow and Ted. “Happy birthday,” Willow says, hugging me, a glimmer of pain still in her eye because of what Ari did. She feels bad, but it’s not her fault. Hell, it’s no one’s fault, but their own, and they got what was coming to them. After I thought long and hard about devising a plan of payback, I sold my stocks to Exlon, because Charles had weaseled out of the lease deal I made with them. Once I found out he gifted them some stocks as a cop out, I knew it was my only way to get back at him. He had no idea I’d go to them; he was blindsided…a lot like I was.
But after what I went through, I was one step ahead of Charles. For the first time in my life, I had one up on him. With my stocks, Ari’s old ones I bought, and the ones he’d given Exlon, they had a fifty-one percent ownership in Charles’ company.
When Exlon sent their team in, seemingly to join in as a partnership, it didn’t take them long to uncover the years of deception Charles had skillfully conducted. Immediately they kicked him to the curb, indicting him for embezzlement. I knew Charles had always skewed the books, I just never thought I could use it against him.
For Ari, he made his own bed with Azures. They handled him the same way my father was handled. They really are two peas in a pod. Maybe one day, they’ll be two peas in the same prison cell.
“You good?” Quinn asks me, handing me a glass of champagne. Coming back into the moment, I pull out of the dazed and clouded mind fuck I find myself getting easily lost in.
“Never better, baby. Never better.”
Letting her lead me around the boat as we sail off into the night, we visit with all of our friends and family. All of whom she has arranged to be here in Denver. I haven’t been back to Texas since Quinn and I got back together, and I don’t see myself ever going back. My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Merritt, it’s John.”
“Oh hey, John. How are the girls doing?”
“They’re all right. I’m a little worried about Tink—the vet came for a visit today, and she has desmitis in her front left leg.”
“Really? How’d that happen?”
“She must’ve been overworking it.”
“How can it be fixed?”
“She’ll need to take it easy for a while; we won’t be able to bring her to Colorado like we’d planned, not at least until she’s better. But with some time and medicine, she should be good.”
“I understand, thank you for letting me know.”
I hang up with him, and Quinn is concerned, “What did he say?”
I fill her in, and I can see the worry on her face. “We can go back there and look for a place in Texas.”
“No, I don’t want to be away from you, and your job is here. She’ll be good.” She’s got an angel in my mom watching out for her.
“Thank you for this, baby,” I tell her, looking around at all the people closest to us. She smiles looking up at me with her big dark blue eyes, and I hold the side of her face, leaning down and kissing her. Her lips are so soft, reminding me of the first time we ever kissed, on the ski slope, and still to this day, that same spark lives inside me. Who knew a week unplugged from the world, that was a set up to ruin us both, could turn out to be the greatest thing that’s ever happened?
Epilogue
Merritt
1 year later
“Are you done yet in there, my sexy wife?” I yell to Quinn as she is finishing up the last of her work. Since we got married, she likes it when I call her my wife.
“I just finished,” she struts outside so gorgeous, all sexy, and sits on my lap. “How’s my husband?”
“Better now,” I hold her warm body, close to mine. We are on the front porch of our home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and this time of year the weather is gorgeous. Bell and Tink graze on the fifty acres of land that we own, and since we moved them here, they are in heaven. Tink’s leg has been great, they both seem in better health. I credit the elevation.
“You know, we probably don’t even need to buy hay anymore,” I tell her as we watch them eat, and she says to me, “You are not about to starve my girls.”
“They are far from starved, how do you think they live in the wild? You think some sexy little lady hand feeds them carrots and hay every day out there.”
“I don’t care about the wild, that’s how I do things here, in our house, and our life, and we are going to keep feeding them hay.”
“Jesus, it was just an option.”
She grins and cups the side of my face, still looking out at the view as she rubs me and I ask her. “Work good?”
“It was.”
“You get anything done today?”
“Nope.”
After we agreed to move up here together, she didn’t want to leave her job, so they are allowing her to work out of the house a few days a week, which keeps her busy. I’d rather her do nothing, but I get that she wants to work.
I, however, am done. I will never work another day in my life. I have more than enough money to take care of us forever.
“What’s for dinner?” she asks me as the oven dings as we wander inside. I always cook for her, and she loves it.
“Spinach lasagna,” I tell her, taking out the hot heaping pan of it.
“Smells good.” I serve us both plates as she pours us wine and then she says to me, “You know, once I’m pregnant, I’m gonna miss wine.”
“The doctor said you can have a glass every once in a while.”
“Is it safe, though?”
“I’m sure it is, or he wouldn’t have said that.”
Sitting down to eat, her eyes are on mine, and I can’t believe this is what my life has become. From having a crazy obsessive drive to own my own company, to now being content with the little things in life. It’s a complete one-eighty, and I couldn’t be happier.
“Did I tell you that Stan offered to split the season tickets to the Nuggets games next season?”
“Really? Wait ‘til I tell Ted.”
“No way,” she scoffs at me.
“Come on; that was a one-time thing.” The last time Ted and I went to a game together, we got a little drunk and crazy and…you can guess the rest.
“It better have been, because next time I’m not bailing your ass out of jail.”
“Peeing in public really shouldn’t be illegal, I’m just saying.” She hits me on the arm as I pull her onto my lap. Her face is so happy in the evening light. I love to see her smile; it’s what I work for every day.
Reaching down, I cup her sex. Her grin gets bigger, and I can’t wait any longer. Lifting her up, I take her into our bedroom, tossing her down on the plush fabric of our comforter. She giggles, a sound I depend greatly upon.
“Get your hat,” she tells me as I pull my shirt off over my head.
“Do you have a fetish for cowboys?” I ask her in my best Southern accent.
“Yes, tattooed cowboys,” she tells me and strips naked, lying there so willing and ready. “Then I better grab my whip.”
Taking it from the closet along with my hat, I find her kneeling, panting for my dick. “You miss me?” I ask her and stroke myself.
“Uh huh.”
“You wanna suck my cock clean?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If I let you suck me, are you gonna make me come?”
She stops me from playing and dives in. Wrapping those tight, tight lips around me. I grunt, as loud as I want, pummeling her mouth. Taking the whip, I trail it over her skin, loving how it pricks beneath the tip of the leather.
Pulling back, I land a hard smack on her ass. She moans and sucks me faster. “Touch yourself,” I tell her, looking to the side as she kneels there and plays with her pussy, letting me fuck her mouth so good.
I hit her again, and she whimpers for more. She rubs her pussy faster, pushing me so close to the edge, but I hold on, not giving over to her yet.
Pulling out of her mouth, she kneels panting for me, and I place the handle of my whip in between her teeth. “You know what happens if you drop this, right?”
She nods and I spread open her ass and pussy, so tempted to go right where I’ll end up, but waiting because we have a purpose.
Sliding inside of her tight wet slit, my balls swell, so horny for her bent over like this. I need to blow. The rule is, she drops the whip and I fuck her ass. Which will happen as soon as I come, because her ass has become both of our favorites. She can come again and again from me fucking it, but we are trying to have a baby, and that means she’s gotta let me come in her pussy first.
Fucking her hard, she whimpers from the fullness, and I rub her clit. She arches upwards, her back against my chest as she coaxes me on through gritted teeth. “Yes, fuck me harder.”
“Oh, you like it rough.”
I barrel faster and faster, knowing this could be it. This could be the moment we create a child, and I hold her close, knowing if it is, I will not make the same mistakes that have happened in my life with our kid. Cum shoots inside of her, and she screams, dropping the whip. I latch onto her neck, loving her and these times we share together more than anything else in my life. I suck hard on the soft skin, teasing and biting her, knowing no one will see us for weeks. Up here we are unplugged from the world, alone, just the two of us in our own oasis. A place we’ve built and cherished, a place where I’ve fallen in love with her all over again, and I hope that in nine months, it will be the three of us.
Acknowledgments
This book is only a reality because of so many people that I’m not sure how to properly thank. So, I’m gonna do my best to try.
William, your undying encouragement and vision around these stories means the world to me. Thank you for being the greatest, husband, partner, and co-worker a girl could ask for. I love you to the moon and back, baby.
To my grammatical team: Lisa, my amazing editor; Leticia, Janice, and Denise, my fabulous proofreaders, that saved my ass in the end on this one; and my newfound Beta Team. You all helped to mold and create this story into a work of perfection. Thank you for believing in me.
Last, but absolutely not least: the readers, reviewers, bloggers, and my ARC team. I hope you all loved Quinn and Merritt’s story just as much as I adored creating it. What I do is for each and every one of you—thank you so very, very much for your support.
If you loved UNPLUGGED, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, it’s the best way to give back to the author. I read every single review.
Every Heart
A novel by LK Collins
Cover Design by RE Creatives
Edited by Lisa Christman, Adept Edits
Formatting by Prezidential Visions
Photography by Mayer George
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.
Dedication
For my Father, thank you for always loving me and supporting me.
Prologue
Nate
“How are you feeling?” a nurse asks me.
Looking around the desolate hospital room, that’s a loaded question.
“I’m not sure how to answer that.”
“Physically, Mr. Wilcox?” she asks in her thick, German accent.
“I’m okay, better than I’ve been for about the last year.”
“Good, well, keep resting. You’re healing well. Your family should be here any time.”
Looking at her long, blonde hair as she leaves the room, it reminds me of Arion. I can’t help but feel happy, knowing soon she’ll be here. I’ve been waiting so long to see her, to hear her voice, to touch her. Finally, today is that day. My eyes are heavy…I’m still so tired all the time and don’t have the strength to do much. So I take the nurse’s advice and close them, envisioning my parents and my girl.
Soon, I’m awakened by a familiar touch and a voice I know all too well. Smiling to myself, I open my eyes to see both of my parents. They’re crying, looking down at me, and it kills me that my decisions have done this to them and our family.
“Oh, Nate,” my mom says basically throwing herself at me. Reaching up despite my weakness, I wrap an arm around her. Feeling her again brings tears to my eyes. Glancing at my dad, he has a hand on my arm, red faced, and is just staring at me. I reach for his hand, and am so
grateful that they are here. They traveled halfway across the world to be with me. Closing my eyes, I take everything in. But one person is missing.
Arion is not with them and as my mom pulls away, I can’t help but watch the door, waiting for her to come running to me. “How are you?” my dad asks me, leaning down to hug me.
“I’m better, but still feeling pretty rough.”
“You’re so skinny,” my mom says, gripping my hand.
“I know, Ma.”
“But you’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”
“Yes, it is,” my dad adds. Pulling one of my hands away for a brief second, I wipe my eyes.
“How much do you know?” I ask them, wondering how forthcoming the military was with giving them information.
“We didn’t know anything ‘til we landed. On the drive over here, they told us what you’ve been through. I’m so sorry, Nate.”
“It’s okay, Dad, I survived. Only for you guys and Arion.”
Bringing up her name puts a cloud over the room. I can tell both of my parents’ attitudes change right away. They glance at each other, then nervously look around the room like the hospital equipment is interesting. They are looking everywhere except at me.
“Where is she?” I ask point blank, not able to stand it any longer that she hasn’t come through the door.
“I’m sorry. She’s not coming, son,” my dad says.
Both fear and pain take over, almost crippling me, as I run through all of the reasons why she might not be here. My chest tightens and I ask, “Did something happen to her?”
“Oh God, no,” my mom blurts out. “She’s okay, Nate, it’s just…”
She trails off without finishing her sentence and puts her head down. I look at my dad hoping for the answers. I need to know why in God’s name my fiancée isn’t here.