He moans and pushes himself upright, shoving pillows under his back so he can grab onto my tits. I move myself up and down his thick rod, feeling every inch of him in my body.
Even though he can’t walk, he’s been exercising his legs every day, sometimes for hours. They’re still thick and muscular.
“Turn around,” Cain whispers. “Sit on my face.”
I do as I’m told, placing my knees carefully next to his head. I groan as he swirls his tongue in my wetness, drinking me up. He teases my nipples as his tongue goes in a figure eight motion.
“I’m about to come,” I gasp.
I slide off his face and onto his cock again.
We both finish at the same time, Cain screaming my name.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CAIN
“You are the luckiest son of a bitch on planet earth, you know that, right?” Flea asks me, standing in his grey suit. “It’s sunny on a January day in Scotland and you’re having an outdoor wedding. I don’t even know what you did to pull that off.”
I laugh and pat him on the arm. “You know, after last year? I wouldn’t really call myself lucky. But I appreciate it, man. I really do.” I look in the mirror one last time and adjust my tie. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
I wander out of our house, the wheels of my chair sliding across the grass. The sheep baa at me from behind their fencing and I wave at them. I’ve become the type of guy who talks to sheep. I never, ever thought that would happen.
And I’ve never been happier in my life.
About a dozen white chairs sit beside a makeshift aisle strewn with white rose petals. The pastor, who is also our neighbor, stands at the altar. Maria is holding Samson at the altar. She’s the only one who he’ll tolerate other than Lizzy and me. I walk down the aisle and say hello to everyone; the audience is mostly a collection of friends we’ve made since moving to Scotland.
Flea walks behind me and stands next to me at the altar.
“I never thought you’d be the type of guy to go save a random stranger,” I whisper to him. “I owe you. Elizabeth couldn’t live without Maria.”
Flea shrugs. “Don’t mention it, man.” He pats me on the shoulder and I grin.
The violinist starts playing music and everyone stands up. Elizabeth wanders out of the house wearing a wool, long, plaid skirt that couldn’t be more Scottish. On top is a fitted, warm, white wool sweater. Her hair is in two plaits and her face is completely free of makeup.
I feel myself tearing up and I smile at her. She waves at me, smiling broadly in return.
Samson coos as she approaches, and Maria hands her our son. Samson grabs for the white rose pinned to my suit and comes away victorious with a handful of white petals in his chubby, dimpled hand. He giggles and everyone laughs.
That’s when I know it’s my moment.
I push myself up out of the chair and set my feet on the ground the way I’ve been doing for the last few days.
I woke up one day and I could feel my feet again.
Just in time for the wedding.
Elizabeth gasps and claps her free hand over her mouth. “When? How-?”
Everyone applauds.
I kiss Elizabeth on the mouth. “I love you,” I say to her.
“I love you, too,” she replies and the pastor gets the ceremony under way.
Who gets to marry their best friend not once but two times?
Flea is right. I’m the luckiest guy on earth.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
ELIZABETH
FOUR YEARS LATER
I duck my head to avoid the rain and climb into our Land Rover, going slowly down the curving rural roads.
My heavy backpack sits in the passenger seat.
I can’t believe it.
I’m officially graduating next week. No more exams. I’m free.
I pull into our carport and walk into our perfect house. I see that Cain has the fireplace roaring. It’s April but it’s still blustery and cold.
“Hello?” I call into the house, putting my backpack on the chair.
I hear the pitter patter of feet and look up to see Samson, his dark curly hair and blue eyes gleaming at me, running. “Mommy!” he yells.
“That’s my boy!” I scoop him up and walk into the kitchen.
I see a tray of slightly lumpy sugar cookies covered in a mountain of sprinkles.
“We made cookies,” Samson says, clapping his hands together. “Daddy let me do everything.”
“You did? That’s amazing!” I kiss him on the head.
“Put me down, Mommy, I want to bring one to you with some tea.”
“Such service,” I say seriously. I sit at the table and watch as my son turns on the electric kettle. “I think I’ll help you pour, though. Is that alright?”
He nods. “Alright.”
“Where’s your dad?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “He said he needed a nap.”
I stand up and ruffle his hair. “I’ll be right back. Don’t pour that kettle without me, alright?”
Samson nods. “I promise.”
I walk across the shiny, blonde wood flooring that Cain sanded and sealed himself. The hallway walls are now covered in family photos of our various vacations, along with a lot of photos of sheep.
Cain is pretty serious in his role as shepherd. And he’s taken up photography in what little spare time he has being a full-time farmer and raising our son.
“Cain? Sweetie?” I call out.
I walk into our bedroom and see that the bathroom light is on. I knock on the door. “Can I come in?”
Cain opens the door and stands there, beaming.
“What?” I ask him.
He pulls out a pregnancy test from behind his back. Two blue lines are glaring at me. I didn’t expect him to find it quite so quickly.
“You can’t hide shit like this from a former spy. You should know that by now.”
I smile at him and bite my lip. “Hey, did it ever occur to you that I wanted you to find it?”
Cain sweeps me off of my feet. “Don’t spoil my fun. I like to think this was great detective work on my part.”
He kisses me on the mouth and carries me like we’re crossing the threshold out into the front yard.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he says.
I lean my head into his muscular shoulder and sigh contentedly. I love when he holds me like this in his strong arms.
We make it to the barn entrance and he puts me down. “Open the doors,” he says.
I do. I’m greeted by the smell of fresh hay and the sight of a thousand black irises in fifty different vases. I turn around and smile.
“For my pregnant graduating, mad scientist wife,” he says.
“I always knew you’d figure out what my favorite flower was eventually.”
“It was the only one on planet earth left,” Cain says. “You sure like to make things hard for me.”
I reach up and kiss him on the mouth.
Samson calls out to both of us. “Mommy, the water is ready!”
Cain sweeps me off my feet one more time. “I can’t wait to tell him that he’s going to be a big brother to a beautiful baby sister.”
“How do you know?”
Cain rolls his eyes. “Lizzy, I’ve guessed every baby’s sex in a thirty-mile radius correctly. Don’t question me on this.” He kisses my forehead. “I promise you, you’re having a girl. And she’s going to look just like her gorgeous mother.”
I laugh and start to cry.
I can’t believe this is my life. I get the best of everything. The city. The country. School life. Home life. My husband. My son. My unborn daughter.
Everything is perfect.
And we’ll never have to run ever again.
ABOUT NATASHA TANNER
Natasha Tanner is a hopeless romantic. She loves to write about bad boys and her stories always wind up with a happy ending and some s
teamy moments. She resides in Vermont and hopes you enjoy every one of her books as she strives to become a full-time writer.
ALSO BY NATASHA TANNER
TEMPTING ME: A BAD BOY ROMANCE
SHOTGUN WEDDING: A BAD BOY MAFIA ROMANCE
CROTCH ROCKET
BAD PATIENT
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ABOUT VESPER VAUGHN
Vesper Vaughn lives in the sunny hills of Hollywood with her family. When she’s not writing about bad boys, she’s binge-watching television, hiking, or daydreaming about her next story. She’s passionate about gin and tonics, Shonda Rhimes shows, and the Hemsworth brothers.
ALSO BY VESPER VAUGHN
DIRTY SAINT: A SECRET BABY SPORTS ROMANCE
RESCUE ME: A BAD BOY MILITARY ROMANCE
DESIRE: A STEPBROTHER ROMANCE
FORBIDDEN: A STEPBROTHER ROMANCE
BABY LOVE: A BILLIONAIRE SECRET BABY ROMANCE
HITMAN’S HOOKUP: A BAD BOY ROMANCE
STEP WILDE: A STEPBROTHER ROMANCE
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TEMPTING ME BY NATASHA TANNER AND ROXY SINCLAIR
Aria: The only thing I need is him...
It was the night before my wedding. Maybe I cursed it by visiting my fiance. I didn’t expect him to cheat on me with my best friend.
That night I ended up going to the strip club. The same one I went for my bachelorette party. That guy told me to come back if it didn’t work out. I laughed at the thought. Well, it came true, because it didn’t. What was I to do next?
Ryan: I want her, but I know I can’t...
I had my eye on her the whole night at the club. Usually, I can control myself. But not that night.
She came from a rich family. I came from the trailer. She was educated. I wish I was. There was no way it would work. But maybe if things changed, they could?
KEEP READING for an excerpt of TEMPTING ME…
“Most likely. You might even be able to settle quickly out of court. It will save you fees and time.”
“I think,” he says deliberately. “I think if there is money that comes out of what happened to them, I want to use it for something less superficial than what I have been doing.”
I tighten my hand around his in reassurance. I know it must be hard for him to share this with me.
He stops me and places both of his strong hands on my shoulders. The sun is bright and I notice for the first time that he has hints of gold in his dark hair. We are so close I can smell his soap and the scent that is singularly his. For a moment, I think he is going to kiss me. I try not to look at his smooth lips but when I turn my focus to his broad muscled shoulders, it just makes the anticipation worse.
“I want you to help me to read.”
His words jar me out of my reverie.
“Read?” I stammer.
“Yes, you said you can help me. Will you do that?”
“Of course I can. I mean, I would like to help. I’ve done some training and some volunteer work with kids that have learning disabilities.”
I worry that he will take offense at my using the word “disability” but he seems almost relieved. I can’t imagine how it must feel for him to know that with some tools and practice, he’ll be able to read as well as most people.
We make a plan to meet in the morning so we can get started right away. I need to do some studying myself on how best to go about helping him. I have only worked with kids, so this will be a change for me.
Ryan’s piercing eyes hold mine when we go to part ways and he takes both my hands in his.
“I knew you were someone special when we met.” He leans in and kisses me softly on the forehead.
Then he is gone around the corner before I can say anything. I want to yell after him that I knew the same about him, but I stay silent.
I get back to Theresa’s and all I want to do is sit on the couch and process everything that happened. She is there waiting for me though.
“Well, what did he want? I hope you didn’t let him sweet talk you into bed.”
“It wasn’t anything like that,” I told her. I don’t tell her about the dyslexia but I do tell her about his parents. I had forgotten that she knew them and she is upset by the news.
“Was the fire only in their trailer or were other homes in the park burned as well?”
I was so caught up with Ryan and his problems that I didn’t think about Theresa’s mom. Just because she hasn’t spoken to her in years doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be concerned and saddened if anything happened to her.
“From what I can tell, it was just Ryan’s parents and their home.”
“Wow, this is awful … poor Ryan. Now I feel bad for being so hard on him when he came by this morning.”
“I’m sure he understands,” I reassure her. “He apologized for how he behaved the other night at the club.”
“Good. He needed to apologize. But promise me you’ll be careful around him. I don’t want you to get hurt and all he knows how to do is use women for sex.”
I don’t want to argue with her about Ryan right now. Especially because a part of me knows she is probably right.
“I’ll be careful,” I promise.
My phone rings and the caller ID shows that it’s my father again. I take the call both because I don’t want to talk about Ryan with Theresa anymore and because there is no point in putting off talking to my father.
“Aria, your mother is too upset to talk but she wants to know if you’re safe.”
“I’m fine. I’ve made some new friends, have a safe place to stay since you kicked me out of my home, and a job.”
I don’t tell him that I’m living in a studio apartment in a questionable neighborhood and that I’m tending bar in a strip club.
I can hear him pass this on to my mother and then he pushes forward with the real reason he called. They need my answer now so that they can cancel the wedding before guests start flying in for the occasion. The rational part of me knows this is the right thing to do. But the hurt daughter in me wants to scream and yell at them for being such harsh and judgmental parents.
I think about my promise to Ryan and of how when I’m with him, I know I can do anything I want. I also think about the way he held my hand and the glimpse of what might be between us in his intense gaze. We will be spending every morning together and I am just as excited about that as I am about being able to help him change his life.
“I’m not coming home,” I finally tell him. “You can go ahead and cancel everything. And just remember; all I did was decide not to marry a man I don’t love and to stay in the city and start a career. You are the ones that are cutting me out your lives.”
My father doesn’t bother to reply but simply disconnects the call as his answer.
For better or for worse, New York and the club and Theresa and Ryan are my life now. I head to the library to use the computers and start a lesson plan for tomorrow morning so I’m prepared for my first tutoring session with Ryan.
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SHOTGUN WEDDING: A BAD BOY MAFIA ROMANCE BY NATASHA TANNER AND ALI PIEDMONT
Kat: My father's marrying me off to the Russian mob. But is it still a shotgun wedding…if I used to be in love with the groom?
Growing up,
Gray Petrokov was my closest friend and confidant. Then he left town and broke my heart into a million pieces. Now he's back and waiting for me at the altar.
But Gray's transformed into a tattooed hitman with a cocky smile, a dirty mouth, and the biggest, um, gun I've ever seen. I'd be crazy to still be in love with him. I'm not the kind of girl who takes orders, even from a Bratva boss. Even when I'm carrying his secret baby.
So, I'm planning on being a runaway bride. But what will I do if he catches me?
Gray: I never wanted innocent Kat to be touched by my criminal lifestyle. But now she's in deep. And that's all I can think of: being deep inside her. That, and keeping us alive.
Kat was too good for me, too good for the things I've done. So I pushed her away.
Now she's caught up with the mob and I'm her only hope.
She's looking at me like I'm a killer—and she's right.
My feelings for her haven't changed. Call me crazy. Obsessed. An animal.
But if she finds out I've been lying to her…she'll run.
Now that I've had a taste of her, I'll never let her go. I'll chase her, hunt her down, claim her as mine. No matter what.
KEEP READING FOR AN EXCERPT OF SHOTGUN WEDDING!
Oh my God, Grayson is kissing me.
Is he still the man of my dreams? Or is he a killer?
Do I care?
I should care.
I'll start caring in a second.
His lips are so full and surprisingly soft. He's firm but not demanding. He gently presses his lips to mine, holding me in place with the lightest of caresses. He slowly pulls back, just a hair's width, then barely bites my bottom lip. Then he kisses me again, running the tip of his tongue lightly across the place he'd just bitten.
Hit and Run: A Mafia Hitman Romance Page 13