We spent the day together. It was decided that Bitsy and I would move into the main house and Jon would live above the garage. Reed insisted he have a room in the house too, but I don’t think Jon cared. Reed made him feel like a man because even at fifteen, Jon was. The entire week was magical—from watching Reed practice and play games to our trip without him at Epcot. He texted me the entire day.
We didn’t want to leave and Reed didn’t want us going, but this was the beginning of our new life, and even being separated, it didn’t lessen our feelings. We’d also discussed wedding plans. I was to choose a dress and a date around Reed’s schedule and we would be married at the courthouse. I refused a large wedding because I wasn’t waiting. Reed and I decided we would give Bitsy one when she grew up and found the perfect man. And, he would need to be perfect for Bitsy or Reed told me his body would never be found.
Our flight back was long, but not as nerve wracking. Maggie waited for us and drove us home. Bitsy spilled the beans first and gave up all our secrets. I saw Maggie wipe her eyes and smile from ear to ear.
Jon and Bitsy returned to school on Monday, both wearing their bracelets. Lawrence came to see me and had the adoption papers drawn up. I called Michelle with CPS after the attorney left and she was happy for us too.
“You’ve done a great job, Jaycee. I’m so glad you were on my caseload and I was able to meet you and be part of a success story. I’m not taking that decrepit trailer back, though.”
I had to laugh. We would find something to do with it.
I gave my notice to Dwaine at work on my first Wednesday back.
“You would have made a great manager, Jaycee, but I’m so happy for you and your family. Don’t forget about me. I’ll be here slaving away smelling like a day-old hamburger.”
I hugged him and this time Dwaine hugged me back tightly.
“I’ll never forget about you. If you like baseball, I know someone who can get you tickets.”
“That’s a deal.”
Each night, Reed and I fulfilled his phone fetish. He ended up moving out of the hotel room with Sal and paying for his own room. Sal understood and teased him endlessly, which Reed filled me in on after our lust was sated and we talked.
A week later, his mother paid me another visit. This time both Jon and Bitsy were with me as we painted her soon-to-be-princess room. All three of us had pink paint splattered on our clothes and skin when we heard the doorbell ring.
“Mrs. Tyler, won’t you come in,” I said when I answered it.
I think her eyes should have popped out with all the pressure in her brain. Jon and Bitsy came up behind me. I introduced them. “Please meet my brother and sister, soon to be Shumway-Tylers. Your son and I are getting married in two weeks and we’d like it if you could come.” Liar, Liar.
She actually sputtered, looked at the three of us, turned around, and marched back to the car.
“Who was that?” Bitsy asked.
“Your new grandmother. She’s not very nice, but I think if we try real hard we can soften her up.”
Reed called a few hours later, his laughter making me smile. “My mother called her attorney, her attorney called Lawrence, and he called me. Did you really invite her to the ceremony?”
“Am I horrible if I hope she doesn’t come?”
“No, baby, you’re perfect.”
“If I had her face on video when I introduced her to Bitsy and Jon you wouldn’t think so. And Bitsy plans to call her grandma.”
I loved hearing Reed laugh.
Two weeks later, we stood before the Justice of the Peace and became a family. Money paved the way and streamlined the adoption. The court proceedings took place that day and the four of us became Shumway-Tylers. Mrs. Tyler didn’t show. Yes, Reed changed his name too.
We had five days in Hawaii before Reed’s season began. We went as a family; Jon took care of Bitsy at the beach each day, giving Reed and me time alone.
After we returned from the best family honeymoon ever, I enrolled in school full time, but kept a handle on Reed’s finances. He grumbled, but signed the papers I put in front of him. He wouldn’t even listen to what they were for. I also signed paperwork for Mrs. Tyler’s charities. She avoided our house, but had to call and personally explain about each charity donation she wanted. Our conversations were short. Surprisingly, she kept a level tone and I always gave her what she wanted. My life was too busy to care what she really thought of us.
The Shumway-Tylers were perfect.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Six months later…
I was strapped spread-eagle to our bed, my kinky husband sitting beside me rolling my nipple between his fingers.
“Did you miss me, baby?”
“Yes, so please hurry.”
“Not so fast. I’ve been planning this for a while. I have these kinky fantasies, you know.”
“Yes, I know and I have them too, but I was hoping you would hurry them along. I have a surprise for you but won’t hand it over until I’m happy.”
“I think you’re happy.” He pinched hard and I sucked in a breath.
“You fantasize about torturing me?”
“Yes, every night that I’m not with you.” He leaned in and sucked the stiffened peak into his mouth, twirling his tongue around the sensitive tip while he used his fingers to play with the other one.
He’d bought more straps, and I was unable to raise my hips more than an inch. It was pure torture mixed with ecstasy. He moved down between my legs, placing his hands beneath my ass and lifting me as far as the straps would allow. It was far enough that his tongue had no problem finding my clit and his fingers my waiting center.
“Just like this the first time, baby. I want you screaming and coming with my tongue on home plate. I have a different fantasy for the next time and the next.” He lapped my flesh, driving me crazy and wringing more than one cry from my lips.
Before I could come down from the delicious high of my orgasm, he removed the ankle cuffs, resituated my arms above my head, and had me on my hands and knees. His cock rested at my entrance as he breathed hot air against my neck.
“Tell me about your surprise, baby.”
“Reed,” I groaned.
He pushed slowly inside and bit down on my shoulder at the same time. “Tell me.” He licked his teeth marks, causing me to tighten my inner muscles.
“You’re wacked. Fuck me, please.”
“Hmm, I’m thinking about it.” He pulled out completely, kissing my back and neck, sucking every other kiss, and marking me again and again.
I needed him inside me and should never have mentioned my surprise.
“The,” I sucked in a breath when his teeth nipped hard, “bedside drawer.” He could be such a little boy. He moved away and opened the drawer. Five seconds later, I was flipped over with his face right up to mine.
His voice cracked as he said, “A baby.” His hand went to my quivering stomach.
“I’m taking it back if you don’t put me out of my misery, but yes, a baby.” I’d left the pregnancy test kit in the drawer, the bright blue plus facing up. Reed spoke about our future children all the time. I didn’t tell him I went off the pill. He did so much for me and I wanted to do this for him—for both of us.
He untied my wrists and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I love you,” he whispered as he entered me, his eyes on mine the entire time.
I reached up and wiped the tear running down his face with my finger then licked it. Deliciously salty. My Reed. My man.
My perfect.
Dear Reader,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Hugs and kisses whether you want them or not. I wasn’t sure what to expect when Play, the first book in the Completion Series came out, but it wasn’t even close to what I received. Your emails, Facebook messages, and blog comments made me push Strike ahead of schedule. And yes, I’m listening to my Club El Diablo readers too, I hope you caught the club tease in Strike. Temporary Dom wi
ll be my next book. Due out March 2014.
Also in March is my kinky vampire short story, Crimson Warrior, in the “Kept” Anthology. This book includes work by Leia Shaw, Sorcha Black, Cari Silverwood, Angela Castle, and CL Scholey. I’m telling you these stories are hot and naughty. I’m incredibly honored to be in the mix. Crimson Warrior will eventually be part of a trilogy and I’m hoping to have the next two stories out late this year.
Play took me on my very first blog tour. How can I even begin to thank the bloggers for Play’s success? You amaze me with your hard work and dedication to books. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Some of you may know I write paranormal romance under the name D’Elen McClain. This summer I will release the sixth and last book in the Fang Chronicles Series. What a ride it’s been. My next paranormal series will be Dragons Don’t Cry, the first book in the Fire Chronicles. I’ve included a sneak peek into my world of dragons after the gorgeous cover and synopsis from my friend Leia Shaw’s new adult book coming out in April 2014.
As you can see, I have a busy schedule ahead so I’ll say goodbye for now and head back into my writing cave.
Xoxo,
Holly
Boy Meets Nerd
A truly geeky New Adult Romance by Leia Shaw
Coming April 2014
After graduating from MIT with a computer science degree, hacker Emerson True bides her time until she lands the perfect job. To pay the bills, she investigates cheating boyfriends and relationship secrets.
Her newest client, musician Levi Morrison, is a typical heartbreaker – gorgeous and charming. He’s also the biggest sucker in the world. When red flags pop up, he hires Em to check into the identity of the girl he’s fallen in love with online.
As Em and Levi work together to find his dream girl, they discover they have more in common than they thought. Though Emerson tries to build a firewall around her heart, Levi bypasses it easily. In the end, Levi must choose between his dream girl and the nerd who unwittingly hacked her way into his heart.
Leia Shaw | Bestselling Romance Author
www.leiashaw.com
Dragon’s Don’t Cry
By D’Elen McClain
Chapter One
Hera’s Curse
One hundred thousand years I curse your kind
Each century you will find
One human woman, not your mate
This curse is now your fate
I looked at, Hera, my mother, goddess of marriage. She stood covered in blood, her anger burning though she’d killed so many. “Mother, you’ve had your vengeance, you must not curse the ones who remain for a hundred thousand years.”
A crack of lightning followed by a boom of thunder lit up the skies. “After what Drakon did to your sister, you still have sympathy for their kind?”
Her words left me ashamed, I too could never forgive him, but for his deeds, so many males dead but every female dragon paid with her life. “Not him, but the others yes. I have no understanding why Eileithyia loved him but the female dragons had nothing to do with it. They were innocent mother.”
“No dragon is innocent and he should have kept to his own kind. Drakon killed her and his brethren will pay.” She looked at me with rage and sorrow. “My brother Zeus leaves a way out. His legacy is not only for humans.”
I could feel her calming. “How shall that work mother?”
“Humans were originally created with four legs, four arms, and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them apart, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other half. Dragons have three parts—one beast, the other man. With the man comes two halves. From the day he is born he quests for his soul mate. If a dragon finds his true mate, the curse shall lift for that dragon but he will only have that chance once every one hundred years.”
I thought on her words and swore that day, that I, Angelos, daughter of Hera, would watch over the four remaining dragons. I could not do much for I had not half the power as my mother but I would bide my time. One day, maybe, I might be able to help lift the curse.
***
Bastian
Cold air ruffled my wings lifting me higher, carrying me further from home. Pain lanced through my body, pulling a roar from my chest, up my throat, and out. Black smoke mixed with fire spewed a hundred feet in front of me. The agony spread from my center, from my heart to every fragment of my soul.
She was dead.
Gone.
Not my mate but still a part of me.
The best part.
Fuck the curse. Fuck my life. I never wanted the claiming again, couldn’t bear the mental anguish or the beginning of another loss. I screamed with every part of me but no one heard.
No one to care.
It was scream or cry.
And dragons don’t cry.
***
Thirty-two years later…
Public Notice:
Females between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one it is hereby ordered and decreed, you will register for the claiming. To defy the order is death.
***
Acasia
“So what you’re saying is the dragon eats his bride?” This entire conversation was ridiculous. The claiming practice barbaric and my best girlfriends insane.
“No,” Julia said softly, she was the shyest of our group and rarely spoke up. “I don’t think he eats her, I think he loves her.”
Loud unladylike snorts followed this revelation.
I couldn’t keep quiet and looked at Julia with disgust. “He’s an animal. Who the hell would want his love? Someday our people will fight back. If he truly holds the magic we once possessed, it’s retrievable. His bride needs to grow a set of balls and do her duty to humans if she’s not eaten right away.
“Does everyone have their dress?” Chersa changed the subject. She was the more outspoken among us but she had a good heart even if her mind focused on appearance more than it should.
I was the nerdy one of the group. While the other four dreamed of men and a knight to take them away on his white horse, I dreamed of facts and figures, equations, or anything mathematical.
I couldn’t help mumbling my reply, “My mom gave me hers.”
“But that’s bad luck.” This came from Sarora, the peacekeeper of our lot.
“I consider it bad luck to be chosen so I’m thinking my mother’s dress will give me exactly what I need.”
My girlfriends looked around the teahouse to be sure I wasn’t overheard. I spoke treason. Thousands of years ago, our great, great many times over grandfathers reached a tentative peace with the dragons and agreed to the claiming once every twenty-five years. Four dragons, four claimings, four each century. No one had bothered to renegotiate in all these years. Before and after claimings, the dragons stayed in their realm and we stayed in ours. Of course, we couldn’t cross into their realm, not without the magic the dragons stole then horded, if the legends were true.
I looked at the women around me. It was possible that after tomorrow, I would never see one of them again. I’d been depressed since the decree to register as a claiming bride.
I noisily slammed my teacup on the counter. “I say we purchase a bottle of wine and chase away our nerves.”
“We can’t drink before the claiming.” Julia interjected, completely shocked.
I gave her my best, be serious, look. “Is that written anywhere in the rules? Have you ever heard it said for that matter?”
“I’m with Acasia, let’s party.”
This is why I like Chersa so much. The girl knows when it’s time to party. She’s also the reason the four of us stand hung-over and miserable the following day while we wait for the beast.
My mother scolded me, as I’m sure my friend’s mothers did to them. Instead of stopping at a single bottle of wine, we drank five or six. Things got a little blurry after the third so we stopped counting but didn’t stop drinking. We laughed, we cried, we talked… well… they talked about their imaginar
y future husbands. I’d decided to stay single and never pro-create. I did not want a daughter of mine going through this.
The weather was cool, too cool for our flimsy white dresses that proclaimed us virgins. After the age of twenty-one, we were fair game and I knew half the girls present would waste no time dispensing their hymens. If you were born in a year that made you a claiming bride, no man or boy would touch you. It would mean death to his entire family. I saw the men salivating while thinking of the parties that night and their chance to take us to bed. They ogled our indecent attire hoping to get lucky. Men never changed.
I wanted to throw up and it wasn’t just the wine still floating through my bloodstream. This year there were twenty-nine of us. Not good odds for me or my friends. I shivered again. We were all bare beneath our white flowing shifts. Our entire town waited for the dragon.
I heard him before I saw him. His roar carried high above the mountains down into the valley where we stood. The flap of his wings was loud and nerve racking as he drew closer to his bride. Smoke and fire came into view first.
Yeh right, a dragon loved his chosen—not! This red creature was a demon. Its fifty-foot wingspan held my gaze. Large talons on the tips matched the size of the claws on each appendage. Heat radiated above us as he swooped around the clearing. He looked to have metal plates covering his flesh, or was it even flesh? I’d give him points for lethal grace. Every inch of him cried warrior, top of the food chain, dominant species. The town’s people prostrated themselves. We, in our white dresses stood tall, though my knees knocked together and I knew the others were as terrified as me. We clasped hands. Julia and Chersa on either side of me. I couldn’t tell where my shaking stopped and theirs began.
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