Absolutely Mine
Married in Vegas novel
Terri E. Laine
First Edition
Copyright © 2019 Terri E. Laine
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in form or any manner whatsoever by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or a book review. Scanning, uploading and distribution of the book via the Internet or via any other means without permission is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support for the author’s rights is appreciated. For information address to SDTEL Books.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Sarah Paige @ Opium House Creatives
Created with Vellum
To the readers of Married In Vegas: In His Arms. This is the story you ask for.
Author’s Note
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Thank You
WANT MORE…
Coming Soon
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Terri E. Laine
Chapter One
How could this be happening? Eddie McCabe was there, not two yards away. My older sister Chris, his best friend, hadn’t warned me. Not that she should have. She had no idea I had a major one-for-the- record-books crush on him.
I can do this.
Crushes were for high schoolers and I was in college not three hours away in Los Angeles. I could totally ignore him.
I went to the bar and grabbed a drink.
“There you are,” Mandy, my wayward friend, slurred, slinging an arm over my shoulder. “You see those hot guys over there? One is staring at you like you’re his next meal.”
Her grin was way too bright and I followed her line of sight to the blackjack table Eddie and his friends stood around. There I met Eddie’s eyes. Clearly, she was drunk because his dark gaze looked more menacing than hungry.
Quickly, I glanced away and tossed back my drink. “Another,” I said to the bartender.
Once the drink was in my hand, I helped Mandy, who was swaying on her feet back to our friends. I tried my best not to look back at where Eddie had been. Instead, I focused on one of the guys who’d found our group.
My thoughts continued to circle back to Eddie. He’d seen me and had probably already called my sister to find out why I was in Vegas like I was some little kid.
Apparently, I’d drunk too much. A tap on my shoulder sent me spinning around way too fast to face who’d touched me and I saw double. If not for the steel band of an arm landing about my waist, I would have face-planted.
The guy I’d been talking to lost cool points by not coming to my rescue. Pussy.
I pushed my hair back from my eyes as a gorgeous face coalesced in front of me. Eddie.
The guy I’d been talking to was instantly forgotten as a wistful smile played across my mouth.
“Hey,” I said, trying to sound sexy, not sloppy.
One perfect brow shot up and I knew I missed the mark.
“I think it’s time for you to call it a night,” he said.
I poked out my bottom lip.
“You’re not my father. I don’t even know who my father is.”
“You’re not twenty-one either,” he whispered in my ear.
The outfit I’d chosen to wear left bare flesh exposed near my waist his fingertips exploited, sending a shiver down my spine.
I ignored it and bared all my teeth in a wicked grin. “That’s not what my ID says. Besides, girl code won’t allow me to bail on my friends.” I turned to the group. “Right, girls?”
They stared at Eddie like he’d walked the red carpet. A few of them bated their eyelashes at him or so I thought. I couldn’t be sure that my drunken brain wasn’t playing tricks on me.
“You ladies don’t mind if I steal Jillian. I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”
Later, I would reflect on his choice of words. He hadn’t said room, but home. At the moment, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be treated like a child.
“I’m staying,” I said, firmly planting my feet.
Like a bulldozer, he uprooted me with ease. He half-carried me as my feet tripped along trying to keep up with his pace. We stopped at a craps table, where I looked over at his friends. Each one of them was hot in their own right. It had to be illegal.
I missed all of what he said but the last.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
He sounded way too sober for my liking as he whisked me away.
To me, he said, “What’s your room number?”
Stubbornly, I locked my jaw and refused to utter a word.
When we reached the north bank of elevators, I somehow managed to stand my ground.
“I’m not a baby.”
Fire in his eyes nailed me like a solar flare. “Well, stop acting like one.”
I glared at him and took a moment to collect my words so I could punch him with them. But what I said hadn’t been planned.
“I’m not. In fact, I’d been talking to the guy I planned to give my virginity to.”
If eyes could be the size and shape of quarters, I’m pretty sure Eddie’s were. I took the opportunity to march off.
It wasn’t like I planned to be someone’s potential cherry popper, but it was hard when no guy measured up to the Eddie stick. He’d lived next door for as long as I could remember, and over time had become unofficially the man of our house when our dad went MIA so long ago I could barely remember what he looked like.
Eddie stepped in and did small repair jobs my mom couldn’t handle for little or nothing. And though he would never say, I’d assumed he’d been the Santa who’d left extra presents under our tree when there was little more than enough food in the house. It wasn’t like he had a lot more than we did, but I knew he’d done those things for us with money he’d earned from odd jobs he did in the neighborhood.
The memory took away some of my buzz and I was grateful for the woman who materialized in front of me.
Let me tell you, waitresses in Vegas were amazing. The drink I’d ordered from said waitress before Eddie had stolen me away found me. Just as I was about to swallow it down in one gulp, it was wrenched from my fingers without spilling a drop. And there was Eddie swallowing it down.
The waitress hadn’t moved. We were far too close to the elevators. Eddie though had pulled out a wad of cash and peeled off a couple of bills and gave them to her. She curtseyed of all things before toddling off.
Mustering all the anger I could, I said, “That was my drink.”
“You’ve had enough.”
I closed the distance and poked his rock-solid chest.
“If I’m old enough to get married, then I’m old enough to drink how ever much I want.” I stepped back. “Now I’m going to find that guy and give him the best damn ride of his life.”
Before I could make my grand exit, Eddie caught my wrist.
“Is that really what you want? To hook up with some guy you don’t know.” He held my gaze. “I remember the girl who wanted to get married first.”
I’d been stupid to tell him that. But I’d been a naïve girl. If he only knew, that little girl though, she would marry him.
“Yeah, I’m not twelve anymore. I’m a grown ass woman and I’ll screw who I want.”
He didn’t let go and the growl from his chest stopped me.
“Never. Going. To. Happen.”
I blame alcohol on my slow reactions. A squeak let loose from my mouth as he scooped me up and over his shoulder. Which was saying something considering I wasn’t beauty pageant thin like my sister. I was a girl with curves, lots of them.
He smoothed my short skirt over my bottom, holding it there so I wouldn’t flash anyone, as he marched us into an open elevator and up we went. My protests were weak as I was busy fighting the sudden nausea from being upside down.
When he put me on my unsteady feet, we were in his hotel room. I leaned into the wall and pushed at my hair, which fell wildly over my shoulders.
“I’m dizzy,” I said.
Then he was there, too damn close. So much so, I felt his long hard length pressed against me. I may have wigged some to put pressure on the place I really needed.
He stepped back and shook his head.
“I can’t do this. Chris would kill me,” I swore I heard him say.
“Chris?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
He moved into the room, which I now realized was a suite. He stopped at a credenza and poured himself a drink, downing it all.
My mouth was suddenly dry, and not because I wanted some myself. With his shirt arms rolled to his elbows, his forearms were left exposed and they flexed with muscle. Though he looked like the lawyer he would be once he passed the bar exam, he was too damn sexy for words. Then there was the bulge in his pants.
A knock sounded at the door, stopping my heart for a second. Wanting escape, I opened it before Eddie could make his way over.
I recognized one of Eddie’s gorgeous friends from the casino.
“Hey,” I said, trying for sexy again as I leaned on the doorjamb.
His eyes swept up and down before he gazed at me with an I’m game if you are look and said, “Hey,” back.
A solid wall of muscle met my back as a possessive arm snaked around my waist.
“Wolf.”
Such an odd name for a hot guy. Though Eddie didn’t sound as friendly as he should. They were friends, right? Wolf seemed to sense the same danger I’d heard. He held Eddie’s gaze with a quizzical expression before nodding and lifting his hands in the universal sign of surrender.
“Yours, I get it.” Eddie didn’t dispute the claim. “You didn’t answer your text. We’re heading over to the Bellagio.”
“Yeah, okay,” Eddie said with what I imagined a stone-cold facial expression based on the tone of his voice.
Wolf walked away, looking mildly amused, which confused the hell out of me. Then again, my equilibrium, along with my morals, was bottle up as alcohol made me brazen.
I did a poor man’s version of a pirouette as I attempted to spin around as the door closed at my back. It didn’t matter that I swayed, I lifted my chin to glare up at Eddie who was far taller than me.
“What the hell was that all about? You’re being a total cock blocker.”
His glaze turned flinty. “Maybe I don’t want anyone to touch you.”
I aimed a fist at him. “How is that your decision?”
“Because no one is good enough for you,” he snarled, taking my wrist and pinning it to his side.
Then his free hand was in my hair angling my face up. His mouth came down hard, our lips crashing together as if magnetized. I’d longed for this moment for far too long and easily parted my lips so our tongues could tangle together.
He groaned in the back of his throat as I ground against him.
“Fuck,” he spat, letting me go as the heat he’d created vaporized when he put feet between us.
He was at the bar pouring a double and tossing it back as I struggled for breath. For a kiss I’d fantasied for years, he’d spoiled the reality by holding back.
After pouring and drinking another, he slouched onto the couch and stared at the wall in front of him. He was so in another world, he didn’t stop me from pouring myself a glass from the decanter. I drank deep, needing more liquid courage for what I was about to do next.
I sat down on the couch, leaving some space between us. I didn’t want to spook him before I played my final card.
“You want me,” I said with a fearlessness I didn’t feel.
The way he looked at me I couldn’t be sure if my words had come out correctly.
He glanced away. “It doesn’t matter. I made a promise.”
I blinked several times, trying to process his words. “A promise…” The only person I could see him making such a promise to was my sister. “Chris made you promise to stay away from me?” It wasn’t much of a question as I was piecing together the things he’d said tonight. I was so going to kill her.
“No,” he snapped. “She didn’t.” Then under his breath, I thought he said, “Not until after I made her promise to stay away from Cam.”
I didn’t want to believe my sister would do that to me. Granted, she had no clue I was interested in Eddie. After my crush became obvious to everyone and I’d heard him call me jailbait, I’d played like Eddie got on my nerves. I started fights with him and said things I didn’t mean so everyone would leave it alone. It had worked.
Pushing off the couch, I stood as best I could. Then I slid my hands under my skirt, hooked my thumbs in my thong, and shimmed it down my leg bent in half as if I planned to touch my toes in the process.
Steady as I may, I lifted one foot and then the other before righting myself. Inwardly, I clapped because I didn’t stumble. I flung my panties onto his lap, covering the tent that had formed there.
“Are you really going to keep your promise?”
Chapter Two
You would have thought he was the Flash for how fast he leaned over to tug me onto his lap. I straddled him with my achy center perched on his hardness.
Our tongues dueled first as his hand cradled the back of my head.
“You think you can tease me,” he warned. “I’m a man not to be played with, Jilly. So tell me now if you don’t want this.”
His growl turned me on. I was for sure leaving a wet stain on his expensive looking pants.
“Yes.” I sounded breathless but didn’t care. “I want you.”
He tumbled me to my back and pushed up my fluttering skirt with reverence until I was bare to him.
A moment later his mouth covered my mound like a man starved. He licked and sucked me in places until I saw stars. The man was talented with his tongue, sliding it up my slit to circle my clit, making me writhe beneath him.
“Be still,” he commanded.
Was he crazy? Talk about tease. I ached to have him deep inside me. I grabbed his hair in a firm grip and tried to force him to go where I wanted him.
His rumbling chuckle only frustrated me.
“What do you want, pet?” he asked, flicking his tongue over my swollen nub.
I wanted to scream. “Fuck me.” But I managed to say it without sounding like I was speaking through a megaphone.
Hooded eyes met mine with a sexy smirk. “Not yet.”
Instead, he added a finger to the mix, slipping it just a little way in. I bucked my hips, wanting so much more. I’d waited nearly nineteen years for this.
When he sucked my clit, I di
d scream, coming apart all around him. He stoked the flames, making my orgasm go on forever with the stroke of his finger.
Feeling boneless, my guard down, the liquor loosening my tongue, I said, “God, I love you.”
He stiffened. I could feel the tension in his muscles as he looked up. If not for how sober he’d spoken all night, I would have thought his glazed eyes were an indication he was as drunk as I was.
Somewhere in my head I tried to think of a way out of what I’d done. This was over. I’d ruined it. He was never going to fuck me now. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“I didn’t mean—”
The man could move. He had me on my feet, pulling me toward the door, stilling my tongue.
Tears pricked in my eyes as he was leading me out of his hotel room. He was probably taking me back to my friends, assuming they were still there. We’d been barhopping. Though I couldn’t tell you how many places we’d been. It was all a blur.
“I didn’t mean to say that,” I got out.
His hand dropped from the knob he had been about to turn.
He glanced back at me. “So you don’t love me?”
I opened my mouth maybe a half dozen times, shutting off the lie I’d wanted to say.
“We’re going to do this, right?”
I didn’t know what he meant. I was in a fog of colliding emotions as he held onto my hand, leading me like a lamb to slaughter. I was trying to retain the memory of him giving me the best damn orgasm of my life. Yes, I was a virgin. But I’d done things over the years. It felt like a dream when we ended up in a jewelry store. I was surely going to wake up in a heap in my hotel room. Eddie was not leading me to the chapel in the hotel. In fact, I laughed. Pragmatic, super-focused Eddie would never do anything so reckless.
Absolutely Mine: Married in Vegas novel Page 1