Be My Forever Bride

by Martha Kennerson

  Brooke squeezed Brice’s arms and he knew she was signaling that she was fine. “I meant someplace public. After what happened Friday night, I’m not willing to be alone with you or anyone else from your crew.”

  “Yes, well, I understand things got a little out of hand.”

  “A little...”

  “I’m not sure what we have to discuss. Shannon tells me you understand what’s expected.”

  “Either we meet so I’m sure that you know what I expect or you take what you’ve got already and be satisfied with that.”

  “My, you're tougher than Shannon said you were and looking at your photos, very beautiful.” Brice’s breathing escalated.

  “Are we meeting or what?”

  The phone fell silent again and the room went still. “Where are we meeting? I hear you have an affinity for the zoo. Let’s say eleven.”

  Brooke glanced at Meeks and Robert to confirm the time was okay, and they both gave her the thumbs-up. “Eleven is fine, but not at the zoo.”

  “Where?”

  “The Seafood Kitchen in Hobby Airport.”

  The phone fell silent again and Brice held his breath. He couldn’t imagine sending Brooke out to meet this man alone. Thank goodness, he didn’t have to.

  “See you there, but let’s make it eleven thirty.” The call dropped.

  * * *

  Brooke sucked in a quick breath and turned in Brice’s arms, hugging him as if she needed to reassure herself that he was still there. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  “No, I’m not, but I will be.”

  “Excuse me, Brooke,” Robert interrupted.

  “Yes,” she replied, turning to face him.

  Robert picked up the phone. “I need you to keep this with you.”

  “Why?”

  “It has state-of-the-art tracking and the recorder is voice-activated,” he explained.

  “She’ll be at the restaurant, so why is that necessary? I thought that place was bugged everywhere.” Brice’s confusion transformed his face.

  “It is, but we can’t control the noise level in the restaurant to the point that it doesn’t appear natural,” Meeks said.

  “Natural?” Brooked asked.

  “Yes. People speak at differing volumes, so if we make everyone's conversations in the room too low, Perez will get suspicious. Placing the phone on the table isn’t unusual for people these days and it will amp up the sound,” Robert explained.

  Meeks checked his watch. “We’ll head to the airport in about an hour. You should come with us,” he said to Brice.

  “What about Brooke?” Brice questioned.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Yes, she will, because she’ll ride over with my team. Don't worry, we still have eyes on the street,” Meeks informed Brice.

  “I’d feel better if she came with us,” Brice stressed.

  “That’s not a good idea. She needs to be seen entering the airport alone. Trust me. He’ll have someone watching.”

  Brooke faced Brice. “I’ll be perfectly safe. It’s almost over.”

  Chapter 24

  After seeing Brice and Meeks’s team off, and in an effort to work off some nervous energy, Brooke busied herself cleaning the already immaculate house, which took all of fifteen minutes. She tried to watch the TV but couldn’t focus on anything, so she ditched that idea. Brooke settled for pacing the room and watching the clock while she waited for her escorts to arrive. When both her cell and the cloned phone rang, Brooke jumped. Chill. Brooke picked up the phone and read the screen.

  “Hi, Lori.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” she snapped.

  “Okay...”

  “Sorry, I’m just a little nervous and ready to get this over with,” Brooke explained, adjusting a picture that was already perfectly straight on a wall.

  “I’m sure. Do you need anything?”

  “No, I’m good. Thanks for checking,” she replied as her phone beeped. Brooke checked the screen and smiled. “Sorry, Lori, that’s Brice. I have to go.”

  “I take it things are good.” Lori couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.

  “Better than good, but I’ll have to fill you in later.” Brooke switched over to Brice’s call. “Hi.”

  “Hi. How are you?”

  “Better now. Meeks has his team passing by the house every fifteen minutes.”

  “Good.” Brooke could hear the relief in Brice’s voice and that made her smile.

  “How are things there?”

  “I must say, they have this place decked out perfectly. You’ll be completely safe.”

  “I figured as much, but it’s nice to hear it, anyway,” she admitted.

  “Your escort should be there—”

  The doorbell rang. “They’re here—”

  “What?”

  “Hold on.” Brooke walked to the door with the phone at her side. “What are you doing here?”

  “You said you wanted to talk in person. Well, here I am. There’s no time like the present.”

  Fear paralyzed Brooke for several moments as she stood face-to-face with her worst nightmare, until she remembered who she was, all she’d been through and survived. Brooke had no doubt that backup would soon arrive. You can do this.

  “You’re right. Please,” Brooke stepped aside and gestured with her hand for him to enter. “Come in.”

  “Nice place you have here,” he complimented her.

  “Thank you, Mr. Perez.”

  “Please, call me Evan. Most of my business partners do.”

  “Oh, so that’s what we are, business partners,” she replied. No matter how distinguished he looked in the expensive suit he’d decked his large fit frame in or how neatly cut his salt-and-pepper hair was, Brooke feared how dangerous he could be if he didn’t get what he wanted.

  “What else would you call it?”

  “Excuse me.” Brooke held up her phone so he could see it. She was trying to be as natural as possible. “You caught me in the middle of something.”

  “Please, continue. I’ll just have a seat. Make myself comfortable.”

  Brooke stepped a few feet away from him, so he couldn’t hear both sides of the conversation she was having. “Sorry about that, Lori. I have an unexpected guest. I’ll have to call you back.”

  “We’re on the way, sweetheart,” Brice replied. She could hear the panic in his voice.

  “No worries.” Brooke ended the call and placed the phone on the coffee table.

  “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, but I’d like you to sit with me.”

  Brooke sat in the chair across from him. “I heard you were one of Shannon's girls that wasn't receptive to the new direction we wanted to take the business. It would have afforded you a life of real luxury.”

  “No, I wasn't. I never wanted any part of that new world.”

  “Yet, somehow you managed to achieve it all on your own.” His eyes scanned the various expensive artworks that decorated their walls. “I guess me and my friends were a little too old for you.”

  “Can we get down to business?”

  “Yes, of course. Only half of your job is complete.” Perez shrugged as if there was nothing else to talk about.

  “I need to be sure you won’t try to come for me ever again.”

  “I guess you’re going to just have to trust me,” he said, sucking his teeth.

  “That’s not good enough.”

  Perez narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly. “Excuse me.”

  Brooke channeled her mother-in-law’s spirit and said, “You’re so good at creating affidavits, I want one of my own. I want something in writing that says definitively that all the previous statements were false and the photog
raphs were doctored. I don’t care how you do it. Just make it happen or you won’t see another dime.”

  Perez puffed out his chest and glared at Brooke. “You obviously don't know who you’re talking to, little girl.”

  “I know exactly who I’m talking to, Mr. Evan Perez. I will not let you keep blackmailing me with a bunch of lies so you can destroy an innocent woman and her family.”

  Perez jumped up, grabbed Brooke by her arms and pulled her into his chest. “Innocent family,” he yelled. Perez held up the pinky finger of his right hand. That’s when she noticed the tip was gone. “That so-called innocent woman did this...herself. She destroyed my business...my reputation. It took years to come back from it, and Victoria Kingsley is going to pay. If that means destroying you in the process, so be it.”

  Perez threw Brooke back down in the chair. “Look—”

  “Shut the hell up. Now I came here out of goodwill to try to work this out. Do things the easy way.”

  “Goodwill?” Brooke adjusted herself in the chair.

  “Yes, but that doesn’t seem to work with you, so here’s what’s going to happen.” His eyes roamed over her body. Brooke began to shake with fear, because she knew that look; she’d seen it before, in the faces of men whose sexual requests she'd denied, and she only prayed that Brice would get there in time.

  “First, you’re going to transfer the rest of my damn money.” He took off his jacket and went and sat down on the sofa. “Second, you’re going to come over here and ride me until I’m good and satisfied, because your ass is mine.”

  Brooke stopped breathing and tears rolled down her face. Perez smiled. “Oh, yeah, keep crying. That’s just how I like it. In fact—” he checked his watch “—I got time and you can make the deposit after. Get over here.”

  Brooke sat still as a statue. He’d have to kill her first. “Never!” she tried to scream, but the word came out barely above a whisper.

  He said, “I’m waiting...”

  Brooke wrapped her arms around herself, clamped her legs, mouth and eyes shut. It was the only thing her pain-riddled body and fear-plagued mind would allow her to do as a form of protection.

  “Hell no,” she heard a female voice yell at the same time as loud commotion and shuffling sounds filled the air. Before Brooke could react to what was happening, she was up and out of the chair and into arms that she knew instantly.

  “Brice,” Brooke whispered, opening her eyes.

  “I got you, sweetheart.” Brooke looked around the room, which was now filled with police, Meeks’s security team and men with FBI jackets on. Perez was in handcuffs and being led out the door as someone was reading him his rights.

  “What...happened?” Brooke questioned as Brice sat her down on the sofa.

  “Are you in pain?”

  “Yes, I need...my medicine.”

  “I’ll get them.” Brice tried to move away from Brooke; only she wouldn’t let him go. She knew she was being ridiculous. The danger was gone and she was safe in her own home, but she couldn’t stand the idea of being away from Brice for even the few moments it would take to get the medicine she needed so desperately. “Don’t leave me.”

  * * *

  “Mr. Kingsley, where are they? I’ll get them for you,” one of Meeks’s female agents offered.

  Brice felt relieved, because he wasn’t prepared to leave Brooke’s side, either. He told the agent the location and which pills she needed. Brice took a seat next to Brooke and placed his arms around her waist.

  “I’m sorry. I just...”

  “I understand, my love.” Brice kissed her temple.

  “What the hell happened?” Victoria demanded as she entered the room, wearing an army green pantsuit, looking like the commander-in-chief she was. “Where was her protection?”

  “How the hell did he know where we lived?” Brice asked no one in particular.

  The agent returned with Brooke’s pills and handed her a glass of water. “Thank you,” Brooke replied.

  “No problem, ma’am.”

  Brooke took her pills and drank half the glass of water down before handing it to Brice. “I want to know how he got past the security gates.”

  “Please, everyone, calm down, and I’ll share what I can,” Meeks announced. Victoria took a seat on the other side of Brooke.

  “It appears that Perez changed his plans but didn't bother to tell his team since they showed up at the airport as planned. We had them picked up too, by the way.”

  “Good,” Brice said.

  “I don’t understand. What, he didn’t trust his own team?” Victoria asked.

  “That wasn’t it. What Robert managed to get out of Perez—” everyone glanced over at Robert, who smirked and was massaging his right hand with his left “—was that he wanted something extra from Brooke that he couldn’t get from her in public.”

  Brice could feel his anger rising to the surface all over again; only he reined himself in when Brooke leaned further into him. He knew he had to keep it together for her.

  “That bastard—he tried the same thing with Elizabeth years ago,” Victoria advised.

  “But you made him pay,” Brooke said.

  “Yes, I did. Elizabeth didn't want to involve the police, which was fine with me. You don’t put your hands on things or people that don’t belong to you, especially a Kingsley.” Victoria’s venom was on full display and the room’s temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. Victoria turned her body to face Brooke. “Are you all right, my dear?”

  Brooke reached for her hand. “I am now. It’s over and our family is safe.”

  Victoria kissed Brooke on the cheek, then stood. “Is it over?" She turned her attention to Meeks. "Do you have everything you need to bury that bastard in a deep dark hole?”

  “Yes. Brooke did a great job keeping him talking until he snapped. There’s no doubt he’ll be going away for a very long time.”

  “And your money has already been returned, Mrs. Kingsley,” Robert informed.

  “Good. You never know when a storm may roll in.”

  “We’re going to clear out, but you’ll need to make an official statement in a day or two,” Meeks advised.

  “No problem, and thank you for everything,” Brooke said.

  Brice rose from his seat and offered his hand. “Yes, thank you.”

  * * *

  After Brice saw everyone off, he carried Brooke upstairs, which was when Brooke noticed that he was wearing his wedding ring; an antique eternity band with five-carat black-and-white bezel-set diamonds. Brooke’s heart started racing, even though she knew she shouldn’t read anything into it. While Brice finally knew her whole truth, and she’d apologized for keeping him in the dark, she had run and broken his heart.

  Brice placed Brooke on the bed, and he sat down next to her. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. But are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Can I ask you a question?”

  “Always.”

  “Why are you wearing your wedding ring?” She picked up his left hand and ran her thumb over it.

  Brice’s face lit up and a slow sexy smile spread across his lips. “Because the last time I checked, I was still a married man. And frankly, I missed it.”

  Brooke didn’t even try to hide the tears that fell from her eyes. She lowered her head and whispered, “Me too.”

  Brice captured her chin between his thumb and index finger and raised her head. Brooke met his gaze. “Would you like yours back?”

  “Yes—yes,” she stuttered.

  Brice reached into his pocket and pulled out the ten-carat mate to his ring. He held it between his fingers of his right hand. He offered his left palm to Brooke. She felt besieged by her feelings and her heart was beating so fast she couldn’t believe Brice didn’t hear the blood r
ushing through her veins. Brooke wiped away her tears and presented her left hand.

  “You can have this back on one condition,” he offered.

  “Which is?”

  “That you never take it off again.” Brice’s eyes captured hers.

  Brooke could see uncertainty cross his face but she was so overwhelmed with emotion she couldn’t get any words of reassurance out. She gripped his hand, brought it to her heart and shook her head like a bobblehead doll.

  Brice smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He took the ring and slipped it back onto her finger. Brice brought the ring to his mouth and kissed it.

  “I... I love you,” Brooke finally managed to get past her lips.

  “That’s good, because I love you too, my forever bride.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from ON-AIR PASSION by Lindsay Evans.

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  On-Air Passion

  by Lindsay Evans

  Chapter 1

  “You should just keep your mouth shut! Nobody wants to hear politics from a ballplayer.”

  From behind the broad back of his bodyguard, Ahmed moved quickly through the vocal crowd of about two dozen people to get to the doors of the radio station. Some were obviously gawking simply because of who he was—rich, retired at thirty and a consistent presence in the Atlanta club scene and on gossip sites across the internet. Others were there because they smelled a scandal or something close to it. And there were some who were present, like the guy who’d just screamed at Ahmed, because they apparently didn’t have anything better to do at ten o’clock on a Wednesday morning.

  “Technically you’re an ex-ballplayer, so you can have opinions on anything you damn well please.” Sam, Ahmed’s bodyguard and cousin, growled the comment as they slid past the radio station’s security guys, just low enough for Ahmed to hear, although if he’d said it at the top of his voice, nobody would have reacted. Guys over six feet tall with muscles stacked on top of muscles could get away with saying just about anything they wanted to, and to whomever.