I glance up and meet a pair of remarkable brown eyes. Danny. He sits next to my bed.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I whisper in a rough voice.
“How are you feeling?”
I’m restricted by IV cords when I try to rise. “I’m okay, I think. Just thirsty.”
He gives me his can of Coca-Cola. Once the cold rim touches my dry lips, I chug the soda down. Danny pats my back gently. “Slow down.”
Nodding, I pass him the empty can. “How long have I been out?”
“Half the night.”
Reaching up, I touch under my bangs, feeling the stitches on my sealed wound. I wince from the soreness. “That’s going to leave a scar.”
A flare of anger flashes in his eyes. “That’s all it’ll leave,” he murmurs more to himself.
“I’m okay, Danny.” I grip his wrist. “How are you? You look exhausted. Have you gotten any sleep?”
He snorts, fighting a smile. “You’re the one in the hospital bed and you’re asking me if I’m okay.” He places his palm on my cheek, tenderly stroking my face. “I’m fine.”
“Luke?”
His jaw clenches. “He’s alive but missing.”
“Missing? I thought—”
“It’s all over, December.”
Okay.
It’s clear that this is a subject to be dropped and never picked up again.
“What about Silver Eyes? Did he save Mia?”
His brows furrow in amusement. “Who?”
“The guy with the silvery eyes,” I say, feeling frustrated because he’s acting like he has no idea who I’m referring to. “The man who brought me to you.”
“There was no man.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “There was a man, Danny.”
He shakes his head slightly. “You lost a lot of blood and happened to stumble onto the road. I found you just in time.”
He is lying.
That’s not how everything happened.
Danny’s protecting Silver Eyes for some reason.
I can play along.
“You’re right,” I whisper. “I did lose a lot of blood.”
He watches me closely and then graces me with a brilliant smile. “You’re getting better. We’ll be home in the morning.”
***
A month later, I’m sitting in the back of Danny’s gym, watching him train his boys. We’ve become like a full-fledged unit. We’re attached at the hip. It’s a healthy fixation we have with each other. Danny and I officially moved in together. We’re engaged and in love. We still bicker over really stupid things . . . and then have mind-blowing sex afterward. I don’t know where things go from here, but I’m happy with where I am in my life.
Josh sits on the bleachers next to me. He decided not to take the job and to also stick around for a while for his sister and me. He loves us that much. Josh is making an effort to bond with me and Danny, but he can’t take his eyes off his phone. It’s been glued to his palm all day.
“Who’s the lucky lady?” I ask, playfully bumping his shoulder with mine.
He smiles at me. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
“It’s a little too early to put a name on what she is right now.”
“Well, who is she?”
“I don’t want to reveal too much. It’s just so early . . .” He trails off, glancing down at his cell.
“Oh my God. Is it Mia? It’s Mia, isn’t it?”
His golden brows furrow as amusement fills those breathtaking sea-blue eyes. “What? No. I think I blew my chance with her. I was an asshole to her. She probably hates me.”
“Who is she? Come on, the suspense is killing me.”
“Her name is Dream,” he says with a smile.
“Aww. Let me guess. Is she a dream come true?”
Josh gives his head a slight shake, smiling bigger. “She’s kind of a bitch.”
“Oh, no. Do I need to interfere?”
“No. I’m kind of into bitches,” Josh says, wiggling his brows suggestively at me. “I love a bitchy woman with a sharp tongue and a mean attitude. Nothing gets me off more.”
“Well, then I’m glad you found the bitch of your dreams.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“When do I get to meet her?”
“Soon.”
“If she hurts you, I will claw her eyes out.”
He laughs, throwing his arm around my shoulders, kissing my hair. “How bitchy of you.”
***
“Off, Chloe,” Danny orders as we cuddle in bed. He gives her a firm scowl when she’s hesitant to oblige. “You stay off the bed.”
She jumps down and looks to me like I should be doing something about it.
I wait until his eyes revert back to the television, and then I pat the space beside me.
She wags her nub of a tail and leaps back onto the bed with us, planting her big butt on my lap.
“Down, Chloe,” he commands, narrowing his eyes at me. “December, don’t you dare call her back up here. She needs discipline. Chloe will never learn if you keep spoiling her.”
She hops down, shooting Danny a fierce doggy look of annoyance.
“Don’t be a mean daddy.” I pout, kissing his shoulder. “It’s cold down on the floor.”
He lifts his brow. “She has a bed of her own.”
“But she wants to be with us,” I murmur sulkily, stroking his chest.
Danny seems to consider it before he replies, “No.”
I give her the signal to jump back up when he’s lost in Game of Thrones again.
“Jesus, December,” he mutters, shaking his head. “You seriously can’t help yourself.”
“We love you,” I say, grabbing Chloe’s paws and gesturing for a hug.
As soon as he cracks a smile, Chloe leaps up to lick at his face. “My girls completely own me. I’m shit out of luck.”
***
The sun has set when I leave from Piper’s bakery with a dozen vanilla cupcakes for Gray. He’s been treating my sister, January, like gold. He’s been doing his best to make sure she’s okay. I can’t begin to imagine the insanity that Luke put her through. I don’t know how she survived his brand of horror.
Gray loves food, so I can’t think of a better way to gift him.
My steps halt. A strong prickle races down my spine. I’m halfway across the lot when that eerie sense of being followed hits me tenfold.
My hands clutch the plastic container full of cupcakes. “I know you’re following me.”
I’m not sure who it is.
I can only pray it’s not Luke.
“I’ve been following you for a while,” a rich, accented voice replies.
My heart thuds erratically, and my breathing is ragged. I force myself to turn and meet the voice behind me. My lips part at the extremely handsome male with silver eyes. His platinum-blond hair is white under the pale light of the moon, and he wears all black, blending seamlessly into the night.
“Who are you?”
He steps forward.
I step back.
He grins, watching me closely with those uncanny radiant irises.
“There’s no need to fear me. I will never harm you. I’m your brother, sweet sister. Father has sent me to watch over all of you.”
END OF BOOK ONE
BONUS SCENE
Here he sits in the home of his sister’s enemy. They’re seated at her formal kitchen table like neighbors having a friendly chat over coffee. He’d rather be with his beautiful Mia, whom he rescued in the snowy forest a day ago. He found her laid upon the white snow like a fallen angel in distress, her big black curls spread over her exquisite face.
She was presented like a gift to him.
Shade gladly accepted.
Shade grimaces at the woman in front of him. She is nothing like his lovely Mia. He doesn’t particularly like threatening women. He never enjoyed torturing one. He doesn’t believe in harming women. Shade loves women
. He treats women like delicate creatures and cherished queens. Though, he never had a relationship with a woman that lasted more than a night. (By his choice alone, of course.) He still loves women and appreciates everything they are. Before his mother died, she installed the importance of a woman’s worth in his head. She told him on her death bed.
Treat a woman like she birthed the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth, son.
Women are goddesses.
Once you have a woman of your own, never take her for granted and love her with every part of you. Never forsake her. She will be the treasure of your kingdom.
He shakes off the gravity of his mother’s words. Shade has to go against his very instinct. This is difficult for him to do. This sickens him greatly, but not because this quivering flesh of a woman deserves any mercy. She doesn’t. In reality, he should simply end her life here. She hasn’t harmed December just once. She continues to do so.
Shade stares at the tears dripping down Jessica’s face. She has a beautiful face with huge, disarming hazel eyes that are more deceptive than they appear. He throws his clean handkerchief across the table at her. He watches as she dabs her eyes with it. She’s been obedient thus far but only because her life is at risk.
“To whom do you owe your loyalty?”
“You. I’m sorry, sir.” She weeps, patting her wet cheeks with her fragile wrists that can easily be broken. “I wouldn’t have done it, I swear, but Luke threatened to kill my family. He threatened the lives of my sister and her newborn and her husband. I couldn’t . . . I didn’t think reporting December’s whereabouts to Luke would put her in danger, not while she was with Danny.”
Shade curls his trigger finger on his pistol that rests perfectly in his lap.
Kill her and get it over with. You have better things to waste your time on.
She drops her gaze down to her twiddling fingers that toy with his black handkerchief. “I don’t expect you to believe me, which is fine. Clearly you’re not the forgiving kind. I only request that you allow me to write a letter to my sister.”
He smirks at the note of authority and arrogance in her voice. Jessica’s on the verge of death and still ever haughty.
“I don’t think you’re in the position to request anything.”
Her tears drop harder, streaming down her face. “Please, sir. It’s all I ask. I know I’m a terrible person. Jesus Christ, do I know it. If my time is up, then my number is called and I can’t do anything about that. I only want to write my sister a letter.”
Even now his mind drifts back to his unmarked car.
What is his little Mia doing?
Shade doesn’t need to wonder any longer because she steps into the kitchen, her long raven-colored hair wild and spilling down her back in big ringlets. Mia’s watchful gaze flickers back and forth over him and Jessica.
“Don’t do it,” she whispers to him, trembling slightly.
“Why should I not?” he asks, lifting a questioning brow at Mia.
“If you want any chance with me at all, you won’t.”
Pleading for the coward’s life? This should be good.
Shade’s gunmetal-gray eyes travel down her lush body. He grins as she begins to shake harder under his admiring gaze.
“What do I get in return?”
“What do you mean?”
His grin turns into a full-blown smile. “I mean, if I spare her, what will you give me?”
She lowers her gaze, blushing deeply. “Whatever you ask.”
Whatever I ask?
He gives her a solemn nod. “Very well. She may live, then.”
Mia’s body instantly sags with relief, but her eyes glint with intent. She walks up to Jessica with all the calmness in the world and then slaps her across the face.
“You don’t deserve to breathe the air in your lungs, Jessica. Learn from this. I won’t ask him to spare you again.”
Jessica gasps, holding her reddened cheek in her hands.
Shade smiles so hard his cheeks ache along with other parts of him that throb. He loves Mia’s fierce loyalty to his sister and her wavering shyness.
Yes.
Shade has found the woman fate has brought him.
Now if only he can keep his sisters from getting into more trouble.
That will be a great challenge.
A challenge he has accepted.
Sneak Peek of January
CHAPTER ONE
Across the globe every girl and woman (and some men) dream about their Prince Charming. Everyone has a Prince Charming. He’s the invincible, charismatic, handsome man coming to rescue you from life threatening danger or plain boredom. Prince Charming is a fantasy for most people; a nice daydream to take the stress away for a pleasant moment. Prince Charming is imaginary. Pure fiction.
But not for me.
My Prince Charming is real.
His name is Gray Oliver.
I’m lying naked in bed with him right now. How many people are this fortunate? Not very many. I look at him and see his kindness and concern for me. I look at him at see my happily-ever-after. I look at Gray as he sleeps contently next to me and see everything I have ever desired.
Love.
Gray is love. And love shouldn’t be that hard to obtain. It’s not like I’m dreaming unachievable things. I don’t want to become a millionaire, or rule the world. I want someone to love, and for them to love me. To love and be loved is all I ever wanted. It’s all I ever needed. I’m not seeking to change the world, but my God does it feel like it.
Everyone always asks me why I constantly run from Gray. It’s not because of him. Let me make this clear. Gray is everything I’ve ever dreamed about. He’s sweet, generous, polite, and friendly. He’s the best I’ll ever have. Gray isn’t the problem.
It’s me.
I’m tarnished goods.
Luke always told me that there’s something inside of me that makes people want to hurt me.
Luke always told me that there are people that crack under pressure, then there are the ones that transform into diamonds.
Needless to say, I was Luke’s favorite diamond.
He infected me with an illness.
It’s a sickness in me that blackens the beautiful vibrant color in my life.
I’m a diseased corpse, leeching sustenance from the veins of the only man I have loved.
Gray is an endless ocean of love. Gray and I often compare ourselves as oceans and seas. He tells me that loving me is like loving the ocean. Gray says it’s like admiring the orange-red and coral pink sunset cast vibrant colors on the gleaming water, but when he attempts to grasp the colorful ocean in his hands, it simply slips through his fingers, impossible to fully seize. I know that hurts Gray. He breathes to nourish me. But I can’t pass this sickness to him.
I wish I was normal.
I wish I wasn’t tarnished.
I wish I didn’t blacken the lively things around me.
Most of all, I wish Gray wasn’t so hell-bent on loving me.
It makes things so much worse.
Gray’s chiseled body is bathed in light from the moon. The pale beams filters through the white curtains, casting our skin in glittering silvery light. His brown skin looks delicious. It’s as if his flesh is covered in shimmering stardust, begging for a taste. My mouth waters.
I run my fingers through his messy hair and kiss his bicep. I love this man so much it hurts. Carefully lifting his big arms, I slip out his tight embrace. He likes to hold me while we sleep. My back is always pressed to his chest with his arms encircled securely around me. I asked him why he likes to embrace me while we sleep one time. He said so I couldn’t run from him while he slept.
I pick up my wrinkled yellow sundress from the floor and toss it over my head. It’s in the early hours of the morning and it’s still dark outside. I can’t find my shoes, so I step into Gray’s big boots and make my way to his kitchen.
Pulling ingredients from the cupboards and refrigerator, I begin to mak
e a massive breakfast. I want Gray to have the works. He eats for a family of four. That means a lot of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
Breathing in the fresh morning air, I can’t stop smiling as I walk about in his large boots. His boots are way too big for me, but they’re comfortable and roomy. My toes curl at the thought. I feel at home in them. This feels right.
Leaning my hip against the counter, I slap several strips of bacon on the heated pan. It sizzles instantly. The small kitchen is filled with the scent of bacon.
“Smells good,” Gray whispers in my ear, gripping my waist and pulling me into his warm broad chest. He kisses my hair and cheek, nuzzling the side of my neck and breathing me in. Gray is gentle. Always so gentle with me. He treats me like delicate lace, easy to thread and easy to split.
He is careful with me.
“I’m making you breakfast.”
“I woke and you weren’t by my side. That isn’t right.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to leave yet. I only wanted to fix you breakfast. That’s all.” I flip the cooking bacon over with a wooden spatula, pretending not to be as weak as I am. God, I am weak. I need healing. I am a parched and withered rose in need of soaking in Gray’s endless sea of love.
“I take care of you while you’re here, January.”
I swallow past the thick lump in my throat, my heart hammering in my chest. “It’ll only be a second.”
Please, don’t look too close.
He removes his arms from around me, then places his hands on my hips to turn my entire body to face him. Gray and his golden eyes stare down into mine. I look at them in awe. His eyes are purely gold. Radiant and striking and unsettlingly intuitive. They’re a strange kind of beautiful that never fails to leave me breathless and puzzled. I allow myself the simple pleasure of watching those irises work, then I lower my gaze.
He watches me closely. Too closely. Gray subtly draws out my deepest fears from the crevices of my mind. Gray is an intelligent man. He will catch on soon. He will learn how incredibly broken I am inside. I will lose him forever when that happens. He is my sun. I’m soaking up as much nourishment as I can as I rotate around him.
December (The Oliver Brothers Book 1) Page 27