by Paige North
“And finally,” Penelope says, sighing, “we need to deal with the mess your contractors made of the baby’s room. It’s a mess, Ethan.”
“Shit. Really?” I put my coffee mug down. I was so busy at work the last few days, I didn’t have a chance to look at their progress, but they always did great stuff for me in the past.
When we get to Lilly Belle’s room, I get ready to be furious. Then we open the door and…holy pixie dust. Her room is a wonderland full of painted vines and trees and flowers. Tiny sparking lights stretch across the space, and her crib lies underneath the big branch of a tree. A glow in the dark resin model of Tinkerbelle pokes out from inside the constructed tree.
“Welcome to Neverland,” my fiancé laughs. “I was just messing with you. It’s incredible.”
“You’re going to wake her,” I whisper, realizing how loud we’re being.
“She’s waking up anyhow,” Penelope replies, then pads over and picks Silly Belle up and starts cooing and cradling our child.
Our baby.
I swallow my tears, but this time they are happy tears.
I shake my head and pick up the remote control on top of the dresser. “And this?” I ask. “It actually works?”
Penelope smiles broadly. “Go on, press it and see.”
I press the button and Tinkerbelle flies out of the tree and over to the papier-mâché blueberry bush on the opposite end of her room, making a fairy dust sound as she goes.
“Look, Lilly!” Penelope cries.
Lilly Belle’s eyes are round and huge as she tries to grab for the little flying fairy. She laughs hysterically.
“Holy crap, that is awesome,” I say, and a true belly laugh explodes from my throat. I realize in that moment it’s never happened before. I’ve never truly laughed like this in my entire life.
I feel something in my chest give way and suddenly, it’s like I can breathe for the first time.
And then Penelope’s arms snake around my middle and she hugs me tight.
“I love you so much, Ethan.”
“And I love you, Sweetness. You are my world, my sun and my stars. And our little girl is the air I breathe.”
My hands immediately go to her waist, feeling the way they fit perfectly right where her hips begin. I love this woman.
Later that morning, Lilly goes down for a nap.
“Fuck, I’ve been dying to have you to myself,” I say, as soon as Penelope puts the little one in her crib.
“Calm yourself,” Penelope says as I grab her.
“Fuck that,” I growl in her ear, and then hoist her over my shoulder.
She squeals but manages not to wake the baby.
Carrying her back to my room, I drop her on the bed, looking down at her in awe.
This amazing woman will now be by my side, all because I threw caution to the wind and decided to get my shit together. This. This perfect woman, making me the happiest man alive, is what life is all about. I’m sure we’ll have fights and I’m sure I’ll be an asshole to her at some point, but I’m going to do my best to cherish her always and not be a jerk, and she has full rights to knock sense into me if ever I should need it.
She pulls me onto the bed, and suddenly, I’m looking down at an angel with a ginger halo spread out all around her on our gray comforter. “Kiss me,” she says. I do, and once I start, I can’t stop. Everything about those first days of making love to her and more come rushing back.
I feel more love for her every moment. It just builds and builds.
I have to slide her out of her outfit, and her body is so smooth to the touch. After undressing, I kiss every inch of her body, loving the way that she arches her back to meet my mouth, moaning softly when my tongue takes in one of her breasts, sucks hard and plays with her nipple between my teeth.
She’s moving fast today, urging me to the other breast, pushing me down between her legs, and giving me her sweet pussy before I can even move her up the bed. Her legs hang over the edge, so I pull her to me and take in that delicious pussy, licking her lips and sliding my fingers into her, slathering her clit with her juices. I’ll never get enough of licking on that either, and I don’t even care that she comes all over my face or that she seems satisfied, I keep on licking her through her orgasm. Because I adore her, fucking worship the ground she walks on, and I’ll make her come again if she’ll let me.
“God, you’re so amazing, Sweetness. And I’m never going to stop loving you, never going to stop being the man you want and need me to be.”
“And I’m not going anywhere either, Ethan. If you didn’t get rid of me before, you’ll never get rid of me now.”
“I hope that’s a promise,” I whisper.
“Enough talk, Mister Townsend. Come up here and slide your cock into my pussy,” she says. I’ve never heard her speak this way, and my cock cannot possibly grow any harder. Her voice telling me what to do does something to me that no woman has ever been able to achieve—drive me insane. Suddenly, all I want is to do her bidding, slide into her and buck hard against her, ram my steel into her cunt, and make that fucking pussy mine forever. She’s my queen, my new direction, my love and my life.
She reaches back with her arms, holding onto the bars of the headboard, giving her tits up to me to suck on as I drive into her. Holding onto her waist, I kneel up and impale myself into her body, my cock up to the hilt, my balls slapping her ass. I want to give her everything I am, every part of me. I’m simply not afraid anymore. Before I lived in a black and white world, but now with Penelope in it, everything glows in multidimensional colors.
With a great buildup, I let it all go and spill my seed deep into her, claiming her. She crests another orgasm at the exact same time. We are meant for each other. This pure, radiant woman is ready to be my wife and a mother all at once. Holy fuck. My pulse takes forever to come down. All I can think of is my fortune. My real fortune—her.
I collapse on top of her and take all the gratitude within me and give them to her in the form of a long, deep and passionate, kiss. Our eyes close. It takes someone special. It takes someone gifted to deal with me. It takes a super nanny to fill the position of Mrs. Ethan Townsend. Winds from the east brought her to me, and now she’s here to stay.
Position of hot, smart-as-balls, amazing wife—filled.
Epilogue
It’s a cold February morning, the kind when you’re so toasty in bed cuddled up next to your husband that you could stay there all day long. The house is quiet, the snow is falling, and Ethan’s skin is imprinted with our mixed scents. Maybe I can sleep the day away. But then I remember that we’re parents. Not just any parents, but the parents of a little girl who’s turning two today.
“Mama!” Silly Belle calls from the magical forest of Neverland.
“You get her.”
“I got her last time,” he mumbles. “Plus, she’s calling for you.” Ethan’s smartass smile is enough to make me pinch his side. “Ow, what was that for?”
“Come on, we have a party to get ready anyway.”
“Didn’t we hire people to do that?”
“No, we rented a cupcake shop for several hours so we can hold our party but we do the rest ourselves. We’re involved in our daughter’s life. We actively participate, remember?” It’s not meant to be a dig at his mother’s past negligence; it’s just fact. This is how we’ve chosen to parent—completely and whole-heartedly. I swipe the comforter off his smoking hot body. “Let’s go, Captain Hook.”
We tiptoe into our fairy princess’s neck of the woods and both sing at the same time, “Happy Birthday, Lilly Belle!” Ethan swoops in on our bouncy curly-haired blonde and picks her up in the air. Her feet kick like she’s swimming in the air, sprinkling pixie dust everywhere.
“Guess who’s having a party today?” I tickle her and take her from Ethan’s arms.
“Par-dee?”
“Yes, you, my little goddess. In just a couple hours. Let’s get you dressed!”
Gardenia’s
in midtown bustles with smiles, sparkling lights, and joyous conversation. The cupcake bakery’s courtyard garden is a magical place to hold a party, like an enchanted fairyland for toddlers. All of Lilly Belle’s friends from the park are there, a few of her friends from swimming lessons, all my family, and even friends of Ethan’s from work.
Wilson is there with his wife and older daughter, and watching Wilson swirl icing on a cupcake then sprinkle edible glitter all over it is priceless. “Hey, you’re pretty good at that,” I tell him, handing him a mimosa in a champagne glass. “I should’ve hired you to make them all.”
“Bite your tongue, Mrs. Townsend. This here cat’s retired.” He laughs, turning to his wife and giving her a peck on the cheek.
“You’ve done a beautiful job with this party, Penelope,” his wife tells me, giving me that look some people do when they want to express just how special they think I am for taking both Ethan and Lilly Belle into my life. What they don’t understand is that my husband and daughter enrich my life just as much.
Going to school part-time to study business never would’ve been possible without those two. They made me want to do better, aim higher, push for more than just a small start-up company. Being Lilly Belle’s mom means transcending regular life and going beyond.
It does take a special person to care for a child who wasn’t born to you, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t teach me things every day. I’m a harder working, happier person now than I was before, and having Ethan help watch her while I work to make my dreams come true is a blessing.
My mom takes the train into the city about once or twice a week to help out when Ethan has to work or I’m at school. She adores her time alone with Lilly Belle. It gives her an excuse to get away from home while my siblings are in school, a mini adventure a few times a week.
In the meantime, Ethan is going to therapy. Most of the time, he goes alone, but every once in a while, I’ll go with him and help him put feelings he’s having a hard time with into words.
He’s a changed man. I would say, liberated.
When I met him, he thought he’d moved on from the pain, but in truth, he’d only hidden his demons. It’s dangerous, sweeping demons under the proverbial rug. They’ll only come out one day and bite you in the ass. It’s way better to deal with them the right way, slaying them with any weapon necessary until they eventually begin to fade into harmless ghosts. Now, he is caring, so loving, and he never yells at us for being in his space. He’s all too happy to share his space, because it means he’s not alone anymore.
He’ll never be alone again.
“Alright, everybody, gather round!” I call to our guests to come around the cupcake tower filled with pink and green sparkly sugary confections. “It’s time to wish Lilly Belle a magical second birthday!”
Ethan sweeps her up and carries her to the table, while I light the top cupcake with the fondant number 2 on top, and our friends and family gather round. A beautiful sight, seeing all these smiling faces, people we adore, toasting to the birthday girl under a glass atrium of warmth, as the NYC cold hovers outside.
“Ready?” I hold her hand and stare at her luminous blue eyes, as they soak in the entire scene, the marvel of so many people giving her attention at once. “One…two…three…”
As we sing Happy Birthday, I think about how quickly life has changed for me—for us—in such a short time.
It’s enough to make me realize that dreams do in fact come true. And that even when things look bleak, you can still have hope.
Yes, I decide, hope is exactly the word. Our future is bright, especially with the icing on this cupcake. While everyone is clapping, I pick up the little gift box at the end of the table and hand it to Lilly Belle. “Open this present first, Silly Belle.”
“Yay!” she cries, her favorite phrase for anything happy these days. Everyone laughs, as she rips the present open. Throwing pink tissue paper in the air, she picks up a little T-shirt. I help her hold it up, while Ethan narrows his eyes to read the printed message on it. My stomach is in knots, as he reads the words aloud.
“World’s Best Big Sister,” he says. It takes him a moment to process, but the minute everyone starts cheering and hollering their congratulations, he turns to me, Lilly Belle locked between us. “Are you serious?” he whispers.
“Heck yes, I’m serious. That would be a super weird joke,” I whisper back in reply. “So get ready for baby number two. Congratulations, Daddy.” Noting the blend of shock and pure joy in his eyes, I hug my husband using all the positive energy my heart can muster forth.
“You hear that, Silly Belle?” Ethan’s glossy eyes turn to his tiny girl. “You’re going to be a big sister. Mommy has a baby inside her.” He rubs my tiny baby bump that’s not even showing yet at ten weeks.
“Baby?” she questions. When we both nod and drop her a notch to kiss my belly, she raises her fist in the air and cries, “Baby, yay!”
I laugh so hard, I’m crying. Or maybe I’m crying because I’ve never been filled with so much happiness all at once. My mother and father are crying, my little sisters are crying…hell, I think even Wilson’s crying. “Yay!” I echo her enthusiasm and kiss my husband before turning and taking a family photo.
Yes, it’s all real, I think, still in shock sometimes myself.
Life is strange, and miracles do, in fact, happen.
THE END
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And now, continue reading this ebook to find the excerpt from Buying The Virgin (The Virgin Auctions, Book One) by Paige North.
Excerpt: Buying The Virgin (The Virgin Auctions, Book One) by Paige North
Chapter 1
Being a virgin pays.
Apparently, it even pays well enough to start a whole new life.
With a quavering breath, I step out of the cab that’s parked at the curb of the closest private airport to my home in little Harrisburg, Missouri. My ride and tip have already been paid for, and the driver doesn’t stick around after he unloads what I have for luggage—a duffel bag. I was told that this is all I would need when I applied with the “exclusive dating service” that I found during my research.
A bag, myself, and this tight, red cocktail dress that keeps creeping higher and higher up my thighs.
These are all I have anyway. This is all I have escaped with from my old home, my old life.
As I walk to the small terminal, my high heels click on the pavement, the sound echoing through the early summer afternoon air. I blow out the breath I’ve been holding as I enter the building. A man in a business suit, beige tie, and earpiece is clearly waiting for me near the door to the tarmac.
He nods at me. “Nova Summers?”
He’s probably seen my picture on the Highest Bidder site. Part of me still can’t believe I was desperate enough to put myself up for auction on a site that some call the eBay of prostitution.
But I did it and I got chosen, so here I am.
“Yes,” I say, thankful that my voice isn’t shaking as much as the lining of my belly is. The trembles force me to clutch my duffel bag, just so I can hold onto something familiar, but then the man takes it from me.
When he gives a cursory glance to my dress, he frowns slightly, gestures for me to walk ahead of him.
My pulse rattles as I move along. Is there something wrong with my dress? It feels like a second skin, feels like something Travis Star, the ridiculously hot billionaire who bid on me and won me, might like.
Travis Star, who became richer than Midas long before he was thirty. The man who owns one of the world’s most popular and prestigious chains of high-end jewelry stores. The incredibly sexy, desired bachelor worth well over a billion dollars who could be dating the models and actresses and pop stars that he has access to.
But instead, he picked me off of the Highest Bidder website out of all the other virgins he could’ve gone to auction over, and I’ll be his for the next two weeks. I still don’t get why he chose me of all people, but he’s in that jet that I’m moving toward, and if all goes well during this first hour with him, he’s going to take me to Manhattan for a...
A date.
That’s what they call it in the biz. Or so people were saying on the forums I frequented during my research phase of this process.
At any rate, my dress is still riding up my thighs as I walk onto the tarmac, and I resist the urge to pull the clingy fabric down. Someone like Travis Star with his fast-lane reputation is going to expect me to be wearing a sexy number like this, and I spent my last dollar on it, thinking that it’s not my style but it’s surely his.
I’ve got to live up to his expectations, because I don’t want to go back home—not with my brute of a father still there. God, I hope he won’t be able to track me down. And maybe if I earn enough money from this date or whatever you call it, I’ll be able to get Mom and my younger brother Tate away from him, too.
At the thought of my mother and brother, guilt rises in me. I haven’t told them where I’ve gone—I’ve only left a vague note with my mom asking her to keep this to herself, that I’m somewhere safe, and that I’ll be contacting her soon with good news. Nobody has any idea that I’ve sold my virginity so I can start over someplace that isn’t around the man who calls himself my dad.
I just couldn’t take the cruelty any more. I’d do anything to get away from it.
So here I am. But I’m not going to acknowledge how my pulse is racing every time I think about having sex for the first time. I’ve got to focus on simply climbing the stairs to the jet, on making a good first impression with Travis Star.
I step inside the interior of the plane, nearly gasping. Everything is sleek and white, the seats all buttery leather with gleaming silver trim, like this is a traveling palace. There’s a wide LED screen that’s playing soothing, world beat music, and even a dinner table that’s been set up in the middle of the jet; the aroma of gourmet food permeates the air, and the places are set with shining utensils and fine china. Farther back there’s a doorway that looks like it leads to a private room, and I wonder if that’s where Travis Star’s bed is.