When did I become such a dithering fool? Is this how I got to the top of the heap in seven years? Hell, no, and I wouldn’t win her second-guessing myself now. I took a deep breath. Get a grip, Townsend, and seize the day.
I squared my shoulders at the house. She wasn’t in there laughing at me. She didn’t even know I was there, and she wouldn’t know until I made my move.
I wiped my sweating palms on my pants and strode up the walk. I couldn’t breathe. My whole life hinged on this moment. I raised my hand and let it fall before I summoned the courage to knock.
How long does it take a person to answer the door? Didn’t she know what agony I was in standing there?
She opened the door, and we stared at each other in astonishment. Could this be real? Was I really gonna do this? I gulped down the lump in my throat. She reduced me to a blithering wreck.
“Hey, Vic.”
“What are you doing here?”
I started babbling like an idiot. “I…uh…. I just came by to see how you’re doing. I mean…. how are you doing? I haven’t seen you since the wedding. I was just wondering…I mean…” I forgot all about the roses until she glanced down at them. I shoved them at her, I was such a graceless chump. “These are for you.”
She took them off my hands. “Thanks. They’re beautiful.”
I snapped out of my trance. “Listen, Vic. I really just want to talk to you for a second. I won’t try to convince you to get back with me. I just want to explain why I did what I did at the wedding. Do you think you can just listen for a minute so I can get this off my chest?”
She pursed her lips. “All right. You better come in.”
She strode inside, and I followed her with my nerves in tatters.
She put the roses in a vase in the kitchen and came back to stand in front of me. “Okay. You’re here. Spill it.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She stood in front of me in her sweatpants and an old floppy T-shirt. She wore no make-up, and she tied her hair behind her head in a casual ponytail, but she couldn’t have been more beautiful to me. Her whole being glowed from the inside. Pregnancy suited her.
I put my hand in my pocket. Here goes.
20
Victoria
I never thought seeing Brady again would confuse me so much. I never cared about him more than right then, and here he comes with a bunch of beautiful roses to soften the blow. I never wanted to see him again, but now that he was standing in my living room, I understood why I fell for him in the first place. I didn’t know if I could stay mad at hm.
He took another deep breath and blew it out. His shoulders stiffened. “Okay. Here’s the deal. Do you remember that time we snuck out to the garden at the rehearsal dinner?”
“Of course, I do, Brady,” I told him. “Do you think I’ve forgotten any of our time together? You know you were the most important person in the world to me. That’s what makes you turning away from me so cruel.”
He closed his eyes and held up his hand. “Just listen to me for a minute, okay? Charlie saw us in the garden. He saw us through the window.”
My eyes flew open. “He what?”
Brady nodded. “You went inside first. When I came through the door, he ambushed me. He told me to stay away from you. He said I wasn’t his friend anymore, and he said if I ever came near you again, he would call the police.”
“He didn’t.”
“Now do you see why I couldn’t talk to you at the wedding? I had to wait until he left with Mandy. I wanted him to cool down before I talked to him about it again. Then I tried to find you and explain, but you were too mad. I never wanted to hurt you. I swear it killed me to do it, but I had to keep away from you.”
I shook my head. “This is impossible.”
He rushed forward. He grabbed my hand. “I never stopped loving you, Victoria. I never wanted anything but to be with you, but I couldn’t blow the lid off Charlie’s wedding.”
He stuck his hand in his pocket for the tenth time, and this time, he pulled out a grey velvet box. He pried open the lid and held it out to me. “I picked this out after we came back from Vegas. I wanted to give it to you at the rehearsal, but I never got a chance before Charlie threatened me. I only regret I didn’t show you this a long time ago. Now I’ve blown my chance with you forever, and that’s just something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. I just want you to have this. I’ll leave you alone now. I just want you to keep this. Even if you never wear it or even look at it, just keep it. I don’t want anybody else to have this. It’s yours.”
I stared down at the shining stone in the box. He didn’t buy this. He didn’t spend the money on this heavenly diamond thinking about me. That was impossible. I couldn’t believe it.
He didn’t leave, though. He didn’t move or let go of my hand. I blinked. Everything in the world disappeared but that ring. He didn’t show up on my doorstep with that ring and a bunch of roses. He couldn’t. That made no sense. I couldn’t hold that side by side with the hateful names I called him over the last two weeks.
He watched me for a moment. I didn’t see his face. I didn’t see anything but that ring before my eyes blurred with tears.
All at once, he dropped to his knee. He crushed my hand between his two palms. “Marry me, Victoria. I don’t want to live without you and the baby. We were made for each other. It’s just a bunch of stupid misunderstandings keeping us apart. I can’t be happy without you, and unless I’m wrong, you can’t be happy without me, either. This baby needs us, and it needs us together. Come on. What do you say? Will you marry me?”
My eyes drifted to his face. This wasn’t happening. All these weeks of heartbreak, all these missed chances and near misses—it couldn’t end like this. I craved this moment so long, but I never dared dream it could actually happen.
He tugged me forward. He kissed my knuckles and pressed my hand to his heart. His voice cracked. “Please, Vic. Please marry me. You’re the only woman in the world for me. I wanted to ask you so many times. I’m an ass for waiting so long. Marry me, Vic. No one else in the world should wear this ring.”
I couldn’t see through my tears. His head prismed into a thousand pieces, and I couldn’t keep my lips still. He fumbled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. I saw him and the ring in my mind’s eye, but I couldn’t speak above a whisper before I burst into tears. “Yes! Yes!”
He struggled to his feet, and his mouth attacked me in smoldering passion. Salty tears dampened his face, and neither of us could get our lips to function the way they should. Before I knew what was happening, he scooped me off the floor.
Already that ring worked its magic in my hand. I was married. I was his wife. We were together, and we were having a baby. The next thing I knew, he carried me to my room and laid me on the bed. He curled around me, and all the pain and despair of the last two weeks vanished out of my life.
He started laughing. The longer he laughed, the louder he laughed until I couldn’t contain it. I had to laugh, too, from sheer happiness. Everything made sense. This whole crazy situation only made sense when we were together—together at last!
We laughed until we both cried. Then Brady wiped the smirk off his face. “Listen to me. Tomorrow morning, we’ll wake up bright and early. We’ll go visit your parents and explain the whole thing. Once they understand, we’ll get in touch with Charlie. Once he finds out we’re getting married, it will be okay. Okay?”
I couldn’t stop smiling at him. I had to surround his precious face with both hands. “Okay. Sounds good.”
He descended on my mouth to kiss me, and all my buried desire for him flared to life. I never had to hide from it again. I could let it go. I could feel the overwhelming love welling out of me to encompass him. I could surrender to the future.
Starting right now, we would never be apart. We would love each other, and everyone would know we had a right to want each other, to touch each other and crave each other and come home together.
/> His tongue lapped at my lips, and the delicious wetness sizzled through my flesh to draw him into myself. Our skins touched in cosmic unity. Our clothes disappeared, and his rock-solid body covered me and protected me from everything else.
I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him between my thighs. My passion turned to ecstatic love. I couldn’t tell the difference between my body wanting him and my heart yearning for him.
He broke away from my mouth to prop his muscled arms on either side of my head. His chiseled frame rippled all the way down to the triangle of sinew where his hips bumped mine.
His movements carried him down to kiss me before he rose on his broad shoulders to hover over me. His eyes enthralled me beyond belief. I could stare into those eyes for the rest of my life and never stop loving him.
His cock touched me deep inside. He touched me all the way to my heart, so my love overpowered me. It shone out of my eyes to meet his gaze high above my face.
I cradled his face in my hands. He swayed back and forth with his stroking rhythm. “Victoria?”
“Yes, darling.”
“I love you. I love you more than anything.”
I kissed him hard on the lips. I kissed him all over. “I love you, too. Oh, how I love you!”
Epilogue: Brady
Two Weeks Later
I put my feet up on my desk and relaxed back in my chair. It was the first time that I got to relax all morning. I had been dealing with stupid fuckers like Roger since I walked in.
My phone rang again, and I let out a long sigh. Fuck, Roger, give it a rest.
“What the hell do you want now?” I spat.
“Hey man, it’s Charlie, no need to be a dick.”
Shit. I glanced down at my calendar and saw that yesterday Charlie and Mandy got back from their honeymoon. Victoria and I had already spoken to her parents earlier that week. Her mom was ecstatic that her only daughter would be getting married and her dad had given us his blessing. They both knew about the baby, and honestly, I think her mom was more excited about that than the prospect of another wedding.
Now I just had Charlie to convince.
“Look, Charlie,” I started, but he quickly cut me off.
“I already know about you and Vic.”
“Ok, I just wanted to explain.”
“There is nothing for you to explain. I never realized that you and Vic were actually something serious. I thought you were just being your douchebag self and fucking her because you could.”
I let out a slight laugh. Yeah, that does sound like me. But Victoria was different. She was the only woman that ever made me feel something.
“Things with Victoria are different,” I started, but Charlie cut me off again.
“You don’t need to explain. I was just calling to say I am sorry for being an ass. I just – I just saw you with my sister, and I lost it. Ever since we were kids, I have been protective of her. And I knew how you were. I just didn’t want her to get hurt.”
“I would never hurt her, Charlie. I love her.”
“I know you do. Look, Mandy talked some sense into me. She had an idea that something was going on with you guys since we started planning the wedding. She cooled me down and reminded me that I shouldn’t really control what my sister did.”
Thank fucking God for Mandy.
“Charlie, I’m serious when I say this, I’m not fucking around with your sister. I love her more than anything, and I cannot wait to start a family with her.”
“I know, man.”
I hung up the phone and let out a huge sigh of relief. Well, that was a lot better than I thought it would be. I looked down at my calendar and noticed that I had no other meetings set for the day, so I got up and left.
Driving home, all I could think about was having Victoria in my arms. I had left her early this morning, tangled up in my sheets and I planned on making her scream my name when I got home.
I parked in the garage, and my cock was already twitching in my pants. I walked into the bedroom and let out a slight laugh when I saw that Victoria was exactly how I left her when I got up this morning.
I stripped down and slid into bed next to her and wrapped my arms around her body. She stirred slightly. My hands found her stomach, and I slowly rubbed them over it.
“I love you,” I whispered in her ear.
“I love you too,” she whispered back. And we both fell back asleep in each other's arms.
Fighting Desire
By Nicole Elliot
ONE
DILLON
“Dillon, you’re up!”
I looked down at my bloodied hands and wrapped them tighter with the fabric that was once white. I’d busted through at least three knuckles on my left hand and one on my right. I couldn’t understand why they had wanted me to fight again. I’d already been in the ring today. I didn’t need any more practice.
“Leo, I’m good. I don’t want to bust my shoulder again before the fight tonight.”
Leo put his calloused hands on either of my bare shoulders. His thumb just brushed against my newest tattoo, a quote about fighting.
Push harder, longer
And to me, that’s exactly what getting torn up in the ring was about. “You need all the practice you can get, kid. The guy that you’re going up against tomorrow night, we don’t know much about him. All that I know is that he’s got some underground experience, and you know how those fuckers play. He’ll go right for your face. And by the time you realize what happened, you’ll be flat on your back and he’ll have won all our money.”
I shook my head. “You know I won’t let that happen. Besides those gangbanger fighters, they’ve got nothing on us real pros. I know what I’m doing and I rank better than anybody else you have in this gym. And when I say I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough.”
Leo pulled his hands off me and put them up in surrender. He might’ve been three times my age, but the old man did know what he was talking about. He had been a boxer first and then learned MMA. He had been my coach my entire life. But he also knew that I wasn’t just some little kid anymore. I was starting to get interest from sponsors and other investors. If I didn’t want to fight today because I knew it wouldn’t make me ready for tomorrow, then I wasn’t going to do it. After my shoulder injury two years ago I thought it was going to be completely done with fighting. But it was my passion, my life. I had done enough rehabilitation for five guys just to get myself back in the ring. And finally after another two years, I was in the prime of my fighting career. There was no way I was going to let some gangbanger fighter beat the hell out of me on my turf.
“Fine. But I want you hitting the bag for at least another hour. And then definitely take some time to do some stretching this evening. Your kick’s a little weak. Especially your left.”
I nodded and walked away. I made a stop at the locker room to grab my water and stretch out my shoulder in private. I didn’t like for other guys to see when I was in pain.
I put my hands on either side of the sink and looked into the mirror. My shaved head was new, but I liked the look it gave me. Menacing. I had the look of a guy that said, “You don’t even want to begin to fuck with me. I’ll kill you.”
I pulled my mouth guard out and spat blood into the sink from where one of the rookies had gotten an easy punch on me. I looked away at Leo for just a moment and the kid came at me. Like he had something to prove. I ended him—might’ve broken a couple of his ribs in the process. That way he’d learn that you don’t mess with Dillon Jackson.
I walked over to my locker and opened it up, pulled out a gallon of water, and started sucking it down. I pulled a towel out and wiped off my sweaty face. There wasn’t much in my locker besides those two things. I liked it that way. Clean. Everything had a place and was a necessity if it was in there. But when I reached to put my towel back, my hand brushed against something I forgot I had left here. I considered pulling it out, just to look at it. Just to make me feel little bit better, stronger, bu
t I didn’t. I let my hand linger there just a moment too long then I pulled it back like I’d been bitten by a snake.
I was Dillon Jackson, an unbeatable fighter. But everyone has a weakness.
TWO
BERKLEY
I totally hated being up this early in the morning. But I didn’t have a choice; the first day of classes was already upon us and I had to get ready for school.
I picked out my outfit the night before, so I dressed pretty quickly, but calming down my unruly, naturally curly hair and getting my make up just right took time. I looked in the mirror as I was brushing my teeth, trying not to say some sort of mantra like today is the beginning of the rest of your life, or some other bullshit like that.
It wasn’t the beginning of the rest of my life. It was just another day, just like every day.
I look down at my phone buzzing because I pressed snooze one too many times. When I saw the picture that was set as my background I quickly shut it off and continued with my morning routine.
I felt like my phone could tell you my whole life story. A perfect background shot of my ex-boyfriend and me laughing together on the beach, when we were happy. Screenshot after screenshot of text messages from him.
I need you.
Berkley, you’re everything to me.
I know we’re soul mates.
But then the voicemail that ruined it all. “I think you’re just too serious for me. I really believe we’re meant to be together, but you just want more than I can give you. You deserve more than what I have.”
My phone was my lifeline to Jake.
We’d been together for four years, my entire college career. We met at freshman orientation, where he was a mentor sophomore and I was fresh out of high school. I had always felt like he was the more serious one, talking about our future and making plans. I had just wanted to have fun in college, go to parties with my friends, have random sex with guys whose names I didn’t know, but instead I had Jake. And for so long he had seemed so perfect. But then his texts were less frequent, our dates became more mundane, and our sex life had all but dried up. It was discouraging, to say the least. I wanted to love Jake forever, but the moment that I mentioned moving in with him after college, suddenly I was too serious for him. I guess I’ll never know if it was me or him, or if there were other girls on the side like all of my friends had always suggested. I should’ve listened to them earlier.
Triplets Make Five: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Baby Romance Page 52