Keeping His Promise: A When It Happens Novella, Book 2

by Rhyannon Byrd

  Natalie almost sagged with sweet, piercing relief when the corner of his mouth started to twitch with one of those outrageously sexy, crooked smiles. “Is that right?”

  Hoping he could see the truth of her words in her earnest expression, she said, “I want you, Sean Cartwright. Every part of you. And I’m…I’m willing to fight for you. For the chance to be with you. I ran because I was a coward and I was afraid, but I’m not anymore. I know exactly what I want, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to have it. To have you.”

  “Come here,” he grated, suddenly yanking her closer with the arm he’d just wrapped around her waist.

  She blinked up at him, thinking he was the most beautiful thing in the entire world. “And?”

  “That’s it, Natalie.” His dark eyes gleamed, so gorgeous it was unreal. “That’s all it took.”

  “You’re mine?” she asked shakily, feeling another salty tear slide down her cheek.

  Cupping the side of her face in his free hand, he pulled in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “I’ve spent this entire week in hell,” he said roughly. “First, I was so fucking disappointed, and it sucked. Then I got angry. And, then, I was both of those things and more. But on top of it all, I just really fucking missed you. So that’s why I needed to see you. I planned on goddamn begging, if that’s what it took, to convince you to give this—us—a shot.

  “And I know this is scary. Trust me, I know. I could walk away, because being with you, spending time with you—and yeah, shoving my dick inside you—feels so much better than anything I’ve ever known. I could try to protect myself from you getting any deeper inside me, because when you look at this thing between us on the surface, you’re not a safe bet, Nat. You’re stubborn and wary and so goddamn afraid of trusting me.” His dark eyes burned with conviction. “But I don’t want to walk away. That’s the last fucking thing that I want.”

  She licked her lips again, while her heart flipped over…and over, like a stone tumbling down the side of a mountain. “Then what do you want?”

  He lowered his head, rubbing his hot mouth across hers as he answered the question. “I want to take you home with me and bury myself back inside you, even deeper than the last time. I want to spoil you. Fucking worship you.” He nipped her bottom lip with his teeth, then stroked the sting with his tongue, a deep, gravelly sound vibrating up from his chest as he slowly lifted his head, and locked his hooded gaze with hers. “I want to be with you, Natalie. For as long as you want me, I want to be yours.”

  Softly, her heart freaking owned by this man, she asked, “Then, um, how about forever?”

  “I can live with that.” Then his wicked mouth was on hers again, this time in a deep, devastating kiss that had her clutching at his broad shoulders, while his tongue laid claim to her taste…her breaths…her very soul.

  When he finally broke the kiss, she caught just a flash of his beautiful, deep-grooved grin, before he pressed his forehead against hers. “To be honest, forever is what I was going to insist on once I had you under me again. And you should know that if you try to leave, I won’t be able to stay away and give you space. I will fight for you, with everything I have, Nat. Now that I’ve got you, there isn’t a chance in hell I’m letting you get away from me.”

  She closed her eyes, a groaning sigh on her lips as she forced them open again. “I’m sorry for being such a coward,” she told him, staring up into his handsome face. “And I know I don’t deserve you.”

  “Like hell you don’t,” he scraped out, pushing her hair back from her brow. “We’re fucking perfect for each other. And you’re not a coward, Natalie. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. You were just afraid—but you don’t need to be. Not with me.”

  “I know. I get it now. I so get it.”

  He pushed his fingers into her hair, just behind her ear, the arm around her waist tugging her even closer. “I will earn your trust, sweetheart. I will fucking work for it till I bleed.”

  “Sean, I wouldn’t be here, doing this, if I hadn’t already started to trust you.”

  He made a rough, graveled sound of hunger, and then his delicious mouth was claiming hers in another carnal, scalding kiss that had her head spinning, his cock thick and diamond-hard against her midriff. She shuddered with desire, her nails digging into his powerful biceps as she gasped, “Fuck me. Please, Sean. Just fuck me now, because I can’t wait.”

  He was going to, she could tell. Hell, he was looking at her like he already had her stripped and pressed against the brick wall at her back, his thick cock buried miles inside her. But someone started knocking on the door, and then Paul’s deep, humor-edged voice reached their ears. “You two had better get out here. Mom just showed up and she’s ready to break the door down so that she can meet Natalie.”

  They both groaned like they were in pain, then looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Shit, her timing sucks,” Sean muttered, his sinful lips kicking up at the corner with a wry grin.

  Lifting up onto her toes, she grabbed his face and pulled it back to hers. “At least kiss me again, before we go out there. Kiss me so hard it makes me forget this past week. I need to forget it, because I missed you so badly. I missed you every second of every godawful day.”

  “We won’t be apart like that again, because you’re mine.” He made the low words sound like a vow, kissing her hard and deep. “Every fucking part of you, Natalie—mine.”

  “Yes. Always,” she panted, rubbing the words into his warm lips. “I swear it.”

  “Then let’s get out there,” he growled softly, running his hand up her back, “because the sooner we do, the sooner we can go. And then I’m taking your sweet little ass home with me and fucking you until neither one of us can stand.”

  She flicked him an eager look from under her lashes. “Promise?”

  His dark eyes gleamed. “Anything,” he told her, his grin so wicked it had her flushing with heat. “Whatever the fuck you want.”

  Natalie laughed as she gave him a tender kiss, then grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door. As they walked back out into the restaurant, joining their family and friends, she had the biggest freaking smile on her face, and she knew she’d never looked happier. And as she glanced up at Sean, it made her go all warm and gooey inside to see that it was the same for him, his smile so gorgeous it stole her breath.

  God, had she actually thought she was unlucky? What an idiot she’d been.

  It just didn’t get any luckier than this.

  She had a blast chatting with his mom and meeting his friends, and then introducing him to hers. They drank and nibbled at the mouthwatering buffet, enjoying the ribbings they got from their friends—especially Sophie and Chris, who were already making plans for them all to go on vacation together. And knowing the guys, it would no doubt be someplace tropical, with lots of sunshine and killer waves.

  Then she and her man hit the dance floor, and they’d just finished dancing to the first slow song that the band played—the way he’d held her close and whispered filthy things in her ear making her body thrum with arousal—when he gave her a wicked look, and said, “Thirty minutes, and then we’re out of here.”

  “Uh-uh,” she murmured, hugging him close as she breathed in his delicious scent. “We have to stay for another hour, at least.”

  “Fuck, I can’t wait that long,” he rumbled against her lips, tasting her with his tongue.

  “You have to. Because I paid a ton of cash for this shindig, and we’re not wasting it.”

  He quickly drew his head back, his blue eyes narrowed with concern. “You what?”

  She kept her gaze locked tight with his, wanting him to see just how much she meant what she was about to say. “The manager refused to give me a discount, since it was such short notice. But I don’t care, because this was worth it. Who needs Bora Bora when they’ve got you?”

  Shoving one of his big hands back through his hair, he growled, “Fuck! You didn’t.”

  R
eaching up, Natalie cupped his beautiful face in her hands. “I did, and I’m happy, because this was a better use of that money than any trip could ever be. You’re that important to me.”

  That seemed to make him need to kiss the hell out of her all over again, this time in front of the entire freaking restaurant—not that she was complaining. It was a big kiss too, with her bent back over his arm, her hands in his hair, and before she knew it, he was smiling against her lips, while the cheers of the crowd echoed all around them.

  And later, after they’d laughed and talked with their family and friends some more, and had once again found their way onto the dance floor, wrapped up in each other’s arms, he said, “I never told you what Jonah made me promise.”

  Her breath caught at the mesmerizing look in his eyes. “What was it?”

  His throat worked as he swallowed, his hands gripping her hips so tightly she knew she’d be able to see the marks there later—which she loved. “I had to promise him that I would actually give the right woman a chance, if I ever managed to find her, and do whatever it took to make her a part of my life.”

  She gave a completely dreamy, girly sigh. “Oh.”

  “And I have,” he murmured, his words affecting her just as strongly as the breathtaking way he was looking at her. “I’ve found her, and I’m keeping her.”

  “Good, because she feels the exact same way about you.”

  He reached up and swept his thumb over her cheek, his face so close she could feel the warmth of his breath against her sensitive lips. “I’ve told you before, Natalie. When I make a promise, I keep it.”

  “And what promise are you making now?” she asked with a warm smile, thinking this was the sweetest, most wonderful night of her life.

  He leaned down and whispered the words in her ear, making her smile so wide that it hurt, her eyes burning with a hot, happy rush of tears.

  Oh, yeah, she thought. I can so live with that.

  Her man made the most beautiful, wicked promises that she could have ever imagined, and Nat knew that with Sean by her side, in her life, and in her heart, she wasn’t just lucky.

  She was the luckiest girl in the world.

  A Thank You From Rhyannon

  Many, many thanks for purchasing this eBook!

  I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if it weren’t for my readers, so you’re the ones who make it possible, and I’m so grateful for each and every one of you.

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  Reviews

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  Thank you!!! :)

  Next in the Series

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  PUSHING HIS LUCK

  (Karin & Paul’s story!)

  She’s a single mom with too many troubles to count.

  He’s a detective who plays as hard as he works.

  On paper, they would never work.

  But in the flesh…

  Well, things are about to get interesting.

  An Excerpt from Book 1

  MAKING HIS MOVE

  Fortune cookies could be such a bitch.

  Then again, so could best friends. Especially ones who were determined to make you go for your dreams, no matter how much of a loser you felt like for even having them.

  As a heartfelt sigh slipped past her lips, Sophie Ward slumped back against the padded booth in her favorite Chinese restaurant in downtown San Diego, the remnants of her crumbled cookie forgotten as she looked across the table at her best friend, Natalie Richards. Nat’s red hair shone bright beneath the paper lantern light suspended above their booth, her dark eyes narrowed with determination. “I mean it, Soph. I am done with your waffling bullshit. You need to make your move before one of those leeches in your lab manages to sink their claws into him.”

  “Leeches are suckers, not clawers,” she murmured with a smirk.

  Nat didn’t even crack a smile. “You know what I mean, smart ass. You need to stop dreaming, and start doing.”

  With a frustrated groan, she lowered her gaze back to the wrinkled fortune she’d dropped on the table. Today is the day to take what you want.

  Sophie would have loved to have the courage to do just that, and she probably would have, if she looked like Nat. Like a freaking forties starlet. Instead, she was tiny to the point of petite, with boring brown hair and brown eyes and stupid freckles on her pale, impish nose. She looked like...like, well, like the nerdy scientist that she was. A pixie-sized tomboy with a brain. Whereas the object of her intense, frustrating, angst-ridden office crush was the most rugged, masculine, insanely sexy-assed man she’d ever seen or met or even read about.

  Chris Riley did it for her in so many ways it wasn’t even funny — and yet, despite the lust that probably glazed her eyes whenever she looked at him, they were that dreaded B-word: buddies. The kind who sat in the twenty-fifth floor employee café together at the world-renowned Blackwood Research Institute — where she worked in one of the specialized labs and he held the prestigious position of Chief of Security — talking sports and movies while they shared their morning and afternoon coffee breaks.

  Considering the number of times they’d sat at one of the café’s tables near its wall of windows and just chatted in the four months since he’d taken the position at the institute, the guy had had more than enough opportunities to take his shot with Sophie if he was interested. Which meant that he wasn’t. Not even a little. Not even on a subatomic level. Hell, he’d never even tried to meet up with her outside of work. The only reason he had her phone number was because he sometimes texted her if he was going to be late or miss his coffee break.

  Reaching for her diet cola, she took a long swallow, wishing like crazy it were an oversized margarita instead. But she had to be back in her lab in the next twenty minutes, which meant there would be no “liquid courage” for her today.

  Setting her glass back down, she glared at Natalie. “Why are you so determined I make a fool of myself, anyway? I mean, aren’t you the same woman who sat here for the last half-hour complaining about all the cheating guys you watch traipsing in and out of Manolo’s every week?”

  Going to San Diego State during the day for her business degree, Natalie worked nights at the popular Del Mar restaurant as a bartender to pay the bills. She was kickass at her job, but her faith in healthy, committed relationships was rapidly dwindling thanks to the things she witnessed there on a regular basis. So for the moment, Nat had sworn off men and was glad to be single. But for some hare-brained reason, the instant Sophie had read her fortune out loud, Nat had decided it was a “sign” that Sophie’s own personal life needed a swift kick in the backside. And her best friend knew precisely who had been playing front and center in Sophie’s fantasies.

  Crossing her arms on the table, Nat leaned forward and answered the question. “I’ll tell you why I’m so determined, Soph. Because I don’t think that’s what would happen if you asked Chris Riley out on a date. I think that sexy stud would jump at the chance to go out with you.”

  Sophie snorted. “And you think this bizarre piece of nonsense why?”

  Nat slammed her palms down on the table so loudly that it made Sophie and just about everyone else in the restaurant jump. “Because it’s not nonsense! Chris Riley isn’t like that asshole group of jocks you went to school with. Yeah, they acted like jerks and made shitty comments about you, but that’s because they were intimidated as hell by you, Soph. The issues were theirs, not yours. Chris is a grown man and he’s your friend. And just because you can’t see what a cute piece of ass you are doesn’t mean that he can’t!”

  Oh, man. It was crazy, how badly she wanted to believe that. But it wasn’t true. Despite what Nat had said about the jerks she’d had trouble with at school, it was just one of those fundamental rules in the battle between the sexes. Guys like Chris Riley were never attracted to girls like her. The hunky ex-jock never fell for the geeky smart chick
unless it was in some blockbuster rom-com that gave women unrealistic expectations and dreams.

  And yet, she knew there was more to Chris than just a gorgeous face, killer body and successful career. More than anything in the world, she wished he could see that there was more to her, as well. That beneath her quirky exterior was a hot-blooded woman who needed him so badly it was slowly driving her insane…

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  About the Author

  Here’s a little about me and my career so far...

  I have a wonderful husband who's a Brit and who does all the cooking despite his busy schedule, two great kids who always make me laugh, two crazy but loveable dogs, and I am a California transplant in the most beautiful part of the UK. I love books, music, art, travel, museums, beaches, sunshine, good food, Pearl Jam concerts, movies, a clean house, and last but not least, spending time with my insanely loud but awesome family.

  As for my work, I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do something that's both fun and creative—and that I completely love—for a living. I started writing fulltime a decade ago, and I'm now the bestselling author of more than thirty contemporary erotic and paranormal romance titles, including the Dangerous Tides series and the Bloodrunners series. I've published books with Berkley Heat, HQN, Harlequin Nocturne, Headline Eternal, Ellora's Cave, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to dive into the exciting world of self-publishing!

  You can find Rhyannon at:

  @RhyByrd

  RhyannonByrd

  www.rhyannonbyrd.com

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