The Wright Secret

by K. A. Linde

She rolled me over so that she was on top of me. Her pert tits hung in my face as she pushed down onto my cock. I moaned and then wrapped my arms around her. She bucked her hips forward and back experimentally. Then, I brought my lips to hers, and we moved together as one. Her body was supple on top of me. Her eyes locked on mine. Everything about us was aligned.

  It was in that moment that I knew. With my whole heart, I knew.

  I loved this woman.

  I’d told Austin that was how I felt at the Christmas party. I’d said the words to her at the ribbon-cutting when she threw the words at me like a curse. I’d meant it both times, but it was different here. There was no anger. There was only acceptance. Only rightness.

  The old Patrick was no more. I’d been replaced by the sap who currently took up residence in my body. And, crazy enough, I didn’t even care.

  How could I care when I had a woman like this?

  She gasped and spread her legs wider. I could feel her about to come, so I sat up, gripped her hips in my hands, and slammed her up and down on my cock. She cried out, throwing her head back, as my ministrations took her over the edge. And, as she clenched her pussy tight around me, I seized up, releasing with her.

  “Fuck,” I grunted as I collapsed backward.

  “Yeah,” she murmured. Her eyes lidded, lips in a satisfied smirk, and face a mask of contentment.

  After a moment to come down, I slid out of her and went to clean up. When I came back out, I leaned in to give her a kiss and found that she’d already fallen asleep. I laughed softly so as not to disturb her and pulled the covers around her body. She must have been really exhausted if she’d passed out that quickly. If I knew her at all, she probably hadn’t slept a wink all week while she was dealing with this catastrophe. I had clearly wiped her out.

  I curled myself around her naked body and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I fell asleep right there, next to her, stroking her hair and wondering how I had gotten so lucky.

  I awoke before Morgan. It was already dark outside. Since it was the middle of winter, it got dark really early, but still, we’d slept through much of the day. My body must have needed it as much as hers did. And I wouldn’t ever complain about having her naked figure that close to mine. I’d thought about waking her up with my dick between her legs, but I knew she needed the sleep. We’d have the entire night once she was well rested. I’d be sure to knock her out all over again.

  Carefully, I eased out of bed, pulled on a pair of sweats and my Tech sweatshirt, and headed for the kitchen. We’d skipped lunch, and I couldn’t even remember if I’d eaten breakfast. My stomach rumbled. I grabbed a banana to tide me over and got to work.

  About a half hour later, a delirious Morgan walked out of my bedroom in an oversize T-shirt and pants that she’d left from when she was spending the night on the regular.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” I said with a grin.

  “What is that smell?”

  I laughed. “I hope that’s a good smell.”

  “I just realized I’m starving.”

  “Did you eat at all today?”

  She shook her head. “I was too nervous.”

  “Well, everything will be ready soon. I was going to wake you up.”

  She stepped into the kitchen, still trying to adjust her eyes to the light. Then, she saw what was on the counter and laughed. “Are those mashed potatoes?”

  I smirked at her. “Yeah. I know they’re an aphrodisiac.”

  “Yeah, baby, mashed potatoes turn me on.”

  “Obviously, I know this.”

  “At least you’ve already fucked me this time, and I don’t have to throw myself at you like a total embarrassment.”

  “To be fair, I thought I was protecting your honor.”

  “Never protect my honor again, okay?” she said.

  She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. I turned into her at the last minute and snagged one on my lips.

  “Can’t promise that. But I’ll be sure to take full advantage of you from now on.”

  She giggled and knocked her hip against mine. “You know…I am sorry about the things I said.”

  “It’s fine, Mor.”

  “No, you know what? It’s not. Brushing it under the rug isn’t the right solution. I know because I was trying to do that with us. And I don’t want to do that with us. I want us to be able to communicate. On some level, Owen was right.”

  “About what?” I barked out in surprise.

  “I am like my dad,” she half-whispered. Then, she straightened her shoulders and took the good with the bad. “I’m sarcastic and a workaholic, and I have a temper. I have no idea how my mom dealt with him. And I don’t want to be that for you.”

  “Morgan,” I said, putting down the spoon I’d been stirring the pasta with and taking her by the shoulders, “I like you just the way you are. I already know those things about you. But the things you’re missing are that you’re strong and passionate and compassionate and determined and beautiful and loyal. So what if you are like your dad? He might not have been the best person, but it still sounds like a compliment to me. You can’t take the ramblings of a deranged man stuck in the past and apply them to your life. You are your own person. You are Morgan Wright. Owen never wanted to get to know that person. He never wanted to see past the past. He can’t possibly have an opinion on who you are, and you shouldn’t even consider it.”

  “I know,” she said, agreeing easily. “I’m not taking the shit he spewed at me to heart. I want you to know that I’m not perfect. I’m still just me. But I’m going to try harder and be better for you. You deserve more than me screaming at you in a parking lot.”

  “Well, I should have told you about Bailey. I was so worried about disrupting your already busy life that I didn’t want to interfere. Maybe if I’d communicated with you better, none of this would have ever happened.”

  “Ugh, we don’t know that,” she said, reaching for the mashed potatoes.

  I swatted at her hand, and she laughed.

  “Not until dinner.”

  “You’re killing me. I’m so hungry.”

  “Listen to me,” I said, drawing her attention again. “We’re a work in progress. Neither of us is perfect, and we don’t have to be. As long as we’re together, I don’t care.”

  “You mean it?” she asked.

  I nodded and dropped another kiss on her lips. “I’m yours, Morgan.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “And you’re mine?”

  “Of course,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Now, can I have the mashed potatoes?”

  I couldn’t help my laugh as I passed her the entire bowl with a giant spoon. She winked at me and dug in.

  I was going to spend the rest of my life with this woman. And I was damn happy about that.

  Epilogue

  Morgan

  I stared up at the twinkling lights from the banquet hall at the Overton where Steph and Thomas had just said their vows. Patrick pulled me closer as we danced in the center of the room to a song that Steph had written. It was special. She’d written the wedding song just for Thomas. I already loved it.

  And this place and the vibe and everything about it.

  The wedding had been perfect. Me in my gold sequined dress, and Patrick in a tuxedo that I wanted to rip off him. Steph and Thomas had written their own vows, and a friend had played piano. Now, we were all happily getting drunk on the kegs they’d procured from a local microbrewery in town and waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

  The room was full of local friends and family. Only a few people had come in from out of town on Thomas’s side.

  Patrick and I were in the midst of my family as they all tried to cajole me out onto the dance floor for Steph’s bouquet toss. There were plenty of eligible young women, and I didn’t particularly want to go. But Patrick all but shoved me, and after dragging Julia out beside me, I ended up on the dance floor with a huge group of girls.

  Steph gl
anced over her shoulder and pointed her finger right at me.

  I shook my head. “You’d better not.”

  She winked at me before turning back around.

  The bitch. She’d better not.

  “Oh, she is so aiming for you,” Julia said next to me.

  “Ugh!” I groaned.

  Julia just laughed.

  There were a million other girls who wanted that bouquet. Just because I was her only bridesmaid didn’t mean that I wanted what that bouquet of flowers meant.

  Still, I felt the energy all around me. I couldn’t help but get swept up in it. The excitement was contagious. Even Julia raised her arms over her head and cried out with all of us. It was tradition. Us cynics couldn’t even escape it.

  Then, came the toss.

  Steph threw the bouquet over her head. I watched it happen in slow motion. The perfect arc. The flowers in their arrangement tumbling in circles. The scream as all the girls extended their hands in earnest. And then the catch.

  My mouth gaped open as Julia came down with the flowers.

  “Oh my God!” I screamed.

  “Oh my God!” she screamed back.

  “You caught it!”

  “I didn’t mean to!” she yelled and then threw it to me.

  I tossed it back like we were playing a round of hot potato. “You can’t give that to me.”

  “Well, I don’t want it.”

  She handed it back to me, and I pushed it away.

  I couldn’t stop myself. I burst into laughter. Here we were, arguing over who got the bouquet from the toss but in reverse. Every other girl was eyeing us like we had totally lost our minds as we both tried to get rid of the damn thing.

  “You caught it, fair and square,” I told her with a merciless laugh.

  “I am never going to hear the end of this from Austin.”

  “Don’t look now, but I think he’s gone pale.”

  “Why couldn’t you have just caught it?” she grumbled.

  I laughed again and then pulled her into a hug. Steph ran over then and hugged us both.

  “Ah…I’m so happy for you,” she said. “Someone finally needs to lock down Austin.”

  “That’s me,” Julia droned. “Locking him down.”

  Steph kissed my cheek. “I was silently hoping it was you.”

  “Uh, not so subtle there, Steph.”

  “What can I say? I want you as a sister!”

  “Let’s think about that a little bit further down the road. We only just got back together.”

  “Eh…I don’t care about that. Let me be the hopeless romantic.”

  “Since it’s your wedding, then sure.”

  Steph hugged me again before being carted off to talk to more family, and I returned to my own family. Julia and Austin were talking animatedly. I could see that she was giving him a hard time and making him paler and paler. It was pretty hilarious, knowing that Julia hadn’t even wanted the damn thing.

  It was nice to see my whole family together like this. Jensen and Emery relaxed and happy. Heidi forcing Landon to dance to the upbeat tempos the DJ was playing. Sutton had left Jason with Emery’s sister for the evening, so she could be in attendance. She and David had spent most of the night together, but when I’d asked her, she had insisted that he wasn’t her date.

  As the night wore on, Patrick extracted me from the rest of my family while the slow music drifted through the speakers. Finally, I could melt into Patrick’s arms and forget the rest of the world. His hands on my waist. His eyes admiring me. His smile lighting up the room.

  “When I agreed to be in Steph’s wedding, I never imagined this would happen,” I told him.

  “Did you actually agree? Or did she force you to be in it?”

  “Probably both.”

  “Well, wouldn’t you rather that it turned out this way?”

  I shrugged and tried to hide my teasing smile. “Eh.”

  “Liar.”

  “You already know that I want you and only you. I have since I was fifteen years old in a dumb high school cheerleading outfit, and I do now that I’m CEO. You’re still the one that I want.”

  “I just like to hear you say it,” he said, brushing his nose against mine.

  “Well, it’s the truth.”

  “You know something?”

  I shook my head, dizzy with happiness. “What?”

  “I love you.”

  “You told me that once.” I smiled brilliantly up at him.

  He laughed. “I did, but it was in desperation. I should have told you again.”

  “I think this is perfect.”

  “Also, I told Austin before I told you.”

  My eyebrows rose. “You told Austin that you loved him? Well, this explains everything.”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “I told him that I loved you. The night of the Christmas party, he asked me if I loved you, and I told him yes. I think it’s why he calmed down.”

  “How did you know?”

  “It was that feeling, like I couldn’t live without you. I was afraid when everyone found out, but I also knew I had to step up. That I couldn’t lose you.”

  I ducked my head under his chin and held him close. “You know something?”

  He shook his head and squeezed me tighter.

  “I love you, too.”

  “I know.”

  I laughed. “What are you? Han Solo?”

  “Well, I do know. You screamed it at me once.”

  “I’m probably going to scream it a lot more,” I said, pulling back to wink at him.

  He snorted and twirled me further away from the crowd. We were only minutes from midnight. This was the most perfect New Year’s Eve. I’d always dreamed that, one day, I would get my midnight kiss from Patrick, and this year, it would be a reality.

  Steph and Thomas danced in the center of the room, looking radiant and unbelievably happy.

  “One day, that’s going to be us,” Patrick said.

  “Dancing? We’re dancing right now.”

  “Walking down the aisle.”

  “Probably,” I agreed. “Like at Jensen and Emery’s wedding.”

  He groaned against me. “You’re so difficult.”

  “You should probably get used to it.”

  “First, you steal all the mashed potatoes and sometimes all the covers, and now—”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding a finger up. “I do not steal the covers. I wake up every morning naked.”

  He smirked. “Well…yeah!”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a dude.”

  “You should probably get used to that.”

  “Throwing my own words back at me.”

  “What I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted,” he said.

  “I’ll show you rudely interrupted,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Is that you’re being purposefully difficult when I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.”

  I fluttered my eyelashes up at him. “What were you being serious about?”

  “I want you to know that I’m not going anywhere. That this is real. That we’re real.”

  “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  He grinned and tugged me closer as the crowd started counting down to midnight. I could hear their calls all around us as Patrick’s gaze stayed locked on mine.

  “I’m going to love you from now until forever, Morgan. I already know that one day you’ll walk down that aisle toward me,” he told me, his eyes shining. “I am yours, and you are mine. All the good and all the bad. From this day forward.”

  “I love you.” My throat was tight, and tears pricked at my eyes at his words.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Happy New Year!” the crowd cheered all around us.

  Gold balloons dropped from the ceiling, and glitter was thrown in the air. We were caught up in champagne toasts and the ball drop and people jumping up and down all around us.

&
nbsp; Then, Patrick held my jaw in his hands and pressed his lips to mine. All else slipped away, and there was just us. Sealing our promise with a kiss and toasting to a brand-new year, a brand-new us.

  The End

  LOOK FOR THE NEW CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE DUET FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR K.A. LINDE…

  The WRIGHT LOVE

  &

  The WRIGHT ONE

  I have the perfect life.

  Until the day my husband tragically dies.

  Being a single mom and widow was never part of the plan.

  When David Calloway enters my life, I have no room for love in my heart.

  But he's determined to do right by me.

  Could he be the Wright love?

  MEET SUTTON WRIGHT ON MAY 15TH AND MAY 29TH!

  PREORDER EVERYWHERE NOW:

  www.kalinde.com/book/the-wright-love

  www.kalinde.com/book/the-wright-one

  LOOK FOR THE BRAND-NEW PARANORMAL ROMANCE TRILOGY FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR K.A. LINDE…

  Blood Type

  For Reyna Carpenter, giving up her body isn’t a choice. It’s survival.

  In desperation, Reyna accepts a high-paying position with the wealthy and hungry vampire elite.

  Now she’s the live-in blood escort for the intimidating, demanding, and devilishly handsome Beckham Anderson. He’s everything she expected from a vampire, except for one thing—

  He won’t feed off her.

  MEET REYNA AND BECKHAM ON APRIL 24TH!

  PREORDER EVERYWHERE NOW:

  www.kalinde.com/book/blood-type

  TURN THE PAGE TO READ CHAPTER ONE!

  Chapter 1

  “Number four hundred and ninety-two.”

  Reyna stared down at the crisp piece of paper she had been clutching the last eight hours. She blinked in surprise and recognition: 4-9-2.

  “That’s me,” she called. She raised her hand in the air to get the administrator’s attention. It was about time. She hadn’t expected to be waiting here all day.

  The administrator walked through the stark white hospital ward. Her heels clicked rhythmically against the tiled floor as she approached Reyna from the front of the room. Her blond hair was straight to her shoulders, and she had on a white uniform that matched her surroundings. The only bit of color was the blood-red symbol on the pocket of her shirt.