But this first.
Determined, he headed to the hotel across the street, one hand bunched into a fist. Closing a door, that was what he was doing, really. He’d managed to finish up another case today and Adele had closed another for him. All week, he’d worked like a demon and he’d closed this chapter on his life, as of 4:06 today.
He’d spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out his desk. Transfer was imminent. He didn’t know exactly when but he was done with violent crimes and now he was going to shut down whatever this mess was, and he was rebuilding what mattered most.
His marriage.
A new start…
Yeah. He kind of liked that.
As he pushed inside the hotel, he tucked that thought in his mind. That was what he was going to keep in his mind. It was past time for it, he thought. Too much time spent drowning in pain and regret and it was past time to be done with it, he guessed.
Tapping the keycard against his leg, he thought about stopping by the desk. Maybe he could get the name—
No.
Because if he did that, once he did that, if it was somebody he knew, it might make things harder and maybe he’d turn away and try to find another way to handle this.
And he couldn’t. Not if he wanted a fresh start, really a fresh start.
Irritation twisted in his gut as he found the right hall and headed down, checking the room numbers until he came to a halt in front of the right door. He could hear music, something low and seductive coming from inside.
“Shit,” he muttered, shoving a hand through his hair.
Roses. Erotic poetry. Silk scarves and now invites to a fucking hotel?
He stopped in front of the door. He slammed one fist against it. Two seconds later, the music stopped. “Whoever in the hell this is, you need to stop it. I’m married and I’m not amused.”
Then he headed back down the hall.
There.
He was done.
If this shit kept up, the next time he was going to just start burning whatever in the hell it was.
Now he needed to go home and tell Lexy what was going on. Although—
His phone chimed. Tugging it out of his pocket, he groaned as he saw her name on the display.
The text popped up.
Where are you?
He swiped a hand over the back of his mouth. “I’m not fucking lying. Haven’t done anything wrong. Not starting now.”
But he wasn’t going to explain he was in a hotel, either.
Just had to take care of something. Will tell you about it once I’m home. Heading there now.
He heard a door open and he tensed. He was not turning around.
His phone chimed a second time as he continued down the hall.
Baby…turn around.
He almost stumbled over his feet.
The phone seemed to feel all wrong in his hands.
“Garrett…”
Alexis decided he couldn’t have looked more stunned if she’d hit him across the head with a four-by-four.
Leaning against the doorjamb, wearing nothing by the white, silk chemise, she smiled.
“Hey, handsome,” she murmured.
He still stared.
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Blinked and then rubbed a hand over his eyes as if he wasn’t sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
“I take it you’ve been getting my gifts.”
“Ahhh…”
She glanced around, saw the hallway was empty and then reached up, flipped out the security latch that would keep the door from locking on her. Since he was still standing there like he was frozen in shock, she started toward him.
“You know, I’m terribly pleased to hear you’re barking and snarling when you think some tramp is sending you sexy little surprises,” she teased. “But since I’m the tramp…can you maybe come in the room?”
He stared at her, his eyes lingering on the brief hem of her chemise. “Lexy…” Then he looked around, swearing. “Damn it, back in the room.”
She laughed as he herded her into the room, one hand at the small of her back. He used the free one to shove the door open and then they were inside, the dim glow of candlelight barely reaching the recessed doorway. She’d muted the music and now it was just them…his breathing a little raspy and she had to admit, it did her good to hear it.
Leaning back against the door, she smiled up at him.
“You never answered me. What do you think of the presents, Garrett?”
He stared down at her, gaze locked on the low-cut, lacy neckline of her chemise. “Why were you sending them in the first place?” he muttered, reaching up to trace his fingers over the lace. His fingers lingered where it dipped low, barely covering her nipple.
She gasped as he pinched her lightly, her blood heating, starting to rush through her veins. “You know, if you keep touching me like that, you’re not going to get answers any time soon.”
Thick black lashes drooped low over his eyes, shielding them as he slid his hands down, resting them on her hips. “What gives, Lex? My head has been fucked up enough since I screwed up so bad with the anniversary and then I start thinking some woman is…” He groaned and dropped his head against her shoulder. “What gives?”
Alexis turned her head into his neck and kissed him. Reaching up, she pushed his coat off his shoulders as she murmured, “Oh, that’s easy. I wanted you to need me again. I wanted you to want me again. We grew apart and it hurt. It hurt so bad. So I decided I’d seduce my husband and make him remember how we used to be.”
“Lex…” He pushed a hand into her hair, tangled it. “Baby, I never once stopped needing you. I just stopped deserving you.”
“That’s not true.” Alexis laid a hand on his cheek, staring into his troubled blue eyes. “How can you say that?”
“Because it’s the truth,” he muttered.
He pulled away from her and moved deeper into the hotel room. “After…” he paused, swallowed. “After the baby, after what happened to you…shit, I couldn’t stop any of it. I’m a cop. I’m your husband. I’m supposed to protect you, protect our child and I couldn’t do any of it.”
Her heart broke. All over again.
Crossing the floor, she stood behind him as he stared down at the floor, staring at something only he could see. She pressed a kiss to the tensed muscles of his back and then rested her head against him. “Garrett, what happened wasn’t your fault. It was Horvath’s, plain and simple. And it didn’t happen to me. It happened to us. Yeah, I was hurt in the wreck, but both of us lost the baby. We both wanted her. We both made her. We both loved her…and we both lost her. If you’ve been blaming yourself all this time, you need to stop it…and I mean right now.”
His shoulder spasmed. She squeezed him tighter. “I miss her,” he whispered.
“So do I.” Then she eased away, circling around so she could stand in front of him. “But it wasn’t our fault. Wasn’t yours. And…” She blew out a ragged breath before she continued. “You and I both know that if it had been anybody but you driving, anybody but a cop, it’s entirely likely I might have died in that wreck. He was trying to kill us, and it’s a miracle we didn’t die. So you did protect me. And we can have another baby.”
He hauled her against him, body shuddering with tears she knew he wasn’t going to shed.
It was okay. She was crying for both of them.
All this time, she realized.
He’d been beating himself up because he blamed himself. She held him close, stroking his head as she cried, as he fought back the tears.
She was crying.
Garrett felt like a complete ass.
She’d set all of this up to try to fix a marriage and he’d made her cry.
Trying to breathe around the ache in his throat, he eased back and cupped her face in his hands, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he mumbled.
“Sometimes you have to do it…it’s wha
t helps you heal,” she said.
He grimaced. If that was true, he would have healed ages ago.
But he’d messed this up bad enough. “You mentioned something about seducing me,” he said, reaching for a smile.
“Ahhh…yes.” The look in her eyes said she knew all about what he was trying to do. But she didn’t seem to mind as she caught his hands and guided them down to her breasts. “Do you like your last present? I picked it up a while back, but never got around to wearing it for you.”
The dusky circles of her nipples were visible through the lace and her dark skin gleamed warm and soft against the ivory. “Well,” he said, smiling again, and this time, it was easier. “It looks better on you than it would on me.”
Lexy chuckled. “True. It wouldn’t fit you very well, either. Garrett…get naked.”
He toyed with one of the straps on her shoulders. “Get naked? You’re seducing me and that’s what you have to say?”
“Maybe I’m tired of seducing. I think I just want you to fuck me.”
A ragged groan escaped him and he restlessly stroked his hands along her silk-covered curves. “You’re wearing something too pretty for fucking…you look so pretty and soft and sweet. Maybe I should seduce you.”
She grabbed the hem of the pretty silk thing and practically ripped it off. “Now I’m naked.” She smiled at him. “No seductions, Garrett.”
He still stared at her. He wanted to give her something soft and gentle and sweet…wanted to do something beautiful for her, the way she’d done something beautiful for him.
But need, hunger…and pain. It held him in a brutal grasp and Lexy was watching him with knowing eyes. As if she understood exactly what he was feeling, exactly what he was thinking. As if she realized he had something trapped in him, a caged, wild beast that needed to be set free.
“Lex,” he muttered.
She came to him and wrapped her arms around him, leaning close. “You’re still mine, right, Garrett?”
“Always.” He pressed his brow to hers and muttered, “Always.”
“Then show me.”
And that caged, wild beast slipped free.
Swearing, he picked her up and crossed to the bed. He tossed her down and tore at his trousers, tore at them as if the beast inside him was tearing at him. As he freed his cock, he rasped, “Sit up.”
She did and he fisted a hand in her hair. “Suck me.”
Her mouth opened and he pushed inside, groaning as she closed around him with a slight, humming little moan that he’d swear he felt down in his balls.
“All the way in,” he muttered, tangling both hands in her hair and shuttling his cock back and forth between her soft lips.
She gripped his thighs and opened her mouth wide for him, taking him deep. Very deep.
He bumped the back of her throat and trembled at the pleasure of it.
She swallowed and his head fell back as he felt the muscles of her throat working to accommodate him.
Then she pulled back and started the slow, sweet torture all over again.
Again and again until the need to come was biting and tearing at him, but he wasn’t going to do it like this. He needed to come in her, to feel her coming around him at the same time, to feel her arms wrapped around him and hear her voice break as she cried out his name.
“Stop,” he muttered.
She didn’t and he groaned as one warning tingle after another started to shoot down his spine.
He tugged her head back and rasped, “That’s enough. Lie back.”
He split her legs with his thigh, shuddering at the feel of her against the head of him. Already wet and he had barely touched her. He reached down and teased the hot slit of her pussy with his fingertip, muttered, “I’m not waiting.”
“No,” she said quietly. “You’re not waiting…”
He reached for her hand, twined their fingers as he pushed inside. “My Lexy.”
Her mouth sought out his as he surged inside, driving home. Deep, hard. But it wasn’t enough. Even as her pussy gripped him, milked him, even as her free arm closed around him, it wasn’t enough.
Swearing, he pulled away and sank back on his heels, turning her over and drawing her onto her knees.
The round, sweet curve of her ass lifted for him as he pushed inside her and he grunted at the deeper connection, groaned as she reached down and tugged at his balls. “Lexy…don’t.”
She did it again.
He swore and drove deeper, harder.
She clenched around him, milking him as she cried out…cried out his name, a broken little plea on her lips.
It was the most beautiful sound ever.
Shuddering, he whispered her name.
The need to take more, give more, rode him so hard. Desperate hunger ate at him and he shafted her, listening to the muffled sounds of her screams, taking cues from her body and holding off his own climax until he felt her tighten, clenching…and then breaking.
As she climaxed with a sob, he let himself go.
Chapter Six
Meet me at home at 1:45.
Alexis stared at the card with a bemused smile.
It was their eleventh anniversary.
She’d made plans for dinner…at a different restaurant this time and she had a surprise for him.
She wasn’t sure what he’d think of opening a wrapped-up pregnancy test, so she’d give him that at home.
But still… So Garrett was taking the lead on surprises now, huh?
Okay.
They had a week off after today, something he’d casually suggested a few months ago and she was fine with that. She was actually more than fine with it.
She was tired.
Very tired and looking forward to just resting around the house.
With her husband…and a marriage that was more solid than ever.
And a baby…
Smiling, she finished up her email so she could get home.
It was one-thirty when she let herself in.
And she was greeted by the sight of suitcases.
Blinking, she looked up and saw Garrett sitting on the stairs, a crooked smile on his lips.
“What’s this…?” she asked cautiously.
He held up an envelope. “Don’t be mad,” he said. “I wanted to give you something really special. And I wanted it to be a surprise.”
Her heart jumped in her chest as she opened it.
Will you be my wife…again?
Meet me at Disney World. Thursday. 12 p.m. at the Wedding Pavilion.
Look for Shiloh’s Upcoming New Series…
Cocksure
Sabrina
He’s the cockiest bastard I’ve ever met and I mean that with all the affection and adoration in the world. I’ve been in love with him for years, and not just because of those intense blue eyes or that slow smug smile that promises to make all your dreams come true. I’ve seen what lies under that smile and his cocksure attitude. It’s enough to make me melt.
Not that I’d ever let him know. Not only is Luke Cochran one of Hollywood’s up-and-coming movie stars…he’s also my boss. I’m his personal assistant and have seen all the women who come and go in his life.
I don’t even hold a candle. But a girl can dream…right?
Luke
Sabrina is one of the sharpest, funniest, kindest people I’ve ever met. Sometimes, I think I’m taking advantage of her, but I seriously cannot cope with my hectic lifestyle without her to keep me on track.
Of course, my life just got totally knocked off track. One of my sisters called.
They need me back home. My mother is sick and the last thing I can think about is the promotional tour I’ve got coming up.
Sabrina’s coming with me. She’s the only person who can keep me focused and centered in a time like this. Besides, my family adores her. And it’s just a quick visit. My mother is tough. She’ll be alright.
But then something happens that knocks me for a loop and when my mother tells me th
at all she really wants in life is to see her kids happy and settled down, I do the stupidest damn thing ever and announce that Sabrina and I are in love.
Now I’ve just got to convince my best friend to play along with me and act like she’s my fiancée and we’re stupid in love.
No big deal…right?
WRONG.
Read more…
About
Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more…ah…serious works of fiction. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance, and urban fantasy under her penname, J.C. Daniels. Follow her on Twitter, BookBub & Facebook. Read more about her work at her website. Sign up for her newsletter and have a chance to win a monthly giveaway.
Look for other titles by Shiloh
The McKays
Headed For Trouble
The Trouble With Temptation
The Barnes Brothers
Wrecked
Razed
Busted
Ruined
Contemporary Standalone Titles
Beg Me
Tempt Me
Beautiful Scars
A Forever Kind of Love
Playing for Keeps
No Longer Mine
You Own Me
Her Best Friend’s Lover
The Ash Trilogy
If You Hear Her
If You See Her
If You Know Her
The Secrets & Shadows Series
Burn For Me
Break For Me
Long For Me
Deeper Than Need
Sweeter Than Sin
Darker Than Desire
The FBI Psychics
The Missing
The Departed
The Reunited
The Protected
The Unwanted
The Innocent
And more
Headed for Trouble
SHE’S A SMALL-TOWN GIRL WITH BIG DREAMS.
Nine years ago, Neve McKay fled her small Southern town and disapproving family to seek a career in the big city. Now she’s finally coming home-and hoping for a fresh start. But the relationship that shattered her world still haunts her. And even among her nearest and dearest, she doesn’t feel safe.
Sexy Little Secrets Page 6