She rocked on the balls of her feet, her nervousness adorable. “These are the only things that matter right now.”
I reached for her hand to pull her closer and when I felt something hard under my finger, I lifted our hands to find that she was wearing her wedding band. “You kept it,” I said, surprised. I thought for sure she’d gotten rid of it months ago.
She swallowed and then licked her lips before speaking. “Deep down, my heart knew what my head wouldn’t admit.”
“What’s that?”
“That I’d want to spend the rest of my life with you. That I’d come back for my husband.”
Around us, thousands of voices joined into one joyous shout of “Ten…nine…eight…seven…”
“Took you long enough.” I grinned and then lowered my face to hers, our lips meeting as cheers sounded around us and the sky lit up with explosions and brilliant colors. I crushed Harlow to me, her body melding against mine like it had finally found home. I felt the pounding of her heart as we held onto each other. I kissed her slowly and deeply, like we had all the time in the world.
Because for once we did.
We had forever.
We didn’t break apart, and barely took a breath until the fireworks faded into the night on wisps of smoke and the revelers moved on to the next celebration.
“So, what now?” I asked, peering down at her as people swarmed around us like we were rocks in a stream. Our lips hovered inches apart and all I really wanted to do was kiss her again. I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, marveling at the fact that I was touching her. She was real. She was here, in my arms. I didn’t care how we spent the rest of the night, as long as it was together.
The smile she gave me was open and sweet. “I figured we could get started on item number six on my list.”
I grinned and threaded her fingers through mine, running my thumb over the ring on her left hand. “Then I guess we need to get started on item number five first.”
— HARLOW —
A BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING
I’d been awake all night long—not that I was complaining.
The sheets had been torn free from the corners, the pillows were tossed across the room, and our clothes were strewn all over the floor. The only thing that was missing was the litter of condom wrappers. I’d learned my lesson and now I had a little card of pills to take care of business.
And that difference? Sex with Trace with nothing between us? Fucking fantastic. Literally.
Once again we were in a room at the Bellagio after a night of non-stop orgasms. It was almost exactly like the morning after my birthday, right down to the shiny ring on my finger and the half-naked man asleep next to me. This time, however, the only place I planned to run was straight into that man’s arms. Forever.
“You’re awake,” Trace grumbled, looking up from his pillow, his eyes still heavy with sleep and his voice thick and sexy. “Ready for more?”
I reached over and ran my fingers through his hair, allowing my fingertips to skim over his neck, along his jaw, and to his lips. “I’ll always need more with you.”
His grin was slow and lazy. He kissed my fingers and then his hand snaked around my waist, and he pulled me against him. “You never did tell me how you found me in the middle of Vegas among thousands of people on New Year’s Eve.” His hips rolled into me, and I hooked my leg around his, feeling him harden against me.
“I called Cat. She told me you were here in Vegas, so I bought a plane ticket. I went to watch the last show at the fountain before coming to find you in the bar where she said you guys were. Instead, you found me.”
He pressed his lips against mine in a slow kiss, his tongue sliding along the seam of my mouth, teasing me. “A last minute plane ticket to Vegas on New Year’s Eve? That must have been expensive.”
“You’re worth it,” I whispered. “Besides, some guy with crazy blue hair keeps putting loads of money in my bank account every week.”
He pulled away to look at me, suddenly alert. “How many blue-haired guys do you know?”
“Only one that matters,” I said, pulling his face to mine to kiss him again. I rolled him onto his back and then straddled him. “You don’t have to do that. The money I mean. I have a job you know.”
He shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you could pay the hospital bills. And visit your dad if you wanted. Or just have the ability to take the weekend off and go to New York to fuck your boyfriend if you felt like it.”
“You mean my husband?”
“Husband. I like that, Cricket.” He grabbed my waist, and grinned as he rolled his hips up into me. “You didn’t even panic at all when you said that.”
“That’s because I finally figured out what I wanted in life.” My breath caught as the tip of him slid along the slick center between my legs.
“And that is?” He groaned as I pressed my weight down on him, circling and grinding along with him.
“You. I’ll figure everything else out later.”
He reached up behind my head, pulling me down for a kiss and fisting his hand in my hair. “You have me. All of me.”
“How come you’re not mad at me? About the way I handled things?” I asked. I’d been an idiot. I’d been too busy looking for a future I thought I wanted to realize I already had an awesome one with Trace.
“How could I be mad when I finally have what I want? I have my lucky charm, my Cricket.” His hand skimmed up my side, tracing lightly along the edges of my face as he stared at me. “I have you.”
He pushed his hips up and entered me in one, smooth thrust. Claiming me. Claiming my heart. Our bodies moved together, our hands and fingers leaving imprints of love at every touch, our lips making promises.
He loved me slow and sweet that morning, the future laid out before us in an amazing array of possibilities and uncertainties. And it didn’t matter whether I knew what I was going to do next week, next month, or even next year. Whatever tomorrow might bring, I had Trace. He had me.
And together we had a beautiful beginning.
1. Fall in love with Trace
2. Apologize to Trace
3. Tell Trace you love him
4. Ask Trace to marry you
5. Go on a honeymoon
6. Live happily ever after
— TRACE —
WEDDING BELLS
I held Harlow’s hand, my finger toying with the ring that was now back on her finger where I’d put it all those months ago. Huck had offered to let us ride with him to the wedding, and I guess as his best man I should have, but I was too greedy. I wanted Harlow all to myself for a little while longer...before I had to share her with the rest of my family.
“So,” Harlow said hesitantly, leaning back into the seat of the taxi, “how is this going to work? Us, I mean.” She was staring down at her finger where I was playing with her wedding band.
“I think we work just fine.” I lifted her hand to my mouth to kiss it.
She rewarded me with a smile before saying, “I mean with you traveling and competing, and me going to school...how do we do this married thing? Do we live together? Do I have to move? Do you? And what about when you’re traveling? Or if I have to for a job? And what about kids...” She swallowed tightly before lifting her eyes to meet mine. “Do you want kids? With me?”
I laughed, surprised she even had to ask. “Cricket...” I reached up and ran my thumb along her jaw, amazed that she had finally come to fight for me. “I want everything with you. But it doesn’t have to be all at once. We have time to figure this out. We love each other, and we have a promise. That’s all that matters.” I kissed her ring again, and a relieved smile crossed her face as the car pulled up to the Neon Museum.
My mom and Huck were waiting near the entrance, both dressed in their wedding attire. Huck raised his eyebrows and grinned knowingly when he saw Harlow, but my mother had a harder time hiding her surprise.
“Harlow, honey!” she cooed. “I didn’t know you were going to
be able to make it to the wedding.” She looked happy to see Harlow, but at the same time irritated that she hadn’t been privy to that information ahead of time. My mother hated surprises.
Harlow shifted nervously against me, and to save her from answering I said, “It was last minute. Huck and Cat asked her to come when they found out she was able to make it.”
Mom fidgeted with the beaded purse that matched her dress and shot Huck an annoyed look. “I should go talk to the wedding coordinator and let him know we have an additional guest.”
I grinned to myself. The seating chart was the only thing Huck would allow my mother to handle in the entire wedding, and she’d taken on the assignment as if she were planning the nuclear defense of the entire country. Harlow’s sudden appearance was throwing her carefully laid plans completely out of whack. Mom glanced over her shoulder toward the entrance to the museum, clearly at war with herself. The mom part of her wanted to stay and interrogate us about Harlow’s appearance, but the perfectionist in her wanted to rectify the problem with the seating arrangement.
“Go ahead, Mom,” Huck said. “Maybe Harlow can go with you, and you can show her where Cat and her friends are.”
“Yes!” Mom agreed, with a triumphant smile. “That sounds like a great solution.”
I felt Harlow tense beside me, and we both knew that if she went, she would be facing an interrogation of the worst kind. I couldn’t do that to her. I reached up to put my arm around Harlow’s shoulder, pulling her close. “Sorry, Mom. We haven’t seen each other in a while. I think I’m going to hold on to her a little longer,” I said.
“Oh, well I...” Her confused expression was quickly replaced with shock.
“Tracey Lawrence Stone!” my mother snapped. “What is that?” Her arm jolted upward so that she was pointing her beaded purse at Harlow. Specifically, my hand on Harlow where my wedding band was once more displayed.
“This?” I lifted my hand to inspect the simple band that was a symbol of something so beautifully complicated. “It’s a wedding ring.”
My mother’s laser beam glare zeroed in on Harlow’s hand, and I could tell it was taking all of Harlow’s willpower not to hide the ring she wore.
“Wedding bands? You got married? Where? When?” She was like a ticking time bomb, counting down the seconds until the emotional explosion.
Huck laughed and crossed his arms, clearly happy that my mother’s ire was focused on me now. “Last July. In Vegas. Isn’t that right little brother?”
I raised my eyebrows in question, wondering how long he’d known.
He shrugged. “Jay saw the article in Sports Weekly. It wasn’t too hard to figure out who the girl was.”
“A Vegas wedding? Both of you?” Mom’s voice was almost a screech as she looked between Huck and me. She used her bag to fan herself.
I shot him a thanks a lot, asshole expression.
He uncrossed his arms and walked over to Harlow to pull her into a hug. “Welcome to the family.”
When he released her, Mom was standing there in shock, like we’d told her that Louboutin would no longer be making shoes.
“Yes,” she said, shaking her head and finally regaining her composure. “Welcome.” She gave Harlow a stiff hug, but at least she wasn’t freaking out like she had at the crab feast. I wondered if it would happen later, after the wedding.
“Oh,” Huck said, lifting a finger as if he’d just remembered something. He turned to my mom. “You’re going to need to tell the wedding coordinator to add ten more seats. One for Harlow,” he gestured to my girl, “and the rest for her family and friends. We have two weddings to celebrate.”
“Ten seats?” My mother got an agitated look on her face at the idea of ten additional guests. She clutched the handbag so hard some of the beads scattered to the ground. “I’ll be right back.” She hurried off in a whirl of expensive perfume and panic.
Once she was gone, Huck’s smile finally turned into one of relief. “That should keep her busy and off our backs for a while. Come on, the photographer’s waiting to take some photos of the wedding party.”
“Is my family really coming?” Harlow asked, hopeful.
“Of course,” Huck said. “We can’t celebrate without everyone here.” He turned and walked ahead, in search of his bride.
“Did you know about this?” Harlow asked in a whisper.
I shook my head, worried. “I know this wasn’t exactly on your list. Are you okay with your family being here? With everyone knowing?”
She reached up to grab my face and pulled me into a fierce kiss before reluctantly pulling back to look at me. “I’m beginning to realize that some of the best things in life are things I never planned for.”
I locked my gaze on her green eyes, knowing for the first time that the chase was finally over. Harlow was mine. “That sounds like something I’d say.” I smiled in the cocky way that always made her roll her eyes.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed the edge of my smile, then the other side, before pressing a final one on my lips. “You did. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Today, forever, and always.”
I pulled her into a kiss and mentally scratched the last item off her list.
6. Live happily ever after
With Harlow in my arms, happily ever after was a given.
COMING SUMMER 2017!!!
HATED
Book 3 of the Hearts of Stone series
*******
Please keep reading for the first chapter of Hated!
(subject to change)
— FRANKIE —
1. BLACK SHEEP
We weren’t in the mob. Not officially. But you’d never know it from our names—Jimmy, Tommy, Pauly, Frankie. We were like some B-list mobster movie that no one had ever heard of before. And with a last name like DiGorgio and an absentee dad, we were not only the black sheep of our family, but we were pretty much destined to be blamed for everything that went wrong in our town. Although to be fair, we were also often responsible for most of the trouble.
Most of it. The rest was my dad’s fault.
My dad…Jimmy DiGorgio Sr.. He was a good guy. A good guy who just happened to do illegal things. Things that led to weekly visits with him while separated by a pane of glass. Things that led to him wearing an orange jumpsuit with a number, instead of his name, printed on the back. Yup. My dad was a regular resident at the local prison.
He’d never killed anyone, at least I didn’t think he had, but society didn’t look too kindly on someone who repeatedly took things that didn’t belong to them. Especially when that person looked so damn respectable while robbing you blind. You’d think after the second or third time getting caught, my dad would have learned his lesson, but no. He’d get released with just enough time to knock my mom up again before his addiction took over and he was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser again.
Repeat offender. And impregnator.
My grandmother had always asked my mom what she saw in my dad and my mom would smile and say, “charm.”
And that’s when I learned that being charming didn’t necessarily mean the same thing as the Prince Charming in the Cinderella stories. Don’t get me wrong. My dad could charm the pants off anyone, which come to think of it was probably how he and my mom got together in the first place. But it was that same charm that gave him the impression that he had the license to take whatever he wanted, no matter who it belonged to. He was like a real life H.I. McDunnough from Raising Arizona, but instead of holding up convenience stores, my dad was addicted to taking from the “Haves” because in his opinion, we were the “Have Nots.” He’d talk his way into a company and while he was earning himself the title of employee of the month and climbing the ladder of success, he had his hands deep in the company till, taking them for all they were worth.
Computer fraud. He could bewitch a security system as easily as he could a person. And he never played the exact same game twice. His name and M.O. changed as often h
as his prisoner number. He was too smart and charming for his own good. For anyone’s good really.
That’s why I never bothered with being charming. I couldn’t allow myself to become my dad no matter how much I loved the idiot. Frankie DiGiorgio might have been a daddy’s girl, but I was nothing like my father. I was unapologetically and offensively honest, offensive being the operative word. I wasn’t out to make friends or win people over. What you saw was what you got. I didn’t regret who I was, but I did have regrets. And coming back to my hometown was bringing them into stark clarity.
I stood at the bottom of the steps, my hand on the wooden rail, as I looked up at the house that had been my home for most of my life. The paint was peeling off the porch railing, the roof needed replacing, and everything had a look of general abandonment. That’s why I was here. An entire summer to get the house back in living condition. My mom was counting on me.
I sighed, finally admitting that I had probably bitten off more than I could chew. And then I grinned to myself because how very typically Frankie of me to do so. No one would be surprised. Determined not to choke on my ambition within the first ten minutes, I started up the stairs. As soon as I put weight on the first step, the board snapped in two and my foot plunged through the broken wood.
“God dammit!” I swore as I caught the railing and just barely avoided snapping my leg in two. I tried to dislodge my foot without ripping the skin off my ankle and managed to tear one of the balusters off the railing in the process. Well then. I guess I could add a few more things to the To-Do list.
After freeing myself, I sat down on the worn wood and tried to wipe away the cobwebs and bug carcasses that clung to my Converses. I let out a sigh and gazed around. Even though I knew it looked worse than it was, the place appeared as if it was a few nails shy of falling down into a heap of rubble and that thought made me sad. The house was old, but back when my grandmother was alive, this place was cozy. It was home.
Hitched (Hearts of Stone Book 2) Page 30