Placing a purple grape to her kiss-swollen lips, I tell her, “We’ll have to get out of bed today. It’s Christmas. Your pot roast is cooking with all the sides and I want us to get dressed up and spend our first real Christmas together. Last years was a bust.”
“It was. So, you wash me and I’ll wash you and then we’ll get dressed. I’m as sore as I’ve ever been but it’s a great feeling,” she says as she rolls on top of me to get out of the bed.
I hold her for a moment. “One more kiss.”
She smiles and kisses the tip of my nose. “Any more than that and you know we’ll be stuck in bed for another hour or so.”
“I do,” I say, then get up and carry her to the shower.
The way her body feels as I move my soapy hands over her has me all types of excited but I tamp it down so I can get to the place I want to be. I’m happy as hell to have her back in my life. But I want that to be permanent.
Before I realize it, my hands are on her round ass and I’m pushing her up against the warm tiles. My body is shaking as I wrap her legs around me. She’s panting with desire and her eyes are full of lust mixed with love.
She groans as I fill her and moves with me as we work our bodies to please the other. “You have made me yours again, my prince,” she whispers in my ear then nips it, playfully.
Kissing my way down her neck, I say, “You’ve made me yours too. But then again, I always have been.”
I rock with her, making her grunt with each hard thrust. The warm air from her mouth hits the skin of my shoulder then her teeth graze over it. “I was a fool, but I’m not anymore.”
“You were never a fool, Natasha,” I say, and ease my movements as I look into her eyes. “You were never a fool. Let me hear you say that.”
“What was I then?” she asks me like there’s no other possible excuse.
“You were hurt. You were battered and bruised. Never apologize for that. It was not your fault. I love you. I want us to move on with life. We don’t have to live in the past.” I kiss her and find her mouth supple.
Her body is gyrating on mine and she’s giving me all she has to give. I give into her demands as we both find our release. Our breathing is loud and I love the way we sound together.
She is my one true love and she always will be.
NATASHA
The Christmas lights are the only light in the living room. The dinner was delicious and we are both stuffed. Lying on our backs, we’re looking up at the tree after opening the presents we gave each other. “I used to do this with my cousins when we were little kids,” I say as we gaze up at the pretty colors as they filter through the real tree.
“It’s very pretty under here,” he says then holds up my hand and looks at the large diamond ring he gave me when he asked me to marry him. “Yep, even pretty under green and red lights.” He kisses it, making me smile. “Thanks for saying yes so quickly and not making me sweat it out.”
“Yeah, well, I made you sweat for over two years. I thought you could use a break.” I say with a laugh.
“I did need one. So, off to Vegas we will go in a couple of weeks and then on to a three-month-long honeymoon,” he says. “And right to the baby-making.”
We tossed my birth control pills in the trash right after I said yes to him. It’s official, we are getting married and starting a family. I did not see this coming for us at all.
I can’t believe he stuck with me through everything I put him through. It did leave me with no doubt that when he says his vows I can take him for his word.
My cell phone starts ringing and I sigh as I roll out from under the tree. Nic comes along too. “I’m going to find another piece of pumpkin pie.”
I laugh as he goes off toward the kitchen and look at my phone to see it’s my father. “Hello.”
“Hey, I just wanted you to know that I heard what you said the other day and I didn’t want this night to end without me saying this to you.”
“What?” I say and have to hold my hand over my mouth so he doesn’t hear me crying already.
“I am sorry, baby girl,” he says, sending me into full-blown meltdown.
I melt into a puddle of tears on the sofa. “Thank you,” I manage to get out.
“You deserve it. I’ll do all I can to make it up to you. I swear it,” he says.
“Just be there for me, Dad. That’s all I ask. Nic and I are getting married.”
“Good,” he says. “That man really does love you.”
“He does and I love him,” I say, and find Nic coming into the room with a small plate of pie.
“What happened to you?” he asks me as he puts the plate down and runs his arms around me.
“Thank you, Dad. Bye and Merry Christmas.” I end the call and put the phone down, then wrap my arms around Nic. “This is the best Christmas ever.”
“He must’ve told you he was sorry, huh?” he asks with a chuckle.
“He did,” I say as I cry like a little baby. “I’m so happy.”
“Yeah, you sound like it,” he says and laughs then picks me up and puts me on his lap. “And you told him our news?”
“I did and he was nice about it. Maybe things will finally start going better. We could use things to go well, for a while anyway. I’m not asking for more than my fair share of happiness.”
Taking the napkin he brought for the pie, he holds it to my nose. “Blow, princess. You’re a mess.”
I blow my nose and laugh as he helps tidy me up. I’ve come to see things in a different light where he’s concerned. He likes to pick out my clothes sometimes but it’s because he likes the way certain things look on me.
Feeling the same way, I pick out his clothes often too. It’s not as bad as I was making it out to be in the beginning. I thought he was thinking of me as his doll. His plaything. But when I started thinking about how good he looks in his jeans and asking him to wear them more often, he pointed that out to me.
He can still be dominatin,g and in the bedroom I love it. But he watches himself about certain things and he’s quick to change the way he says things so he doesn’t offend me or make me feel small.
I think the future with him will be bright. I believe he and I will learn from one another and grow as a couple. A team of two, who will have to worry over children together. A team who will make huge decisions together.
“That’s better,” he says as he puts the used napkin away. “How do you feel?”
“I feel great. You’re going to make an excellent father, you know,” I tell him then kiss his cheek.
“With your help, I might be okay at it,” he says. “I haven’t had the best role model.”
“Neither have I. We can do our research and try to be better parents than those we had, I suppose. History doesn’t have to repeat itself, you know,” I say and wiggle on his lap. “And speaking of kids, are you ready to hit the sack with your brand new fiancée?
He rubs his hands together in front of me. “Oh, yeah. You can wear that negligee I gave you and I’ll bring the whipped cream.”
“More food?” I say with a laugh as he gets up and carries me to the bedroom.
“The whipped cream is for your consumption, baby, not mine.” We laugh all the way to the bedroom then he closes the door behind us.
I think we might just work out after all.
EPILOGUE
NICHOLAI
Natasha is rocking the baby, our fourth son, to sleep as I take the other three out for ice cream. Manhattan proved no easy place to raise a large family, so we moved.
Walking down the paved street to the local shop that has everything anyone could ever need, I find my friend, Nic, riding his bicycle towards our home. His arms wave wildly, making my sons laugh. “Where are you going? I was coming to see you.”
“To get ice cream,” Todd, our oldest says. “You come too!”
Nic hops off the bike, dropping it on the side of the road. “I come too. Yes! How’s your beautiful momma,” he asks Taylor, our next to
oldest.
“Busy with Tyran. He’s a fussy baby today,” Taylor tells him.
Todd’s only ten but he thinks he’s twenty or so. “How’s your sister, Nic. Does she miss me?” He laughs as he goads Nic.
“She’s too old for you, Romeo,” he tells him as he messes up his dark, shaggy hair.
The boys all run ahead of me, spending up some of their energy. “Your mother is making something that smells like Heaven for our dinner tonight. She asked if she could invite her family to our home for dinner. Can you believe she asked me that?” I ask him as we walk along behind the kids.
“I cannot,” he says with a laugh. “What was she thinking?”
“I know,” I say and punch him in the arm. “It’s not as if your family doesn’t eat nearly every night at our home. And we’d have it no other way. My wife loves your sisters and your mother.”
“I never asked you, Nicholai. Why did you decide to come back to Greece to live?” he asks me with a grin. “New York has much more to do.”
“That it does. But I kind of fell in love with this little town here. And when I brought Natasha for our honeymoon, she fell in love too. When the kids started to come and we knew we wanted more for them, it was a no-brainer. Move to Greece where everyone is made to feel like family.”
“We’re happy to have your family here too. Your help in making our family’s wine has been invaluable. Momma’s frozen dinners are selling like we never thought they would. So many people have jobs at the factory you built to produce those things. You are well-loved here, Nicholai,” he tells me.
The thing about living here with all of these people, is I know I’m well-loved here. But it never hurts to hear it!
NATASHA
The sounds of people laughing fill the air as Mamma’s family comes to our back yard. It’s where we get together almost every evening and feast on the food she and her daughters have prepared for us all to enjoy while listening to old tales and funny stories.
I never get tired of hearing the things these people come up with. As I make my way out to the garden to join them, I find my husband with a little girl on his knee, playing trot-little-horsy with her.
The baby in my arms is quickly grabbed up by one of Mamma’s many daughters and he’s whisked away by her as she coos at him. There is no shortage of babysitters here. And we are part of that circle as well.
I take the empty seat next to Nic and run my hand over the little girl’s plump cheek. “Hi, Mena. Are you having fun with Uncle Nicholai?”
She nods, sending her wild dark curls every which way. I laugh as I watch the boys running after several little girls, holding fireflies in their hands and chasing them, making them shriek.
“You’ve raised some hellions there, my princess,” he tells me.
“Don’t go blaming me now. I think tormenting girls is in their DNA,” I say with a laugh.
He places Mena on the ground and pats her back, sending her on to play. “Tormenting, huh?” he says with a growl. “In our DNA, huh?”
When he gets up, I start to laugh, nervously. “Nic, don’t you dare!”
With one quick move, I’m tossed over his broad shoulder as he runs away with me into the house. It’s very quiet inside of the huge home. Everyone is outside and I giggle as he takes the stairs two at a time.
“Nic, we can’t take off and leave our guests alone,” I say, as it’s obvious he has plans for me.
“They’re not guests. They’re family. And they won’t miss us if we disappear for an hour or so,” he says as he kicks open our bedroom door.
He tosses me on the bed and begins to pull my clothes off. “Okay, but only an hour, no longer,” I say as I hurry to push his pants down.
“No longer than two hours, I promise,” he says, then rips my panties away and yanks me to the edge of the bed. “Come here woman. I have a craving only you can satisfy.”
His eyes go dark as night as he descends upon me. Taking me to new heights as we can hear children laughing and people talking away as music plays in our backyard. The way it does nearly every night since we moved to this place we both fell in love with and call our home.
It looks like we’ve found our happy ending after all.
The End.
The Billionaire’s Brother
An Alpha-Male Billionaire Romance
Intensity. Passion. Rivalry
Jenna Foster has had to wait until she’s eighteen to date Rod Manning, a bad boy five years her senior and not her parents’ idea of who she needs in her young life.
Rod Manning has wanted Jenna for two years and bided his time until she could come to him on her own.
The two enter into a steamy relationship which he turns into a BDSM contract where love is a thing of weakness and the bond of the contract is forever.
Then one day Rod disappears, leaving Jenna alone and wondering what happened to the man she was about to marry.
Two years pass during which Reed Manning who has always found his older brother’s girlfriend intriguing becomes a billionaire. When the two meet during a summer break in their small hometown they find love, and that love sparks a war between the brothers when Rod returns to find them engaged.
Will Jenna be able to put her love for Rod in the past and continue to love Reed? Or will her heart allow her to continue on that path as the men’s family is torn apart by their fighting over her? With her out of the picture, all seems to calm down. Will Jenna be able to forget about her love for Reed for the good of his family? Will Reed let his older brother rule his life forever and stop him from being with the woman he loves?
Chapter 1
JENNA
“Rod? You home?” I call out as I come into the little apartment we rented last week.
After only a few months of dating, we decided to take it a step further and move in together. To say my parents were pissed would be an understatement.
Try furious!
But what Rod Manning and I have is as real as it gets, even if I am just eighteen, a thing my parents tell me is a real issue—though it’s not, really.
Rod’s a few years older than I am. Okay, five of them, but that’s not a big deal to me. My father made me wait until I turned eighteen to date Rod, or anyone else for that matter.
Rod’s been after me for the last couple of years, but being underage had him waiting for me. Dad threatened all kinds of hell on the poor guy if he touched me before I turned the legal age.
The funny thing is that Rod’s mother cautioned me about their oldest son as well. At a senior party my graduating class had at one of my classmate’s ranches just before I turned eighteen, I saw Rod’s mother. She was helping chaperone the party.
She had no idea of Rod’s interest in me and took me aside, then asked me if I knew her son, Reed. I knew of Reed, of course. We all live in a minuscule town in Jerome, Arizona.
Reed is only two years older than I am. I was shocked when she told me he and I would make a perfect couple. He was away at college at that time but would be home for the summer, and she wanted to know if she could give him my phone number when he got home.
Her dismay when I told her it was her son, Rod, who was interested in me and me in him, confused me. She was very open about him being a difficult person, which I found crazy.
He doesn’t seem difficult to me at all. Quite the opposite. He seems so rugged and manly and tough as nails, but in all the right ways.
His job as a mechanic keeps his muscles tight, and he keeps a five o’clock shadow thing going on his handsome face.
I’ll admit it. The man does have this dangerous edge to him. But I find it exciting as hell.
The way he handles me is so hot!
And he’s told me he has a surprise for me tonight when he gets home, which I thought would be by now.
“Hey there, baby.” His deep voice calls out from our bedroom.
I go that way, turning down the short hallway that leads off the living room. There he is, leaning his tall body against
the door frame.
His dark ash blond hair hangs to his shoulders in waves. His steely blue eyes running up and down my body give me chills. “Hey, Rod.”
As he’s clad in only his tight black underwear, I see he’s taken a shower and rid himself of the grease of the garage he works in. The smell of his soap fills my senses.
My insides are already melting as he looks me over. “I brought home that surprise I told you about, but we have something to talk about first.” He pulls me into his strong arms as I come to him.
His mouth covers mine as he thrusts his tongue into my mouth. The way it moves like he has a purpose to touch every place in my mouth makes my knees weak and I lean against him.
He grabs a handful of my ass and squeezes it as he growls. My body is hot and now I’m wet and can hardly wait to get out of these clothes and into our bed.
His other hand moves up my arm, then over my shoulder, and he grabs a handful of my long hair and pulls it back hard. His mouth leaves mine and his teeth graze over my neck. Then he bites it, hard.
The noise I make has him pulling back, and he looks intense.
I love that look. Like raw power.
“I want something permanent with you, Jenna.” His words make my heart pound.
“K.”
A grin creeps across his handsome face. “I haven’t told you what it is yet and you answer yes already?”
I nod and he smiles. “Permanent is what I want too. I love you, Rod.”
“Love is for the weak, baby. What did I tell you about all that love shit?” He lets me go and moves away from me. “Life is about other things. Life is hard, baby. Love is fleeting. Commitment isn’t, though. I want that from you. A real commitment.”
He moves to the bed, sits on the edge, and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of the bedside table. A long neck bottle half-full of beer sits on top and he takes a drink then lights his cigarette.
That’s the one thing I hate. I hate the smell of cigarettes, and he knows it. Yet he’s not about to do as I’ve asked him repeatedly, to smoke outside.
Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1) Page 70