by Harper Sloan
“You’ve got me, Sway. I have no idea, but I guess I’ll find out soon.”
He doesn’t even give me a chance. He opens the door to his Salon and yells to Brandy, the adorable pixie like receptionist, that he’s going next door to ogle the hunks. She laughs, clearly used to this from Sway, and waves him off.
“Does this mean you’re coming with me?”
He doesn’t answer, laces our hands together, and all but pulls me to the door of Corps Security. The glass is tinted so we can’t see in, but that doesn’t stop Sway from vibrating his excitement.
“Would you calm down? You’re going to jerk my arm right off my body.”
He doesn’t respond, but the second I open the door, he rushes in, pulling me with him.
I smile at Coop’s portrait before my eyes sweep over to Emmy’s desk. I’ve been so used to hearing her sweet voice over the years that the very masculine voice echoing through the room takes me off guard. When I look over and see just what has Sway in knots, I can almost understand his ridiculous behavior.
“See what I mean? Gorgeous.” He doesn’t even try to keep his voice down, and the object of his eyes looks right at him with a large smile.
What the hell am I watching right now? This man is most definitely gorgeous. His blond hair is perfectly styled, not a single piece out of place. His face is almost too perfect . . . high cheekbones, strong jaw, big smile and perfectly white teeth. I can’t tell from where I’m standing, but his eyes almost look violet. His body is partially hidden by the desk, but from what I can tell, the rest is just as good as his face . . . strong shoulders, and trim, muscular chest.
And the best part, he hasn’t even taken his eyes off Sway once. Hell, I might as well not even be in the room. Oh my God! I want to jump up and clap my hands like a mad person. I feel like I’m watching that matchmaker show play out right in front of me.
He finishes up his call, and places the receiver down lightly, and turns his eyes back to Sway with a smile. “Dilbert. It’s great to see you again.”
Dilbert?! There are only three people I know that call him that. His mother, Greg when he’s annoyed, and Cohen . . . constantly.
“Davey.”
I stand here with my jaw dropped and watch as Sway walks over to Davey. Neither one of them have stopped smiling. Who knows how long I’m here just taking it all in. When a warm arm wraps around me. I jump, but when Beck’s delicious scent washes over me, I smile just as big as the two love birds at the front desk.
I turn, wrap my arms around his neck, and press my lips to his for a quick, but no less toe-curling kiss. When I fall back on my heels and look into his eyes, so full of love, my smile grows so large it hurts.
“Hey,” I whisper against his lips.
“Hey, back.” His smile is just as panty melting as it was the first time I saw him and I can’t help but think how lucky I am that this perfect man never gave up on me.
“I’ve got a present for you.”
His smile grows wicked and his eyes darken. He knows exactly what it means when I surprise him at work with a present.
I run my hands down the thick-corded muscles in his arm, and grab one of his hands, spinning on my heels I start to walk. I hear him groan and turn around to see his eyes on my ass. “Eyes up, John Beckett. You don’t want to scare the children.” I laugh and point over to Sway and Davey. They don’t even notice us, but Beck narrows his eyes when he sees Sway.
“Sway! I told you to stop coming over here and getting your drool all over the counter! Let David do his job.”
Sway laughs and waves him off, and Davey/David blushes. Oh wow, Sway so called it. I can’t wait to see how that plays out.
Beck takes the lead and starts stomping down the hall. Whether he’s impatient to get me in his office, or he’s frustrated with Sway’s normal antics, who cares? He’s taking me where I want to be, and I could care less how fast I have to run to keep up with him.
When we walk into his office, he slams the door and clicks the lock with a loud pop. His body crushes against mine before I even have a chance to turn completely. His hands go right to my ass, and his fingers dig in. I open my mouth when I feel his tongue lick across my bottom lip, begging for access.
“God, I missed you,” I moan against his lips before crushing my mouth back to his. Our tongues slide and curl together in a kiss so demanding our teeth knock together, and our breathing becomes rapid in seconds.
“Only been two hours . . .” He doesn’t finish, just digs his fingers in deeper, and lifts me off the floor. I wrap my legs around his waist, run my hand up his neck until I can push my fingers through his soft hair, and palm his cheek with my other hand.
We continue to kiss until he puts my ass down on his desk, forcing my legs and arms to fall from his body when he steps back.
“Tease,” I whine when he doesn’t make a move to come back to me.
“Oh, hell, no. There is no way you’re going to call me a tease when you come in here looking like that. Good God, Dee. I almost tore that dress from your body and took you right there in front of Sway and David.” He adjusts his pants that are doing a poor job of hiding his large bulge.
“Well, aren’t you lucky your willpower is stronger than mine.” I jump off the desk, grab the package I need out of my purse, and push him back until he falls onto the couch against the wall. “Sit and shut up.” I undo his belt, unbutton his slacks, and slowly pull the zipper down. When his rock-hard cock springs out, I raise my brow in question.
“With you around, do you really think I bother anymore with any unnecessary restrictions?”
His smartass tone dies when I wrap one of my hands around his thick length. I stroke him a few times, rubbing my thumb through the drop of come beaded at the top, enjoying the velvety softness of his dick. My mouth waters, and I can tell by the expression on his face that he is more than ready for my mouth.
I pull my hand away and want to laugh when he groans. When I bring the package from my purse into his line of sight, he tries to jump up. I push down on his hips and give him one wet lick across his swollen head. His head drops back and bangs against the wall. I rip open the package and tip a small amount in my mouth, enjoying the strawberry flavor and the sizzle against my tongue. I wait until he picks his head up and locks eyes with mine before I lower my mouth to his dick and open wide. I use my tongue and saliva to move the Pop Rocks around in my mouth, making sure that the soft pops bounce off his sensitive skin. The first one that sizzles and pops in my mouth causes his body to stiffen before his fingers push into my hair almost painfully. I pause, waiting to see if he’s going to pull me off, but when his hips start to rock slightly, that’s all the encouragement I need.
Slowly and carefully, I keep taking his dick in my mouth, pausing a few times to put more Pop Rocks in my mouth. With each sizzle and pop against his shaft, he moans loudly, and his fingers constrict in my hair.
“Fuck, Dee.” He breathes. “God . . . damn . . .”
I bring my hand up and circle my fist around him, pumping in turn with my mouth. My tongue swirls around his thick head every time I bring my head up, and wraps it around his shaft with every slide down. I can tell he’s getting closer, so I drop the candy on the floor, and bring my other hand up to caress his balls. He doesn’t miss a beat. His hips rock with my mouth, and my hums of excitement dance with his grunts and groans.
“Dee, if you don’t want me to come in your mouth, then back off. Now, Baby.”
I take him deeper, until I have to relax my throat to pull him even deeper. I swallow with my lips open wide, and the tip of his dick as deep as I can get it. When he feels my throat close around him, he goes solid and breathes my name.
“Deeeee . . .”
I keep milking him until the last tremble quivers through his body, and then unlatch my mouth with a pop. I lean back, rest my ass on my heels, and smile up at his flushed face.
“Sorry, Baby, I didn’t think to bring you lunch, but now that I got mine, I c
an run out and get you something.” I smile as innocently as I can before he pushes his body off the couch and knocks me to the floor in a fit of laughter.
“You, my wildcat, are crazy. Where in the hell did you hear about that?”
I’m not sure if he even cares about my answer because he’s too busy pushing my dress up my legs.
“No, Beck . . . that was for you.”
His hands still and he looks at me clearly confused.
“You’ve been working hard, long hours, and I know you’re stressed. I just wanted to do something to ease some of that tension you seem to be stuck with.”
His forehead falls to mine, and his eyes close.
I run my hands through his hair and wait for him to control himself before lifting my lips, asking for him to let me up. He finally stands and tucks himself back in his pants.
“You better hurry out of that door before I change my mind. I don’t like being the only one who gets something out of our lovemaking.”
“You perfect man.” I shake my head and cup his cheek. “I got plenty out of that, and tonight when you get home, you can return the favor.” I lean up and press a soft kiss against his lips, fix my dress, and walk out the door.
Sway is still standing at the front desk when I walk out. I offer him a smile and wave, but he doesn’t even turn his head. I just keep going and make my way to the car. I drive all the way home with a big smile on my face.
Beck
How the hell I made it through the rest of the day after Dee left was beyond me. When she walked out the door, I snatched up the package of candy she left on the floor and tucked them in my desk. Hey, you never know.
I make a mental note to find out whoever told her about that little trick so I can thank them. Holy shit, when the first pop bounced against my dick, I didn’t know what to think, but that was without a doubt the best blowjob I had ever gotten. Fuck, I came so hard I’m pretty sure I blacked out for a second.
I manage to get about three hours of work done before I can’t take it anymore. She had drained me dry, but I’m craving her body now. I say a quick goodbye to Axel and Greg before heading out to the front. I know that Sway left about thirty minutes after Dee did, so at least I won’t have to drag him out so poor David can get some work done.
Not that it matters, because there’s no way I’m standing in the way of that. David is a nice guy and clearly, he doesn’t mind Sway’s attention.
“See you later, David.” I call over my shoulder. I hear him say something, but my mind is too focused on getting home.
When I pull in the driveway and notice that Asher’s truck is gone, my anticipation jumps through the roof. A night alone with Dee? There isn’t much that would make me happier.
I sit in my truck for a second and think back to the night before, and my dinner with Dee.
“Do you want to tell me why we had to come all the way into Atlanta? I figured we could just stay home tonight?”
I smiled and shook my head.
“Nope. As much as I love sharing our nights with Asher, I needed some time alone with my girl.”
She smiled and took my hand as we walked into the restaurant.
We continued to make small talk and just enjoy each other. These were the times I cherished the most. For so long, we didn’t have this, the connection and companionship. The all-consuming love was always there, but now that it’s recognized and returned, just being with her made all the stress and worry from work fall from my shoulders.
After paying the check, she smiled and took a bite of her chocolate cake, making me smile when I thought back to the early days that we knew each other, and her ridiculous theory that chocolate was better than sex.
“I love you, you know that?”
She looked up from her plate and smiled.
“Yeah, I know that. And I love you.”
Before she could take another bite, I took her fork from her hand and moved her plate out of the way, placing the box I’d had tucked into my jacket in its place.
“What’s this? I didn’t forget something, did I?” God, she was adorable when she crinkled her brows in confusion.
“Nope, you didn’t forget anything. I picked this up about two weeks ago when Izzy came to the office.”
Her confusion grew and I reached forward to rub my finger over the wrinkles between her brows.
She opened the long box, and I saw a smile form and the confusion vanished. “How did you know I wanted one of these?” She pulled the necklace out of the box and took a second to take it all in.
Izzy had come into the office almost a month ago, selling some silly locket things. She kept calling them living lockets or some weird shit like that, but when I started looking through it all, the idea popped in my head and I couldn’t resist. It was just pure luck that Dee mentioned wanting one of these Origami Owl things.
I watched her face taking in all the charms that I ordered to go inside the locket. She moved the little key attachment I included and looked deeply at the locket. I sat back and ran the checklist over in my mind. The key attached to the necklace was to symbolize her holding the key to my heart, yeah about as corny as it got, but it’s the truth. There were the two word charms: faith and love, which she shouldn’t need any help figuring out. Then the house charm that represented her making her home with me. The high heel shoe because . . . well, it’s Dee. My smile grew when I thought about the chocolate bar. I knew the exact moment when she hit the last charm in there, a little diamond ring. Her eyes shot up and locked with mine. I took note of her quivering lip and unshed tears before I stood up, and pushed my chair back, and knelt in front of her seat.
I gently tugged the necklace from her grip, brought it around her neck, and latched it. I ran my finger down the chain, around the locket, and flicked the key clipped to the top. When I looked up and met her eyes with a smile, she tried to return it. Pulling her left hand forward with one hand, I pushed the other into my pants pocket and brought the ring out. I’d been carrying this sucker around for the last six weeks, just waiting for the perfect time.
“Since the day I met you, I knew you would be someone worth fighting for. We’ve been through so much together, and it still feels like our love is brand new. There isn’t anything in this world that would make me happier than making you my wife. Dee, Baby, will you marry me?”
Her tears spilled over and her beautiful smile shone through. Her head nodded and through her soft hiccups I heard the best words in the world.
“God, yes!”
I slid the ring on her finger and stood up, pulling her from her chair at the same time, and took her lips in a bruising kiss.
With the other patrons clapping in the background, I kissed my girl, and showed her just how much I love her with one single kiss.
When we finally came up for air, I framed her face in my hands and swiped the tears away with my thumbs. She just stood there, smiling the smile that never failed to bring me to my knees. The smile that was gone for so long, but every day since it’d been back, I thanked my lucky stars.
She thinks I saved her but the truth is, she saved me.
Her love gave me a purpose, a reason, and the strength to stand by her side and fight any war that is thrown our way.
With a smile on my face, I make my way into the house that I share with the woman I love, with every intention of dragging her up to our room and making her mine. All. Night. Long.
~The End~
The problems that Dee faced during the span on Axel, Cage, and her story in Beck are very real and can affect anyone.
For more information on mental illness and suicide prevention please visit: http://www.afsp.org
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
(An unedited compilation of thank yous)
It’s hard for me to even fathom that this is the THIRD book I’ve written. What an amazing ride. I’ve been blessed beyond my wildest dreams during this process, and I wouldn’t even be here without the help of every single reader that decided to take a
chance on my books.
First- Thank you to my family. My husband for dealing with the mess the house becomes when I jump head first into my book world. My kids who deal with mommy talking to herself constantly and not freaking out when I walk you to the bus wearing my sweats and having my hair all over the place.
To the bloggers, reviewers, and every reader that’s picked up my books—THANK YOU. When I started ‘Axel’ I had no expectations, just dreams, and y’all have made them come true.
To my betas, Amber, Angela, Becky, Elle, Danielle, and Debi. I love y’all. It’s true. You ladies are hands down the best team ever. You keep me going, tell me when I’m shit, and tell me when I rocked it. With love, of course! I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to write a book without you ladies!
Katie Mac—Don’t hate me for not letting you edit these, but come on . . . you need some surprises! You’ve opened your arms and welcomed me and my words. I love you hard and your support and love keeps me going when I feel like throwing in the towel. You’re the rock behind me and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.
Brenda- My formatting queen, blog tour master and friend . . . we’ve been through some crazy turns together and sitting back now we can laugh at all the crazy that we’ve been through together. Thank you for everything, and I mean everything, you have done for me.
Meli- Where do I even start with you, girlfriend? It was by chance that we met and you best believe I’m thankful for that day we first messaged each other. Not only do you bend over backwards to make sure I’m happy with everything that you create for me, but you doing it with so much love and care! Even if I pass out too early and leave you in an emotional book mess . . . I still love you! LOL! I can’t wait for future books and the beauty you create.
Toski- Girlfriend, you rock! Thank you so much for taking a few comments and getting me exactly what I wanted! Everyone should have a Toski in their life.
My three musketeers. Angela, Katie and Kelly. I don’t know how you girls put up with my crazy. My round the clock messages, talks about zombies, and half naked men pictures. Well, okay, I know how you deal with the men pictures. You girls help keep me calm when I start freaking out and have no issues telling me when I’m acting stupid. True friends that I am so thankful for each day.