by Elle Keating
“Please don’t be angry with him,” she said, her eyes filling up.
He let out a deep breath, one that he hadn’t known he had been holding and said, “I’m not.”
Peyton took two steps toward him and stopped. He noticed that her hands were trembling at her sides and her bottom lip began to quiver a little. “I know about the women and Eden. And what happened when you were a child. Do I have all your truths now?”
He didn’t know he was crying until she closed the space between them and wiped his tears away. “You know the truth, every disgusting detail, but you’re here,” he choked out.
She cupped his cheek and searched his eyes. “Yes,” she said.
“Can you still love me, knowing that…knowing what…” Her lips crashed into his, cutting him off, and he took her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Peyton. That I wasn’t strong enough to tell you,” he said between kisses.
“You are strong. You are everything I want. Love me, Luke.”
Luke came up for air and stared at her, at a woman whose past mirrored his own. He took her face in both hands and said, “Tu sei la mia altra metà, la pace che cerco,”
Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her lips against his. Her mouth lingered there, tempting him. “And you are mine,” she whispered.
Chapter Forty
Peyton
Peyton looked out the window and watched the wedding photographer set up his equipment. He was barking orders at the assistant he had brought with him, but she just glared at him.
Good, don’t let him walk all over you!
Peyton shifted her attention and scanned the grounds. The winery looked absolutely beautiful blanketed in snow. She still couldn’t believe that she was now a part of this. That Luke and his dad had asked her to work not for them, but with them as a team. Like modeling, running a winery was never something she had envisioned for herself. But unlike the ten-year career that had set her financially free, she felt happy in her decision to work alongside Luke and Patrick. This felt right. And so did the decision she had made last night as she and Luke lay in front of the fireplace, after Luke had made love to her multiple times.
The media, her long-time nemesis, was going to become her greatest ally. Many celebrities used their celebrity status to sell things because people were influenced by them. What if she used hers to get people to listen? To make people understand, to not look away or ignore their guts when something just didn’t feel right. What if sharing her story, the abuse she had experienced as a child, the hell she had gone through, helped open people’s eyes, and in turn help those being abused?
Lying in his arms, Peyton had told Luke her idea. She didn’t know exactly how he would respond since he harbored similar demons and might not be ready for the publicity that could ensue. But then he had tucked her closer into his chest and told her to do it and that he would support her every step of the way. He had even given her the idea to discuss her thoughts with Lainey and ask her if she would be up to co-writing their story and use Lainey’s connections in the literary world to get it out there. Peyton had been overwhelmed that he hadn’t even hesitated.
“Peyton, can you help me with my veil?” Lainey asked.
Smiling for multiple reasons, Peyton turned and faced her sister. Lainey looked gorgeous in her wedding dress and so incredibly happy. The sight brought tears to Peyton’s eyes. She held them back as best as she could and adjusted the veil around Lainey’s shoulders. “Walt is going to faint when he sees you,” Peyton said.
Lainey blushed beneath her veil, which was so fitting and said, “God, I hope not. I need him alive and ready, not only for the wedding…but for later.”
Peyton chuckled. “That reminds me. There may be a few packages in the suitcases you’re taking on your honeymoon. I suggest you open them and not Walt. Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
“Did you get me more naughty lingerie?” Lainey asked, her eyes wide but playful. Peyton and Lainey had ventured out and picked up a few things from Victoria’s Secret, but Peyton had remained tightlipped about the little shopping spree she had gone on in Italy. She wished she could see Lainey’s face the moment she opened her suitcases and discovered the massive collection of silk panties and lace she had secretly slipped in there, a stockpile that was going to make sweet, innocent Walt very happy.
Peyton heard a cough from behind. “Gus?” Peyton whispered to her sister.
Lainey smiled.
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear my little girl ask that question,” Gus said.
Lainey blushed again and ran over to Gus. He gave her one of his big bear hugs and she clung to him. “I’ll always be your little girl,” Lainey said. Gus cleared his throat. Peyton knew he was doing his best to fight back tears. At that moment, the music started. “It’s time. Are you ready to give me away?”
A tear trickled down his cheek and he leaned in and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “That’s something I’ll never be able to do.” Gus took a deep breath, winked at Peyton and escorted his daughter down the aisle.
Epilogue
Luke
Four months later
Luke chugged his water bottle and then looked at the massive woodpile he had created in a little over an hour. Old habits die hard. When he was stressed or agitated, chopping wood was still his go to. And right now, he was feeling anxious.
Two days without her. Two nights of not having Peyton wrapped up in his arms. If she didn’t come home soon there would be no more trees flanking his property. Peyton and Lainey had decided to go to New York for a long girls’ weekend. Self-care, shopping and going to a Broadway show had been on the agenda, but they had also chosen New York because they were meeting up with Lainey’s agent, Lucille.
After Peyton had pitched her idea to Lainey to co-write their story in hopes to put a blinding spotlight on child abuse, they immediately got to work. It took a little over three months for them to complete their story and have it ready to submit to Lucille. Luke was so fucking proud of Peyton. To bare her soul like that, for others to read and hopefully learn from her story. And when she wasn’t writing or brainstorming with Lainey, Peyton was at his side working at the winery. He was in constant awe of her strength and resilience.
Luke tossed his empty water bottle to the ground and resumed chopping. Just a few more logs and he would call it a night. He wanted to get to bed early and wake refreshed. He had a big day planned tomorrow. After picking Peyton up from the airport in the morning, he was going to surprise her and whisk her off to a bed and breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey. From the photos he saw online it reminded him of Villa Rosa, as the room overlooked the ocean. He had booked it immediately and then made dinner reservations at an Italian restaurant Brennan had recommended. After dinner, they would go back to their room and make love all night. It would be between rounds, as they lay satiated and content in each other’s arms, that he planned to ask Peyton to be his wife. He would then slip the ring he had purchased the morning she had left for New York onto her finger, the ring that was currently in his nightstand drawer, and pray that she would say yes. He would have proposed months ago, but he had wanted to wait until after Shelby’s funeral, Lainey was married and the book was complete. Because he wanted Peyton’s mind on nothing else but them and their future.
The sound of tires on gravel stopped him mid-chop and he looked up to see a cab creeping down his driveway. It came to a halt directly in front of his house and out popped Peyton. Dressed in a white sundress he had never seen before and sandals, her hair long and flowing down her back, she looked fresh and delicate. But that was a façade. The delicate part, anyway. Underneath that dainty dress was a fearless woman, a woman who would forever be his hero and his salvation. With her small carry-on, she came running and threw herself into his arms, just seconds after he had the wherewithal to drop the ax he had been holding.
“What are you doing home?” he asked.
“I missed you. I didn’t want to go an
other night without you. I couldn’t,” she said, running her fingers through his hair. “We met with Lucille and did all the girl things we planned, but I needed to get back,” she said. “I need you.”
He gathered her into his arms and carried her into the house. “I need you, too,” he said. “So much.” Once in their bedroom he removed that sexy little dress, white lace panties and bra, and her sandals. She stood before him naked and ready for him. Her rapid breathing matched his perfectly and it took inhuman strength not to lay her out on the bed and slide into her. She wanted him, and his cock ached to thrust into her heat. But the sight of her swallow tattoo on her hip, that simple design he had engrained in his memory, made him stop and he reached out and ran his fingertips over the bird. She shuddered at his touch and it was her response, the way she came apart for him, that he knew that this was where it was supposed to happen, not in some bed and breakfast in Cape May. But here. In the bedroom he had first taken her. In the bed he had never shared with anyone but Peyton. “Sit,” he said. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him. The passion in her eyes, the love he saw in her heated gaze made his heart race and his own tattoo want to break away from his chest and join the one at her hip. Its mate.
Luke yanked off his gray t-shirt and stood before her. Her eyes went right to the fresh tattoo inked just over his heart. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. He dropped to his knees and positioned himself between her legs. Her hand shook as she touched his tattoo. “It’s exactly like mine,” she said, fixated on the black bird.
Luke traced his fingers over her tattoo once more. “Yes. But yours stands for freedom and hope. Mine means something else,” he said, taking her hand and holding it to his chest.
“What? What does it mean?” she asked.
“Did you know that a swallow chooses a mate for life? That it will only nest with its mate and no other?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t know that.”
He leaned over and withdrew the small square box from his nightstand drawer. Her eyes followed his every movement and grew wider as he removed the ring from the box. Taking her left hand, he said, “There will never be another. That’s what my tattoo means.” Luke slipped the ring onto her finger. “I love you, Peyton. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please marry me.”
Peyton’s eyes had already started to well up at the first sight of the ring, but now the tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. She stared at the ring on her finger and then looked him in the eye. “You are my freedom and my hope…my peace.” She sniffled and then said, “Yes, I’ll marry you. Today, tomorrow, as long as it’s for life.” She pressed her lips to his, kissing him, tasting him, loving him.
“La mia pace,” he murmured between kisses. “My love.”
Peyton wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He wanted inside her, to feel his fiancée quake beneath him. He felt her fingertips caress his cheek and he opened his eyes. She was looking at him like he was her everything, like he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. This woman loved him. He was staring into those blue-green eyes of hers, getting lost in them, when she smiled and said, “My forever.”
Also by Elle Keating
The Dangerous Love Series
Thrill of the Chase
Cut to the Chase
Wanting More
Back to the Start
Standalone
Keeping His Commandments
About the Author
Elle Keating is the author of romance novels with sexy heroes and fierce females. Her first book, Thrill of the Chase (Dangerous Love, #1), was published by Forever Romance’s digital imprint, Forever Yours, in 2015. Cut to the Chase (Dangerous Love, #2) soon followed. Most recently, Elle self-published Wanting More (Dangerous Love, #3), Back to the Start (Dangerous Love, #4) and the standalone novel, Keeping His Commandments.
When Elle isn’t torturing her heroes and heroines (don’t worry, there’s always a happily ever after), she is a public school administrator and enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 children in New Jersey.
For more on Elle and her books, visit ellekeating.com.