Quantum Boxed Set: The Complete Series

by Force, Marie

  Smiling, she kisses me and takes off with her friend. I love seeing her healthy, tanned and happy. I’m so damned thankful for her continued good health, and I, who never said a prayer in my life until recently, beg God every night to keep her that way because I can’t live without her.

  The kids come off the merry-go-round, and I take them to get cotton candy. While they enjoy the sweet treat, I ask them if I can talk to them about something.

  Logan is immediately wary.

  “Nothing bad,” I quickly add. “In fact, it’s something kind of cool. At least I hope you’ll think so.”

  “What is it?” Maddie asks, her mouth full of sugar that stains her lips pink. She’s so damned cute.

  Here goes… “I was wondering how you guys would feel about me asking your mom to marry me.”

  For what feels like forever, neither of them replies.

  Maddie glances at Logan, looking for him to take the lead.

  “Would you be our dad then?” he asks.

  “Only if you want me to.” Please want me to. Please…

  “That’d be cool,” he says, taking another bite of his cotton candy, as if he hasn’t just changed my life with three little words.

  Maddie nods in agreement. “I want you to.”

  I put my arm around her. “I want that, too. What do you think your mom will say?”

  “Duh,” Logan says with preteen disdain. “She’ll cry and freak out.”

  “You think so?”

  “She’s a girl. They freak out over stuff like that.”

  Snorting with laughter, I bump his shoulder with mine. “You’re very wise about women for only being nine.”

  “I’m almost ten.”

  I love the way he says that. I can’t wait to see what he’s like at sixteen or seventeen. Hell, I can’t wait to see him at every age and to watch him become a man.

  “Don’t say anything to your mom, okay? I want to surprise her later.”

  “Can we come when you surprise her?” Maddie asks.

  “Of course you can.” I’d already decided they should be part of it. After all, they’ve been part of us from the beginning, and they always will be. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Maddie’s beaming smile tells me she likes my answer.

  Aileen finds us a short time later, and we fully enjoy the carnival. The kids are ecstatic when they win the pony and the drone. Their mother, on the other hand, is suspicious.

  “I can’t believe they both won such extravagant prizes,” she says while we watch Maddie get to know her new pony, while Logan shows the drone to Flynn’s nephews and some other boys.

  “I know! It must be their lucky day.”

  “Or someone arranged for it to be their lucky day.”

  “Who would’ve done that?”

  “Gee. I wonder.”

  I should’ve known she’d figure me out. “What do you think Maddie will name her?”

  “We’re going to talk about this later.”

  “Talk about what?”

  She elbows me in the gut.

  I crack up laughing, sling my arm around her and direct her toward the face painting so we can check on the kids.

  * * *

  Three hours later, we lead two tired, dirty, happy kids back to the main entrance to the estate and claim the car from the valet stand.

  “What was your favorite part?” I ask them once we’re on our way to our next destination. I can get away with heading away from home because Aileen hasn’t lived here long enough to realize we’re going the wrong way.

  “Winning Daisy!” Maddie says of the pony.

  “The tilt-a-whirl and the drone,” Logan says. “When can we fly it?”

  I catch his eye in the rearview mirror. “We’ll take it to the park when we get home.”

  “Not tonight,” Aileen says. “It’ll be too late.”

  “Oh, come on, Mom! It’s summer vacation.”

  I nudge her leg and send her a pleading look. By now I know better than to contradict her when it comes to things like bedtimes and eating vegetables.

  “Thirty minutes tonight, and that’s my final offer.”

  “Fine,” Logan huffs.

  I look at him in the mirror, raising a brow. “Logan?”

  “Thanks, Mom,” he says begrudgingly.

  She smiles at me.

  I wink at her.

  We got this.

  We’re almost to our destination, about a mile from the estate where the carnival was held, when she tunes in to where we are.

  “This isn’t the way home.”

  “Isn’t it?” The joyful feeling that’s become so familiar in recent weeks takes flight once again. I’m so excited to surprise her, I can barely contain myself long enough to drive through the gates, pull up to the house and cut the engine.

  “What is this place?” she asks, leaning in for a closer look.

  “Come on in, and I’ll tell you.” Without giving her a chance to reply, I get out of the car and head for the front door to punch in the code I was given yesterday. I hear three car doors close behind me as I step inside and wait for them, taking a series of breaths to calm a sudden outburst of nerves. I’ve never done anything remotely like this. What if I get it wrong? What if she says no? What if…

  Stop. The inner voice inside my head, the same one that once told me I was doing the right thing staying away from Aileen, now speaks up to let me know I’m getting wound up for nothing. She won’t say no. She loves me like no one else ever has. I’m safe with her, and this is going to be the best day of our lives.

  “Kristian, what’re we doing here?”

  The kids are uncharacteristically quiet, which I appreciate. They’re in on the surprise, so they know to let it play out.

  “Let me show you around, and then I’ll tell you more.”

  “Okay…”

  Maddie giggles at her mother’s obvious befuddlement.

  Logan, I notice, keeps a close eye on Aileen, looking for any signs of trouble. I hope that in time, he’ll stop anticipating disaster around every corner and start acting more like a regular kid again. In the meantime, however, he watches her as I lead them into the huge kitchen that forms the heart of the big, open house. It’s eight thousand square feet and has a separate suite for the kids who would each have their own bedroom and bathroom. It’s also got a media room that Logan says is “sick,” a game room, in-ground pool, pool house, outdoor kitchen and incredible views of the Pacific. On the other side of the pool house is a building that could be converted to a stable for Daisy the pony.

  But the best part, at least in my opinion, is the master suite that takes up most of the second floor. It includes a huge bedroom with an adjoining bathroom and a cozy little hideaway where I can see us spending time alone together after the kids are asleep. There’s a fireplace and glass walls that look out on the ocean. The master bedroom is what sold me on the place, and I can tell that Aileen loves it as much as I do.

  Next to the master bedroom are three smaller bedrooms that we might fill someday with more kids. Hey, a guy can dream. She’s shown me that it’s safe to dream big.

  But before I can see to future dreams, I need to seal the deal on the one I’m currently living.

  “What do you think?” I ask her when we’ve checked out every room, the pool and the backyard. We’re downstairs in the family room off the kitchen.

  “It’s… the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Whose is it?”

  I’ve practiced what I’m going to say for days, and now that the moment is upon me, I use the trick that Flynn once told me he relies upon when memorizing lines. Nail the opening, he said, and the rest will come. Here goes nothing.

  Rather than answer her question, I have one for her. “Remember when you said you need to register Logan and Maddie for school?”

  “Yes,” she says, obviously baffled. “What about it?”

  “They have great public and private schools in Calabasas.”

  She l
ooks at me in total confusion, those expressive eyes bigger than ever. “But we live in Venice Beach. That’s where they’ll go to school.”

  “Well, I was thinking that maybe we could all get a place together, and this house was on the market…”

  She gasps, covers her mouth and takes another look at the foyer, the grand staircase, the formal living room on the left and the study on the right. “Wh-what’ve you done?”

  “I bought this house for us. For all of us.” I drop to my knees and hold out my hands to her.

  Gasping again, she joins her trembling hands with mine.

  I nod to the kids, urging them to come closer, and they stand on either side of her with their arms around her. “Aileen, I love you, and I love Logan and Maddie. I’ve waited all my life for a family of my own, and now that I have you guys, I want us to be a family in every way if you’ll have me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you or for them, and earlier today, Logan and Maddie told me they’d like for me to be their dad.”

  Tears roll down her face as she glances at her kids, looking for confirmation. “You guys knew about this?”

  Maddie smiles up at her. “We kept the secret.”

  “You sure did!” She looks to Logan. “Are you okay with this, buddy?”

  He nods. “I’ve always wanted a dad, and Kristian is already my best friend.”

  I blink back tears and release one of her hands so we can both dab at our eyes.

  Before they ruin me completely, I ask the most important question of my life. “Will you please marry me and allow me to adopt your children so we can all live in this house happily ever after together and with any other children we may be blessed to have?”

  “Yes,” she says without hesitation even as tears continue to slide down her cheeks. “Yes, I’ll marry you, and yes, you can adopt my children, who love you as much as I do.”

  “And the house?”

  “The house is…”

  The three of us wait breathlessly to hear what she will say.

  “Perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

  As I slide a three-carat engagement ring on the finger of the woman I love and stand to hug my fiancée and children, I decide that word sums things up rather nicely.

  My life, which was once a complete disaster, is now absolutely perfect. And it’s all because of her.

  * * *

  Keep reading for Outrageous, Leah and Emmet’s story!

  Chapter 1

  I want to lick him. I want to strip him naked and lick every hill and valley of his muscular body. I want to know if all his muscles are as big as the ones on his arms. I want to ride him like a cowgirl. And then I want to ride him like a reverse cowgirl.

  My obsession with Emmett Burke began on my first day at Quantum Productions, where I work as assistant to megastar Marlowe Sloane, a Quantum partner and overall amazing, badass woman. On day one, Emmett was charged with reviewing the company’s nondisclosure agreement with me. Even with Flynn Godfrey’s assistant, Addie, sitting with us, I didn’t hear a word Emmett said about the NDA because I was so fixated on his obscenely sexy mouth. Right there in the Quantum office, I had visions of all the places I’d like to feel that mouth.

  Then he mentioned how I could be sued for discussing Quantum business or the partners outside of work, and that got my attention off his mouth, for a second or two, long enough to sign the NDA. I would never blow the amazing opportunity my friend Natalie secured for me after she fell in love with Flynn the superstar and ran away to Hollywood to marry him. But I sure would love the opportunity to blow Flynn’s attorney.

  At her wedding, Natalie hooked me up with Marlowe, who hired me on the spot and bought out my contract with the charter school I’d worked for in New York—unhappily, I might add. Teaching wasn’t for me. Being the assistant to one of the top movie stars in the world? Hell to the yes, that’s for me. Marlowe paid for my move to LA, and now that I’m here, doing a job I truly love, I’m the envy of everyone I know.

  Telling tales out of school—no pun intended—is not going to happen. I’d never do anything to screw up this sweet deal and the amazing opportunity I’ve been given to have a career I couldn’t have dreamed up for myself.

  But me and Emmett Burke? That is so going to happen. If I can just figure out a way to break through his uptight, always-professional demeanor to find the hot-blooded man under the three-thousand-dollar suits that have to be handmade for him because no off-the-rack suit would fit those biceps.

  In the meantime, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about licking him and trying to come up with reasons to talk to him. I wish I had the balls to come right out and tell him I want to suck his dick until he explodes down my throat, but something tells me that wouldn’t be the best career move I could make.

  While Emmett isn’t one of the Quantum principals—and let me tell you, the word principal in this business is a whole lot different than it was in the school business—he is best friends and chief legal counsel to Flynn, Hayden, Marlowe, Jasper and Kristian, otherwise known as the bosses. That means I need to tread lightly and keep my drooling and licking to a minimum.

  But God help that man if I ever get him alone in a bedroom—or any room that isn’t an office in the building where we both work. I have to laugh at how ridiculous this obsession has become, because it’s truly out of character for me. Before now, before Emmett, my interest in men has been more along the lines of wham-bam-thank-you-sir. I’ve never actually given a shit about any of them. But this one… This one is different, and I knew it right away. Every time I’ve been with him since that first day, and I’m “with him” just about every day, between work and play—these people love to party—I only want him more than I did the day before. It’s insanity. I willingly admit that, but I have no desire to make it stop. No, my desire is entirely focused on making it start.

  Sometimes, when I’m home alone at night with my trusty rabbit, I allow my wildest fantasies to take flight. I picture myself with Emmett in every conceivable position, as well as a few that haven’t been invented yet. I’ve begun to anticipate rabbit time a little too eagerly, which is worrisome. I’ve never been the kind of girl to run from a challenge, but I suspect Emmett thinks I’m too young and immature for him.

  There’s really no one I can talk to about my “dilemma,” since my closest friends here also work for Quantum or are married or engaged to the partners. Of course, they’re the ones whose opinions I most want because they know him better than I ever will at this frustrating rate.

  I’m going to have three whole days with him when we head up to Napa at the end of this coming week for Hayden and Addie’s wedding. I’ve been counting the days with plans to implement Operation Nail Emmett Burke while we’re there. I figure I only need to get Marlowe and Sebastian out of the way, because other than Emmett and me, they’re the only ones who aren’t in relationships. With lovebirds circling all around us, I expect the four of us to end up on our own quite a bit and will fully exploit any opportunities that present themselves without humiliating myself in front of Marlowe.

  Fine line that’ll be…

  I’ve made up my mind that the weekend in Napa is go time. Enough fantasizing about what I’d do if I had a night with him. It’s time to make those fantasies a reality. The thought of being naked and horizontal with him makes me wish I’d thought to bring my rabbit to work.

  I’m supposed to be planning Marlowe’s trip to Paris the week after Napa, but so far, I’ve only managed to accomplish making a list of things that have to be done. My obsession with Emmett is interfering with my dream job, and I can’t let that happen. It’s time to buckle down and plow through my to-do list so I can present Marlowe with a full itinerary when she returns from lunch with her agent.

  I’m working on booking first-class plane tickets when the extension on my desk rings with a call from Addie’s number. I take the call on speaker. “What’s up, buttercup?” I adore Addie and aim to be just like her when I grow up into a world
-class Hollywood assistant. She’s endlessly generous with advice and counsel as I continue to get comfortable with my new job, and she’s madly in love with Hayden Roth, the sexy, surly Academy Award-winning director who is the heart and soul of Quantum.

  “Can you come to the conference room for a quick meeting?”

  “Yep. What do I need to bring?”

  “Your laptop. Five minutes?”

  “I’ll be there.” I’d do anything Addie asked of me. She’s been instrumental in helping me to make the transition from fourth grade teacher in New York to assistant to a movie star in Hollywood. Sometimes I still can’t believe I actually made that transition, but all I have to do is look out the window at the palm trees that line the Quantum parking lot to realize I’m not in the Big Apple anymore, Toto.

  Don’t get me wrong. I loved New York. I hated being a teacher, though. I have mad, crazy respect for people who can spend their days in rooms full of kids. I am not one of those people. I thought I was until I actually had to do it every day, and realizing I had made a grave error in my life plan was jarring, to say the least. I worked with some truly amazing teachers, and their passion for the job helped me to see that I lacked what it took to give the kids the dedication they deserved.

  I’d already decided I was leaving the job at the end of the school year when Natalie came up with the brilliant idea for Marlowe to hire me. Now that I’ve made the move, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for the people here at Quantum, which is one reason I try to keep my massive crush on Emmett under control at work. I don’t want to cause any trouble or embarrassment for Natalie, who went out on a limb to get me this amazing job, or Marlowe, who took a chance on a total noob for an assistant.

  I gather up my laptop, a notebook and my phone and head into the conference room for the meeting. Who do you think is the only other person in the hallway? Yep, you guessed it. The object of my obsession, and oh my, he looks particularly lickable today in a navy pinstripe suit with an ice-blue tie and a white dress shirt that shows off a deep year-round tan that comes from surfing.