After calming all of Jason’s family down, seeing them out, escorting Charlotte and Lola to their limousines safely, Jason left Tanner and Landon to handle closing up the club. Given the swelling of Faith’s ankle, Jason had wanted to stop at the emergency room, but they’d agreed it wasn’t worth the hours they’d sit waiting to be seen.
He wanted to ice it, but she’d insisted she needed a shower, wanting to rid herself of Colton’s stench, and Jason couldn’t deny her. He’d given her the time alone she’d requested, knowing she needed to come to terms with what had happened with her sibling.
Hell, he’d give her anything she wanted from now until the end of time. Although he’d already put his past behind him enough to move on, he hadn’t realized just how much he loved her until the second he’d heard her scream. Coming around the corner and seeing Colton holding a knife to her throat had shocked him into complete acceptance.
He loved her completely and absolutely.
If anything happened to her, if he lost her, he wouldn’t want to go on. Why in God’s name had he believed what they had was short term and meant to end? She was a part of him and he didn’t want to let her go.
He picked up the ice he’d put into a zipped bag and headed back into the bedroom only to find her wearing a pair of sweat pants and a shirt, hobbling between his closet and the suitcase she’d opened on the bed. The ice in his hands spread through his veins.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he placed the bag of ice onto the dresser by the bed.
She turned her head and met his gaze, her green eyes sad. “We agreed when Colton was caught, our time together would come to an end. I’m not going to stay here and prolong the inevitable.” She ran her tongue over her lips and he wanted nothing more but to kiss her, but they needed to talk first.
“Faith–”
“Wait.” She placed a stack of work tee shirts into the luggage. “I need to tell you something first. I want you to know that this isn’t what I want.”
Thank God for that, he thought, but she continued talking.
“If it were up to me, we’d stay together and see where things led. But you made it clear we had an expiration date, and because I love you, I’m giving you what you want.”
Jesus, his head was spinning. Even if he had thought things between them should end – eventually – he’d never have wanted her to leave so quickly. But at this point, he didn’t want her go at all.
“Let me get this straight. You love me but you’re leaving,” he said, summarizing her words, his heart thumping hard in his chest at the words she’d so casually tossed out. But he’d get to that later.
She blinked. “Yes. Because it’s what you want.”
“No.” He strode over, zipped up the suitcase, and threw it onto the floor.
“Jason!”
“You’re not going anywhere. First, you’re going to lay that cute ass down and ice that ankle because I can see it swelling more with every minute you stand on it.”
She narrowed her gaze at his rude command but it worked. She sat on the mattress and stretched out her legs. “Give it to me,” she muttered, opening her hand for the ice pack.
He handed her the bag and she gingerly placed it on her swollen ankle.
“My ass isn’t cute,” she said under her breath.
“You’re right. It isn’t. It’s sexy as hell. Now where were we? Right. You leaving because of what you think I want.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “What you said you wanted.”
He settled beside her on the bed, easing his ass next to her thigh, forcing her to move over and make room for him to sit. “I was wrong.”
Her eyes opened wide.
“You’d better savor those words, because I can’t promise you’ll ever hear them again.”
She coughed, clearly covering a laugh. “Wrong about what, exactly?”
He leaned close, cupping her face in his hand. “Wrong to think that if I ended things with you, it would be easier. Tonight, even before Colton grabbed you, I realized that I love you.”
She gasped. “You do?”
He placed his fingers over her lips. “My turn, remember?”
She nodded and leaned into him. “Go on.”
“I discovered that what we shared, living together, spending hours together and not getting on each other’s nerves, counting on each other, was special. It was the very thing I’d been running away from most of my life. And the only reason I was able to accept that Levi would want me to live my life, that I could open myself up to love, was because I found you.”
“You love me?” she asked, her shock so real it hurt him to hear.
“Yeah. And I’m seeing that I’ve done a pretty shitty job of showing you.”
She shook her head. “No. You’ve shown me every day. It’s just that you were so sure you didn’t want the same things that I do, and I need to know we’re on the same page.”
He narrowed his gaze. “How so?”
“I want it all, Jason. A house, babies, a dog, my job, your job, us coming home to each other at the end of the day. But you said you don’t want kids. And…”
“Shit,” he said more to himself than to her.
“What?”
He drew a deep breath. “I was wrong. Again.” To his surprise, he could look down the road and see all those things his family had, and he desired them for himself. “I want it all, too. I want kids, sweetness. And a house. I’ll even take a white picket fence, as long as it’s with you.”
A tear fell from her eye and he wiped it away with his finger. “I never want you to cry because of me.”
“It’s relief. When I pulled out that suitcase, I really thought I was leaving. I promised myself I wasn’t going to tell you how I felt, that I would make it easy for you, but I couldn’t go without you knowing how much I love you.”
“You’re brave and strong … and you’re mine.” He picked up the ice pack and placed it onto the nightstand. “Now I’m going to make love to you and show you how I seal the deal.”
He slowly and carefully stripped her of her clothes until she lay naked on the bed, her damp hair a golden halo around her head. She watched him with wide eyes as he undressed himself, her gaze coming to rest on his thick, straining cock.
Coming over her, he didn’t waste any time. He slid a finger through her slick sex, and finding her wet for him, he positioned himself at her entrance.
“I just need to be inside you.” Foreplay could wait for another time. “I just want to make you mine.”
She chuckled beneath him. “Silly man. I’ve always been yours,” she said as he began to slide himself into her.
Her tight walls spasmed around him and he groaned, thrusting all the way home, until he was as deep as he could get, until they were as close as they could possibly be.
And when he began to move, rocking into her, taking her slowly, he felt every slick glide and every flutter of her sweet pussy. He wasn’t going to last. It was going to be the quickest yet most intense orgasm of his life. And he was taking her along for the ride.
He came at the same time she cried out his name, and the emotions that swept through him were potent. Because he was with the woman he loved and he’d finally opened himself to believe in forever.
Epilogue
The Dares knew how to throw a party, Tanner Grayson thought, as he loosened the bow tie now that the wedding of his best friend and partner Jason Dare was over.
He’d never seen so many siblings in one place before. Being close with Jason since college, Tanner had been introduced to the many factions of the family. The New York Dares mingled with the Florida Dares; the Florida Dares no longer separated themselves by who their mother was. Glancing around, he had to admit that despite the designation of half brother or half sister or cousin, they’d become a tight-knit unit.
The only unit Tanner had was with his best friends and partners, Jason and Landon Bennett. Ever since Landon’s twin, Levi, died in a hazing incident they’
d been unable to prevent, Tanner had lost his ability, what little he’d had, to trust others. And despite his years-long relationship with Jason and Landon, Tanner always felt like the outsider.
The troublemaker. The one who grew up as a have-not, unlike his friends, who, despite their emotional drama or problems, had financial stability and a close family throughout their lives. This gathering was proof of what Tanner lacked.
As they celebrated Jason and Faith’s wedding, Tanner stood with Landon, neither one of them with a date, both happy to keep to themselves.
“I have to admit I never thought Jason would settle down,” Landon said, tipping his head toward the man under discussion, who held his bride close as they danced.
“Agreed. But the minute he met Faith, he opened himself up to her.” Tanner didn’t want to allow anyone to pry him open. He might be a hothead, he might have a rough past, but he knew who he was and he knew better than to think a woman would accept him as is.
“Some would say love changes you for the better.” Landon shrugged and picked up the glass of soda he drank. None of the men overindulged in alcohol anymore. Not since Levi.
“And some would say love stinks.” Tanner chuckled at his own joke. “Now sex, on the other hand, that’s where it’s at.”
Jason joined them just as Tanner made his proclamation. “Really? That’s what you learned from me and Faith?”
“I learned not to pick up women on the side of the road,” Tanner said, grinning at his friend. He really was happy for Jason, even if the man’s future wasn’t something Tanner wanted for himself. “Congratulations,” he said seriously. “I wish you and Faith all the best.”
“Same,” Landon said.
Jason nodded his appreciation. “And I wish you two would find the right women to fill that empty hole you carry inside you.”
“Not happening,” Landon said.
“Agreed.” Tanner had his two best friends and himself to rely on. He didn’t need anything more. Or anyone.
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He’s the bad boy her mother warned her about.
The guy who makes her crave all the naughty things a good girl shouldn’t want.
Tanner Grayson is a man outrunning the demons of his past and has the rap sheet to prove it. The only thing keeping old anger in check and him on the straight and narrow are the men he calls brothers and the club he calls home. He has no business taking the sexy woman doing shots in his club upstairs to his bed.
They never should have crossed paths. But when Assistant District Attorney Scarlett Davis lays eyes on the hot as sin club owner, she decides he’s the birthday present she wants to unwrap at the end of the evening.
He tells himself it’s one night. She convinces herself she deserves a short break from her latest case. But one night isn’t enough and soon these two opposites are in deeper than they ever planned.
When Scarlett’s case collides with Tanner’s past, she sees the dangerous man he’s hidden beneath the cool veneer he presents to the world. Can she accept him for who he is? Or will she run from the bad boy who makes her feel so good?
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About the Author
Carly Phillips is the N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of over 50 sexy contemporary romance novels featuring hot men, strong women and the emotionally compelling stories her readers have come to expect and love. Carly’s career spans over a decade and a half with various New York publishing houses, and she is now an Indie author who runs her own business and loves every exciting minute of her publishing journey. Carly is happily married to her college sweetheart, the mother of two nearly adult daughters and three crazy dogs (two wheaten terriers and one mutant Havanese) who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. Carly loves social media and is always around to interact with her readers. You can find out more about Carly at www.carlyphillips.com.
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