by Anna Brooks
Brinley turns around and smiles, wet eyes finding mine. “Good. Because I’m pregnant.” She reaches in her back pocket and then holds out a little stick, and I look at the plus sign, then back to her gorgeous face.
I can actually feel my heart pound so ferociously that the blood thickens in my veins. She’s pregnant.
My mouth opens and closes as shock, awe, and elation make me speechless. She wraps her arms around my neck and pushes up, kissing the underside of my jaw.
“Darlin’…”
“Will you take me to run an errand?”
I give my head a little shake as if to clear some of the fog. How can she want to run errands right now?
“I want to go to the tattoo shop.”
“Why?”
She holds her left hand up, the 11 right in my face. “So I can add a couple of zeros to this.”
My lips curve up into a smile that makes my eyes narrow. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“I know you will.”
I kiss the tip of her nose. “I’ll do anything for you. Give you everything. Be anyone.”
She holds my face, her thumbs rubbing the stubble on my jaw. “I know you will, Noble. You love me almost as much as I love you.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Why is that?”
“Because there is absolutely nobody on the planet, in the entirety of history, anybody who has or will ever take a breath of air who loves another person as much as I love you. Even in death, my soul will find yours, and I’ll love you like that forever.”
Start the series with Royce and Paisley’s story here: Surface
Notes and stuff.
Well, I hope you enjoyed Noble and Brinley’s story! This book was definitely a labor of love, but Noble was stubborn and decided he needed lots of time before he allowed himself to be happy. I think Roam is one of the truest love stories I’ve ever written and I couldn’t be happier with Noble and Brinley’s journey.
I have had so much fun writing this series and getting to know all of these characters. That being said; this is the last book in the Guarding Her series… but it will not be the last story from the men from Royal Ace security.
The next book set to release is the first in a brand-new Rock Star series. If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know that the boys from Reason to Ruin have been dying to have their stories told, so they’re up next. Be on the lookout for them!
Until then, keep scrolling to find a couple of excerpts to discover your next book boyfriend from me!
Love,
Anna
Other Books by Anna
It’s Kind Of Personal Series
Make Me Forget
Show Me How
Prove Me Right
Tell Me When
Remember Me Now
Give Me This
It’s Kind of Personal Series Box Set
Pleasant Valley Series
Fixing Fate
Love, Me
Steady
Pleasant Valley Box Set
Standalones
Not Your Hero
Easy Sacrifice
Bulletproof Butterfly
Heartbreaker
Guarding Her Series
Surface
Drift
Edge
Closer
AUDIO:
It’s Kind Of Personal Series
Make Me Forget
Show Me How
Prove Me Right
Tell Me When
Remember Me Now
Give Me This
Pleasant Valley Series
Fixing Fate
Love, Me
Steady
Standalones
Not Your Hero
Easy Sacrifice
Bulletproof Butterfly
For bonus scenes, exclusive content, a freebie, and more, sign up for Anna’s mailing list
Preview of the Pleasant Valley series
To see where Erik and Polly met, enjoy this preview and start the Pleasant Valley series here.
The driver’s side window on the crapper car Richard bought me is rolled down even though there is a chill in the air. I sit across the street from my house—well, what was my house—as a bunch of people walk in and out of it. Some carrying furniture, some with suits, some with cleaning supplies.
This is it. I’ve officially been kicked out. The final chapter on that place is definitively finished. I start the loud engine and roll the window up then drive away. I was lucky enough to score a super cheap apartment above the art studio downtown. Rent is affordable since it includes the utilities, and its proximity to The Lunchbox is a bonus. That was a miracle to find. It’s small—a studio—but it’s mine. I’ve never had anything that’s just mine. Only mine.
Now, it’s time to interview for another job to afford said apartment plus save money for the future. When I arrive in front of the nightclub, I look in the rearview mirror, realizing it’s probably going to fall off any day now. Instead of angling it own, I push myself up to avoid the possibility of it breaking. I wonder if the guy I have an interview with will notice how empty my eyes are. How for the past few years they actually sparkled a little, but now that I’m back to being alone, they’re dull. I wonder if he’ll notice how sad I really am.
I take a moment to feel sorry for myself then give my head a shake, my blonde hair moving freely with it. My fingers shake slightly as I take the key out of the ignition, but when I get out of the car and begin walking to the door, the nerves go away.
To get this job, I need to be confident. I have to show them I can do this. That I can handle it. I need this job. I don’t want to quit the diner, so I need something in the evening, and this is perfect.
The heavy door makes my bicep burn when I pull it open. Before I’m fully into the building, a very large, very attractive, and very familiar man waves at me. “Holy shit. You’re the Polly coming in to interview?”
“That’d be me.” I smile and walk closer to Brad. He used to be a regular at the diner. His partner, Kennedy, is Rayne’s best friend.
“I didn’t put two and two together.” He stands from the booth he’s in and gives me a hug. “Do you want something to drink?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
He motions to the booth he just vacated, and I slide in opposite him. “You just made my day so much easier.”
It’s not often that I’m given a compliment like that, so naturally, my lips curve up in a smile. “Oh, yeah? How’s that?”
“I can cancel all my other interviews.”
My jaw drops, but I quickly close it and gulp, afraid to say something stupid.
“You want the job, right?”
“Yes. I do; I’ve just never waitressed at a bar before.”
“I know you, Polly. I know you’re a hard worker, and you’re friendly but not too friendly where you don’t take care of your tables. Rayne always talks about how lucky they are to have such a responsible and trustworthy employee. It’s perfect.” He shakes his head and takes a sip of his water. “I just had to fire an employee who had been pocketing money for like, three months before I caught on.”
“Oh no, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. I’m more pissed than anything.”
Being taken advantage of really does suck. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience. “I understand that.”
“Anyway.” He shakes his head. “Let me tell you about the job, okay?”
“Sure.”
“I need a cocktail waitress for my VIP section. It’s only open Friday and Saturday nights, but if you’d like to pick up more shifts, I can arrange that. It’d be nice to have someone else who can fill in at the bar when one of the guys is sick or on vacation.”
“Oh, umm, I’ve never bartended before, either. I don’t know if I’d be any good.”
He waves me off. “You’d be fine. But that’s down the road. I don’t even know if having just you in the VIP will be enough.
I may have to hire someone else, too. But I’m sure you can handle it on your own at least for a little while until we figure it out.”
I laugh at his confidence in me.
“So when do you want to start? I don’t need references since—shit. Are you quitting the diner? Rayne will kill me if I steal you.”
“No! I’m not quitting. I just need some more hours than what she can offer is all.” The thought to quit crossed my mind once, but then I quickly shut it down. I really like it there. It’s such a good atmosphere and easy work; I feel like I’m hanging out with friends most of the time. It’s my happy place. Plus, I never know who will come in, and since a lot of business people dine there, I may meet someone beneficial.
“Okay, good. I’d need you to come in around six or seven then stay until close. We usually don’t get out of here until about three. If that’s too much, I—”
“It’s fine. I can do it.” That’s a lot of tip money, so I’d never turn it down.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, definitely.”
“Perfect. Do you want to start tomorrow?”
My eyes widen, and I stutter, not expecting to get the job that fast. Or at all, honestly.
“You don’t have to,” he quickly adds.
“No, I will. I want to. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“Great. Here.” He hands me a stack of papers. “Fill these out and bring them back with you tomorrow.”
I take the papers and stand then follow him to the door. “Oh, I forgot to ask. Is there a dress code?”
“No. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. The only thing I ask is that you don’t dress too provocatively.”
I do a quick mental inventory of my outfits, mainly jeans and t-shirts but also some cute skirts, and nod. I’ll be able to make it work. “Okay. See you tomorrow. And thanks, Brad.”
He pushes the door open for me, the brightness making us both squint. “See ya tomorrow.”
I turn my head to glance at him over my shoulder. “Yes, definitely. Thank you.”
“Polly!” He calls my name, but between that and the sunlight blinding me, I don’t see it. I don’t see him. I crash into a man; although a tree trunk seems more appropriate to describe what this guy is. Hard, wide, tall.
“Whoa.” His large hands wrap around my arms to prevent me from falling, which is proven more difficult as the deep timbre of his voice makes my knees weak.
I look up past his muscular chest—ready to burst under a tight gray t-shirt—and into a set of eyes that take my breath away. They’re beautiful, and from this angle, I can’t tell if they’re green or brown, or maybe amber, like honey. As they move over my face, an aura of sedation surrounds me. Calm. Warm. Safe.
His chest rises and falls against mine, and his arms flex around me. The security I feel at this moment weigh my lids down, and I soak up every single second of it as the sun warms me.
“Are you okay, Polly?” Brad’s words are muffled in my head, but when he raises his voice, it snaps me out of my embarrassing and inappropriate response. The man’s throat rumbles, and those strong arms slowly lower as he steps back.
I clear my throat. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Brad nods at the man, whose fingers slide across my lower back as he walks away and into the bar. How is a single touch so damn powerful? I can’t help but stare at him, his thick thighs, and confident stride. Damn. I bite my lip as he disappears inside the building.
What was that? Definitely something… most definitely someone I’ve never experienced before. I don’t react to men that way. I never have. I’m not sure what to make of it, but Brad’s chuckle forces me to focus on the now and not the man. “Sorry.” I forgot Brad was here, and now I’m even more embarrassed he saw me daydreaming.
“It’s all good. I’ll see you tomorrow, Polly.”
I duck my head and scurry to my car. He waits until I get in and drive away before he begins taking steps backward toward the bar. I wave as I pass him and smile the whole way back to my apartment. Things are finally looking up for me.
Get Pleasant Valley Box Set now!
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Preview of Bulletproof Butterfly
Check out reader favorite, Bulletproof Butterfly:
IT’S OVER. ALL OF IT.
It’s finally over.
I can do what I’ve been waiting over a thousand days to do.
The ride across the country has been smooth. Calming, almost. As if closing the distance made time disappear. The years apart vanished, and the future emerged with a vengeance. A future I’d so tirelessly fought to protect because I knew it wasn’t guaranteed.
I lean on the railing of the lookout, taking just a second before I finish my journey back to her. I marvel at how damn big Mt. Rainer is. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances that I finally saw it.
It’s kind of crazy that here I am, at thirty-three years old, seeing the Pacific Northwest for the first time. I was born and raised in Chicago, so up until this point, I’d never even known how cool this part of the country was.
“Excuse me.” A woman standing next to me wearing a wide brim hat and a fanny pack taps my shoulder. “Could you take our picture, please?”
“Sure.” I drop my foot from the railing and snap a few pictures of her family with the mountain as a background.
She scrolls through them before looking back up at me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It’s really pretty, isn’t it?”
I glance back over her head at the snow-capped mountain. “It’s amazing. Never seen anything like it before.”
“First time here?”
“It is.”
Her little boy, probably about four years old, tugs on her hand. She picks him up and wipes some dirt off his nose. “We come here every year because there’s so much to do, and the kids love seeing the mountains. What brings you to Washington?”
How do I answer that? It’s too hard to explain, and I can’t find words adequate enough. I’m not just here to get my girlfriend back. I’m here to get my life back. So I throw out,
“Visiting,” to placate her.
“Well, have fun.” She walks away, and I head back to my vehicle as well.
Fun.
This is not going to be fun. Nothing about what’s happened the past few years to Livvie and me has been fun.
It’s been near impossible. It’s been overwhelming. At times, even hopeless. But not anymore. Right now, it’s obtainable. It’s close… she’s so close.
When I turn the key, my blood pumps as furiously as the pistons in my 355-horsepower engine. This is it. Last stop before I get to see her again.
Touch her.
Hold her.
When I thought about this day, I was on a plane. Maybe even a chartered jet. Whatever would get me to her the fastest. I certainly wasn’t planning to take four days to drive. But I needed it. I had to regain my footing. I’ve been so close to falling for so long that I almost forgot what it was like to be upright.
So I drove two thousand miles, and in that time, I got my shit together. Because she’s been away from me for three years. One thousand and ninety-five days of feeling empty and alone. Twenty-six thousand, two hundred and eighty hours of time without her that I will never get back.
I’ve been on a tear of destruction since the moment Marco’s name fell from her lips, and I needed to tamp that shit down. I need to remember that the threat is gone, and she’s safe.
I had to prepare myself for the possibility she could still hate me. God. Her screaming those words at me was the worst thing I’d ever experienced. Seeing the sheer contempt in her eyes as she tried to grab me but kick me at the same time haunts my damn dreams.
She was rightfully pissed. It was me—my job—that put her in danger in the first place.
Being a good guy turned me into a villa
in in her eyes. I was the reason she had to disappear from everything she’d ever known. Her picture-perfect family. Her job. Her man, who she’d told every secret, every dream, every fantasy to… She was forced to leave me.
I quickly close the distance between us and every single thing inside me tightens in anticipation. A buzzing sounds against my eardrums, echoing and making them throb. My jaw unclenches, the noise pops, and the faint ringing fades until it’s disappeared.
My GPS awards me for arriving at my destination, and I stop at the curb but refuse to jump out. My intensity will do nothing but scare her, so I force myself to take a beat.
As I sit here in my Tahoe, windows tinted and obscuring me from the outside, I remind myself the last time she saw me, I wasn’t the man she fell in love with. I was a savage.
My sole focus was revenge. Elimination. Nobody, but nobody, threatens the woman I love. And I had to fix it.
I knew she wouldn’t understand why I did what I did, but it was the only option.
She needed to be safe.
And she has been.
I’m witness to it this very moment. My damn chest is so heavy I can barely breathe and a bead of sweat drips down the side of my face. The leather steering wheel beneath my fingers burns from how tightly I’m gripping it.
She’s standing on the sidewalk talking to a guy. Not the one I saw in the photos, but a different one. When she sees me for the first time, I don’t want anybody else around, so I wait… which seems like the only fucking thing I’ve been doing.
Waiting for Marco to mess up, waiting for a lead… waiting to bring my other half home so I can be whole again.
Her hair… Her beautiful, silky long hair isn’t as dark and certainly isn’t as long. It’s cut short, a sharp angle from the back of her neck to just past her chin in front with bangs that nearly cover her eyes. She’s lost weight, too. I have always loved every single thing about her, including her curves, so seeing her tiny waist pisses me off. The whole situation pisses me off.