Loving My SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 10) (29 page)

“Maybe our daughter
will like yellow. Or the girl our son falls in love with will.”

“Daughter? Son? Are
you? Are we?”

“No,” I tell him
with a laugh. “I’d have to stop my birth control before that
could happen.”

“Will you? I mean, do
you want to?”

“I want to have your
baby more than I want to do most anything else.”

“I can’t even tell
you what the thought of having my baby growing inside of you does to
me.”

“I’ll tell Audrey I
want to stop my medication today when I got to the office.”

“You’re not going
to the office. It’s your birthday.”

“I work on birthday
almost every year, Matt.”

“Not anymore. You
need to be pampered and spoiled on your birthday.”

“What if I just want
to be fucked by my husband while he feeds me cake.”

“Oh, that will
happen. That will
definitely
happen. Later. The girls will be by soon, and I’ll see you later.”

“You can’t take the
day off?” I ask. I’m totally pouting, and I don’t even care.

“No. I have a lot to
do today. And you need a girls’ day. Have fun, and I’ll rock your
world later. I promise.”

“I’m going to hold
you to that.”

“I certainly hope
so.”

He kisses me long
enough for us both to be breathless, and then leaves me to my
breakfast, and my little gift. I eat all of the food, and then pull a
silver frame out of the bag. It’s empty, but there’s a post-it
note on it.

This is for our real
wedding picture. I can’t wait to marry you again.

Your Matteo

After I finish
swooning, I jump in the shower. I hate showering alone now that I
have Matt with me every morning, but I can deal for one day. Maybe.
I’ve just thrown on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt when I hear my
front door open.

“We’re here,”
Stella yells.

“Be right down,” I
yell back.

I slide my feet into a
pair of Toms and bound down the stairs to find my living room filled
with stars hanging from the ceiling. There are hundreds of them in
all shapes and sizes, all of them sparkling. I look around at them in
wonder.

“How?”

“I needed to kiss you
under the light of a thousand stars,” Matt says, rephrasing one of
my favorite lines from my favorite Ed Sheeran song. He pulls me into
his arms and kisses me as my friends cheer.

“I thought you had to
work.”

“I do, but my wife
deserves all the romance she can stand.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank him
yet. He’s not done,” Jade tells me with a smirk.

“There’s more? What
more could there be?”

“You’ll see. Bye
ladies. Take care of my woman today and make sure she relaxes,
please.”

“Okay, what’s going
on?” I ask, turning to the assembled women. All of the Society is
here, along with Alex, Jessica, Yasmin, Chloe, Candi, Olivia, and
Quinn.

“Right now you’re
going to show us your new wedding ring, and then we’re taking over
a spa. Massages, facials, and complete relaxation. Exactly what we
all need, courtesy of Matt,” Candi tells me.

“That sounds
heavenly,” I say, holding out my hand so they can all look.

Almost everyone in this
room has a ring that eclipses mine in size, but they still gush over
the band on my finger, because they know my ring fits me exactly as
theirs fits them. I had the big rock, in fact I still technically
have it, but this band is something I’m more comfortable wearing.
Matt knew that, and so do my friends.

The next few hours are
some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. We can’t all fit in
every room, but I have time with every one of my friends. We don’t
normally have time to all go out like this together, but I make a
mental note to schedule something like this for us at least once a
month. With the new girls coming on, we’ll have more work, but we
also need our “friend” time.

We have lunch at CRAVE
at the Downtown Summerlin shopping center, and hit up Lush, because
Ellie has gotten us all addicted to their bath stuff. Yasmin asks us
if we want to see what’s new at the Las Vegas Literacy Project, the
non-profit she runs with Caleb’s uncle. The offices and warehouse
are here, so we all agree.

Once we walk in, I
realize we aren’t here for a tour. There are people running around,
and setting things up in their large warehouse. From what I can see,
the place is being turned into a giant boat house. And then it hits
me. A boat house.

“Matt.”

“Yes, Matt. Your
dress is upstairs,” Quinn tells me.

I follow them all up
the wide circular staircase, and into Yasmin’s office, which has
been turned into a dressing room. The racks are full of ball gowns,
and there’s lighted vanities along one wall. I walk straight for
the dress that I know is mine. The top has a crossover, navy blue,
off the shoulder neckline, while the bottom looks like a storm with
clouds of navy blue and grey. The design of the bottom is large,
asymmetrical ruffles that remind me of the dress I was wearing the
night I met Matt. I know it’s no coincidence. I also know Quinn
made this dress just for me.

“Thank you, Quinn.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I have shoes for
you, but no jewelry. I figured your two rings are all you’d want to
wear,” Stella tells me.

“You know me well,
but there is something else I want to wear. It’s at home, though,”
I say, giving her a hug.

“I’ll have Kace
bring it.”

“Thanks.”

Once we’re all
dressed, and have done each other’s hair and makeup, everyone
starts to leave the room. Jane, Alex, and Jessica are the last ones
left with me. The other Corrigan women smile at me, and I smile back.

“He loves you,”
Jessica tells me. “I know he’s been an ass for all of these
years, but he won’t act like that ever again.”

“I know.”

Next, it’s Alex’s
turn. “The Corrigan boys are hard to love, Reina. Miles and I had
our own problems, but it was more than worth it once we worked it all
out.”

“I know that too.”

“I’m so sorry that
you felt like you weren’t good enough for so long. I should’ve
seen it, but I was too worried about him and how destructive he was
being. You’ve always been so strong that I never gave you the
chance you needed to be weak,” Jane tells me.

“Strong? I let him
hurt me over and over again, and never walked away. How was that
being strong?”

“You were fighting
for your love. And you may have been hurt, but you stood up for
yourself when he went too far,” she reminds me.

“I stood up for
myself, and then jumped right back into bed with him when he came
calling.”

“Because your heart
knew he was yours. No matter what he did, all of us knew he belonged
to you. He could deny it all he wanted, but he could never truly hide
it.”

“I didn’t know. I
tried to believe that he loved me. I had faith…”

Oh wow, I did. I had
faith in Matt’s love for me. When I thought I had lost my faith in
everything, I really hadn’t. I send up a silent prayer, thanking
God once again for carrying me through those times.

“Yes, you did. And I
know you still do. We’re going to leave you now. When you’re
ready to come down, Matt will be waiting at the bottom of the stairs
for you,” Jessica tells me.

They leave, and I stand
there for a few minutes with my eyes closed, thinking about how my
dreams are finally coming true. Matt is finally giving himself fully
to me, and I finally realize that I’m enough for him, and for me.
He’s working through what he did when he was younger, and I’m
reclaiming my faith. We’re going to try and have a baby, and get
married in a way that both of us want this time. It’s like Karma
saved it all up for us, and now we’re getting our happy ending. I,
for one, couldn’t be happier.

I walk out and stand at
the top of the stairs. There he is, my Matteo, waiting for me as I
walk down the stairs to him. We’re both smiling like a couple of
teenagers on their first date. When I get to the bottom, he hands me
a small bouquet.

“I remembered the
flowers for your birthday this time. And you’re wearing the
bracelet…from the day I pretended not to know what you liked.”

I lift up my wrist. “I
am. I never planned on wearing it, but I thought it would be perfect
for tonight.”

“I hated that I did
that to you. I always hurt you.”

“In the past, you
hurt me. You’re not hurting me now. You recreated the boat house.”

“Spending your
birthday with you was one of the best days of my life.”

“For me, too.”

“Even without the
flowers?”

“You had the music,
and candles. They look a little safer in here, I must say,” I tease
him as we walk in. “I don’t think you’ll set the place on fire
if you kiss me passionately.”

“We should try it,
just to make sure.”

He kisses me hard,
until the clapping starts. It’s too easy to forget that there are
other people around when we’re together. We both laugh as Matt
flips off his friends. He leads me to the empty dance floor as I
raise an eyebrow.

“There’s no music.”

“Wait for it, Rei.”

All of a sudden, the
curtain in front of us is dropped, and I nearly faint as my mouth
falls open. “Oh my God. John Michael Montgomery, and is that?”

“All-4-One? Yes.”

“How?”

“We danced to it at
least ten times that night. It was your favorite song,” he reminds
me as they all launch into their hit song, “I Can Love You Like
That.”

“I know. I loved it
back then, but now you’re showing me that it’s true,” I say as
we move to the music. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.
Thank you for this, and for winning the war for us. I love you,
Matteo.”

“I love you, too. I
didn’t win the war,
we
won it together. And just in case you didn’t already know, I’d do
anything for you, My Beautiful Queen.”

Coming in November 2016:
Society Weddings

Behind every
great spy is the sexy man who loves her...

The women of the
Society invite you to join them as they finally walk down the aisle.
Whether it's the first or second time they're saying "I Do"
to the man they love, these weddings are the ones they've always
dreamed of.

Planning a
mission and planning a wedding are two different things...

You've shared
their struggles, triumphs, and SECRETS, and now it's time to share
the celebrations of their love. Mishaps, murders, misunderstandings,
and general mayhem will ensue before they get their happily ever
after, but that will make them even more special.

Ten female
spies + ten equally strong men = ten weddings full of romance,
weapons, tears, and lots of sexy times. RSVP at your own risk.

Coming in January 2016:
Society Girls: Sierra

When Sierra
Taylor’s brother, Zack, fell in love with a spy from the Society,
she wished she could join the secret group. Knowing that wasn’t an
option, she went back to work at the auction house in her hometown.
Now, with Reina Corrigan running things, the Society has recruited
her as a trainee. She’s not worried about passing the classes on
etiquette, technology, or even hand to hand combat. It’s mastering
languages that’s giving her a hard time. Or at least one language
in particular: Portuguese. The language that her brother’s
infuriating friend can help her with—at a price she knows she
shouldn’t want to pay.

Joel Cruz was born
in Brazil, but has lived in the States for most of his life. The son
of diplomats, he found his calling when he first picked up a baseball
bat. He also found himself surrounded by plenty of women willing to
be on his arm in public, and in his bed at night. Sierra Taylor is
one of the only women who has ever said no to him. Unfortunately for
her, she needs his help, and in order to receive it, she’ll have to
say yes. To everything—and anything—he wants from her.

Training in the
Society is pass or fail, and failure is not an option Sierra’s
willing to consider. Can she master the language, while keeping the
player out of her heart? Or will she strike out on both counts, and
lose it all?

Dominique,
you live away from home, but you’re always with me. Seeing you be
the strong, and compassionate woman you’ve become inspires me every
day. I love you!

Gabi,
thanks for telling me I’d be lame if I didn’t write another
series, which made me come up with this one. You are so amazing, and
we have so much fun together. I love you!

Helen,
my covers are so beautiful, and I’m glad we were thrown together. I
have so much fun talking with you, and working with you. We had that
fun day in Cardiff that Reina experienced as well (although she got
two days). I can’t wait to see you again in 2016!

Jesse,
thanks for always making the inside of my books look beautiful! I
look forward to keeping you busy for quite some time!

Ally,
thanks for editing the books, and calling me out when I try to be too
nice. Sorry I haven’t broken anyone up for you yet (and I’m not
going to)!

Mallory,
thanks for reading this book one chapter at a time as I wrote it to
make sure all of it was flowing okay!

Jessica,
Vicki, Sabrina, Aqeelah, and Alex, thanks for reading this one early
and loving it!

To
all my ladies (and man) in my Friends of the Society group, thanks
for your input and feedback on everything, and for loving the books!
You guys are the best!

To
my readers, THANK YOU for loving the books, and talking about them. I
don’t do any promotion, but I still sell a good amount of books
every month. I know that’s because of all of you who talk about
them. You’re the best, and I love hearing from you!