Property Of (34 page)

“I love the taste of you,” Dallas moaned as he ran his tongue up the valley between my breasts only to take my mouth again, while his rhythmic thrusts built a fire inside me. His hips pounding at a furious pace, he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up until I was straddling his thighs. Mouth-to-mouth, chest-to-chest, our arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders and we pushed and pulled to a frantic rhythm. Two hearts beat in unison, climbing to that place that threw you off violently, only to burst free in exquisite bliss. I threw my head back as my release shot fast and beautiful through my soul, unleashing the calm and peacefulness I always felt in his arms.

“Marry me,” Dallas whispered in my ear seconds after we both cried out, the smell of sex and sweat curling around us like a cocoon.

“What?” I asked breathlessly as my eyes shot to his.

With Dallas still buried deep inside of me, he held onto my waist as he flipped to his back, taking me with him until I was lying on his chest. I lifted up, bracing my arms on his chest as my hair fell around his in a veil. His honey-colored eyes blazed with emotion as he cupped my face with both hands before taking my mouth again in a life-altering kiss.

“I told you once that I wanted to own that part of you that you’ve never given away, that part that can only be mine,” Dallas whispered against my lips when he finished kissing me. “What I didn’t tell you was that I wanted you to own that part of me, I’d never given away that part that can only belong to you. You own it now and I don’t want it back.”

A knot formed in my throat as he spoke, choking the sob that wanted to breach my lips.

“You never gave that piece to Brynne?”

“Never. I was too young to know she wasn’t the one I should have waited for. When you ran into me at the coffee house, my soul stood up and took notice. I’d been waiting for you to come along; I just didn’t know it until you smiled at me.”

“I’ve been waiting for you, too,” I cried, unable to stop the flood that poured down my face.

“Marry me, Nicola, and I’ll spend the rest of my life loving and protecting you,” Dallas asked again.

Choked by feelings I’d never felt in my life, I couldn’t answer, so I nodded emphatically and slammed my mouth over his until he took over, rolling me to my back. His cock hardened while still inside me, so I wrapped my legs around his waist and he began sealing our engagement with slow, tender thrusts.

Nine months later, the first Saturday in April

Beer in hand, Dallas flipped hamburgers as the girls and I sat around my patio table catching up. Kasey’s boys were chasing Snape and Simi while Bo and Finn talked with my parents. Bill and his wife June rounded out my monthly barbecue; the last one I’d host as a single woman.

Dallas had pushed for a short engagement, but my mother’s wide eyes and fake tears over her only daughter not having a huge fairytale wedding, complete with white doves and a horse drawn carriage, shut him up. I, for one, didn’t care if we went to the justice of the peace or Vegas for a quickie ceremony, since I finally had my own real-life storybook hero. However, I will admit, walking down the aisle in a beautiful white gown while Dallas waited for me to take our vows did hold some appeal.

It had been just over a year since Micah Shockley came into our lives and a day doesn’t go by that we don’t think about Janeane and all that she’d missed. My upcoming wedding should have been a joyous occasion, but a part of me couldn’t help thinking about the fact that I should have had four bridesmaids instead of three.

The girls and I still meet once a week at Gypsy’s, even though it’s a reminder of how we lost our dear friend. But it’s also a way to keep her memory alive, since on those days I brainstorm with the girls about my current WIP. I went back to writing historical romance; my taste for writing a contemporary novel died when Janeane did. My current book, due to release in three months, is about a young English maiden named Janeane who meets a golden-eyed Highlander named Duglas, pronounced Doolas. They fall deeply in love and, of course, live happily ever after. I may have given up my contemporary novel, but I hadn’t given up using Dallas as one of my heroes. In addition, if I do say so myself, it’s my best work to date for obvious reasons. The hero, you see, saves the maiden from certain death.

The past year had been an exercise in adjusting. Such as adjusting to life with a bossy male, who wants to know your every move because he still has nightmares about the night you were stabbed. Or adjusting to your best friend dating your brother (yes, I get phone calls at midnight, hearing what an ass he is) leaving his twin to fend for himself, which meant he spent all his time at my house. But those adjustments came with deep, abiding passion and love that never ceased to amaze me. Now all I had to do was marry my warlord and live happily ever after.

“So you’re telling us that Dallas showed up at the photo shoot and blew his top?” Kasey laughed.

Glancing at my betrothed, I giggled when I thought about it.

“Yep, it may have had something to do with the kilt. Picture it ladies, the fair-haired maiden was overseeing the photo shoot of her current book ‘Highlander’s Gift.’”

“Why are you talking in third person?” Angela asked.

“Just go with it for now; I always do when this happens,” I explained.

“Do you talk in third person a lot?” June laughed, looking around the table at my friends.

“No, I think in third person,” I huffed, “do you want to hear this or not?”

“By all means, don’t keep us in suspense.”

Looking back at Dallas before I finished, I watched as he took a pull from his beer. Sensing I was looking at him, his eyes drifted to mine and then narrowed.

“What?” he asked a little warily.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about kilts.”

Shaking his head slowly, he turned his back on us mumbling, “Hell hasn’t frozen over yet.”

Laughing at the brooding brute, I turned back to the girls and started back with my tale.

“Where was I?”

“The fair-haired maiden was ogling the male model during the photo shoot,” June threw out.

“Right, so imagine if you will, for the cover of her new book, the fair-haired maiden needed a man who was tall, broad, and very well-built. He had to be devastatingly handsome like her warlord and, of course, have great legs to pull off a kilt. Therefore, she hired a dark and dangerous looking fake warlord to grace the cover of her new book. As you can imagine, she would need photos with the handsome warrior to put on her Facebook page so her readers could appreciate her future—”

“This is where Dallas comes in I bet,” Kristina laughed.

“Exactly, so the fair-haired maiden was posing with the dark and dangerous fake warlord, just having a bit of fun.”

“How much fun?” June asked with a grin.

“I believe he was holding her hair back seductively like he was going to kiss her,” I explained.

“Oh, Lord,” Kasey laughed.

“Hot,” Angela smiled.

“Can I come to the next photo shoot?” Kristina begged.

“I’ve heard this story already,” June interjected, “according to Bill he had his hand on your ass.”

“It’s possible, but I was in a period gown wearing a corset so I was concentrating on breathing.”

“Is that when Dallas walked in?” Kristina asked.

“Wait for it, Kris. So the fake warlord was leaning in like he was supposed to, holding his mouth about an inch away from hers, so it gave the appearance of a kiss.”

“Oh, Lord,” Kasey mumbled.

“Way hot,” Angela agreed.

“Seriously, I want to go to the next photo shoot,” Kristina begged louder which drew Dallas’ attention.

“She’s not going to the next photo shoot,” Dallas growled.

Rolling my eyes, I leaned in further and tried to finish the tale without interruption from my dark and dangerous fiancé.

“Ignore him, I do,” I laughed. “Anyway, there she was holding her pose while well over six feet of hard muscles held her tightly for the camera, when all of a sudden she heard a deep voice growl, ‘You wanna get your hand off my woman’s ass?’”

“Oh, Lord,” Kasey sighed.

“Protecting his golden pussy,” Angela laughed.

“You have all the fun,” Kristina groused.

“CAUSING,” I broke in loudly so I could finish the story, “the fair-haired maiden to jump. I’ll remind you that the dark and dangerous looking fake warlord slash model had his lips a hairbreadth away from hers.”

“You kissed him?” Kristina gasped.

“Technically, it was more of a lip bump, but try explaining that to Dallas.”

“No wonder he won’t let you go to another photo shoot,” June mumbled looking back at Dallas.

“I tried explaining to him if he’d just posed for the cover in the first damn place none of it would have happened.”

“Oh, yeah, he would have been perfect for the cover, why didn’t he?” Kasey asked.

“According to him, he’ll do it when hell freezes over,” I answered with a shrug.

“So what happened when you kiss “bumped” the guy?” June inquired.

Smiling, I leaned in and whispered, “He may have looked like a warlord, but when Dallas lunged at him ready to rip his head off, he pulled me in front of him to protect himself from Dallas.”

“No way,” all four gasped in unison.

“WAY!” I confirmed.

***

“You gonna make it to the wedding?” Dallas asked Parker as he watched Nicola laugh with her friends.

“I’m stuck in Bethesda. The director pulled together a joint task force on The Harvest Killer. He’s hoping to get a jump on him before he starts killing again in the fall.”

“Your Harvest Killer makes Shockley look like a saint,” Dallas sighed.

“He’s a sadistic fuck, Vaughn. He hangs his victims in a field like scarecrows, even sews their eyes and mouths shut.”

“Jesus.”

“There’s no God involved with this one, he’s been sent straight from hell.”

“Right, so send him back,” Dallas growled.

“I will, with extreme prejudice,” Parker vowed.

“Before we hang up, answer me something, Parker. I asked you once why you pushed my buttons that night at the restaurant. You and I both know you were testing me for a reason and I want to know why.”

“I wanted to see your reaction.”

“I get that, but why?”

“You know Shockley hacked the firewall, but what I never told you was that he used your ID to get through.”

“. . . Are you telling me he concealed his identity by hiding behind me,” Dallas seethed . . . “Jesus, why the hell didn’t you arrest me?”

“I go with my gut. When I met you I knew instinctively you were being set up, but I had to be sure.”

“If you were so sure then why did you push my buttons that night?”

“Because after an hour with your future wife, I knew Nicola deserved a man who would fight for her, and I wanted to make sure you were that man.”

“Christ,” Dallas chuckled, looking at Nicola.

She was talking to her brothers now, laughing, her head tilted back as the sun kissed her hair, casting it into a shimmering veil of gold. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever met and she belonged to him. He didn’t know what fates deemed him worthy of such a woman, but he’d spend the rest of his life making sure she knew how lucky he was.

“You still there?” Parker asked down the line.

“Yeah, just looking at my wife.”

“Future wife,” Parker replied.

“Nope, according to Nicola, in medieval Scotland if you agreed to marry someone and then followed it with sex you were considered married.”

“So the wedding in two weeks is just—”

“A formality, Parker, she’s mine in every way that matters now.”

Dallas ended the call abruptly and moved toward his wife. When he reached her, he turned her around, bent at the waist, and threw her over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Nicola asked calmly as he stalked through their house and out to the driveway.

“Exercising my husbandly rights.”

“Dallas we have a house full of people,” she sighed.

“We’re going for a ride on my bike.”

“But we have a house full of people,” she repeated.

Dropping Nicola to her feet next to his bike, Dallas pulled out her helmet and stuck it on her head.

“Fair maiden, get your ass on my bike.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll take you into the bedroom where you’ll get my gentle hand and my strong back as I drive into you until you scream my name.”

“God, I love it when you quote my books. Now if you’d only wear a kilt,” Nicola whined.

“Babe, it’s not gonna happen.”

“But you promised, Dallas.”

Narrowing his eyes, he watched as her cupid lips pulled into a grin.

“You remember?”

“I remember everything. You pulled me from a dark pit, Dallas. I didn’t want to wake up because in the darkness, I was safe,” Nicola told him as tears started to fall. “Then I heard your voice telling me that you loved me and I knew that the safest place I could ever be was with you, so I woke up.”

“Jesus,” Dallas responded with a husky resonance as he leaned forward placing his forehead against hers. He was overwhelmed with possessiveness and the need to own every part of her, to the very depths of her soul. To claim her in every possible way. With conviction born out of a need as ancient as time, he growled, “I want my baby growing inside you. I don’t want to wait a year or two. I want it right fuckin’ now.”

A half-sob, half-laugh broke from Nicolas lips at his announcement. She’d wanted to keep her secret until after their wedding, but decided after that demand by her modern-day warlord, that this was the perfect moment. Staring into Dallas’ honey-colored eyes, she saw her own love mirrored in his own. So, with a glint in her eyes, and a tremble in her voice, she took his hand, placed it on her stomach, and then choked out, “He already is.”

And they all drank coffee and lived happily ever after.

The End.

About the Author

CP Smith resides in Oklahoma with her husband, five children, and four dogs.

You can reach Ms. Smith at: