RULES OF LOVE (A Navy SEALs Romance) (26 page)

“Damn it, Eddie.” Beau cursed and hurried around to help her as she staggered forward.

“I’m fine,” she said but clutched his arm anyway. She stared at the house currently under construction. “A house. You brought me to a house.”

“Yes, I did,” he said, laughter under his words.

“Whose house, Beau?”

“Whose do you think? Eddie,” he said and pulled her around to face him, “you are the most stubborn, pain-in-the-ass woman I’ve ever met. You drove me crazy from day one, and I know you’ll keep doing it, but I’m building that house for us.”

Eddie reached up to hold his face, bringing him down so she could kiss him. Her lips moved hungrily against his, and he wrapped her in his arms. She was warm and safe, despite everything they’d been through, how mad he made her, and how he would continue to drive her insane if they did stay together. Eddie didn’t give a damn. She wanted Beau, and she was not going to let him go.

“I’m going to take that as a yes, you’ll move in with me?”

Eddie sighed, leaning into his shoulder. “How could I ever resist?”

SIX MONTHS LATER

It was pitch black on the old dirt road that led to Beau’s house, and from the looks of the lightning coming from the mountains, rain wasn’t too far away. His bike roared faster as he rode with his eyes almost shut up the winding dirt road. The house loomed up out of the grove of trees which had been newly planted three months before, just as everything was being finished. He pulled into the garage as the first drops of rain tumbled out of the sky.

Beau closed the garage, noticing the old Chevy truck parked on the other side and wondered if she was home already. All the lights in the house were off, but something big and furry was there to greet him anyway.

“Hey, Admiral, yes, I see you. Get down, you big oaf,” he said quietly to the giant husky Eddie and he had adopted right after they’d started their lives together. “Where is she, huh?” Beau calmed the dog down, dropping all his stuff by the door. Admiral lay back down on her massive pillow, wagging her tail and wanting attention, but Beau headed up the stairs to the bedroom.

He jumped over the two steps that creaked and tread quietly down the hall after taking off his boots to carry them. Quietly, he opened the door and muffled his laughter as he walked into the room. Eddie’s duffel was dropped carelessly on the floor by the door, and she was passed out diagonally on the bed, her boots still on as well as her coat and hat.

Shaking his head, Beau removed his jacket and moved to the bed. He removed her boots, her hat, and her coat as she grumbled at him in her sleep. Finally, he picked her up and tucked her under the covers, positioning her in the right direction, and climbed in beside her. She automatically rolled over and snuggled into his chest, a smile spreading across her face.

He pulled her in close, shutting his eyes to go to sleep as well when she started talking, scaring the hell out of him. He jumped and almost fell off the bed.

“A bit jumpy tonight, are we?” Eddie said with a laugh, helping him get situated again.

“I swore you were asleep.”

“I was until you picked me up.”

“Well, I’m not sorry,” he said, smiling as he stroked her hair. “Now, what were you saying before I fell off the bed?”

“We have a wedding to go to in two days. I was just happy you got back in time so I wouldn’t be dateless.”

“Wedding?” Beau asked, confused before he remembered. “Oh yeah, those two are finally tying the knot.”

“They’re both finally home at the same time. So how was your trip—kill anybody important?”

“Nah, just another warlord in Central America. Nothing too exciting,” he mumbled. “You?”

“I gave some drug dealers a package.”

“Package?”

“Yeah, those drugs were to die for… They didn’t even see the bomb.”

Beau sighed. “What am I going to do with you… blowing people up?” he asked as he drifted off to sleep. Eddie kissed him on the forehead and settled down herself as they fell fast asleep, both happy to be home and sleeping in an actual bed again.

***

The wedding was extraordinary. Jackie and Gareth married at a park under a beautiful, white, lighted gazebo that sat on the edge of a lake. Eddie and Beau were with the rest of the small guest party on the lawn, tiki torches lighting the area as the sun set behind the gazebo just as Gareth wrapped his arm around Jackie’s waist and dipped her to kiss her. Everyone cheered and whistled as Gareth let her up, and they walked down the makeshift aisle.

The reception was immediately after, and once the toasts were spoken and the food eaten, the partying began. The bride and groom found Beau and Eddie, and the two couples caught up on everything, exchanging what details they could about the trips they’d returned from.

“Oh, by the way, we have something for you,” Eddie told Jackie while Beau pulled a manila envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Gareth.

“Do I really want to know what this is?” he asked, flipping the envelope over in his hands until Jackie finally yelled at him to just open the damn thing.

Beau and Eddie waited while they pulled out two plane tickets and a brochure along with other paperwork and just stared at it, their jaws dropped and eyes wide. Eddie laughed as she nudged Beau saying, “I think they like it.”

“How did you afford this?” Jackie finally said, still eyeing the brochure and plane tickets.

“Let’s just say it’s your grand reward for working your asses off for so long. Admiral says to have a good time, and he better get a postcard since he’s paying for half of it,” Beau said.

Jackie squeezed Eddie tightly. The present was two plane tickets to Hawaii, followed by a ten-day cruise, and two more plane tickets to New Zealand and another cruise around the Great Barrier Reef, something Jackie had wanted to do since she was out of high school.

“What am I going to do with you two?” Jackie said, wiping a tear from her eye as she gave Beau a hug and Eddie gave Gareth one.

“You could always tell Admiral we want to retire,” Beau said, making all of them laugh.
“How about you just bring me back something really nice and we’ll call it even?” Eddie told Jackie, who agreed.

“Speaking of nice things,” Gareth said, then coughed while elbowing Beau in the side. Beau glared back at him, shaking his head while Gareth continued coughing and elbowing him.

“What is with you two tonight?” Eddie asked. Beau shrugged until Jackie smacked him upside the head.

“Oh, just do it already!”

“What’s going on?”

Beau gave her a smoldering look that caused Eddie’s heart to beat as her hands shook with a sudden urge to pull him to her. She watched as he pulled a small box from his pants’ pocket, and to Eddie’s amazement, got down on one knee. The crowd around them quietened, much to Beau’s obvious annoyance. Everyone watched as he opened his mouth to speak, and Eddie’s eyes teared up.

“I was going to wait until we got home, but it looks like I don’t have a choice now. Eddie,” he said, taking her left hand in his and holding out the white-gold ring with a small, delicate diamond in it. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were the craziest woman I’d ever met.” Eddie laughed with everyone else. “I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to put up with you, but for some strange reason, I arrived at a point where I didn’t want to be without you. You make my day when I get to see you smile or get angry and throw a fit over something. And now that I’ve had you these six months, I want to be certain I never lose you. What do you say?”

He held the ring by her left ring finger, waiting anxiously for her answer. She chewed her bottom lip and nodded fiercely. Beau slipped the ring onto her finger—a perfect fit—then picked her up, kissing her over and over again to the applauding and cheers of the crowd.

Jackie ran to the main table, picked up her own bouquet, and handed it to Eddie while Gareth took the flower from his jacket and put it on Beau’s.

“Wait, what’s happening here?” Eddie asked as Jackie and Gareth dragged them to the gazebo, everyone following.

“I want to make sure you don’t have a chance to pull one of your famous disappearing acts, that’s what. Gareth, go find the priest will you?” Gareth ran through the crowd as Beau stood where Gareth had only an hour before. Jackie pulled Eddie to the other side of the gazebo. “And just to let you know, you two are coming with us.” Before Eddie could even ask how or why, she was pushed over to Beau, and the priest walked up with Gareth.

“Well, it’s not every day I get to conduct two weddings in one,” the priest teased as he started the shortest version of a wedding Eddie ever heard. “Do you, Eddie, take Beau for your husband—whom I’m sure you’ll wind up torturing with your—what did he call it?—craziness at some point or another?”

Through her laughter, Eddie was able to say, “I do.”

“And do you, Beau, take Eddie to be your wife, whom you will worry and fret over every minute of the day she’s off killing who knows who?”

Beau couldn’t smile any bigger. “I do.”

“Well then, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may go about being madly in love for the rest of your lives,” the priest concluded, barely able to get the last word out before Beau wrapped his arm around Eddie’s waist and pulled her to him so hard, the breath went out of her. The kiss carried on and on as cheers erupted around them. Eddie would’ve given anything to be alone so she could have her way with her husband.

Beau pulled back and whispered in her ear, “There’s more.”

Eddie couldn’t believe what else could be better than this, but he led her down the aisle.

Jackie and Gareth met them at the end of it as the party continued with more toasts to the second newlyweds of the evening.

“So, ladies, are you ready for your honeymoons?” Gareth asked, producing another envelope containing the same plane tickets and brochures as Beau gave to him earlier.

“You planned this all, didn’t you?” Eddie accused Beau and Gareth, who nodded, looking smug. “I don’t believe it. When did you get involved?” she asked Jackie.

“Yesterday,” she replied, laughing at the look on Eddie’s face.

“And you never noticed a thing. I think you’re starting to fall down on the job, Mrs. Savage,” Beau said with a wink, hugging his new wife close to him. “By the way, the plane leaves tomorrow at noon, so…”

“We’ll be ready, don’t you worry. Right now, I just want to party,” Jackie said and pulled Eddie into the middle of the dancers as the music got louder.

Gareth put an arm around Beau’s shoulder as the two watched the loves of their lives dancing.

“You ready for married life, Savage?”

“Why do you think they made boot camp so damn hard?” Beau said as he and Gareth joined their wives and, at least for a month, live happily ever after.

BAD BOY

MONEY

(A Billionaire BAD BOY Romance)

By

Bella Grant

Copyright (c) 2016. All Rights Reserved

SARA

The day I received the invitation to the Saunders Empire private ball started off as an ordinary day. I woke up as usual at six in the morning, made it to my job as a barista in a local coffee shop, ate my brown-bag lunch, made small talk with customers I couldn't really stand, returned to my tiny apartment to a sink filled with dirty plates, ordered my usual Chinese combination fried rice, and went through my mail.

As I sat eating my greasy dinner, I lazily glanced through the mail. Bills - people I owe and people who expect money from me, a couple of spam mails, and my
Fashionette
magazine, which came with a big pink sticker reminding me for the hundredth time that my subscription was ending and I could renew for a big discount. I tossed the magazine on a pile of magazines, and as I did, a golden envelope fell out from between the pages.

I cast a lazy glance at the envelope, trying to decide if I should get up from my cozy seat to pick it up or if I could do that the next day. Laziness got the better of me; if it was a bill, I couldn’t afford to pay it until I got my next pay check in two weeks, so what was the point of opening it?

I grabbed the remote control and flipped through several channels until I found some dumb horror movie - the one where a group of teenagers explore a haunted house and someone takes off to find out where a strange noise is coming from and inevitably gets killed. And of course, another teen followed to see if he's okay, and while the rest of them clamor together in one room, that teen is predictably killed. Slowly, they all disappeared until only one person escaped the house.

Around nine, I'd had enough of the crappy movie, so I decided to turn in for the night. I stepped over that golden envelope lying on the floor; my eyes darted to the return address. Saunders Empire. I picked up the envelope and opened it as I walked to my bedroom. The envelope and the paper it contained were certainly worth more than a day’s salary. It was rich and soft, and on the top was the monogram Saunders Empire. On the front was my name and address: Sara Nolles, 1245 North Main Street.