As my limbs melted with satisfaction, Cole started pumping his hips beneath me, lifting me against his hard thrusts until I felt him stiffen seconds before he came inside me.
His grip loosened and he relaxed under me, his chest rising and falling with his rapid breaths.
I leaned over him, careful still not to touch his tattoo and I kissed him—a long, deep, sweet kiss that made my inner muscles squeeze around him. I broke apart just far enough so I could talk, shivering as he coasted his fingers lightly over my naked spine. “Our first Valentine’s Day was a success,” I whispered against his mouth.
He nodded and squeezed me closer. “Every single one is going to be.”
“All fifty of them?” I teased.
“You fucking bet your arse, Shortcake. This here,” he encircled my waist with his large hands, “every inch of you is mine. Forever.” He glanced down at his chest and then back into my eyes, “ ‘S’ or ‘Shannon’… it will always mean one thing. That I love you.”
“I love the tattoo,” I promised him as I gently circled the area around it with my forefinger. “It will always mean that to me too.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Shortcake.” He kissed me softly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Cole.”
THE END
IF YOU LOVE
Braden, Adam, Cam, Nate, Marco, and Cole,
turn the page to meet Caine Carraway in
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Hero
I gritted my teeth, channeling the most patient me possible as I tried to discuss the changes to the list of costs the interior designer Caine had hired had sent him. He’d hired her to re-vamp the summerhouse he’d just bought in Nantucket. The week was almost over and it would have been so much better if I could have ended it on a high note—not arguing with a cocky she-witch of a designer.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” she said in this nasally voice that, along with her bad attitude, made me want to punch her.
I refrained from verbally punching her. “The problem is you’ve sent over a new list of costs for this refurbishment and it’s fifteen thousand dollars more than the original that Mr. Carraway signed off on.”
“Style takes cash, darling.”
“That’s the thing, I’m going over the lists and I can’t see where that extra fifteen thousand is going . . .” I suddenly became aware I wasn’t alone and glanced to my right to see that Caine had come out of his office and was standing over me, eyes blazing in annoyance.
I cast him a wary look but continued to haggle with the irritant on the other end of the line.
Suddenly Caine’s large hand appeared and he pressed the mute button on the phone. The jerky movement suggested I was right about him being annoyed, and I looked up at him wondering what the hell I’d done. “I can afford an extra fifteen g. Get off the phone. Now.”
I tsked. “Just because you’re loaded doesn’t mean you should let people take advantage.” I hit the mute button. “No, I’m still here,” I responded to her frantic twittering. “Where was I . . . ? Oh yes, unless you want it getting around that you’re an incompetent idiot trying to screw over your clients, I suggest you stick to the original budget.”
“Well, I . . . how . . . I never—”
“Okeydokey, then.” I hung up and looked up at my irate boss. “Why is there a vein popping out on your forehead?”
“What the hell did you put on that card?”
“Card?” I said innocently.
Caine’s angry countenance ramped up to murderous. “I just got a call from Phoebe. She thanked me for the flowers, said my card was so sweet, and that she was looking forward to seeing me soon too.”
So I’d known changing the message on the card with the flowers was forward of me, but I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. Apparently it was. Caine appeared to be excessively irritated and I had to admit that made me more than a little nervous. “Well . . . I just thought . . . well, I thought it was more appropriate to sign the card with a greeting of some kind.” I smiled up at him hopefully.
“Alexa,” he warned.
“You know you can call me Lexie.”
Caine actually growled.
“Okay,” I hurried to explain, “I had them write ‘Phoebe, I look forward to seeing you tonight, Caine. And”—I almost closed my eyes in preparation for his reaction—“I may have put a little kiss at the end.”
The air around him seemed to swell with annoyance. “What?”
“An X. You know...a kiss...” I trailed off, wishing I was back in Hawaii with a mojito.
Quite abruptly Caine put his hands on the armrests of my chair and shoved it against the desk as he bent down to level his face with mine. He was so close I could actually see the chocolate coloring in his eyes that stopped them from being entirely black, and his mouth . . . his mouth was but an inch from mine.
I held my breath from the shock of his sudden movement and his closeness.
“First of all,” he said through clenched teeth, his hard stare holding mine in its grip, “do I look like a man who would ever put a kiss at the end of a message?”
I didn’t have to contemplate the question long. “Not really.”
“Not really.” He nodded, and pushed in closer, his breath fanning my lips and causing me to swallow a gasp. “Second of all, if you ever meddle in my personal life again I will annihilate you. Understood?”
“W-well, annihilate is—it’s, is pretty final,” I stammered, “So—so yeah.”
His eyes flashed. “Alexa.”
I fought past my physical reaction to him in order to attempt an explanation. “I was just trying to help. I thought it would be more romantic. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“You weren’t helping,” Caine hissed. “Contrary to popular belief, I give a shit about the women I date. That means I don’t want to hurt them. And one way I avoid that is by never making a woman feel like she has more of me than she actually has, because inevitably it won’t work out and I don’t want to be the bastard that led her on. What you did with Phoebe will make me that bastard.”
That was kind of honorable in a fucked-up way.
“But why will things end?” I whispered, confused. “Phoebe Billingham is perfect for you.”
Something flickered across his face and then he grew scarily still. I held my breath as we stared into each other’s eyes. He was so close.
The sexy jackass smelled delicious.
For a moment I forgot where I was and who I was. Who I was to him. My eyes dropped to his mouth. It was right there. Right there.
Arousal shot through me and I glanced up quickly, afraid he’d catch sight of my desire, but to my surprise I found his eyes trained on my lips.
They parted under his stare.
Caine’s gaze returned to mine. The tingling between my legs increased at the heat in his. “Don’t do it again,” he said softly, his voice hoarse.
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About the Author
Samantha Young is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance 2012 for her international bestselling novel ON DUBLIN STREET and Best Romance 2014 for BEFORE JAMAICA LANE. ON DUBLIN STREET is Samantha's first adult contemporary romance series and has sold in twenty-eight countries.
Twitter: @SYoungSFAuthor
http://www.authorsamanthayoung.com/