“Yes, she was,” he agrees. “I wanted to marry her, to grow old and have a family together.”
“You’ll find someone again. It’ll just take time.” Slowly, I let his hand go and stand. “We should probably let you get your rest. Hopefully, after tomorrow, we can fly home.”
Bryan lowers his head. “I still haven’t gotten the courage to go into my house. First thing I’m going to do is find a new place to live.”
Jake comes over and holds my hand. “Why don’t we help you? Ellie and I can box up Samantha’s things.”
Tears form in Bryan’s eyes and they fall down his cheeks. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course,” I murmur. “Without you, our case never would’ve been solved. We owe you so much.”
Jake sighs. “She’s right. Just let us know and we’ll be there to help.”
Bryan extends his hand and Jake shakes it. “Safe travels, you two. I’ll be in touch.”
Once we’re out of the room, I fall into Jake’s chest and cry from relief. He rubs my back and holds me close. “It’s all over now. We’re safe and our baby is fine.”
“I was so afraid I was going to lose you.”
He pulls me back and wipes away my tears. “I told you . . . you’re stuck with me, until I’m old and gray.”
I wink. “I look forward to it.”
Twenty-Eight
Ellie
Two Months Later
Owen’s death hit us hard. Packing up our stuff was even harder. With Owen being a part of my life for so long, there were so many things I had that he’d given me. Needless to say, a lot went into the trash. I didn’t want anything that reminded me of him. Easier said than done.
We helped Bryan move out of his house, and I made sure to pack all of Samantha’s belongings. Jake is in the process of designing him a home as we speak. He’s taken some time off to heal, both mentally and physically. His shoulder still gives him problems, but I know he’ll be back at the PD in no time.
Once news about Owen surfaced, people from my past came forward and talked about all the horrible things he did to them. One of the guy’s I’d only dated for two weeks had dumped me, and it turns out, that’s because Owen had threatened his life. Now I know why I never had luck dating back then.
Jake was a different story. He wasn’t a guy to be pushed around, and Owen knew that.
“What are you thinking about?” Jake shuts the glass sliding door and walks toward me, his bare feet slapping against the deck tiles. It’s seventy-four degrees in Phoenix. Much different from the thirty degrees in Pinecrest, North Carolina.
I shrug and turn back to the mountains. “Lots of things, I guess. It’s so beautiful here.” I never thought living in a place with cactuses and rocky mountains would be beautiful, but it is. The browns and reds of the landscape are different from the green mountains at home.
Jake wraps his arms around my waist, settling them on my swollen stomach. The baby kicks and he chuckles in my ear. “Yes, it is. And what are these lots of things you were thinking about?”
“Oh, you know . . . life. As much as I miss home, I’m glad we’re away. It got to the point where I couldn’t go to the grocery store without someone wanting to talk about what happened.” Sighing, I place my hands over his. “It was just too much. I’m hoping this place will be different. I don’t want people recognizing me.”
His lips touch my neck and I shiver. “You’ll be fine. Phoenix is a lot larger than Pinecrest. The only people who will recognize you are the ones I work with.”
“Thank God,” I breathe.
My dad shouts at the TV and I laugh. The Tarheels are playing and they’re losing. We’ve only been in Phoenix for a month and they’ve visited twice already. It’s their break from the cold mountain air, and also a chance to spend time with me.
After everything that happened in December, Jake and I decided to pack up and move as soon as we could. Our case had sparked media attention, and there’s even a producer who wants to turn our story into a film. Guess you can say the media frenzy became too much. Our move to Phoenix came right at the perfect time.
Jake turns me around to face him and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Are you excited about your interviews tomorrow? I know it’ll be hard to find someone like Vikki, but I know you’ll find someone good.”
Excitement bubbles in my chest. “I know. I miss my Vikki, but she’s enjoying being the boss.”
He bursts out laughing. “I bet she is.”
Sweet Sensations 2 is almost done being renovated and will be open in a few weeks, once I hire a couple of bakers. Phoenix is a lot busier than Pinecrest. It’s going to be insane when we open, especially where we’re located. I’m right in downtown, where hundreds of people will walk by every day.
The sun starts to dip below the horizon, giving the sky a purple-pinkish hue. “Are we ready to put the crib together?” he asks. “Our little tyke will be here in six months. It’ll fly by if we’re not too careful.”
I kiss him hard. “You think it’s going to be a boy, huh?”
He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll be happy with whatever we have. And who knows, he or she might be born on your birthday.”
“Wouldn’t that be the best birthday present.”
Epilogue
Ellie
Today is the day of the gender reveal. It’s also the first day before the grand opening of Sweet Sensations 2. I wanted to spend it with my family and friends, so they all flew up to Phoenix.
Everyone is here, including my parents, Jake’s parents, my sister and her family, Vikki and her family, my two new bakers, Randy and some of Jake’s co-workers, and even Bryan, who also brought his new girlfriend. She looks completely different from Samantha, with dark-brown hair and sea-green eyes. He looks happy, which is all that matters.
All the tables in the shop are filled with my favorite people. It brings tears to my eyes.
“Thank you, everyone, for flying out here. Tomorrow’s the big day, but today is even more special.” Jake grabs my hand and brings it to his lips. “It’s the day we find out what baby Kingston’s going to be.” I point toward the table at the tray of assorted cake truffles, all of them decorated in either milk, dark, or white chocolate, with a mix of blue and pink sugar sprinkles on top. “I want to thank Vikki for thinking up the idea, and for my two new bakers, Emily and Christine, for making them.”
Everyone claps and whistles. “Stop talk and eat up, buttercup,” my sister shouts. “I’m ready to find out!”
Grinning wide, Jake picks up the first truffle. “Who’s going first?”
I wave him on. “Go ahead.”
He bites into the dark chocolate truffle, and its regular yellow cake mix inside. Shrugging, he eats the rest and smiles. “I think I’m going to like this. These are amazing.”
I pick up a milk chocolate truffle and bite into it. Yellow cake mix. Everyone laughs, but I’m dying to find out. Jake grabs a white chocolate one. Yellow cake mix. I try one of the dark chocolate ones and, you guessed it, it’s yellow. There are ten total, and we go through each one, until we’re left with one last white chocolate truffle.
Jake and I both stare at it. “Who’s going to do it?” I ask.
He picks it up and holds it in front of my lips. “You do it. Take a bite.” Taking a deep breath, I bite into the yummy goodness and am greeted by bright blue cake. Jake turns it around to look, and his eyes widen as he jumps in the air. “Hell yeah! I knew it’d be a boy.”
He tosses the other half of the truffle in his mouth and picks me up, swinging me around in a circle. Everyone shouts for joy and congratulates us. Emily and Christine bring out the baby boy cake and everyone digs in. I can’t help but stare at them all, loving the fact that they all flew out here to share this moment with us.
Jake pulls me into his arms and kisses me, deep and slow. In that moment, no one else exists. “Thank you,” he murmurs.
“For what?”
He tucks a str
and of my hair behind my ears. “For being my wife and giving me a child. You have no idea how much of a gift that is. Nothing can describe how much I love you right now.”
“I love you too.” I rest my head on his chest and breathe him in. “I’m lucky too.”
“Oh yeah, why is that?”
I pull back, so I can look in his eyes. “I’m lucky, because I have a husband who’d risk it all to keep me safe. One who loves me unconditionally. We’re in this together.”
He kisses me again. “Yes, we are.” My father hands him a glass of champagne, and me a glass of white grape juice. Jake taps his glass to mine. “To new beginnings.”
I hold up my glass. “To new beginnings.”
THE END
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author L. P. Dover is a southern belle living in North Carolina with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she began her literary journey she worked in periodontics, enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.
She loves to write, but she also loves to play golf, go on mountain hikes and white water rafting, and has a passion for singing. Her two youngest fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime, usually Christmas carols.
Dover has written countless novels, including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, the Gloves Off series, the Armed & Dangerous series, the Royal Shifters series, the Society X series, the Circle of Justice series, and her standalone novels It Must’ve Been the Mistletoe and Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read and write is romantic suspense, but if she got to choose a setting in which to live, it would be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.
L.P. Dover is represented by Marisa Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency and Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management for dramatic rights.
Connect with L.P. Dover
authorlpdover@gmail.com
Also by LP Dover
THE FOREVER FAE SERIES
Forever Fae
Betrayals of Spring
Summer of Frost
Reign of Ice
SECOND CHANCES SERIES
Love’s Second Chance
Trusting You
What He Wants
Meant for Me
Fighting for Love
Intercepting Love
Catching Summer
Defending Hayden
Last Chance
Intended for Bristol
GLOVES OFF SERIES
A Fighter’s Desire: Part One
A Fighter’s Desire: Part Two
Tyler’s Undoing
Ryley’s Revenge
Winter Kiss: Ryley & Ashley [A Gloves Off Novella]
Paxton’s Promise
Camden’s Redemption
Kyle’s Return
ARMED & DANGEROUS SERIES
No Limit
Roped In
High-Sided
ROYAL SHIFTERS SERIES
Turn of the Moon
Resisting the Moon
BREAKAWAY SERIES
Hardstick
Blocked
Playmaker
CIRCLE OF JUSTICE
Trigger
Target
Aim
SOCIETY X SERIES
Dark Room
Viewing Room
Play Room
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS SERIES
It Must’ve Been the Mistletoe
STANDALONE TITLES
Love, Lies, and Deception
Anonymous
Going for the Hole (Summer 2018)
CHILDREN’S BOOKS – MOONLIGHT AND ALEENA SERIES
Moonlight and Aleena: A Tale of Two Friends
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Tabatha Vargo ~ Playing Patience
Beth Balmanno ~ Set in Stone
Ella James ~ Selling Scarlett
Tara West ~ Visions of the Witch
Heidi McLaughlin ~ Forever My Girl
Melissa Andrea ~ The Edge of Darkness
Komal Kant ~ Falling for Hadie
Melissa Pearl ~ Golden Blood
Alexia Purdy ~ Breathe Me
Sarah M. Ross ~ Inhale, Exhale
Brina Courtney ~ Reveal
Amber Garza ~ Falling to Pieces
Anna Cruise ~ Maverick
Sneak Peek of Trigger
Prologue
“Dude, where the fuck are you?”
Huffing, I slammed my hand down on the kitchen counter, wishing like hell I could throw my cell against the wall and never talk to anyone again. “On my way,” I growled.
Cliff sighed. “What’s taking so long?”
If he only knew. It was a bad day for me. Hell, every fucking day was worse than the last. It didn’t help that my father liked to call and remind me of my failure every goddamn week. “I’ll be there in a minute,” I snapped.
“Dude, hurry up. Emma’s been asking about you. I think tonight’s gonna be your night, if you get out of your shitty mood.”
I hung up the phone and took a deep breath, my fists clenched tight to keep my hands from shaking. Sometimes I wished my friends knew about my past, so I wouldn’t have to come up with bullshit excuses every time I got pissed. Cliff was my friend and we started up a band a couple of years ago, but he didn’t know about my real life; neither did Emma.
When I picked up and moved from Charleston to attend college in the North Carolina Mountains, I’d left everything behind. None of the students recognized me, or put together the pieces of who I actually was. It was nice for a while, but I was living a lie. I fought the urges inside of me every single day.
Hurrying out of my apartment, I took the stairs two at a time. The smell of weed wafted past my nose. I’d give anything to smoke a blunt and forget life for a while, but it wouldn’t help. I could be stoned off my ass, or in bed with random college chicks, and still not be able to forget.
The night air was so cold I pulled my hoodie over my head and started on my way through the parking lot to one of the back street shortcuts. Snow had begun to fall and by the end of the night, the ground would be covered. Since I planned on getting drunk and going home with Emma, I didn’t see the need in driving my truck.
Emma Turner was one of the only girls on campus I hadn’t tried to fuck. She was more to me than just some friend, or singer in my band. However, tonight I didn’t give a shit. If she wanted me, I was damn well going to make sure she got it. To hell with the consequences.
The wind whipped by my ear, howling so hard it sounded like a scream. The street wasn’t lit, but that didn’t bother me. I liked it that way. The bar was only a quarter of a mile away, so I hoped the silence would help my mood. The last thing I wanted was to be a dick to Emma when she didn’t deserve it.
Another muffled sound caught my attention and I stopped. There were school apartments to my right, music blaring from one of the many parties going on. However, this sound had come from my left, the direction of the woods. I heard it again and my body froze. It was a woman’s scream. Only someone within close distance would’ve heard it.
What made my blood boil were the sounds that followed. It was as if everything inside of me snapped. The urges I’d fought for so long surfaced—there was no going back. Taking off into the woods, I was nearly blinded by my rage. The sounds grew louder and it sickened me to the core.
Everything was dark, but it wasn’t enough to hide what was going on. The girl’s face was pushed into the ground to muffle her screams while the fucker undid his pants, her skirt lifted and underwear ripped. She fought as hard as she could, but she was no match for his size.
I needed him to suffer . . . but even
more than that, I wanted him dead. Without a word, I closed the distance and grabbed him around the neck. Hauling him up, I slammed him against a tree. It felt good to hear his howls of pain.
“What the fuck?” he spat, reeking of beer.
Squeezing his neck, I bashed him against the tree, his eyes growing wide in terror. “Feel like a man now?” I growled. “It’s not so fun when you’re helpless, is it?”
He gasped for air. “She . . . wanted . . . it.”
Teeth clenched, I squeezed harder. “You’re a pathetic son of a bitch. Let me guess, she wanted it as badly as you want this.” I dropped him down, long enough to grab his chin and the back of his head. Snapping his neck, I watched him collapse lifeless to the ground.
The moment stilled my breath. I hadn’t known what it would feel like to kill someone, to know it was me who took their life. Out of all the emotions I could have guessed I’d experience, pure elation wouldn’t have been one of them. The high that buzzed through my body felt like nothing I’d ever experienced before. There was no remorse, no guilt for what I’d done. He deserved to die, like the countless other men out there who preyed on innocent women.
The girl’s whimpers brought me back. With my hood over my head, I turned to face her. Knowing I was backlit by the moon, she couldn’t see my face through her tears and the dark. Her shirt was torn and she scrambled to lower her skirt.
“You’re safe now,” I said, helping her up by the hand. Her whole body shook and she fell into my arms, her cries echoing in my ear. I had to get away. “You need to get help. Run to the apartments and call 911. Now!”