Carried Away (Sinful Nights Book 5) Read online

  She stared at him, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “But…you didn’t take the job?”

  “No.” He backed up a step, but held her hands in his. “You thought I’d taken the job? Is that the rumors that have been making the rounds? That I’m leaving town?”

  Penny blinked. “Well, I don’t know if people are saying that you accepted the job. I just…assumed that you would take it.”

  “I said no. I told them that everything I wanted was right here.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Louis, the FBI…the Federal Bureau of Investigations!” she emphasized their acronym, “offered you a job and you said no?!”

  “Yeah. You thought I’d taken the job?” His smile returned and his shoulders relaxed. “You were upset because you thought I was here to tell you I was leaving you?”

  “Yes!” she snapped.

  He threw back his head, laughing. But he only wrapped his arms around her, hugging her and kissing her neck in between bouts of laughter. “Honey,” he finally said, pulling back, “they offered me a job. Yes. It was a very good job offer.”

  “Then why didn’t you take it?” she groaned, her hands resting on his strong shoulders.

  He chuckled. “Just a moment ago, you were ready to beam me with a chair because you thought I was deserting you. Now you’re angry because I’m not leaving you?”

  She thought about that, then nodded. “Yes! Why aren’t you taking the job?”

  “Because I like it here. I like my job.” He took her hands. “And I’m in love with you. Your boys are adorable and I’d like to be here for them as they grow up.”

  Her mouth fell open after all that. “You love me?” she whispered, weak with shock.

  He smiled and bent down, kissing her and this time, she didn’t turn her face away. But nor did she kiss him back. “Yeah,” he replied. “I love you. I love your boys. They’re really good kids.”

  “I know that. But…you love me?”

  His hands came up to cup her face. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  “Because…well, the men in my past…”

  “Forget about the men in your past Penny. I want to be the man in your future.”

  She swallowed, not sure what to say.

  “Why don’t you open the box? That might make more sense.”

  She turned her head, looking at the big box with a pretty bow on top. “Who did the bow for you?”

  He chuckled and took her hand, leading her over to the box. “Why don’t you think I did the bow?”

  She looked at him, her eyes silently saying, “Puleeze!”

  “Okay, fine! I didn’t do the bow. Eve made the bow for me. Now, please open the box?”

  She eyed it carefully. “What’s in it?” she asked.

  “Open it and see,” he ordered, moving behind her and placing her hands on top of the box. “Just open.”

  She followed his instructions, tearing open the top and ignoring the bow as curiosity overwhelmed her. Peering inside, she wasn’t sure what it was at first. It looked like a tangled web of…!

  “Is this…?” she breathed, lifting the harness out of the box. “Louis, is this my own harness?” she asked in awe.

  His hands wrapped around her waist from behind and he kissed her neck. “Yeah. We’ve been going so often the past few weeks, I thought it was time that you had your own, one your own size.”

  Her fingers held the mesh harness, looking at all of the loops and pulleys, the locks and hooks. “This…” she swallowed past the lump in her throat. “This is the nicest present anyone has ever given me.”

  He kissed her neck again. “Will you go with me? I spoke to Mack. He’s agreed to work our schedules so that I have Mondays off. We could…” Her fingers drifted over the sparkling, diamond ring that he’d hooked onto the middle of the harness.

  She blinked, then swung her gaze up to him over her shoulder. “What’s this?” she asked, her voice barely heard.

  He reached around her and plucked the ring off. “It’s an engagement ring,” he told her, all teasing gone now. He turned her around and bent down on one knee. “Penny, I’d like to spend the rest of my life showing you that I’m trustworthy and love you. I’d like to give you so much pleasure that you’ll forget about everything in your past and only think about me and our future.” Her hand flew to her mouth as a sob burst out. “I’d like to help you with James and Tyler. And if you’re so inclined, I’d love to give them a sister to torment.”

  Penny couldn’t take anymore. She pounced him, both of them toppling to the floor as she kissed his face and his hands, hugging him so tightly that her arms ached.

  He rolled over until she was under him and he could look down on her. “I take it that’s a yes?” he asked.

  “Yes!” she sobbed, lifting her head up to kiss him. “I love you!”

  “I love you too, Penny. You’re an amazing woman and I want to spend my life showing you how happy you make me.”

  Epilogue

  “Dad!” James bellowed into the basement. “Dad!”

  Louis raced up the stairs, panic in his eyes. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, looking around. As soon as he saw Penny, his shoulders relaxed slightly.

  “It’s time!” Tyler pushed James out of the way. “It’s time! We’ve been tracking her contractions for the past twenty minutes, Dad,” he showed Louis the paper covered in notes and scribbles. “The contractions have been coming every five minutes. They’re regular!”

  James raced over to the table where the “What to expect when you’re expecting” book lay open, the pages tattered and worn out from the three of them pouring over it. “See?” he said, pointing to a paragraph. “This says that when the contractions come every five minutes and they’re consistent, then we should go to the hospital.”

  “I’ve got her bag!” Tyler yelled, racing from the bedroom.

  Louis looked over at Penny as she struggled to stand. She’d been sitting in the chair, relaxing, but she looked more than ready to have this baby.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, rushing over to help her up.

  “I’m fine,” she told him with a reassuring hand on his arm. “I’m perfectly fine, but yes, the contractions have been coming about every five minutes now. So I agree that it’s time to go to the hospital.”

  About sixty seconds later, Penny was ushered out of the house that they’d bought, one with three bedrooms and a basement where the boys could work on their experiments under Louis’s supervision. They’d been married for three years now. James and Tyler were more excited about having a baby sister than she’d thought possible. And Louis…he was just amazing. Life was amazing!

  With James under one arm, Tyler holding her other and Louis at her back, she was guided into the waiting SUV. A new SUV with new tires because Louis wasn’t taking any chances.

  Thankfully, Louis got her to the hospital with plenty of time to spare. Lots of time to spare! The contractions were coming more often and they were painful, but still no baby hours after they’d arrived at the hospital.

  “How much longer?” James asked, poking his head in the door of the delivery room.

  “Is Mom okay?” Tyler asked.

  Mack poked his head in right after them. “Sorry. They got away from me.” And Mack shooed them back into the waiting room, away from the scary sight of their mother screaming as she gave birth to…

  Their twin sisters!

  “Sisters!” James yelled, lifting his hand up in the air for Tyler to high-five. The boys were thrilled. Louis was stunned. The obstetrician was…confused. “I don’t understand how we missed twins!” she kept muttering as the nurses bustled around, cleaning and weighing the babies.

  Penny stared at her baby girls, then looked up at Louis. “Well, you said that you wanted two kids,” she teased.

  He shook his head, looking a bit pale. “Yeah, but…!”

  And then he beamed, holding one of their newborn daughters as he looked down at Penny. “This is going t
o be amazing!” he told her.

  And it was, she thought. Yeah, life was pretty amazing!

  Excerpt from “Love and Secrets

  Coming July 2019

  Click HERE For Details on “Love and Secrets”!

  The loud, abrupt sound jerked him out of a deep, desperately needed sleep.

  Barking?

  Oz lifted his head slightly, not sure he was fully committed to caring about whatever was outside. Was it a threat?

  He listened again, his brain still foggy but….

  Nothing.

  Laying his head down again, Oz figured it had just been his imagination. Pulling the pillow closer, he shifted and…

  There it was again. Odd.

  What the hell? A dog?

  Lifting his head again, he searched for, and found, Betty staring at him. His faithful, overly haired dog whimpered at the end of the bed. Every night, Oz ordered Betty to the bottom of his bed. And every morning, he found the sweet, affectionate canine pressed against his back/side/legs/head/face…wherever she could be touching him with as much of her body as possible.

  And because Oz was such a sucker, he never admonished her for creeping out of her designated bed space.

  Betty heard it too, her fluffy ears perking up, her head pointing towards the window…every part of her on high alert.

  So, if it wasn’t Betty outside of his house, which was deep in the woods and as far away from humanity as possible…who was barking?

  And a better question…why was a dog barking at…Oz looked at his clock and groaned. It was five thirty in the freaking morning! Normally, that wasn’t an issue, but when he’d just fallen into bed two hours ago, five-thirty was on par with what he thought of as hell.

  “Someone is going to be in a world of hurt,” he snapped as he jerked out of bed. Betty, always ready to play and a horrible guard dog, raced ahead of him, pausing at the stair’s landing to ensure that Oz was following before sprinting down the stairs, black nose pressed tightly to the door, butt wiggling in anxious eagerness to find out who was in her territory.

  He opened the front door, glaring out into the surrounding woods, trying to locate the culprit, as a furry thing whisked past his legs.

  “Betty!” he ordered. His normally obedient border collie, didn’t even glance over her fluffy shoulder as she darted towards…a bull dog? A big, gruff bull dog? And yeah, that beast was racing towards his Betty as if she were a doggie biscuit drenched in bacon grease.

  “What the hell!”

  Immediately, some awkward, albeit romantic butt sniffing ensued, tails wagging and happy barks emitted, or were they flirtatious? Whatever, they kept doing it like some strange doggie dance designed to entice and allure. “Betty!” he called, trying to bring her back inside.

  “Bart!” a feminine voice called out. A moment later, a blonde with tight yoga pants and an equally tight sports shirt appeared through the trees.

  Immediately, Oz felt like Bart, wanting to sniff and dance and entice. There wasn’t a need for butt sniffing, he thought stupidly. But…oh man, what an incredible ass! The blonde woman bent over and latched a leash to the bull dog’s collar. “Come on, Bart. That was naughty of you to…”

  That’s when the blond saw him.

  Belatedly, Oz realized that he was naked, having just gotten out of bed. The woman’s eyes widened and he thought about laughing, but the color of her eyes, even from this distance, was amazing! Feeling the crystal blue of her gaze all over his body was better than butt sniffing!

  The woman stared. He stared. In the back of his mind, Oz heard the dogs barking while Betty continued to flirt with the big bull dog, apparently named Bart. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blond beauty! She was stunning! Her soft, red lips parted. Her eyes moved over him, warming him, caressing him with crystal-blue heat.

  His body reacted and he stepped closer, only to stop when her eyes widened further. She stepped backwards, and he noticed her nipples press against the tight sports shirt.

  “You’re…ummmm…” the blonde pointed weakly and Oz looked down. Sure enough, he had a full on erection going.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, it happens when a woman wakes me up at this hour of the morning.”

  The woman laughed and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. “Yes. Well, I…” her eyes darted downward once more. Lingering. His body hardened further and her reaction made him want to howl. Or drag her inside to continue what she was currently doing with her eyes.

  “Oh” she gasped, then twirled around as her dog raced around her legs, trying to get another sniff of his Betty. The two dogs were circling, wanting to entice the other. He chuckled, watching the woman try and control both dogs without falling down. It wasn’t working.

  “Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to control your dog?” she snapped over her shoulder.

  “Always ready to help out a lady in distress,” he replied and hurried down the stone steps. He caught Betty’s collar and pulled her back. But the woman was still tangled up in Bart’s leash. It was an interesting predicament and Oz couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the show as she bent over, her perfectly round ass right in front of him as she stepped over the leash and untangled her legs.

  “Thank…” she stopped as she turned around and looked up at him. “You’re still naked!”

  He shrugged. “You asked for help. I provided.”

  “But…” she glanced down and her eyes lingered again. “Well, why didn’t you pull on some pants?!” she hissed, ripping her gaze away.

  “Why? You’ve gotten an eyeful already. Pulling on pants wasn’t going to change what’s already there.”

  The woman abruptly turned her back to him, but he could feel her eyes roll. “Come on, Bart. Let’s go.”

  She walked away in a huff, tugging on Bart’s leash while the bulldog stared longingly back at Betty. Oz knew exactly how he felt, as he watched the blonde beauty walk away, her spine stiff with outrage.

  With a chuckle, Oz bent down to scratch Betty’s ears. “That’s one way to meet the new neighbors,” he soothed. Betty only whined slightly, her soft ears twitching as she stared off in the direction where her lost love had disappeared.

  “I know, honey. But he’s gone.” With a gently tug, he got Betty back into his house.

  “Food,” he announced. Betty began to dance with excitement, easily distracted. After moving his company to Kentucky, he’d chosen a piece of land that was only ten miles from the airport and quickly commissioned this house. It was modern in design, with massive windows that looked out at the forests. In the great room was a smooth wall of glass that revealed the trees that were just starting to burst with leaves as the spring warmth helped ease the world out of the winter doldrums.

  He padded barefoot into the huge kitchen where the new, modern appliances gleamed, waiting impatiently for him to break them in. He couldn’t wait to start cooking, experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, using the state of the art equipment that he’d had installed. But first, he’d have to get pots and pans. The black granite countertops were sparkling clean at the moment, but as soon as he went grocery shopping, he was going to make…something delicious. He hadn’t decided what his first meal would be, but the idea of cooking for a blonde beauty with a great ass sprang to mind.

  “The gall of that man!” Charlotte grumbled as she stomped through the crackling oak leaves back towards her house. “Naked! The man was literally naked!” She shook her head, then looked down at Bart as his lovingly ugly features turned towards her. “He was naked, Bart!”

  Her dog’s stub of a tail wagged but since there wasn’t much of it, his whole body wagged, making him appear to swagger.

  “Yeah, I know. You didn’t like him either. He was…” Impressive came to mind as that massive erection appeared in her thoughts. “Annoying!” she substituted quickly. “What kind of man walks out of his house naked when a stranger is around?” she asked the dog. More swaggering from Bart and he sneezed viol
ently. “I agree. He wasn’t tasty at all!”

  She unlocked the door to her small, cottage-style house, tossing the keys onto the entry table. “How about some breakfast?” she offered. A moment later, she dumped dog food into his bowl, scratching Bart’s ears affectionately as he smashed his face into his bowl, barely taking time to breathe as he inhaled the food.

  “Are you coming to the office with me today?”

  Bart barely looked up in response, but Charlotte took that to mean that he was all in. As a psychologist, Charlotte had trained Bart to help in her therapy sessions. The sweet, ugly animal seemed to have a sixth sense for when a person needed a bit of a snuggle. He’d move from his doggie bed in the corner of her office over to the couch where her patients usually sat and just rest his muzzled chin on someone’s knee. There was something about a dog’s affection that soothed the soul and helped her patients get through whatever emotions were haunting them.

  Kids were initially scared of Bart’s gruff face. But Bart knew how to snuggle with even the smallest of creatures. There were a couple of kids who had screamed at the first sight of Bart, terrified out of their minds of dogs in general and Bart in particular. Bart was undeterred. When he saw a small child screaming, he simply walked away to his basket of toys, sort through until he found one he liked and brought it back, lowering his belly to the ground and nudging the toy closer and closer until the child understood. They were fast friends after that.

  Forty-five minutes later, Charlotte was showered and changed into black slacks and a cream silk blouse, her hair pulled back, showcasing simple pearl earrings. “Okay, buddy. Let’s roll!” she called to Bart.

  The big lug leapt from his doggy bed and swaggered to the garage. He knew the drill and jumped into the back seat, but always wanting to be as close as possible to Charlotte, he squeezed his body closer to the console between the seats. As soon as she stepped into the car, she spotted his game. He gave her that guilty, wistful, “please don’t push me away” look and Charlotte rolled her eyes, scratched his ears and gave in. She got a lick to her silk-covered elbow as a reward and she started the engine. “You’re spoiled, dude,” she told the canine as she backed out of the garage.