Claimed By Her Best Friend's Dad Read online

  “Come on,” he says. “I want to show you something.”

  He strides forward and takes my hand in his, his skin blazing warmly.

  He leads me into a wide open area, and then toward a double staircase.

  It takes me a moment to realize what’s so strange about this place as we walk up the stairs and down a wide hallway.

  “Where’s all the furniture? The decorations?”

  “I was hoping you’d help with that,” he rumbles softly.

  My heart hammers as he leads me to the end of the hallway and into a room with a sign pinned to the front, the script elegant.

  Jade’s Study.

  I stare at the sign and then back to Jamie, but for a moment it’s like he’s disappeared …

  I lower my gaze and then tears prick my eyes when I see that he’s on one knee, a ring box open in his hand.

  The ring is an elegant, glistening diamond, so bright it seems to wink sunlight at me as a genuine smile lights up his face.

  I cough back a sob and gaze at him, wondering if this is real, if I’m really this lucky.

  “Jade, I love you,” he growls. “I should’ve told you the moment I saw you, but I waited. I waited because I’ve lived my whole life being a cold bastard. But you’ve changed that.

  “I love you more than life itself and today I bought this place, outright, for us. I want to raise our family here. I want you to fill it with beauty and your feminine touch. I want—you, Jade. You’re all I want. I love you and I need you to be my wife. Jade Clark, will you marry me?”

  I can barely get the words out past the sobs, but I push them through quivering lips.

  “I love you too,” I cry. “Oh, God, I didn’t think you’d feel the same. And yes, Jamie. Of course, it’s a yes.”

  He springs to his feet, his smile getting wider, his eyes glistening as though, he, too, might be on the verge of tears.

  But he holds them back like the animal he is.

  “Yes?” he growls.

  “Yes,” I giggle, smiling through the happy tears.

  He takes the ring and slides it onto my finger, and then lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it softly, his eyes fixated on me the whole time.

  “I love you so fucking much,” he snarls. “And I’ll always protect you.”

  “Forever?” I whisper.

  “For as long as you’ll have me,” he grins.

  “Okay then …”

  I surge toward him, standing on my tiptoes and bringing my lips to his.

  “So forever.”

  He pulls me toward him and we melt into the kiss, collapsing against each other.

  EPILOGUE

  THREE WEEKS LATER

  Jamie

  I climb out of the indoor swimming pool, water cascading down my body, rivulets sliding between my pecs and down my abs.

  I want to go and find my woman, but she’s already furnished her office, and today she had yet another burst of inspiration and she sternly and sexily told me not to disturb her.

  These past three weeks have been like a dream.

  I still work like a demon.

  But now I come home to an angel, and that makes it all the more worth it.

  Love blossoms inside of me like I never dreamed it could.

  I’m about to grab the towel from the heated wall rack when Jade clears her throat from the doorway.

  I turn, my manhood already enflaming at the sound of her cough, the sound of her is so electric to me, so magnetic.

  She stands in the doorframe in her purple silk bathrobe, tied casually at the waist so that the slit opens at her chest and thighs, showing me tempting slivers of her made-to-love flesh.

  She clutches a small white object in her hand, and she’s doing that lip-biting thing that always fucks me up big time.

  But then I look into her eyes.

  I read it in her expression, always so clear to me.

  I surge forward.

  “Jamie,” she whimpers as I take her in my arms, feeling her goosebump pebbled shoulders, pulling her toward me. “It’s positive. Oh my God, I’m pregnant. I’m really pregnant.”

  I loop my arms around her and lift her off her feet, delighting in the sound of her giggles, not giving a damn if I’m getting her wet … because I’m going to be getting her even wetter very soon.

  I bring my lips to hers, crushing her firmly, and then hold her aloft as she wraps her legs around my waist and cradles close to me, my woman, the mother to my children, my soulmate.

  She’s everything I’ll ever need.

  And now we’re going to be a family.

  “I love you,” I whisper. “And I love our baby already. I love our family.”

  She smiles and blinks back tears, as she initiates the kiss this time.

  “I love you too,” she murmurs. “I know you’re going to be an amazing dad.”

  “As long as I follow your lead,” I growl passionately. “I think our kids are going to turn out just great.”

  We sink into the moment, consuming each with our eyes.

  Sweet love dances around us.

  I know, just by looking into the eyes of my fiancé, that there’s nowhere we’d rather be, that we both wish we could make this moment last forever.

  I smooth my hands down to her ass cheeks, feeling them through the silk of the robe, squeezing her possessively as she squirms against me.

  “I’m never letting you go,” I breathe close to her ear, kissing, owning.

  “That’s funny,” she whimpers. “I was just going to say the same thing.”

  EXTENDED EPILOGUE

  ONE YEAR LATER

  Jade

  I stare at the laptop screen with the same sense of unreality that marked the early days of mine and my husband’s relationship.

  Reading the words, again and again, I struggle to fit them into my head, even as I feel and hear my scream of pure excitement escaping from my lips.

  Suddenly there are footsteps behind me, pounding loudly, and the door to my office snaps open.

  I swivel in my computer chair.

  “Jade? Where’s Gloria?” Jamie says, standing there completely naked from the shower, water dripping down his face and over his body.

  Guilt pricks at me when I realize that I’ve just screamed at the top of my lungs as if I’m in danger, a bad idea especially when my husband is so protective, if not the most protective security conscious people in America.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, springing to my feet.

  I gesture to the baby monitor that sits on my desk, a few cooing noises sounding as our daughter has her late afternoon nap.

  “It’s good news. I think I just got a bit carried away.”

  “What is it?” he asks, grinning as he swaggers naked across the room, his massive manhood bobbing. “Or is this just a ploy to get me in here naked, eh?”

  I giggle and meet him halfway, wrapping my arms around his hot, hard shoulders and blinking back tears of pure starry joy.

  “My agent has found a publisher for my book,” I tell him. “And they want to offer me a crazy good contract, like the sort of contract that’s so good I’m hardly even sure I deserve it.”

  “Of course you deserve it,” he snarls with passion thrumming beneath his words. “You’ve worked so hard for so long. Jesus, Jade, I’m so proud of you. I always knew you’d shock the world if given the chance, and now you’ve got the chance.”

  “I love you so much,” I whisper.

  “I love you more,” he growls.

  Just then, Gloria makes a sleepy babbling noise from the baby monitor, her gorgeous singsong coo almost sounding like it says, I love you too.

  I laugh in delight.

  “Am I going crazy?”

  “It did sound pretty close,” Jamie smiles. “But it’s too soon, right?”

  I giggle and tilt my head at him.

  “Yes, Jamie, three months is too soon to be speaking in sentences.”

  He chuckles and leans in closer to me, his w
arm breath making me feel protected and safe and more loved than I can hardly believe.

  “She is your daughter,” he grins with pride beaming from every part of him. “She’s bound to be precocious.”

  EXTENDED EPILOGUE

  TEN YEARS LATER

  Jamie

  I have to bite down to stop from laughing as I step backward, deeper into the closet.

  A man of my size is way to be big to be hiding in closets.

  But then there was a time when I thought a man like me was to ice cold to be playing hide and seek with his two rambunctious twin sons and his little obsessed-with-horses daughter, so there we go.

  The only one not playing is Gloria, who’s helping her mother cook supper in the kitchen.

  Jamie Junior walks around the bedroom, partially visible to me through the slats in the closet door.

  Everybody says that the twins look exactly like I did at their age, with their jet black hair and pale blue eyes.

  But when I look at them – when I look at all the children – all I can see is the love pouring out of them that’s one hundred percent, Jade.

  My soul soars every time I think about Jade, my perfect wife, the perfect mother.

  Even as she writes bestseller upon bestseller – many of them being made into Hollywood movies – she always has time to help our children with their homework and their hobbies.

  We always find the time, between our busy careers, to come together in sweet family scenes that make life worth living.

  “I know you’re in here, Daddy,” little Jamie says, turning in a small circle in our bedroom, his eyes narrowed as he scans every corner of the room. “I’m the bestest spy in the world. Remember? So I’m gonna spy you out. And I know you’re …”

  He throws himself to his knees.

  “Under the bed!”

  He looks under the bed and then stands up with such a mega pout I have to clamp my hand over my mouth to stop the laughter from exploding.

  “Okay, fine,” he grins, pacing over to the ensuite. “I know you’re …”

  He leaps into the bathroom, the electric lights switching on automatically.

  “In the shower!”

  He huffs and puffs his way back into the bedroom, and then I can’t take it anymore.

  First, one laugh escapes me and then another, and then it’s like somebody has cast a spell on me.

  All the love and pure joy of this moment come barreling into me, and all I can do to release it is laugh and grin like the luckiest man alive.

  “Jack, Lily,” Jamie Junior calls. “He’s in here. I found him.”

  Soon Lily and Jack are in the room, joining their brother as the three of them move toward the closet.

  At the last second, I explode from the closet and sweep them all into my arms, lifting them high and tackling them playfully onto the bed.

  They’re all giggling and yelling happily as we wrestle and play fight.

  “Daddy laughed,” Jamie smilingly informs his siblings as the four of us sit up in bed, red faced and happy from the play. “Didn’t you, Daddy? Didn’t you laugh?”

  I grin and ruffle his hair.

  “I sure did, little man.”

  A moment later, Jade and Gloria appear at the door, Gloria with her mother’s long brown hair and her same green eyes.

  Jade’s wearing her apron tied at the waist, a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, her body even curvier and more beautiful with the birth of four children.

  It’s lucky that the children are here, otherwise, I’d drag her to the bed and maul her, dinner be damned.

  “We’re here to inform you little rascals that dinner is ready,” Jade smiles. “We two civilized ladies have been working very hard, haven’t we, Gloria?”

  “Yeah-uh,” Gloria smiles. “Daddy, come on. I’ve cooked your steak just how you like it.”

  At the same time, Jamie and Jack cry, “Nice and bloody.”

  It’s an old joke of theirs.

  And one I’ll never get tired of hearing for as long as I live.

  “Daddy, after dinner can you look at my horsy pictures?” Lily asks, tugging on my hand as we all stand up to leave the room.

  “Of course,” I tell her. “I love looking at your art. You’re so talented, just like your mother.”

  Lily beams under the praise, and then I look up to find my wife beaming at me, pure light and heavenly love and joy dancing in her emerald green eyes.

  I smile back, widely, unashamedly, hardly remembering a time when I found it difficult to let my happiness show, hardly remembering a time before I had Jade and a house full of laughter and contentment.

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  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  Book 1: Baby Lust

  Book 2: Veteran

  Book 3: Built

  Book 4: Bambino

  Book 5: Rescued

  Book 6: Leader

  Book 7: Professor

  Book 8: Burned

  Book 9: Worldly

  Book 10: Pistol

  Book 11: Policed

  Book 12: Driven

  Book 13: Lucky 13

  Book 14: Lumberjacked

  Book 15: Protector

  Book 16: Carpenter

  Book 17: Italian Stallion

  Book 18: Gardener

  Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin

  Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter

  Book 21: Cocky CFO

  Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th

  Book 23: Mechanic

  Book 24: SEAL’s Secret

  Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch

  Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée

  Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina

  Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter

  Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy

  Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol

  Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess

  Book 32: Statham

  Book 33: Bodyguard

  Book 34: Greek God

  Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter

  Book 36: Mountain Man

  Book 37: SEAL’s Justice

  Book 38: Royal Romance

  Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery

  Book 40: Crocodile Dan D

  Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby

  Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby

  Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter

  Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door

  Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace

  Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée

  Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny

  Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter

  Book 49: Steamy

  Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend

  Book 51: Possessive Professor

  Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter

  Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby

  Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day

  Book 55: Doctor Next Door

  Book 56: Possessive Policeman

  Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter

  Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter

  Book 59: Virgin in New York

  Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby

  Book 61: Possessive Protector

  Book 62: Possessive Australian

  Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother

  Book 64: Possessive Cowboy

  Book 65: Summer Romanced

  Book 66: Possessive Prince

  Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy

  Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend

  Book 69: Possessive Firefighter

  Book 70: Football Next Door

  Book 71: Doctor December

  Book 72: Possessive Canadian

  Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire

  Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop

  Book 75: Possessive Brazilian

  Book 76: Hockey Obsession

  B
ook 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter

  Book 78: Halloween Next Door

  Book 79: Possessive Russian

  Book 80: Baseball Mine

  Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive

  Book 82: Instalove Island

  Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend

  Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss

  Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor

  Book 86: Possessive Portuguese

  Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop

  Book 88: Russian’s Obsession

  Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas

  Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot

  Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day

  Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker

  Book 93: Italian Mountain Man

  Book 94: Aggressive Russian

  Book 95: Possessive Valentine

  Book 96: Possessive Hunter

  Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend

  Book 98: Russian Teacher

  Book 99: Australian Obsession

  Book 100: Russian Next Door

  Book 101: Dad’s Irish Friend

  Book 102: Nanny for the Russian Mafia

  Book 103: Best Friend’s Dad

  Book 104: Basketball Babymaker

  Book 105: Possessive Veterinarian

  Book 106: Brother’s Fireman Friend

  Book 107: Brother’s Canadian Cowboy Friend

  Book 108: Summer Vacation with Dad’s Best Friend

  Book 109: Dad’s Italian Mafia Friend

  Book 110: Dad’s Irish Mafia Friend

  Book 111: Dad’s Football Friend

  Book 112: Possessing His Dancing Queen

  Book 113: Brother’s Cop Friend

  Book 114: Halloween With Dad’s Best Friend

  Book 115: Claimed By Her Boss

  Book 116: Possessive Rider

  Book 117: Dad’s Ex-Biker Buddy

  Book 118: Possessive Undercover Cop

  Book 119: Falling For Her Boss

  Book 120: Claiming His Fashionista

  Book 121: More Than Dad’s Best Friend

  Book 122: Thanksgiving With Dad’s Best Friend

  Book 123: Bossy Italian

  Book 124: Christmas With Dad’s Mafia Friend