Neil (The Uncompromising Series Book 2) (40 page)

“There is more.”

He was right. He was always right. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Know what I’m thinking.”

He brushed my hair off my shoulder then tucked an errant strand behind my ear. He’d never done that. The gesture was so sweet and so intimate, I leaned my head against his chest and fought more tears.

“I do not know what you are thinking but your body language told me you were fearful and now your eyes tell me you are sad.”

I ran my hand over the hard muscles in his forearm. “Do we have to talk about it?” The thought of Viking crawling around in my head, knowing my fears, it felt like a line I didn’t want to cross. My weaknesses were my own and Viking wasn’t Jason. He’d never abandon me like that.

Viking grasped my chin and brought my gaze up to meet his. “Nothing you say will change how I feel.”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him use the word
feel
. Something close to anxiety prickled across my skin and I didn’t know what exactly he meant. How he felt about having kids? How he felt about me?

We’d never exchanged
I love yous
and I wasn’t sure if we ever would. I loved Viking. I loved him with all my heart but I knew actions were more important to him than words. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to hear those three words from him, I did, desperately. But hearing them would come at a price. It would change who Viking was. It would change who he was
to me
. Viking was impenetrable and unwaveringly stoic and ferociously alpha. He shouldn’t have to tell me he loved me. He lived it. He protected me and my son with his life. There was no better gesture of love he could make. So hearing him make himself vulnerable with three little words wasn’t something I was sure I could handle.

I swiped at my face and aimed for a joke. “How you feel? Are you getting all sappy on me? You’re going to talk about your feelings now?”

He stared at me and I wanted to take the stupid words back.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You just took me off guard.”

“You did not think I wanted more children?”

I loved how he didn’t say children of his own and not that we’d ever talked about it but you didn’t have to be a genius to realize he adored kids. “Pretty sure I figured that one out.”

He studied me a moment then asked perceptively, “What happened when Conner was born?”

“Nothing. My water broke.” I’d freaked the fuck out. Jason had gone out for drinks with a buddy the night before and hadn’t come home. “I drove myself to the hospital.” I’d called Jason a thousand times on speed dial but he’d never answered. “I had the baby then I went home.” Hours after he was born, because I didn’t have health insurance and I didn’t know what else to do.

Viking’s voice hardened. “Where was Tanner?”

“He met me at home.” Two days later, shocked as fuck I’d had the baby. No explanation for where he’d been, he’d apologized but he also lit into me for not leaving a message, which told me he’d seen my missed calls but never bothered to answer.

Viking’s eyes narrowed. “Why did he not drive you to the hospital?”

“I went into labor early.” Weeks early.

“Why wasn’t he at the hospital?”

“The whole thing happened pretty quick.” I was told five hours of labor was fast but it had felt like a fucking marathon of pain.

Viking inhaled and let it out slowly. “I know you are not telling me the whole story.”

I didn’t disagree, I couldn’t. “It doesn’t matter now. I have Conner and he’s healthy.”

Viking cupped my face. “I do not need to tell you that would never happen with me.”

“No, you don’t. I know you would never miss the birth of your son or daughter.”

“Do you want more children?”

I laughed. “Now you’re asking?”

He didn’t smile. “Yes.”

I kissed him once and put my forehead on his. “Yes, I want more children. Thank you for asking. And for the record, you make a great dad.”

“I am not Conner’s father.”

My chest constricted and I pulled back, dropping my gaze. Part of me wished he was. I hated to say that. I loved everything about Conner, but I’d made a shit decision getting pregnant with Jason. “I know.”

“I want him to take my name.”

Surprised, I glanced up at the most incredibly complex man I’d ever met and my heart filled with an indescribable feeling. “As in…?”

“Adopt him.”

He wanted to be my son’s father. Reality chased the joy and I exhaled. “Jason would never agree to that, if you could even find him.”

“I would like to talk to him.”

I stared, not sure what to address first. “You know where Jason is?”

He nodded once.

I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was. It’d been months since Jason had walked out of my apartment. I’d known when he left what was happening, but all this time, if he was close, shouldn’t he have been at least trying to see his son? Confusion clouded my thoughts like it always did when Jason was involved. Conner hadn’t been missing his father, Viking was more a father to him in every way, but I was taken off guard by my anger toward Jason for his irresponsibility and Viking’s omission of truth. I pushed off Viking’s lap. “How long have you known where he was?”

“Always.”

I got up and went to the window. I didn’t give a shit that I was naked. We were thirty floors up and it was night. For the first time since I’d moved in, I cursed Viking’s condo. I wanted to feel grounded. I wanted to walk in the grass and smell the Florida night air but I’d passed on the house in Golden Beach because it’d been perfect for me. But perfect for me meant small and lower ceilings and a tiny fenced yard with tropical overgrowth and Viking was bigger than all of that. He’d swallowed that house. The second he stepped foot in it, it wasn’t a cute Key West-style bungalow, it was a space too small to hold a warrior.

So I’d picked the condo because it fit Viking. There were five bedrooms, the beach was at our feet and Conner had loved every single thing about the place the second he’d seen it. If he wasn’t asking to go to the rooftop pool, he was asking for the beach, or he’d sit and stare out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. And if I was being honest, I’d picked the condo because I’d wanted to know what it felt like to live like a princess. I could send my laundry out and have food delivered and I didn’t ever have to scrub a toilet. It was a fairy tale. Viking had told me fairy tales weren’t real but he was wrong. I was living one. Until this very moment. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“You did not ask.”

“That’s not something you really bring up in conversation. Hey, honey, have you seen my ex? Are you tracking him?” I turned. “Why would you even do that?” I thought I’d closed the Jason chapter in my life but here it was, in Viking’s and my bedroom, and I wasn’t happy about it. At all.

Sitting against the headboard, the moon casting shadows in sharp angles across his body, Viking looked imposing and untouchable. “This was an inevitability.”

All of a sudden, the Jason issue morphed into a Viking issue. “So you knew you would marry me? You just assumed I’d say yes? And now you’re going to adopt my kid and make everything perfect?” I said it like what he was doing was a crime but more than anything, I was caught off guard. I knew Viking calculated everything. He operated fifteen steps ahead of everyone else. He was concise and relentless but I’d spent two months sweating three little words while he’d planned our whole damn future. “And for the record, you never even asked me to marry you, you stated it. Just like you state everything else.” I spun back around and crossed my arms.

His breath touched my shoulder before his warm hand gently encircled my wrist. Pulling my arm from my chest, he placed my palm on the cool glass. “I did not ask because I am giving you what you want,” he said calmly, taking my other wrist in his free hand. “You wanted the fairy tale.” He placed my other hand on the glass. His lips touched my ear and his mouth coasted down my neck. “Spread your legs.”

Chill bumps raced the shockwave of anticipation until my whole body was quivering. “What are you doing?” I asked, breathless.

“Fucking you.” His mouth closed over the spot where my neck met my shoulder and he grazed his teeth across my sensitized skin.

I groaned loudly and tilted my head to give him better access. “I’m not done arguing with you,” I lied.

“Yes you are.” Reading my body, reading me, he put his mouth back on my neck and swirled his tongue.

I spread my legs and arched my ass out. His hard length slid between my cheeks then he shoved into me. Wet from before, aching for a release I’d never gotten, I cried out as he sank to the hilt and ground his hips.

Needing to touch him, I tried to pull a hand free but his grip on my wrists tightened and he thrust three more times. He was so big and thick that each stroke hit my G-spot, and my legs started to shake. My pussy clenched in desperation and my body ached for the mind-bending release only he could give me. “
Harder
,” I begged.

He started to pound into me.

My arms joined my legs and my whole body began to shake so bad, Viking pressed his chest to my back and thrust harder.

Furious, rhythmic, unrelenting, Viking fucked me.

And a second before the fall, my world fell into place.

Conner, babies, this warrior pounding into me—he was right. He’d given me everything. His love was the life he’d given me.

The orgasm leapt up and took me so hard, my head fell back and a thousand pounds of pressure burst from my core like exploding fireworks. Waves of release rained down on my body and I let the truth rush from my heart and slip past my lips. “God, I love you.”

One giant hand caught my hip, the other my neck and his lips touched my ear. “That…” He thrust hard. “I earned.”

My Viking exploded inside of me, filling me with his love.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much for reading
NEIL
! If you were interested in leaving a review on
Amazon
or
Goodreads
, I would be so appreciative! Reviews mean the world to authors. They are helpful beyond compare.

Thank you! XOXO

Do you want to know more about Blaze and Layna? You can read their complete story in
The Unchecked Series
.
IMPOSSIBLE PROMISE
,
IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE
, and
IMPOSSIBLE END
are all available now!

Turn the page to find out more about
ANDRÉ
(The Uncompromising Series Book #3) by Sybil Bartel coming March 2017.

ANDRÉ -
The Uncompromising Series Book Three

André

One shot, one kill.

I was trained to operate in complete blackness. Not even the dead of night could protect you from my sniper rifle. I guarded my brothers and defended my country. Now I protect my clients. The personal security firm I built from the ground up is the best in the business because I leave nothing to chance. My life was exactly how I planned it, structured and controlled… until she crossed my path.

The dark-haired, hazel-eyed hellfire was supposed to be a one-night distraction. I’d show her exactly what to do with that smart mouth then leave before sunup. Except she made a single, flippant comment and every instinct I’d ever honed kicked in and my blood ran cold.

This woman wasn’t a distraction; she was going to get me killed.

I didn’t have a choice. I took her on as my client. But hoping her past doesn’t come after me isn’t an option. The US Marines didn’t train me to retreat, they taught me to aim…

One shot, one kill.

ANDRÉ
is coming March 2017!

Add it to your Goodreads cue
here
!

Turn the page for an excerpt from
TALON
(The Uncompromising Series Book #1) by Sybil Bartel.

TALON -
The Uncompromising Series Book One

Talon

I surf.

I fuck.

I pretend to smile.

Two years ago my life was perfect, until it wasn’t. I scattered my wife’s ashes then walked away from the Marines. I didn’t think I had anything left to lose.

I was wrong.

The blonde showed up on my doorstep beaten and stabbed. I did what I was trained to do—I stitched her up. I didn’t have a clue who she was and I told myself I didn’t care. Until they came looking for her.

I swore I’d take my last breath before I let anyone else hurt her, except I didn’t know she was keeping a deadly secret. Now I had two choices, her life or mine.

Marriage and combat taught me the same thing—I was no one’s hero. And I was about to prove it.

TALON Excerpt:

Tired as fuck, I stared out the front window of my surf shop at the blonde across the street.

Kendall smirked. “She’s been out there since yesterday. You going to talk to her?”

I turned and took in my employee’s tight leather lace-up top. If I didn’t think she’d gut me in my sleep, I would’ve nailed her long ago. “Who you talkin’ ’bout?” I played dumb.

“Don’t pull that shit with me.” Kendall put her red-painted fingernail on the front window and tapped the glass. “She’s been parked in the same spot since yesterday afternoon and
that
…is not a purse.” She pointed at the small duffel next to Nicole’s feet. “That’s an I-left-my-man bag.”

Fuck. She was probably right. Nicole’s boyfriend was an asshole. He worked at the shop where I took my bike. He was a decent mechanic but I’d seen him out at enough bars to know Randy was a fucking tool when he drank. If he wasn’t starting a fight, he was mouthing off to someone. I’d never figured how he’d scored someone as sweet as Nicole. “Maybe she’s just gettin’ a little sun. Nothin’ wrong with a beach day.”

“First of all, I know you’re not that stupid. And second, a beach day would entail a towel and a bikini and your feet actually hitting the sand, not parking your ass on the beach wall.” Kendall threw her hands up. “But if you want to be a dick and not help her…” She trailed off and sauntered back toward the register.