Authors: Nerika Parke
The Cost of Love (7 page)
Jason dropped his keys into the bowl on the table by the door and looked round at the empty room. “Rob?”
“I got off early so he went home to get ready for his, and I quote, ‘super hot’ date.”
He smiled at Charlotte as she emerged from the kitchen and walked across the room. “Phoebe?”
“No, he and Phoebe broke up two weeks ago, remember?”
He frowned, trying to recall. It was sometimes hard to keep up with his brother’s dating habits nowadays. “So who’s he going out with tonight?”
Charlotte slid her arms around his neck. “Someone he met today at the supermarket.”
He rolled his eyes. “Is Rob using Trina to pick up girls again?”
She laughed. “Oh yes. She was boasting how she’d got
two
pretty ladies to give him their phone numbers today. Didn’t he do the same before we met?”
“He didn’t date much then. It was difficult with him looking after Trina.” He smiled. “I suppose he deserves to have some fun. Even if he is corrupting our daughter.”
Charlotte smiled, her gaze dropping to his mouth. He spent the next half a minute reacquainting himself with the warm, soft lips he hadn’t kissed since he’d left that morning.
“How was your day?” she said, rubbing her nose gently across his.
“We spent the whole time on case studies,” he said. “My head is swirling with court rulings and judge’s decisions. You wouldn’t believe how much I missed you. Where’s Trina?”
“At Stacy’s,” she replied. “Her parents said she could stay until after supper.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Did they?”
She smiled and pulled at his tie, loosening it before pressing a kiss to his neck. “Mm hmm.”
His heart began to beat faster. “So we have over two hours before she comes home?”
Her fingers started work on the buttons of his shirt. “Mm hmm.” She glanced at the briefcase he’d left on the chair by the door. “Unless you have homework to do.”
He shook his head vehemently and took her hand, backing towards the stairs. “Absolutely no homework at all, at least that can’t wait.”
She frowned, stepping back. “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to cause you to fall behind in your training...”
She dissolved into giggles as he grabbed her, lifted her up and pushed her against the wall at the foot of the stairs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, sighing as he captured her mouth in his and swept his tongue inside. He broke away when her soft whimpers of pleasure began to drive him crazy, and she gave him the smile that always made his heart flip.
It swept over him how much he loved her. He’d never imagined how happy he could be before he had his little family. Charlotte and Trina filled his life with light and love.
“Cline offered me a job today, for after I qualify,” he said. “She said they were impressed with my work and wanted me to join the firm.”
Charlotte’s face lit up. “Oh, Jay, that’s wonderful. I’m so proud of you.”
Her praise ignited a glow in his chest, giving him the courage to ask her something he’d been considering for a while. “And I was thinking, I mean I’ve been thinking for a while that maybe, if you think it’s something you’d like to do now, or it doesn’t have to be now, we can wait if you’d rather...” He stopped as Charlotte touched her fingertip to his lips.
“Tell me,” she said.
He took a deep breath. “I wondered what you thought of the idea of giving Trina a little brother or sister.”
She gasped, her mouth dropping open. “You want us to have a baby?”
He nodded, his heart pounding. He finally breathed out when a smile spread across her face.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. “I think that’s the best idea ever,” she said, her voice muffled against his neck.
“You do?”
She lifted her face to look at him. “I’ve kind of been thinking about it myself.”
As his heart swelled, Jason filed this moment with the happiest of his life, along with the first time Trina said the word “Daddy”, the first time Charlotte told him she loved him, and the magical moment in the church when she said “I do”.
“I love you so much.” He kissed her again, then stepped back from the wall and lowered her to the floor. “Let’s get right on it.”
She laughed as he took her hand and led her up the stairs. “I took my pill this morning. It won’t happen today.”
“Then we can call this a practice run.”
“Like we need practice,” she said.
“Well then,” he said, pulling her into their bedroom, “let’s call it me making love to my wonderful, beautiful, incredible wife for no reason other than I love her like crazy.”
Charlotte smiled as she slipped her arms around him. “Works for me.”
Thank you for reading The Cost of Love. I hope you’ve enjoyed Charlotte and Jason’s story. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews are extremely important for authors and we appreciate every single one!
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Love After Death Book One
Being dead can take a lot of getting used to.
Denny Carpenter finds that out when he wakes up unexpectedly deceased. Unseen and unheard by the living, he is trapped as a ghost in the building where he lived, and where he died. He tries to make the most of his death and he’s doing pretty well, until Laila moves into his flat and turns his afterlife upside down.
Laila Smith is attempting to overcome her fear and rebuild her life. For the first time since she escaped her abusive ex-boyfriend, she has moved into her own home and is living on her own again. Laila has no idea, however, that she’s not really alone.
Denny falls for his beautiful, vulnerable new flatmate, without any hope of being with her. That is until everything changes when he has to reveal his presence in order to keep her safe, and to Denny’s amazement instead of being afraid of him, Laila develops a bond with her guardian ghost.
Together at last, they fall in love.
But Denny’s time on earth is running out and only Laila can help him. Has knowing him given her the strength she needs to save him, before they lose each other forever?
Love After Death Book Two
Becoming a ghost is just the beginning...
After dying in a motorcycle accident and spending almost six years as a ghost, Oliver Carrington is ready to move on. He’s said goodbye to his friends, his spectral body has faded and he is prepared to accept whatever comes next in his journey through the afterlife. So it comes as something of a shock when he wakes up in the body of 87-year-old Samuel Canfield.
Oliver knows that Sam has died, but no-one else does, and now everyone thinks Oliver is the old man. Everyone, that is, but Eleanor Canfield, Sam’s opinionated late wife who has been dead for two years and who only Oliver can see.
With his health failing as badly as Sam’s was and no idea why he is now inhabiting the body of a dead man, Oliver struggles to adapt to being barely able to take care of himself. But when Sam’s children hire beautiful nurse Jemimah Edwards as Oliver’s live in carer, his new life becomes even more complicated when he realises he’s met the woman of his dreams, but can’t do anything about it.
Oliver knows his time with Jem is short as Sam’s body heads towards death for the second time. Could there possibly be any way for him to regain his youth and for them to be together, before it’s too late and Oliver dies again, this time forever?
Nothing Less Than Paradise Book One
Jenny has tried love and it ended badly. Really badly. So six man-free months and counting is working just fine for her. It is not, however, working for her best friend Amy, and Jenny finds herself surreptitiously set up with Amy’s cousin. Doug is seemingly everything she could ask for, handsome, funny, loving, and she falls for him joyfully. But Doug is harbouring a traumatic past he won’t talk about and Jenny is unable to let her guard down fully to a man she adores, yet knows almost nothing about.
As their relationship suffers, Jenny’s despair at being shut out from his inner turmoil and Doug’s increasing emotional distance leads her to risk losing him forever. Will they be able to overcome the deep emotional wounds and fear threatening to tear them apart?
Nothing Less Than Paradise Book Two
Mark loves women and they love him and in his job as a bartender at the Hotel Excelsior, he meets a lot of them. A job he enjoys, a fun best friend, a great apartment and all the sex he could want and yet, in the midst of his bachelor paradise, something is wrong. He is beginning to realise that a life of brief relationships and one night stands is not as fulfilling as he would like, but finding anything more is proving difficult.
Then one evening, new receptionist Laura walks into the bar. She’s not his type at all, but that’s a good thing because it means he can’t screw up their budding friendship by jumping into bed with her, as he does with most of the other women he meets. Yes, he finds himself behaving in strange ways around her, like choosing to spend time with her rather than going to the hotel rooms of beautiful women, and wanting to punch his best friend simply for innocently putting his arm around her, but that means nothing. He and Laura are just friends, that’s all. Mark is almost sure of that.
Almost.
Jamie Turner drives Eve crazy. He’s loud, crass and a shameless flirt, not her type at all. But he’s also great looking with an incredible body and, while she may be repulsed by his behaviour, she can’t deny her attraction to him. But their office has a strict policy against relationships between co-workers so he’s out of bounds anyway. And that’s fine by Eve. Until she has to spend a Saturday alone with him and discovers that the real Jamie is very different from the man she knows at work. This Jamie she likes. Too much.
With his personality no longer an issue, their intense physical attraction is impossible for Eve to resist and they begin a passionate affair. An affair that will turn her world upside down and change both of their lives forever.