“He is,” I assure him. “But he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a man now. The way he helped me, the way he was so cool under pressure… He’s amazing.”
Ransom takes my hand and stares at his ring winking there. “If I didn’t know better, I’d worry you’re interested in him.”
“Nope. Never really was.” I wrap my arms around Ransom’s neck. “I couldn’t get interested because his father is way hotter.”
Suddenly, he presses his body tight against me and his lips capture mine. Just like our very first kiss in Ransom’s kitchen, he steals my breath—and my heart. I have a feeling the rest of my life will be filled with laughter, love, and the kind of toe-curling passion most of my friends have searched for endlessly in their hookups.
“And Ethan already told me that if I married you, he’d have the hottest stepmom ever. But I’m way luckier. I’ll have the most amazing vet and wife.” He seizes my lips again, wrapping his fingers in my hair and unleashing all his raw passion into the kiss. When he finally pulls away, I’m panting hard, squirming on the granite, and praying he has plans to take me to bed again soon. “So…how fast can we get married?”
“In a hurry?”
“Yeah. I’m about two minutes away from picking you up off that counter and taking you back to bed. You’re still not on the pill. I didn’t stop for condoms, so…”
If we keep this up, I’m going to get pregnant. “Unless we decide to stop having sex before the wedding—”
“Is that what you want? If it is, I’ll wait, babygirl.”
“What?” It’s sweet of him to offer, but… “Pfft, no. You said you’d take me back to bed in two minutes. The clock is ticking.”
His wide grin matches my smile. “Yes, ma’am. I aim to please. How does a wedding next weekend sound? I’d say today, but I’d like to give my parents and my brothers the opportunity to be here.”
Even a week leaves me virtually no time to find a dress or plan a wedding, but it’s Vegas. Someone can snap their fingers and make all that happen. Plus, I don’t care that much about the pomp. I just want to marry Ransom and start our amazing life together. “Perfect.”
“We’ll let everyone know…soon. First, I have one more surprise for you.”
Whatever he’s cooking up is keeping me from the orgasms he’s so great at giving, and every time I’m in the same room with Ransom, I just want to be close to him. On the other hand, I haven’t had anyone in my life care about me in so long. And his eager expression tells me this is important. “Surprise?”
“Wait here.” He heads into the pantry. He’s gone a few minutes when I hear a faint click. An acrid scent fills my nose, like he’s lit something on fire. Then he turns, holding a fluffy round cake with pristine white frosting and eighteen lit candles flickering with every step he takes toward me.
“Oh, my god!” What an incredibly sweet gesture. Ransom may be rough and dirty and badass, but he melts my heart.
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you…” he sings, then sets the cake on the island beside me. “Blow out your candles, babygirl. Make a wish.”
I turn to the cake and sit cross-legged, biting my lip. Then look up at him with my heart in my eyes. “I don’t need to. You already made it come true.”
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Want to see Ridge Garrison abduct the one-night stand who stole his heart—and get the surprise of his life?
SEDUCED BY THE MAFIA BOSS
Forbidden Confessions: Protectors, Book 4
by Shayla Black
Click to purchase!
(will be available in eBook and print!)
(audio coming soon)
SEDUCED BY THE MAFIA BOSS
Forbidden Confessions: Protectors, Book 4
by Shayla Black
Click to purchase!
(will be available in eBook and print!)
(audio coming soon)
What will he risk to make his one-night stand last forever?
I’m Ridge.
I’m living a lie—except the night I met Kristi.
After hours of sweltering passion, I fell hard.
And I vowed to end my enemies to claim her.
Instead, she ran straight into danger.
So I have to kidnap her.
But she has a surprise for me, too…
Now I’m even more determined to mete out justice so I can spend the next fifty years with her.
Unfortunately, the mafia has a nasty habit of not letting go…
***
EXCERPT
Ridge stiffens to something like unbendable steel when he whirls on me and grabs my hand. “Goddamn it. You just couldn’t fucking leave when I told you to. C’mon.”
When he tugs, I shake my head. “What’s on the eighth floor?”
“I can’t explain it to you here. We’re being watched. Fuck.” He grabs my shoulders. “Now you have to come with me. And it’s going to get ugly.”
Before I can run, scream, tear off my clothes, or anything else that might attract attention, Ridge lifts me into his arms, against his chest, and carries me through the high rollers’ area.
“What are you doing? Put me down!”
He keeps walking like I didn’t speak, giving a flinty fuck-off stare to a blackjack dealer in the roped-off area, then nodding at a pair of suited hulks guarding a drape.
As we reach it, they push the brocade back to reveal an open elevator. Ridge strides inside. The doors begin to close.
I scream as if my life depends on it…because I’m starting to think it does.
He drops me to my feet, plasters me against the wall of the elevator with his body, and covers my mouth with his hand. “It’s too late for that. You’re at my mercy now.”
Those dark eyes of his—the ones so full of warmth and desire nine short weeks ago—are like black ice now.
“Don’t hurt me.” The plea slips out.
If anything, his eyes turn colder. “Where’s your phone?”
My last lifeline to 9-1-1 and the outside world? “I-I don’t have it.”
Mouth pressing into a grim line, Ridge yanks the strap of my purse off my shoulders, rifles through my bag, finds the device, and powers it down before pocketing it. “I’m sorry.”
Terror grips my throat. “What are you going to do to me?”
He doesn’t answer, which only terrifies me more. Then the elevator dings.
Eighth floor.
The doors open to a shadowy, dank hallway. It’s outdated. It smells musty.
I grab on to the safety rail in the elevator for dear life. I’m not letting go until Ridge gives me some answers. “Why are you bringing me here?”