This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2014 Addison Moore
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
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ISBN-13: 9781477847121
ISBN-10: 147784712X
Book design by Girl Friday Productions
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.
Also by Addison Moore
New Adult Romance:
Someone to Love (Someone to Love Book 1)
Someone Like You (Someone to Love Book 2)
3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 1)
Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 2)
Sugar Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 3)
Beautiful Oblivion
The Solitude of Passion
Perfect Love (Celestra Short)
Young Adult Romance:
Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)
Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)
Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)
Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)
Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)
Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)
Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)
Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 7.5)
Elysian (Celestra Series Book 8)
Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy Book 1)
Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy Book 2)
Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy Book 3)
Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
1 OUT OF THE CLOSET
2 THE CHAPEL GRAPPLE
3 THE BOOK OF LOVE
4 IMAGINE THAT
5 IN THE SWING OF THINGS
6 SWEET RELEASE
7 DRESS TO IMPRESS
8 THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE
9 PUT A RING ON IT
10 WITCHES AND BITCHES
11 HURTS SO GOOD
12 THE NAUGHTY PROFESSOR
13 WITH THIS BLING
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
Kendall
They say the day you fall in love is the most magical day of your life. They say that moment sears itself over your soul for eternity. You never forget true love’s first kiss; it plays again in your heart forever.
For me true love’s kiss came on a snowy winter morning. We wrote forever over our hearts with our lips. It was a miracle. It was magic.
And now, here we are just about a year later, already poised to move on to the next big step in our relationship and seal our fate as husband and wife. But are we really ready? Will we ever be?
The door rattles, and I snap up the cuffs and paddle and spin around to find Cruise standing there with not a stitch of clothing on—holding out a round, gloriously huge cake.
“For the love of all things chocolate.” My mouth falls open, and I don’t know what to drool at first.
He steps in and shuts the door, glancing behind me at the plethora of kinky equipment displayed, and—swear to God—Cruise Elton just blushed. He sets down the cake on the nightstand and presses his hands together like he’s about to get to work.
“Now”—Cruise snatches the blackout blindfold and quickly straps it over my eyes—“about cheating on those exams.” He pulls me into his bare chest and rides his lips slowly over my neck. “How far are you willing to go with this?”
I slip the blindfold up an inch and inspect him for a moment.
“All the way.”
And we do.
1
OUT OF THE CLOSET
Kendall
Bedroom or bathroom?” Cruise asks with his lids hooded low, his enthusiasm for all things coital tucked hard against my thigh. He’s holding back that wicked grin he’s been liberal with all night, while an entire swarm of bodies swim around us.
I glance over at Lauren and Ally cackling away on the sofa. Lauren thought it would be a great idea to throw Morgan and Ally a surprise housewarming party at their new apartment, only Morgan wasn’t that impressed once dozens of people flooded his living room while he was still in his boxers. My brother never was an exhibitionist.
“Bedroom or bathroom? I don’t know.” I tighten my arms around my fiancé’s waist. Cruise Elton is a god in training. No, wait—he’s already a god who is large and in charge of his domain. By domain I don’t just mean our bedroom, as most of our private exchanges take place outside of those four walls. And by large I mean, well, you know what I mean.
He has his dress shirt on and a slick tie that is the exact robin’s-egg blue of his eyes. Of course he’s wearing jeans, because he likes to keep his sense of style down to earth. This is pretty much his everyday attire now that he’s running his mother’s bed-and-breakfast full-time. She’s out of town taking care of her own bedridden mother, so Cruise is flying solo
“Sounds like you need a little convincing.” Cruise dips his mouth over my neck and gives a searing kiss that trails all the way to the hollow spot just above my chest. I let out a guttural moan, perhaps a little too enthusiastic for a public gathering, but the room is buzzing with noise, and I doubt anyone really cares about our quasi-carnal exchange.
“Hey, cool it, would you?” a male voice barks out.
My eyes spring open to find my brother glaring at the two of us. His black hair and cobalt-blue eyes are twins to mine, but I’d bet good money his dimples are a million times more adorable than the ones digging into my cheeks right now. Needless to say, I love my big bro to infinity and back. That’s how we used to say it when we were kids. We practically raised each other once our father ran out on us. Our poor mother was too busy trying to find a replacement daddy, so we were all we had.
“Come here.” I slip out of Cruise’s grasp and pull Morgan into a nice tight hug. “I’m so proud of you.” Morgan made Garrison University’s baseball team because he’s the best damn college player in the country.
“Would you stop with that?” His cheeks darken a shade. “I know you’re proud. And I’m proud of you, too.” He gives my shoulders a quick squeeze. “Don’t be a fool, stay in school, and all that cool stuff.”
“You ready for your first day tomorrow?” I ask while he scans the crowd behind my shoulder. Morgan can’t stand to be away from Ally for more than fifteen seconds, and I think it’s the cutest thing on the planet. Cruise and I are sort of the same way, I realize, as he reels me back into him and secures his arms around me like a seat belt.
“I’m ready.” Morgan scowls at some guy who’s busy hauling in a keg. “But I’m not really used to hosting wild parties the night before a new semester starts. I want all these people out of here at a decent hour.”
Considering it’s almost midnight, I’d say he might need to redefine decent.
He nods to the couch where Ally and Lauren are motioning us over. Lauren’s main squeeze, Cal, is there, trying to impress a group of jocks with his overblown muscles. He’s tan to the point of shoe leather, and his veins bulge under his skin like an entire network of cables. He’s beyond intimidating, until you get to know him. Cal owns the only gym in Carrington, and rumor has it he’s redesigning the one at school.
“Great party,” I say, landing on the couch next to Ally. Cruise takes a seat on the armrest
and glides his hand over my shoulder.
“Thanks.” Ally pushes into me playfully. “Speaking of parties, we were just talking about Lauren’s next big bash—her megawedding.”
Both Ally and I are bridesmaids in Lauren’s wedding. Lauren’s wedding is going to be so big it’ll eat other, far more anemic weddings for breakfast. Namely mine.
“Oh no.” Lauren wags a finger, emphatically. “I’m going the sweet and simple route. Once the guest list is manageable, everything else will just fall into place.”
“So have you picked a date?” A burst of adrenaline fills me. I love talking all things matrimonial, especially since Cruise and I are getting hitched on Christmas Eve.
“New Year’s Eve.” Lauren flips back a curtain of dark hair. She has always reminded me a little of a sexy librarian, with her hair cut blunt just below the shoulders and the designer power suits she sports 24-7. Okay, well, an extremely wealthy librarian. It’s no secret Lauren comes from money—lots and lots of money. In fact, I think if you inspected her DNA sequence carefully enough, you’d see the access code to her trust fund.
And then it hits me. “Wait”—I lean in because obviously I didn’t hear her right the first time—“did you say New Year’s Eve? As in this New Year’s Eve?” That can’t be. It would be just a week away from my wedding.
Lauren gives a casual nod, and my stomach does a cartwheel.
“She booked the chapel at Garrison!” Ally looks amazed by this seemingly trivial detail.
“Really?” My nerves bounce like a bucket of Ping-Pong balls that Lauren accidentally knocked over. The chapel at Garrison is the exact place where Cruise and I are planning to tie the knot. It’s amazingly beautiful and Gothic, plus it just so happens to be located at the university we both attended when we met. I still do—he sort of got kicked out on his rear. “I was going to run by after class tomorrow and book the chapel myself.”
Why do I suddenly feel as though Lauren is stealing the spotlight? I know for a fact she wouldn’t think to do it on purpose, but honestly, I’m feeling a little uneasy about Lauren’s wedding jockeying alongside mine—and moving faster at that.
Lauren and Ally glance at one another before breaking out into cackles.
“What’s so funny?”
“You.” Lauren can barely get the word out. “You’re joking, right?” She wipes the tears from the corners of her eyes.
“No, I’m not joking.” I glance back at Cruise as if he could explain their strange behavior, but he offers nothing more than a simple, sexier-than-hell shrug.
“Kendall.” Ally shakes her head at me like I’m a child. “The chapel is highly sought after. You need to book three full years in advance. Every Garrison graduate wants to get married in that hallowed hall.”
“Three years?” A spike of alarm fills me. Usually I’m pretty easygoing, but when it comes to my wedding day everything has to be perfect, starting with that damn chapel. When I was young, there was an entire decade when my mother got hitched at least once every other year, and I swore up and down I would never do that. It’s one and done, and for sure Cruise Elton is the one for me. I pull his arm tighter around my chest. “So how did you manage to get in?” I look at Lauren accusingly, because I have a feeling I know which financial district this conversation is headed toward.
“Let’s just say it cost a small fortune for my father to get the other bride and groom to host their nuptials elsewhere.” She chortles as if it was the greatest coup, probably because it was. “Anyway, it’s water under the bridge, and the happy couple who generously gifted me their wedding slot now have their very first house.”
Crap. First of all, my father hasn’t seen me in a house for the past twenty years, let alone bought one for total strangers just to make my special day happen at the locale of my dreams. It’s no wonder everyone envies Lauren. It’s because they should.
“Well, I’ll run by tomorrow and see what happens.” I glance up at Cruise, unsure how much of that he actually heard, and judging by the bored look on his face, I’d guess none.
“Have you chosen a good couples counselor yet?” Lauren doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “You should definitely try to see the one we are.” She flicks her wrist in Cal’s direction. “He specializes in curing with tears.”
“Couples counseling?” It’s probably another adorable quirk the wealthy like to engage in right after paying off other people’s mortgages to procure their wedding venue. Besides, the last thing I want to do is make Cruise cry. The entire idea sounds like an emotional pain in the ass.
Ally perks up and threads her fingers with Morgan’s. “We should totally go, too! I bet we can iron out all kinds of crazy things we never even knew about.”
“We should totally not go.” Morgan gives Cal a hard look that says, Call off your psycho girlfriend. “The only thing we need to be ironing out is a budget.”
“Yes,” Cruise rumbles from behind me, and I jump a little because who the hell knew he was listening? Obviously, it was selective listening. “I one hundred percent agree. I’ve been trying to get Kenny to sit down with me these past few months and crunch some numbers. We’re only harming ourselves by guessing how much we have to spend.”
Gah! I practically shake him off my person. He so is paying attention to the conversation. I knew he wasn’t avoiding all talk about the wedding. A budget, really? I hate that word and I hate focusing on the fact we’re always broke. I’m well aware of how much money we don’t have—thank you very much, Morgan. I shoot him the stink eye for landing me in this financial quicksand of a conversation.
Morgan nods to Cruise. “How do you control your spending if you don’t know what’s coming in and going out?” He looks to me. “Unless there’s some magical ATM you’re not telling him about, you’d better figure things out before it’s too late.”
Really? Does he honestly think I enjoy the fact I’ve landed in a pile of currency-deficient crap? Clearly he has no idea what a sparkling party conversation consists of. I’ll have to school him later in the fine art of couples’ gab that won’t effectively end the relationship of every couple in a fifty-foot radius. Come to think of it, he’s mighty lucky Ally isn’t drilling him a new one right now.
Ally narrows her gaze at him with a look that could freeze his balls off.
Atta girl. God knows I can’t control my brother.
“That’s what I’ve been telling her.” Cruise leans over and high-fives Morgan. That act alone sets off all kinds of sirens and alarms. Cruise and Morgan haven’t exactly gotten along since my brother came into town earlier this summer. It would figure they would bond over the greatest division between our respective relationships, namely our serious lack of bank. Legal tender and I haven’t traditionally gotten along. I don’t really hate it—I just don’t own enough of it for me to love.
“You know what I think I need?” I cut Cruise a sly look.
“A money management system?” He looks serious as shit, and this simultaneously alarms and pisses me off.
“No.” My eyes saucer out, incredulous he would even go there. “I need to go to the bathroom.” I bat my lashes in the event he needs a reminder of his earlier proposition.
“Go ahead.” He pats me on the shoulder before leaning back toward Morgan. “I’ve got this software you should see. It actually categorizes spending into his and hers categories.”
“And that’s where you’ll see where the real damage is being done.” Morgan offers up a knuckle bump, and I roll my eyes at Ally. I hope she freezes him out for an entire week for even insinuating that either of us was capable of single-handedly inducing a fiscal catastrophe.
Cruise nods at my brother’s lunacy, obviously agreeing. I should probably freeze Cruise out for a week, but he’s a tall, lean, mean sex machine and I’m pretty sure depriving Cruise of his testosterone release is illegal in at least forty-eight different states—Massachusetts being one of them. In fact, I’d better haul him off and have my way with him before I ge
t arrested for the greatest felony of all, fornication deprivation. It’s been at least six hours since our last meet and treat.
I give a firm tug to Cruise’s tie. “Maybe you can show me where the bathroom is?”
“You know where it is.” He looks genuinely puzzled for a moment before leaning farther toward my brother. Cruise opens his mouth and closes it. “On second thought, I’d better walk you there myself.” He takes up my hand and glides me past the enthusiastic crowd engaging in a riotous game of beer pong at the kitchen table.
The warm scent of his cologne wafts over me like an erotic dream. Just holding his hand like this, feeling his hot skin next to mine, still has the power to make my panties fall off on command. I can’t help but feel like the luckiest girl on the planet to have Cruise Elton by my side. Even though, in truth, he might have slept with half the coeds in this room. Cruise was quite the playboy before I stepped into the scene. But now, right after the girls drill into him with that lust-driven gaze, the next thing they do is look to me and frown because Cruise Elton is very much taken. He is taken as taken can get, and I’ve got his grandmother’s wedding ring on my finger to prove it.
I lean in close until my lips brush against his cheek. “It took you a minute to catch on,” I tease, licking the rim of his ear. I know for a fact that drives him insane, because he told me so himself—not to mention his back shudders and he rewards me with a groan each time I do it.
His eyes close for a moment as he takes in the sensation. “Took you a while to change the subject.” His lips broaden.
“You!” I smack him across the chest and pull him in by the tie. Cruise knows I’m allergic to all things monetary. No wonder he rode that financial pony. He knew it’d be his quickest ticket off that sofa—and most likely his ticket away from all things bridal.
We head toward the bathroom and smack into a wall of bodies lined up clear to the kitchen.
I shake my head at Cruise and point over to the bedroom, where there’s a note taped to the door.
“What’s this?” Cruise leans in over my shoulder, and we inspect it together.