Vick Read online

  “You’re a goddess.” He groans, and wraps his fingers around my neck bringing my mouth crashing down on his. Between deep kisses, he moans. “I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

  “I’m close, too.”

  Never in my life have I climaxed with a man. Never until now.

  The twitching ignites. At the same time, Vick’s jaw drops open, my mouth still attached. His hips jolt upward, and I press down grinding my nub against his pelvis. “Oh fuck.” His gravelly voice echoes.

  Our ragged breaths merge as both of us let out every ounce of sexual tension that’s been brewing between us since I walked into his garage today. Exhausted, I rest my forehead on his strong shoulder. This is definitely a feeling I could get used to. No, that I plan on getting used to.

  “I’ve got bad news for you.” Vick finally says after our breathing returns to normal.

  “What?” I lift my head, bracing for whatever the hell he’s about to say after what we just did. When he keeps his head tilted back on the sofa, eyes closed, I give him a shove. “Whaaat?”

  His lips curve into a sexy smile. “I’m never letting you leave.” A tiny laugh escapes my lips. “I’m serious, Chloe. You’re it. I know it. I can feel it.”

  “I thought you said your intuition was shit,” I tease.

  His full lips graze the tip of my nose. He pulls me off of him and snuggles me next to him, lying down on the couch. For the longest time he doesn’t say anything.

  When I finally tilt my chin in his direction, he’s fast asleep. I grab the blanket from the end of the sofa, pull it over us and join him, the sound of thunder fading in the distance.

  7

  Vick

  When I wake up the next morning, Chloe’s still wrapped in my arms. The electricity must have come on sometime in the middle of the night. Kitchen lights blare against the streaming sunlight filtering in through the windows. Oh man, did I just fall asleep afterward? That’s a good sign, though. It means I’m comfortable. Let’s hope she sees it like that.

  “You snore.” Chloe’s gravelly morning voice pulls my attention.

  I inhale deeply through my nose, pulling her cheek closer to my chest. “Do not.”

  “Do too.”

  “Prove it.” A silence passes between us. When Chloe doesn’t answer right away, I’m certain that maybe I’m being presumptuous. While I know deep down that I want this woman for the rest of my life, maybe she doesn’t want me?

  “Breakfast?” I interrupt my own thoughts.

  “Please.” She plants a kiss on my chest and I wiggle out from the blanket, leaving it for her to wrap herself up in. I throw on my shorts and when I look back at her in mid yawn, my heart melts. She’s the woman of my dreams, there’s no doubt.

  I run to the bathroom, do my business and rinse my face. When I head back in the living room, she’s dressed in the same clothes I gave her last night and fiddling with the coffee maker.

  “Stop, babe. I’ll get that.”

  “I run a café, Vick. I know my way around a coffee maker.”

  “Chloe?”

  “Hm?” Casual and cool as a cucumber, she doesn’t even look up at me. “What’s up?”

  I’m next to her before I know what’s happening, lacing her delicate fingers between mine.“I like you.”

  Her warm smile reaches her eyes. “I know.” She tilts her chin up to meet my gaze. “I like you, too.”

  I narrow my eyes, she’s not finished speaking. “But?”

  “Not but…and.” She sucks in air between her teeth. “I want to take this slow. Yeah, I know it’s a bit late for that.”

  I stiffen just thinking about last night. “Why?”

  “Because you may learn that you don’t like being with a woman like me after all. There’s a good chance that I won’t fit into that simple life you want. I’m complicated, and messy, and yes kind of weird.”

  I nearly do a double take. “Chloe, that won’t happen. I don’t know what it is about you, but you’ve cast a spell on me. When I said that I’m not letting you leave, I meant it. I want to know everything about you. Every quirk, everything anyone’s ever considered weird. I love it.”

  “I’m not an easy woman to be with.”

  “I’m not looking for easy, Chloe.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her close. “If easy was my priority, I would’ve lived the life that my parents had all planned out for me.” Her blue eyes sparkle in the morning sun, darting back and forth between my own. “Destiny isn’t following what other people tell you that you’re here to do, it’s trusting your own inner voice pointing you where you need to go. Chloe, we’re both here for a reason. In Wild County. Hell, across the street from each other. I’m not turning a blind eye to that.”

  Chloe licks her full lips, allowing the moment to land in the silent space between us. Then she wraps her arms around my neck and smiles bigger than I’ve seen her smile yet. “Now who sounds like the weirdo?”

  “Definitely me.” I pull her to me and press my lips against hers, feeling her soft curves pressed against me under the t-shirt she’s wearing. My t-shirt. On my woman. “And if you want to take this slow, we can. I’ll come by your café and ask you out on a formal date.”

  “Obviously. I won’t settle for less.”

  “No woman of mine would ever.”

  Chloe cocks her blonde brow. “Woman of yours, huh? That’s not taking things very slow.” The words are barely out of her mouth when I kiss her once more, pressing my hardness into her. Mornings, man!

  “I guess we’ve already broken that barrier,” she says, eyes flicking down toward my shorts.

  I lift her up, and she squeals before wrapping her legs around my waist. “Let me at least have some coffee first!”

  “Fine.” I groan and kiss her neck before setting her down. “But you do owe me one thing.”

  Her frizzy hair frames her face like an angel’s halo. “What’s that?”

  “You have to tell me what your premonition was about me.”

  Chloe’s freckle-spattered nose scrunches when she smiles. “The Devil Card.”

  “What the hell?” Chloe can’t stop giggling, a sight I plan on seeing for the rest of our lives. “The Devil Card?”

  “It’s not what you think.” Her palms flex toward me.

  “Well, what does it mean?”

  “You really want to know?”

  I realize that I do want to know. This is part of the woman I love. “Yeah, I’ll make the coffee and you can start to break down what the hell your witchy ways mean.”

  “I am a little witchy.” She pinches the air with her thumb and finger.

  I brush her hair back from her shoulder and press a kiss to her forehead. “Baby, there’s not a doubt in my mind.”

  “I’ll get my cards!” Like a kid on Christmas, Chloe rushes to her purse and pulls out her deck while I make us a pot of coffee and pop some bagels in the toaster. Nothing feels better than her energy in my house. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her. She’s mine forever, whether she believes it fully or not. I’m never letting her go. My beautiful, Witchy Chloe. Thank God I’m lucky enough to have found a woman who trusts her instincts. I have no doubt, she’ll help me learn to regain trust in my own.

  Epilogue: Vick

  Two Years Later

  “Sorry this is so last minute, man.” My good friend, Ford paces around the side of his car while I finish changing his oil. “I should’ve done this last week but I got carried away with the design for the new lodge downtown. And then this happened.”

  “It’s cool, man. I’ve got nothing on the books.” I peer up for a second over at Chloe’s café, waiting for her to drive over so we can go have lunch. “Besides, you’ve got to get out of town in a hurry.”

  “Damn straight.” Ford runs a hand through his silvering hair. We’ve been friends since I moved to town, and I’ve never seen him stressed. He’s usually calm and collected, a man in total control.

  When I’m finished, I tap the hood
. “All set, brother.”

  “Thanks, man. I owe you one.” Ford tries to hand me a big bill, but I push it back toward his wallet.

  “Just take it easy and get there safe.”

  Ford grips my shoulder and nods. No thanks necessary. He hops in his car and heads out of the lot at the same time my beautiful wife Chloe crosses the street. I towel off my hands and high tail it over to meet her.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I call out. “I told you to drive over.”

  “Don’t be silly, babe,” she cups her hands over her mouth, shouting back. “I need the exercise.” I watch her like a hawk as she steps onto the curb, waddling along the way. I swear I’m more nervous about this pregnancy than she is. I grab her hand and we walk back toward the garage.

  “Hungry?”

  “I’ve had half of an angel food cake today and I’m still starving like I haven’t eaten in months.” She rubs her belly, diamond sparkling in the afternoon sun. “I’m going to be bigger than our house if we keep this up.”

  “More for me to devour.” I snort into her neck and she brushes me off.

  “You’re silly.”

  “You’re hot.”

  Chloe playfully slaps me on the arm.

  It didn’t take long for us to tie the knot. Even though Chloe said she wanted to take it slow, I ended up proposing after eight months. I just couldn’t wait any longer to make her my wife. Then, like a fairytale, she got pregnant right afterward.

  “Was that Ford’s car leaving?” She asks as I help her into the office chair.

  “Sure was. An old friend of his passed away last night.”

  “Oh, that’s awful. But I’m glad he’s going to her.”

  My head flicks in my wife’s direction. “His friend was a man. A buddy from college.”

  “Not the man who passed.” Chloe rolls her eyes like her thoughts are common knowledge. “His friend’s daughter, babe.”

  “Oh, I don’t know if he has one.”

  “He does.”

  “Ford didn’t mention her. She probably needs consoling right now though, huh?”

  Chloe licks her lips, eyes darting from side to side. “Something like that.” Before I can ask anything else, she continues. “I want chicken salad.”

  I shimmy my keys from the pegboard and help my wife back up out of the chair. “One condition.” I pull her close. She smells like the café, a blend of lavender, peppermint and fresh coffee beans. “I get to choose dessert.”

  “I don’t know how much more sugar I can take today,” she sighs. When I part her lips with my tongue, and taste her sweet mouth, she knows I’m not talking about food. “Well then we’d better hurry. I’ve only got an hour.”

  Looking into her eyes, happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life, I trace a line around her jaw. “I love you, Chloe.”

  “I love you, too. So much that you’d almost think that all of this was fated.”

  And she’s right…it was.

  Also by Flora Madison

  WILD COUNTY CURVES:

  Book 1: Vick

  Book 2: Ford (6/26)

  Book 3: Dane (7/10)

  Book 4: Bear (7/24)

  REDEMPTION INK:

  Book 1: King

  Book 2: Phoenix

  Book 3: Titus

  Book 4: Bone

  CURVES IN THE CITY:

  Curves in the City: Book 1

  Curvy Librarian (Curves in the City: Book 2)

  Curvy Co-Star (Curves in the City: Book 3)

  INSTA LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT:

  Ryker: Book 1

  Dayton: Book 2

  OTT ALPHAS AND BBWS:

  Stick and Poke

  Grind’r

  Re-paired: An Insta Love OTT Alpha Romance

  POSSESSIVE BILLIONAIRE BOSSES:

  Possessive Alpha Boss

  Possessive New Boss

  Possessive Boss Next Door

  POSSESSIVE ALPHAS:

  Possessive Teacher

  Possessive Mechanic

  The Cowboy’s Curvy Love

  Her Secret Billionaire Neighbor

  Possessive Irish Cop

  Possessive Billionaire Athlete

  Possessive Mountain Man

  Possessive Alpha Man Bundle

  OTT STANDALONES:

  The Cowboy’s Curvy Love

  Her Secret Billionaire Neighbor