The Passion & Vows Series Read online

  It had been four weeks, and I was tired of waiting to give her the ring I’d had burning a hole in my pocket since the day I returned home.

  “Evie,” I warned. “When? I love you, but you better decide quickly, or I’m dragging your ass to the courthouse in the morning.”

  She laughed, the sound full of joy and filling me with light and life. Her hands came up and cupped my face. “Okay, stud. How about you hold your horses”—she snorted at her own little joke and just like every time she did it, I fell a little harder—“and give me two months. Let me plan a little wedding to marry the love of my life?”

  I grumbled but agreed, grabbing her wrist and sliding on the two carat, emerald cut diamond, flanked by scarlet red rubies. They reminded me of her passion and zest for life, the ring had her name all over it when I walked into the store. She sighed and admired it, holding her hand out to let it catch the light. “You done good, stud.”

  “Feels like this stud’s filly is in heat.” I smirked, pressing my rigid length into her hot little pussy. “Maybe we should practice breeding.” Her laughter was short-lived, she was too busy moaning and calling out my name.

  “Dude, are you crying?” My elbow shot out, and I grinned in satisfaction at the wheeze I heard when it connected with Colin’s ribs.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled, but I blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the moisture at the sight of Evie walking down the aisle, her white dress reminding me so much of the day we met. We stared into each other’s eyes and held hands as we said our vows. We’d decided to write our own, and I stared into her loved-filled eyes as I pledged my life to her.

  “Genevieve,” I grinned when she rolled her eyes at the use of her full name. “You are everything. There is no other way to describe you, you’re simply, everything. I feel as though my life began the moment you put your hand in mine. I’ll always strive to be the man you need and want. I love you more than words could even express. Until death do we part.” I couldn’t help it, I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply before whispering in her ear, “And forever after.”

  Chapter 1

  Evie

  “I have another assignment for you.” My boss’s words weren’t a surprise. I used to live for the sound of them. There was always another job needing to be done, and I’d risen up the ranks quickly because I never hesitated to do whatever it took to accomplish the task at hand. The travel was an added perk, letting me see the world on someone else’s dime. In the days before Alex came into my life, I didn’t have any roots and accepted every assignment which came my way. In the years since, I had become more selective—or at least, as choosy as my employer allowed me to be.

  “I just got back two days ago. I haven’t even finished all the paperwork from the last job,” I argued. He was a stickler for proper documentation, one of his few weaknesses. I had used it to my advantage in the past, and I hoped my excuse would put him off for a little bit this time around too. I still hadn’t seen my husband since my return home because he was in London dealing with a contract issue for a client. His flight was due to land at six o’clock tonight, and I planned to welcome him home in style.

  “It’s in Rome. But, you’ll have enough time to take care of any loose ends on your last assignment while the team works on obtaining the research you’ll need for this one before you have to leave.”

  “Rome?” I didn’t allow my surprise to bleed into my tone, but I was feeling it nonetheless. Rome was the location of my primary contact, sort of a home base, where I reported to the chief of station when I was in Europe. Then, I would travel to my assignments from there. Also, Alex and I had a vacation home there. Running a job so close to home (so to speak)—in a place I’d built part of my life with Alex, a life I kept separate from my job—wasn’t something I was the least bit interested in doing. “Wouldn’t it be wise to use local talent? Avoid shitting where we eat and all that?”

  His answering chuckle held no hint of humor at my turn of phrase. “You’re know the area, you’re available, and have the right skill set for the job.”

  “But—“

  “My decision is final.” His tone hardened, and I knew there was no leeway this time around. Not unless I wanted him to think I doubted his judgment, which wouldn’t be wise on my part.

  “Understood, sir.” I’d just have to find a way to make it work, but I’d worry about it tomorrow. Tonight I was going to focus on my husband.

  Tossing my stuff into my bag, I followed my boss out the door and locked up my office behind me. It was still early afternoon, but nobody questioned me as I marched through the building and out to my brilliant red Audi R8. I’d purchased her a few months before meeting Alex, and she was my baby. I’d had to pull some strings to get her since the model was an extremely limited series. She was worth it, though. She went from zero to sixty in 3.1 seconds, handled fast corners with precision, and was as suitable for the race track as it was for the streets. Alex had given me a bit of a hard time over it, citing safety issues, but I hadn’t been willing to budge, pointing out it had been outfitted with a race-package option that included a full roll cage, a fire extinguisher, and four-point seat belts.

  Starting the engine, I took a moment to enjoy the power of my little beauty for a moment before peeling out of the parking lot. After a quick stop at the store, I was home making dinner for my man, in a house complete with a white picket fence and gourmet kitchen. Four years ago, I had been certain this was the last thing I wanted for myself. Meeting Alex changed everything for me. I knew with my first glance at him that I’d end up in his bed. He was ruggedly handsome, six feet and two inches of lean muscles wrapped in a suit which had to have been designed to fit his body. His dark hair had been cropped close to his head back then, and the dark stubble on his face accented his chiseled features. It also made my inner thighs tingle at the thought of that stubble rubbing against the sensitive skin there. His charm was lethal, and it didn’t take long for my heart to fall right along with my body as I tumbled into bed with him.

  I’d been wrapping up an assignment and hadn’t been looking for anything serious, but he had swept me off my feet. A week-long vacation to Fiji with an itinerary full of hot and sweaty sex, with all the orgasms a woman could hope for, left me wanting more of Alex. My employer had been pushing me for months to accept a transfer to D.C. so when I learned Alex lived there, I got the ball rolling to make the change. Alex’s offer to move in with him told me he wanted this as badly as I did. Three months later, we were married. Ours was the epitome of a whirlwind courtship, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I was well aware things could change in the blink of an eye, and I refused to waste any time when it came to starting my life with Alex.

  Glancing down at my hand, my engagement ring sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the windows. The huge diamond in the middle was flawless, but it was the rubies on either side of it which drew my eye, as they always did. Alex couldn’t have known how appropriate the ring was for me when he’d picked it out, but I’d taken the scarlet red gems as a sign that our marriage was meant to be and threw caution to the wind for the first time in my life. It was a decision which brought me more happiness than I ever thought I’d have. I had an amazing husband who adored me and made my heart race, the same way it had done from the very beginning. The only thing that was missing from the perfect image of the cliché housewife was my flat stomach. I wasn’t barefoot and pregnant. Not yet anyway.

  My hand slid down the apron I was wearing, over my belly, and an idea jumped into my head. Time was short if I was going to pull it off since Alex would be home any minute. Racing into our bedroom, I stripped out of the dress slacks and blouse I’d worn into the office. Striding into the walk-in closet, I tossed the dirty clothes into the basket for dry cleaning—a habit Alex had helped me develop with inventive rewards involving orgasms—and pulled a white teddy, thong, garter, and hose from one of my dresser drawers.

  Changing into the lingerie, I caught my image in
the floor-length mirror Alex had installed and grinned at the wicked gleam in my eyes and the flush on my cheeks. Wrapping the apron back around my body and tying it into place, my grin turned into a satisfied smirk. Alex was sure to take the phrase on the front of the apron seriously. Kiss the cook indeed.

  At the sound of the garage door going up, I stepped into a pair of four-inch sling back heels and headed for the kitchen. It was a good thing I could run in heels because I had just reached the counter and started chopping vegetables for the salad when Alex walked through the door connecting the garage and kitchen.

  “Evie, baby, I’m—“

  Thunk.

  I looked over my shoulder and found Alex stripping out of his suit, with his briefcase on the floor beside him. His suit coat was next to it, and his shoes were kicked to the side. I blatantly stared as he unbuttoned his shirt, letting it drop to the floor as he stalked towards me. He unbuckled his belt, flicked open the button on his pants, and lowered his zipper in the time it took him to reach me. He stopped about a foot away from me, his gaze raking me from head to toe.

  “Welcome home, stud.”

  He closed the gap between us, his body flush against mine as he untied the apron and let it drop to the floor. “Did I miss a special occasion? Anniversary? Birthday?”

  Like he’d ever miss anything so important. My hubby had a mind like a steel trap and never failed to spoil me rotten when the occasion called for it—or when it didn’t. “Nope,” I answered. “I just thought it was worth a little extra effort to welcome you home since we haven’t seen each other in two weeks.”

  “A little extra effort?” He tilted his body away from mine and trailed a finger down a bra strap, along the top of the cup hugging my breast, and underneath the front clasp. His thumb slid over it and with a flick of his fingers, it opened. “Cooking me dinner might qualify as little, but doing so in nothing but lingerie, heels, and an apron is going above and beyond the call of duty. And that’s before factoring in your choice of color. You know how much I love to see you in white.”

  I made a big show of glancing down at his hands which were kneading my tits while my bra hung open. “Almost as much as you like to see me out of it.”

  “Can you blame me? How is it that you look even more gorgeous now than the day I met you?” His breath was hot against my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “It shouldn’t be possible when you were already the most beautiful woman on the planet.”

  I slid my palms up his chest, enjoying the feel of his taut skin and firm muscles, before wrapping my arms around his neck. “I guess I’m one of the world’s great mysteries.”

  “You know I like to solve mysteries,” he quipped. It was true, he was quick to find solutions—faster even than most of the analysts I worked with. “I better do some in depth research to figure this one out.”

  I held on tightly as he lifted me up onto the counter. “You’re going to need to dig deep, stud.”

  “The deeper, the better, right?”

  “Always,” I breathed against his lips.

  “What about dinner?”

  “I made something that would keep for later.”

  “My smart woman,” he murmured against my skin, right before his lips wrapped around my nipple. His tongue and teeth worked together to torture me as he toyed with my breasts. Biting, licking, and sucking until I was writhing in need and spread out on our kitchen counter. When he trailed his fingers down my stomach, I shivered in anticipation. They slid over my panties, moving lower to grip my thighs and push them farther apart. Positioning himself between my legs, he bent low and licked from one knee, along the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, and up to the seam of my panties. When he moved his head away to repeat the process with the other leg, I moaned in protest.

  “Don’t tease me, Alex. It’s been too long.”

  “Are you on edge, baby?”

  “Yes,” I hissed as his fingers teased along the edge of my panties.

  “You want to come on my fingers or my mouth first?”

  “Fingers,” I bit out. “Then your mouth. And your cock after that, as long as you’re asking.”

  “Greedy girl,” he chuckled, one long finger sliding under my panties to dip inside me.

  “Only for you, stud.” There wasn’t anything in the world I craved more than Alex.

  “Damn fucking straight it’s only me. You’re mine, Evie.” He added a second finger, twisting his hand so his thumb rubbed my clit with each thrust of his fingers. I arched my hips up as he worked me. My breath caught in my throat when he bent his head to suck a nipple into his mouth. When he bit down on it, the tension inside me broke.

  “Alex!” I screamed. My hands clenched against the edges of the granite countertops so hard, I was surprised it didn’t crumble from the pressure.

  “So fucking wet for me,” he murmured, giving the spot on my breast he’d bitten a soft kiss before licking his way down to my pussy. “It’s a good thing you wanted my mouth on you next, ‘cause I can’t wait any longer to get your taste in my mouth. I’ve been craving it the whole time I was away.”

  Then, he ripped my panties from my body, opened the lips of my pussy with his thumbs, and licked me from top to bottom. A growl rumbled up from his chest and he ate me out like he was starving for me. He held me in place with a firm grip while he nibbled and sucked until I was begging him to let me come again.

  “Please, stud. Just a little bit harder. I’m so damn close.”

  The thrust of his tongue into my pussy and the scrape of his teeth against my clit was exactly what I needed, sending me over the edge again. My body arched and I screamed his name a second time. He didn’t give me any time to recover, rising up and positioning himself with his cock pressed against the entrance of my pussy.

  “Gimme your cock now, stud.”

  My head dropped to back onto the counter when he roughly pushed into me, going deep with one thrust. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on for the wild ride, panting as he moved faster. Leveraging myself up onto my elbows, I watched the play of his muscles as he hammered into me. His dark eyes locked with mine as he fucked me hard and rough. My body jerked with each of his thrusts, and I felt a third orgasm building inside me.

  “Come for me,” Alex rasped. “I want to feel your pussy squeezing me tight while you come over my cock.”

  His command sent me over the edge, making me cry out as I did exactly as he’d ordered—my pussy clenching around his dick.

  “Yes, my Evie,” he groaned. “That’s just what I needed. To feel your wet pussy milk my cock. You want my come now, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” I answered, my eyes locked with his as he continued to pound inside me. “I want that more than anything.”

  He growled low in his throat, his eyes darkening. “I’m going to fill you up, mark you as mine from the inside out.”

  “Good,” I panted, “It’s time to kick baby-making practice into high gear. I expect you to get me good and pregnant in a few months.”

  He paused in his thrusts, his head snapping back in shock. “Evie?” he gasped, his cock growing harder and longer inside me as hope flared in his eyes.

  “I didn’t refill my prescription before my trip. I’ve been off the pill for two weeks now. The doctor says it will be a few months before my body is ready, though.”

  With one more thrust, he planted himself deep, his fingers digging into my hips while he came for me. Came inside me, completely unprotected from pregnancy for the very first time. Keeping us connected, he lifted me into his arms and carried me to our bedroom. After dropping me onto the mattress, he strode into the bathroom to grab a warm washcloth. He hadn’t said a single word since my admission, and I was starting to get a little nervous. He gently cleaned between my legs, dropping a kiss on my navel which settled my nerves some. When he was done, he tossed the cloth over his shoulder, something he’d never done before. My heart raced as he moved me to the center of the bed, covered me with the sheet, and slid in
beside me. My head dropped against his chest when pulled me into his arms, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Say something,” I whispered, finally breaking the silence between us.

  He used one finger to tilt my head until my gaze met his. I was startled to find tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Evie. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect homecoming.” Suddenly, he grinned. “I don’t care what the doctor says, I think we might have made our baby today. But just in case we didn’t, I think we need to try some more.”

  And try we did, until the wee hours of the morning when he dropped down next to me and passed out. If my co-workers saw me like I was with Alex, vulnerable and open, they would probably fall over in shock. In my professional life, I was the furthest thing from welcoming. My work environment didn’t exactly foster friendships, and I took those boundaries seriously. Even amongst a group of loners, I had a reputation for being even more of a lone wolf. Fierce and solitary, but loyal. It was a persona I was comfortable with because it kept people at a distance.

  Everyone but Alex, who I adored beyond reason. Our marriage was perfect…except for the whole other life I was hiding from him. A life I needed to rethink if we were really going to have a baby. I’d have to take the next few months while my body adjusted to figure things out. The other part of my life wasn’t a world into which I wanted to bring an innocent life. I’d been able to protect my husband from that side of my life by keeping the two halves of myself completely separate. But a pregnancy very well could result in those two worlds colliding. As I stared down at my gorgeous husband, his face relaxed in sleep, I vowed to find a way to make it work. Alex wasn’t the most patient man in the world. It had only taken him two weeks to talk me into moving in with him. Four weeks to pop the question. Two months to exchange our vows. Four years of comments about breeding me, filling my belly with his baby. Four years of me putting him off, knowing the risks involved but was unable to explain it to him. The decision had been made. I was done making my husband wait. He’d been patient long enough.