Richard pauses then turns. The whole group of them gets back into their SUVs and we watch as they drive away.
Lorraine sighs as they disappear around the bend. “Did you have to hit him?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say.
“Well, I can’t pretend like that wasn’t satisfying, but it’s late and I’m tired. Dear?”
Aria steps toward her. “Yes?”
“Do you want to stay with Mr. Locks here?”
“Yes,” she says.
“And Mr. Locks. Do you want Aria?”
“Yes,” I say. “Absolutely.”
“Good. Be nice to each other. Your contract with us is done, Aria. Good luck.”
“Thank you.” She kisses Lorraine gently on the cheek.
“I hope I never see you two ever again,” she says happily, then hobbles over to her car. She disappears into the back and then the car drives off.
We stand there for a moment, Aria and I, alone in the lot. Lorraine’s men are gone too, I can sense them no longer staring at us. I step toward Aria, smiling.
“What now?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. We’re free.”
“We are.”
“No more money. No more Syndicate. Just the two of us.” She smiles at me, a little uncertain. “Are you sure about this?”
I grab her hips, pull her against me, and kiss her hard.
I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I melt into the kiss, hoping she understands that, and knowing she will eventually. I’m going to make a life with this woman. I’ll pay off her debts and make her my fucking wife one day, whether she knows it yet or not.
That’s all that matters to me. It’ll be us two against the world. But hopefully not. Hopefully it’ll just be us two and nothing else, only joy.
28
Aria
One Year Later
I can hear the ocean just outside of the balcony doors. I stir in bed, taking a deep breath, and I smile.
Ethan is already up and outside. I climb out of bed and push aside the curtains. The view is astounding and amazes me every morning just as much as it did the first time. The beachfront town spreads out around us, with the ocean barely a quarter mile away. Sea birds cry out and I blink at the sun.
“Morning,” Ethan says. “My beautiful wife.”
I laugh and smile at him. “Morning yourself. Why’d you let me sleep so late?”
“You looked too content. Couldn’t wake you.”
I smile and walk over to him. Ethan is sitting at a table eating a modest breakfast and wearing a white shirt open at the chest with white slacks.
After everything with my father, we got married almost right away. Ethan said he didn’t want to wait, and I wasn’t going to argue. We eloped to France, and when I got pregnant four months later, we decided to stay. We left Jenkins behind, mostly because he hates me, and although I thought that might be tough for Ethan, he doesn’t seem to mind one bit. He’s so much more resourceful than I thought.
Ethan works remotely now, and most of his duties have been taken over by his subordinates. He’s transitioning away from being the high-powered full-time CEO to being something else, something more domestic.
I don’t have to worry about debt anymore. Ethan paid it off practically the night Lorraine destroyed my father. And my father never once bothered us, and even signed the contracts as he was told. Whatever was in that envelope scared him straight, and we never heard from him again.
The Syndicate never bothered us again, either, though I wish I could see Lorraine. She was good to me when I was staying with them, and I even began to think of her as a friend.
Now though, we live far away in the south of France, and I’m so pregnant I can barely walk around.
Ethan stands up and kisses my pregnant belly then kisses my lips. “Another perfect day,” he observes.
“It’s always perfect here, isn’t it?”
He shrugs. “I guess so. If you get tired of it being too perfect, we can leave at any time.”
I laugh, shaking my head. I’m still not used to having unlimited money and time and freedom. It’s hard to really understand just how easily we can move around and do whatever we want.
I feel so content, so surpassingly content. I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. I still feel like that awful junky girl that I used to be, but I’m slowly getting away from it.
All because of him. We’re a family now, and he treats me like a queen. He spoils me, and I’m still his pet. We’ve been exploring all the different ways he can tie me up, or at least we were until I got too pregnant.
Once I have this baby, we’ll go back to it. And I can’t freaking wait.
“What do you want to do today?” he asks me.
“I don’t know. Isn’t that awful? We can do anything, and I never know what to do.”
“Horrible problem to have.” He laughs and kisses me again.
This is how life turned out for me. I don’t know how. Sometimes, it shocks me. But I’m Mrs. Locks, wife of the rich and handsome Ethan Locks, and still his little pet.
And soon, we’ll be a bigger family. I’ll have my baby and maybe another, and maybe another. We’ll live wherever we want, do whatever we want, and I know it’ll be perfect. There are bad days ahead, of course. Nothing is ever perfect for long. But the good days will always outnumber the bad ones, because I’ll have Ethan with me.
He’ll protect me. He’ll bring me through anything.
I’m still that junky girl. But maybe soon, I won’t be anymore. All because of him.
We’re a family. And I couldn’t be happier. I’ll keep following him forever, as long as he’ll have me, until I can’t follow him any more.
Bastard SEAL: A Bad Boy Romance
Prologue: Tara
It was a dream vacation.
I’d never been outside the country before. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I’d never been far outside my small town of Dayton, Indiana, let alone to India.
But there I was, surrounded by dizzying color. I climbed off the bus and turned toward Lindy, grinning hugely. “Isn’t it amazing?” I asked her.
“And hot as hell.” She fanned herself with a brochure, smiling. “But paradise.”
I laughed as we were ushered with the other guests into the front of the large resort and hotel where we’d be staying for the next ten days.
I couldn’t afford this place, and neither could Lindy, but on some totally freak whim, I’d decided to enter an essay contest at school. The topic was why we needed to be more global, and the grand prize was two tickets to an actual Indian resort.
Somehow, I won. Maybe the readers that day were really busy and just grabbed me at random, but I had really won. I’d never won anything in my entire life, let alone a free trip to paradise.
But as we followed the porter across the marble floor and through the dim but beautiful hallways, I knew it was for real.
The hotel itself was huge and split into three sections. We were staying in the middle section, which boasted its own restaurants, pool, bars, and more. I planned on posting up next to that pool for the next ten days and doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and swimming. There was also the ocean, of course, though my pale skin didn’t do great in direct sunlight.