I laugh, my pulse racing. I can be quiet. I think.
Taking my hand in his, he clears his throat. “Tori, in such a short time, you’ve become everything to me. My best friend, my soulmate, my confidante. Thank you for bringing me back to life. For showing me how to take challenges in stride. For believing in me. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else, and it would be my greatest honor if you’d be my wife.”
That sound? That’s the sound of my heart melting all over the pavement. “I love you too, Ethan.” He blurs through my tears. “Can I say yes now?” I whisper. When he nods, I tackle him in a hug. “YES!”
The flash keeps going off, and there’s a crowd of tourists oohing and awwing, and I’m crying all the tears.
His strong arms wrap around me, and he sits me on his knee. “You might want to see the ring before you say yes,” he jokes.
I grab his handsome face in my hands. “You could give me a trinket out of a vending machine, and I’d still say yes.” Truth.
Those baby-blue eyes on my rugged man mist a little. “But my girl deserves diamonds.” He opens the velvet box and pulls out a blinding ring with a stunning rock in the middle and a gazillion small diamonds all around. “It’s an eternity setting because that’s how long I plan to love you.”
Sniffling, I tuck my face into his neck because I’m overwhelmed. “Love you too. So, so much.” I breathe him in and take a minute to count my blessings. “Does this mean we get to ride off into the sunset?”
Gently, he lifts my face to his and wipes away the tears. “Absolutely. You’ll be mine,” he whispers. “Always and forever.”
I smile against his kiss. “Always and forever.”
Once upon a time, I didn’t believe in fairy tales.
But then I found my prince.
And we saved each other.
Loving this collection by Top Shelf Romance?
Check out the other Top Shelf Romance Collections available now:
Kiss Me Slow
Featuring: Tijan, Willow Winters, Corinne Michaels & Louise Bay
Need You Now
Featuring: Skye Warren, Annika Martin, Claire Contreras, Sierra Simone & Laurelin Paige
Promise Me Forever (Free with Kindle Unlimited)
Featuring: Kate Stewart, A. Zavarelli, Kennedy Ryan & BB Reid
Make Me Yours
Featuring: Devney Perry, Amo Jones, Chelle Bliss & K. Bromberg
Don’t Break This Kiss
Featuring: Jessica Hawkins, Kylie Scott, Marni Mann & Carrie Ann Ryan
Never Let Go (Free with Kindle Unlimited)
Featuring: Tijan, Kandi Steiner, Alessandra Torre & Ella James
Thank you
Thanks for reading RECKLESS! If you enjoyed Tori and Ethan’s story, I hope you’ll leave a review. I try to read them all!
Do you want to read Joey and Logan’s book? You can purchase BREATHLESS here.
Are you interested in Kat and Brady’s story? You can learn more about SHAMELESS here.
Would you like to read about Tori’s bachelorette gifts for Kat accidentally landing in the wrong hands? Here’s the free short story.
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Also by Lex Martin
Texas Nights Series
Shameless (Kat & Brady)
Reckless (Tori & Ethan)
Breathless (Joey & Logan)
The Dearest Series:
Dearest Clementine (Clementine & Gavin)
Finding Dandelion (Dani & Jax)
Kissing Madeline (Maddie & Daren)
Cowritten with Leslie McAdam
All About the D (Josh & Evie)
Surprise, Baby! (Kendall & Drew)
About the Author
Lex Martin is the USA Today bestselling author of the Texas Nights series, the Dearest series, and All About the D, books she hopes her readers love but her parents avoid. To stay up-to-date with her releases, subscribe to her newsletter or join her Facebook group, Lex Martin’s Wildcats.
Long Shot
By Kennedy Ryan
Author’s Note
Author’s Note
I started writing this book out of righteous indignation on behalf of a young woman whose journey I didn’t understand. I write when I have something to say, and I knew I couldn’t say it from a place of judgment and hypotheticals . So over the course of two years, I talked with women who had walked that path. After many interviews, much research and some soul searching, I hope I understand better. I hope I wrote this story from a place of grace and compassion that wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity and vulnerability of those with whom I spoke.
With that said, there are aspects of this story that may be sensitive for some readers.
For Natalie, Paula & every woman who ever
rose from ashes to tell her story.
FIRST HALF
“The heart speaks in whispers.”
Corinne Bailey Rae
Prologue
I was there when the levees broke.
Though I was safe in my ward when the monster lost all restraint and unleashed watery havoc on New Orleans, I lived in the city.
I later saw the devastation left in the wake of the beastly storm. We frantically gathered our things, fled our home for higher ground. My family left to survive.
There were those who stayed too long. Remained when they should have fled.
They did not live to regret it.
Now, I’m making the same mistake. I’ve remained when I should have fled.
I witness the exact moment when this monster loses all restraint. His fury, his rage rush at me like a wall of water. Like a gale-force wind, he blows over me.
I am the devastation left in his wake.
As the world goes black, I see stars. A flash of brilliance. A light I should have acknowledged long ago. As the stars dim and the darkness encroaches, I understand I’m like those who stayed too long, blindly assuming their survival.
I fear that I, like them, will not live to regret it.
August
Tomorrow is my father’s birthday.
Or it would have been. He died fifteen years ago when I was six, but in the biggest moments, the ones that count the most, it feels like he’s with me. And on the eve of the biggest night of my life, I hope he can see me. I hope he’s proud.
Tomorrow’s the most monumental game of my life. By all rights, my ass should be safely tucked away in my hotel room, not out killing time at some dive. I toss back a handful of bar nuts and sip my ginger ale. At the table next to me, they just ordered another round of beers. God, what I wouldn’t give for something strong enough to unwind these pre-game jitters, but I never drink before a game. And tomorrow isn’t just any game.