SEALed Bride: A Bad Boy Romance (Includes bonus novel Jerked!) (24 page)

I stared as Selena as her mom climbed out of a car parked on the street. I must have been too nervous to even notice them pull up.

Selena stared at me, not saying a word, but Tracy was smiling. “Nash! It’s great to see you.”

“Hey there, Tracy,” I said, managing to smile. I walked toward them.

“How are you?” she asked, coming over and giving me a hug.

“I’m great. How are things here?”

“Oh, you know,” she said, frowning. “Is L.A. good?”

“It’s amazing.”

“Good. Good.” She looked at me and then at Selena. “Okay, well, I’ll let you two talk.” She quickly walked away, up the stoop, and into the house.

Selena was wearing tight black jeans, a simply white T-shirt, and her hair was pulled back into a bun. So simple, and yet so fucking perfect. That was how I liked her, not made up, not decked out in fancy clothes. I liked her simple, in jeans and a T-shirt, no makeup, just a fucking smile.

Except there was no smile there.

“Hey,” I said to her.

She stood across from me, her arms crossed. “What are you doing here, Nash?” she asked. “I can’t do any interviews right now.”

“How’s your dad doing?”

“He’s hanging in,” she said.

“Good.” I stared at her. “I’m not here about interviews.”

“Why are you here, Nash? Because I’m pretty sure you made how you feel pretty clear when you let me get on that plane alone.”

“I know,” I said. “Listen.”

“No. You listen, you asshole.” She was getting worked up. “I’m done with this. I don’t work for you. I’m not your fucking employee or some tool for you to use. You want to go back into combat? Fine, go, I don’t care. Just don’t show up on my doorstep ever again.”

“Selena—” I said, but she cut me off.

“No, no. I’m finished. Get it? You’re just going to run away to war again. I don’t know why you’re here, but I don’t care.”

“I love you,” I said.

That stopped her tirade. “What?”

“I love you,” I said. “I made a mistake when I let you leave. Fuck, I’ve been miserable in L.A. without you.”

“You love me?” she said softly.

I nodded, stepping closer. “Fuck, girl, I’ve loved you for a while now.”

“A while now,” she repeated.

“I’m done with it,” I said. “I’ll always be a SEAL, but I’ll never leave you again.”

She stood there staring at me, her mouth parted, the anger clearly having faded away. She said nothing, didn’t make a move to come closer, just watched me.

“Well?” I said, smiling. “I love you. Fuck, I do.”

She threw her arms around me and kissed me hard.

Lightning broke through my body as I kissed her back, pulling her tightly against me.

We kissed like that, standing out in front of her parents’ house, almost like we were alone in the world.

Finally, she pulled away. “You can’t leave me again,” she said.

“I know.”

“I love you too then, asshole.”

“Yeah,” I said, grinning hugely, “I know you do.”

I kissed her again, and I knew that I didn’t need a week to figure things out. I’d already made my choice.

The general was going to be pissed, but fuck him. I’d keep doing their domestic propaganda missions, but I didn’t need to make them happy all the time. I was done being their fucking lackey, their little lap dog they thought they could push around.

I had Selena now, and that was what mattered. I didn’t need them anymore.

I kissed her hard and hoped she understood that.

One Year Later

I
looked down at the ring on my finger and smiled.

It was funny how things could start to mean something else. One second it has all these bad feelings, this negativity, and the next it feels completely fresh.

Once upon a time, my engagement ring had made me sad. When I looked at it, I knew that it was just a lie. Maybe I felt something for the man that had given it to me, but that wasn’t reality. We were lying to the world, all because I needed money and he wanted a better job.

Then, things happened. Lots of things happened. Lots of dirty, sweaty, incredible things happened. And the ring began to mean something very, very different.

When I looked at my ring over a year after he had first given it to me, it stood for love. It wasn’t a lie, not anymore.

I leaned back in my chair, smiling up at the little bungalow. The sun was bright in the late afternoon, and I felt a bead of sweat roll down my back. The glass of iced tea next to me was sweating, just like I was.

What a lovely day. The garden was coming in nicely, especially since I had so much time to work on it. Ever since we’d gotten the news all those months ago, Nash had been adamant that I never worked again. I missed my little part-time job, but I had a bigger full-time job coming up, growing inside me.

I looked up and saw him standing in the doorway to our little house in the hills, smiling at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, walking toward me. He was wearing a pair of cutoff jean shorts and nothing else, his muscles tanned and tensed, incredibly sexy.

“Do you ever wear a shirt?” I asked.

“You know the answer to that.”

I laughed as he kissed me on the cheek and crouched down next to me. He kissed my stomach next and smiled. “How’s Chris doing today?”

“He’s good,” I said.

“And how are you?”

“Fine,” I said. “Bored. Ready to give birth already.”

He laughed. “We have a long way to go before that happens.” He paused and looked back at the house. “Your mom said she’s going to move out here,” he said quietly.

“I know,” I admitted. “Ever since Dad died, well, she doesn’t want to be alone out there anymore. You know?”

He sighed. “Does she have to live with us?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Fine,” he grunted. “But we’re getting a bigger house.”

“Fine with me.”

He kissed me again and stood up.

“Look at you, my pregnant wife. How’s it feel to know that we never have to lie to the media again?”

“Speak for yourself,” I said. “I love lying to them. Makes me feel alive.”

He laughed. “Do what you want, babe. Just don’t tank this movie.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

He shrugged. “Part of me thinks it’s going to fail. But part of me doesn’t give a fuck.”

“General Prick will give a fuck.”

He smiled at my little nickname for his commanding officer. “Yeah, well.”

After our first month together, he told me everything. He told me about how the media tour was a propaganda thing set up by the government, how the book was ghostwritten by some guy working for them, and how it was technically his mission to go through all the media shit he went through.

Including the movie, which was actually getting a lot of good press. They were showing it to small festivals before the big release, and everyone was reacting really favorably to it. Still, Nash worried, but he was just like that. My husband, Nash the perfectionist.

“It’s like an endless summer here,” he said.

“Yeah. It’s nice. I hated shoveling snow.”

“Makes people soft.”

I laughed. “We don’t have to stay, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. But you like it here, and I guess I don’t give a fuck where we are, so long as you’re there.”

I laughed and stood up. He want to help me, but I pushed him away. “I’m barely pregnant. Relax,” I said.

“Look at you,” he said, laughing. “You’re six months pregnant.”

I looked down at my belly and frowned. “I’m fat.”

“You’re pregnant.” He kissed my lips. “And fucking sexy.”

“Oh yeah?” I smiled. “You still want me?”

“God, if your mother weren’t inside, I’d fuck your sexy pregnant pussy right here on the lawn.”

I laughed and kissed him softly. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Just let me have my way with you. That’s all I ask.”

“I can handle that. Now put a shirt on before my mom starts complaining again.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, and walked back inside.

I smiled as I watched him go.

This was life for me now. No more lying, no more running around. I was literally barefoot and pregnant, standing in the backyard of our beautiful bungalow. Nash worked in the movie industry doing part-time consultations on military tactics while he waited for news from General Prick. It was only a matter of time before we were ordered on another tour to support the movie.

But that was okay. I’d have the baby and my mom would help me take care of him. Nash would come home as often as he could. Living in L.A. was easier, since a lot of the media stuff was pretty local.

I didn’t need to go anywhere, didn’t need anything else. All I needed was Nash and my baby boy, Chris, growing inside me.

Back then, back in the airport, I never thought I’d see him again. But I could still remember the way he said he loved me a week later, the chills that ran down my body when I knew I loved him back.

I smiled to myself and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful, clear day.

Just like every day was with Nash.

Thank You!

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Keep reading for the full text of
Jerked
!

Read the new steamy motorcycle club romance
Biker's Bride: A Bad Boy Romance (Demons MC)
by B. B. Hamel!

I’m going to marry the playboy Navy SEAL for one million dollars.

Nash Bell is sexy, arrogant, and totally filthy. His war memoir is selling like crazy, making him one of the most famous people in the country. But he hates the limelight and needs me to fix his bad boy reputation to help get him back into active duty.

All I have to do is pretend to be his wife, and then I can afford my father’s medical bills.

I know I’m just a tool to him, but I can’t help but let him use me.

I don’t want to lie to America. But the cameras are on all the time and I need to play my role.

It’s strictly business between us.
Except for when he whispers how badly he wants my body.

This should be easy. We just need to convince everyone we’re the perfect couple, despite the fact that I think he’s an arrogant a**hole.

Then Nash can leave, and I can help my family.

This should be simple.

So why do I want him to stay?

Click here to read it now on Amazon
Free with Kindle Unlimited!