I Dare You (The Hook Up #1)(58)
I hear clanging from the living room and make my way there.
“Mav?” I call. “Where are you?”
I make my way down the hall and into the den then come to a halt at the vision I see. Standing smack dab in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows is Maverick dressed as a…Jedi?
I give him a careful once-over, taking in the white leggings with brown boots, the beige tunic with a utility belt, and the light saber holder. A brown overcoat is draped over the getup, and I rub my eyes. The detail is amazing and he looks professional, like something straight out of the movies.
“Morning, gorgeous.” He strikes a pose, waving around a blue light saber that makes a whooshing sound with each movement.
“Morning, babe. Where did you get this outfit?” I’m impressed and starting to wonder if I can get a Princess Leia one. “Are we going to a comic con somewhere?”
“I had it made. And no, we’re staying in today. Just you and me.”
Cool. We’ve been busy these past few weeks, and it would be great to just relax at home. Maverick swings the sword and Han darts from behind a chair, paws swatting at the light saber as he runs past.
I giggle. “Nice moves. You’ve got Han riled up now.”
I expect him to laugh with me, and he does flash me a brief smile, but there’s something about his expression that’s different. It’s intense, as if he’s about to head out to the most important football game of his life.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I say, moving in closer.
“More than okay. It’s the best day of my life,” he says as he sets the light saber on a chair and kneels down in front of me. From the coffee table, he picks up a black velvet box that I hadn’t noticed yet and pops it open. Inside is a ring with the biggest square cut solitaire diamond I’ve ever seen.
I blink. My body flutters and I can’t breathe.
He gazes up at me with those steel blue eyes, the ones I hold close to my heart every night when I go to sleep.
“It feels like I’ve waited forever to do this. Delaney Renee Shaw, will you marry me and make me the happiest Jedi in the universe? I promise to always love you—and your cats—and give you everything you could ever want, body and soul.”
Tears flood my eyes as I take him in: his pure heart, the way he fights for those he loves, the way he loves me.
“Yes. Always. You are everything.”
“You’re everything, Buttercup, and I couldn’t have made it without you by my side.” He stands up, cups my face, and kisses me, and I know that no matter what, he and I can do anything together.
THE END
Dirty English Excerpt
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Dirty English
There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Bennett: she’s smart as a whip, always in control, and lives by a set of carefully crafted rules. She’s learned the hard way that people you love the most always hurt you in the end. But then she meets Declan Blay, the new neighbor at her apartment complex.
A tattooed British street fighter, he’s the campus bad boy she’s supposed to avoid, but when he saves her from a frat party gone bad, all her rules about sex and love fly out the window. She gives him one night of unbridled passion, but he longs for more.
With only a cardboard-thin wall separating their bedrooms, he dreams of possessing the vulnerable girl next door forever.
One night. Two damaged hearts. The passion of a lifetime.
A modern love story inspired by Pride and Prejudice
Warning: 18 and over please. Book contains language, sexual situations, and triggers.
Prologue
Elizabeth
A stabbing pain in my temple.
Fat and swollen lips.
A throbbing tenderness between my thighs.
Why did I feel like I was dying?
Muddled images flashed in my head, but nothing connected or made sense, just a big black hole of nothingness. Thanks, vodka.
The ache seemed to spread across my face. I groaned. Had something hit me?
Nausea curled as I got my bearings in the dark. Bit by bit, I figured out I was sprawled cross-wise on a bed that wasn’t mine.
A small hotel room came into focus.
Careful to move my head slowly, I gazed around, taking in the battered nightstand and a rickety desk that had seen better days. In the corner of the room lay the beaded clutch purse I’d borrowed from my best friend Shelley for prom. Okay. But where was she?
My last memory was dancing in the gym. Maybe on top of a table?
My eyes went around the room.
Threadbare navy curtains.
A bed that reeked of stale cigarettes and body odor.
A bottle of Grey Goose.
My stomach lurched at the memory of that bitter taste sliding down my throat, and I swallowed to keep the bile down.
Was this a hangover?
I didn’t know. I had nothing to compare it to.
Snippets of the night came in vivid clips.
Dinner with my boyfriend, Colby, and my friends Shelley and Blake at an Italian restaurant in downtown Petal, North Carolina. Lots of giggling. Colby sneaking in his flask so we could spike our drinks. Dancing under twinkling lights at the prom in the Oakmont Prep gymnasium. Getting in Colby’s Porsche to head to the lake for an after-hours party.