Red Hot Lovers: 18 Contemporary Romance Books of Love, Passion, and Sexy Heroes by Your Favorite Top-Selling Authors Read online

  Pacing the length of the white hospital corridor, he tried to stop his mind from going into every possible direction of what could be going wrong. Not a single sound came from inside the OR. He knew Tricia and Briana had been waiting for hours by the emergency room, but he couldn’t walk away from that OR even if a bomb went off. Time stopped in his mind and a void grew in his chest. His life hung in a precarious limbo of disrepair. His only thoughts centered on staring the door down wishing for Bella to come back out with news of his family.

  He visualized the house they’d recently returned to. They’d turned it into their newly mixed home. Their photos were back on the walls. Once she’d passed the sixth month they’d started to calm down. Bella had been seeing her and things had been looking up. She’d gone off bed rest and had been allowed to work again. But it seemed her body was just not ready for the stress and carrying a baby.

  ***

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Ariana blinked her eyes open through the haze of sleep. The beeping of machines sounded right by her eyes. Exhaustion tried to lull her back to sleep, but she fought it. She heard Nick’s soft voice from a distance.

  “Don’t worry, little guy. Mommy will wake up soon. When she does, she’ll want to meet you,” he whispered.

  Sharp blades of pain speared her abdomen. She cleared her throat and turned her face to the window where Nick stood, holding a baby. Their baby.

  “Nick?” She struggled to get the word out. Her throat felt raw and dry.

  Nick turned to her. He held a little boy with a mop of dark curls in his arms. The baby, dressed in a green and blue onesie was no bigger than a baby doll. She would have believed that, until he waved his tiny fist in the air. At that moment, her heart yearned to hold him. Nick hurried to her bed. She could hardly lift her arms, but she held them up, wanting to hold their child. Nick leaned down, placing the precious bundle carefully into her arms.

  “Ari…” Their gazes met, and she noticed the moisture gathered in his eyes. She tried hard to swallow the lump in her throat. All those months of pain, and this was the result. This tiny child that knew nothing of what his parents had gone through to have him in their lives.

  “Kayden?” She asked, looking into her child’s big blue eyes. His tiny fist curled around her finger and held on. She nuzzled the baby’s super soft hair. Happiness broke free in her heart. Finally, the deep dark void she’d had for so long filled with joy. She caressed little Kayden’s dark curls. Her heart clenched with love at his tiny baby sounds.

  “Our son,” Nick said quietly. “How do you feel?”

  She glanced up from the baby sucking on a clear pacifier almost as big as his face, to her husband. The glassiness made his brown eyes even brighter. “We have our baby. He’s healthy. I’m alive. We’re great.”

  She hugged the baby tighter to her chest and watched his eyes start to drift close.

  Nick leaned down again and kissed the top of her head. Then he sat down at the chair next to her bed and grabbed her IV hand. “I love you, Ari.”

  She swallowed back the knot in her throat. “I love you too, Nick.”

  “I don’t think I can go through this again.”

  “Oh, Nick—”

  He shook his head and cut her off. “You don’t seem to understand how much you mean to me. You’re my life. My everything. If something happened to you, I’d be lost.”

  She caressed his bristly jaw and pulled him to her for a kiss. It was soft and over fast, but the emotion delivered overflowed her heart with love. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”

  “Good. I won’t let you.”

  She didn’t think she could handle another nine months of what she’d just been through either. Her pregnancy had been difficult to say the least, but the reward was worth the price.

  The room door opened. Bella strolled in with a smile. “Look who’s awake. How’s mommy doing today?”

  She smiled. “I have some pain, but I feel better than I have in the past months.”

  Bella nodded. “I know.” She sat down on a chair across from Nick. “Here’s the thing,” she glanced back and forth between Ari and Nick. “I don’t know what would happen if you tried to have another baby, Ari.”

  She frowned. Christ. Bella was way ahead of them. She’d just gotten out of one pregnancy. The last thing she could think of was another.

  “So what are you saying?” Nick asked before she could.

  “I think you should reconsider any thoughts of trying to conceive again. This was a difficult and dangerous pregnancy. And while each one is different from the last, I don’t know how Ari’s body would react to going through this again.”

  “I understand.” She kissed Kayden’s head. “We don’t need to have a biological child to be parents again.”

  Nick lifted her hand to his lips and nodded. “That’s right. As long as we’re a family, it doesn’t matter how we get there.”

  *

  Nick and Kayden had fallen asleep in Ari and Nick’s bedroom. Ari took that time to clear some of the clutter from their impromptu visit from friends. After two weeks of quietly getting to know their son, Ari was on the mend and little Kayden owned both his parents. Tricia had arranged a gathering for baby Kayden and Ari. Gift bags and baby toys littered their living room. She’d just reached the front of the house when someone knocked. She opened the door to find Grace standing there.

  She didn’t know how to handle seeing Grace after their last argument. Bella was sure it had been the cause for her blood pressure to rise to a dangerous level and cause her to go into distress.

  “Hello, Grace.”

  “Ariana, may I come in?”

  She hedged for just a second before stepping back and allowing her to enter. She was still Nick’s mother, and no matter what Nick said, it would hurt him if she and Grace couldn’t find a way to deal with each other.

  Grace walked around the toys and gifts all over the living room. She turned to Ari with a look of pain Ari had never seen before.

  “Grace, are you okay?”

  “I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “I never meant to hurt you. I just didn’t really think you wanted your marriage with Nick to work out.”

  Her chest squeezed around the feelings of inadequacy Grace had always brought out in her. “Why wouldn’t I, Grace? I love Nick with all my heart.”

  Grace nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You were so involved in your career. I was raised to believe that family came first. So it was clear that if you put your job ahead of Nick that must mean you didn’t really love him.”

  Oh boy. Generational gap for sure.

  “Please, sit down.” She hoped it would help Grace relax a bit. She moved a baby blanket from a sofa and faced Grace. “I was born to a family that believes we must work hard to succeed, Grace.”

  “I understand.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think you do. Your family has been successful for…forever. So when I wanted something, like to go to college, I had to get scholarships. I had to work hard. I had to sacrifice things to move forward. It wasn’t easy. But having Nick by my side helped me deal with it.” She swallowed hard. “I knew we came from different backgrounds, but that didn’t matter, because when we’re together all that matters is making each other happy. Nick’s drive helped me focus on what I wanted. I wanted to be independently successful.”

  Grace frowned. “But you’ve done that already. I didn’t think you would ever put the career to the side and focus on your family.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. My family has been my priority from the beginning. But just like Nick wanted to be a success in his own right, I wanted to be on equal footing with him. It wasn’t about who had the most money. It was about knowing I could bring something of value to this relationship too. I would give up my company in a second for Nick if I had to. But he loves me enough to never ask me to do that.”

  “I’m sorry, Ariana. I didn’t realize what I said had such an effect to the point it s
ent you to the hospital.” She glanced down at her hands. “The last thing I would want is to hurt you or Nick. Seeing him at the hospital, looking so lost, it made me realize I need to understand you are the woman he loves and nothing will ever change that.”

  Hearing Grace speak of something she hadn’t witnessed made the time in the hospital even more difficult to cope with. Nick had suffered while she’d been asleep. He’d been hurting for the pain she’d been in and nothing could ever change that.

  “I love Nick. I always will.”

  Grace stood and sat next to her. “I am so sorry for causing you pain and distress. Please forgive me. I can only hope you understand I was only thinking of Nick’s happiness. But now that I see his happiness is you, I won’t ever interfere again.”

  She patted Grace’s perfectly manicured fisted hands. “I forgive you on one condition.”

  “What?”

  “That you spend more time with us now. I’m not the enemy. We’re all family.”

  Grace smiled through her tears. “I will. I promise.”

  Kayden’s cry broke through the quiet house. “In that case, let’s go get the little guy so he can spend some time with his grandmother. What do you say?”

  “Thank you, Ariana.”

  “It’s okay, Grace. I’m a mom too. I also want the best for my boy.”

  She’d known Grace hadn’t tried to be deliberately mean. She had wanted Nick’s happiness. It was why it was easier for Ari to forgive her. She wanted Nicks’ happiness too. And she knew if she distanced Grace, Nick and Kayden would end up hurt in the process. All they had was each other. And family came first. Always would.

  ***

  EPILOGUE

  Two years later…

  Ari watched Nick stroll down the street with Harley’s leash on one hand, and Kayden on the other. Their little boy was a miniature version of Nick. He stumbled on his chubby little legs and glanced up at his father. Nick smiled, said something, and picked up their son. Kayden immediately dropped his head into the curve of his father’s shoulder and held on to Nick’s jacket.

  When they reached the door, she held out her hands for Kayden, but instead Nick passed her Harley’s leash.

  “I got him.”

  He cuddled Kayden closer, patting him in the back with care.

  The father and son had a beautiful bond. She hoped the news she had would mean a new bond for their family. While Kayden was their second chance at the child they’d wanted so badly and hadn’t been able to have for years, she wanted Kayden to have the love of siblings.

  She followed Nick into Kayden’s room. They watched the little boy grab his favorite blue blanket, the one Grace had gotten him at birth, and snuggle with a brown teddy Ari’s mother had gotten him.

  “We got accepted.”

  Nick’s head jerked up. His surprised gaze searched her face. They’d applied for adoption when Kayden was six months old, knowing the process was long. They knew there were no guarantees they’d get accepted, but they were in a financial situation they felt comfortable with the expense if only to try to adopt a child to give Kayden a sibling.

  Six months ago, they’d gone to an agency. After meeting and falling in love with a one-year-old little girl, they had been waiting to hear if their request for adoption had been accepted.

  “We did?” He stared at her in shock.

  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “We did. Kayden is getting a little sister.”

  They’d hoped to adopt to expand their family and give another child a home. It’d been a long and difficult journey, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world. They didn’t need to have another biological child to have a larger family. They only needed to give another baby the love and devotion they gave Kayden.

  He held her tight in his arms. She thought back to their past five years. Tears gathered in her eyes. No longer of desolation or pain for the past they had lived. These tears were of survival. They’d been through a lot, but they lived through it. Together. No matter how many hardships they’d had to endure, as long as they communicated and held strong as a couple, nothing could ever break them up again.

  Sometimes, love was enough.

  THE END

  ***

  Check out Milly Taiden’s guys with fur and girls with curves in her Paranormal Dating Agency, Sassy Mates Series and other paranormal books. Humor, romance, heat, sass and lots of growl.

  TWICE THE GROWL

  (Paranormal Dating Agency)

  See TWICE THE GROWL at:

  Amazon

  Milly Taiden

  New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Milly Taiden loves to write sexy stories. How sexy? So sexy they will surely make your ereader sizzle. Usually paranormal or contemporary, her stories are a great quick way to satisfy your craving for fun heroines with curves and sexy alphas with fur.

  Milly lives in New York City with her hubby, the boy child and their little dog "Needy Speedy". Don't ask. She's aware she's bossy, is addicted to shoe shopping, chocolate (but who isn't, right?) and Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

  Come by and visit her website, Facebook or twitter page! She loves to meet new readers! Sign-up for newsletter-only giveaways.

  Website | Mailing list | Facebook | Twitter

  Table of Contents

  Their Second Chance by Milly Taiden

  Forever Sheltered by Deanna Roy

  Kiss of Memory by V. M. Black

  The Cowgirl Ropes A Billionaire by Cora Seton

  What a Girl Wants (Rock Stars in Disguise: Rhiannon) by Blair Babylon

  Beyond Love and Hate by Zoe York

  Ripped by Olivia Rigal

  Ready to Fall by Daisy Prescott

  My First, My Last by Lacey Silks

  Azure by Chrystalla Thoma

  Wicked Little Sins by Holly Hood

  The Royal Elite: Ahsan by Danielle Bourdon

  All for Hope by Olivia Hardin

  High Risk Love by S.J. Mayer

  Rush by Violet Vaughn

  First Taste by Mira Bailee

  The Perfect Someday by Beverly Preston

  St. Charles at Dusk by Sarah M. Cradit

  Want to know when the next Red Hot Boxed Set comes out?

  CLICK HERE

  To join the Red Hot Mailing List!

  FOREVER SHELTERED

  by Deanna Roy

  FOREVER SHELTERED

  by Deanna Roy

  FOREVER SHELTERED © Deanna Roy 2015

  Tina would rather sew up her girl parts with dental floss than go on a second date with a man. She's been dumped enough to know not to get attached.

  But when Dr. Darion Marks comes into her art therapy room to ask a favor for a special patient, Tina recognizes the haunted look he buries beneath his stoic professionalism. So rather than be forced to ditch the handsome doctor after a single night, she decides not to date him at all.

  So how exactly DO they end up half-naked in Surgical Suite B?

  Dr. Darion has a lot to hide. His baby sister is the only family he has left, and he’s not leaving her treatment to some incompetent hack.

  But now he’s breaking every hospital rule imaginable. He lied about his sister so he can manage her care, and now he’s banging the art therapy teacher between patient rounds like a fraternity boy at a keg party.

  Nobody believes this can end well, not Tina’s friend Corabelle, who is overcoming a tragic history much like Tina’s, or even pink-haired Jenny, who thinks sex with strangers is good for your metabolism.

  But Dr. Darion and Tina have one thing going for them – a fierce passion for each other that just might obliterate all their doubts, and solve all their problems.

  Chapter One: Tina

  Oh, that idiot jerk doctor just walked in here and demanded a favor.

  A favor.

  Demanded.

  He strode into my art therapy room like he owned the place, with his high-dollar shoes and custom-tailored khakis, and said, “You have to do something for me.�
��

  Right. I have to.

  I whirled away from him to pick up a box of tempera paints and clutched it tightly with both hands.

  It was either that or punch him in the face.

  This was my room at the hospital. Where doctors weren’t the big shots. Where patients came to escape.

  My cheeks were hot. “I didn’t expect to see you again,” I said, pointedly refusing to ask what the something he wanted me to do entailed. “You didn’t show up the last time you asked to meet with me.”

  This same doctor blew me off two weeks ago. Set up a meeting and didn’t show.

  Like his time was valuable, and mine was not.

  I kept my back to him. A long moment passed. He stayed quiet, so I began to wonder if he’d snuck out.

  Not a bad idea. Nobody likes me when I’m pissed off.

  I checked the paints, chucking any colors that had dried out. I had less than ten minutes until my next therapy group arrived, a set of children from the cancer ward. It often took all my emotional strength to get through that hour. I wouldn’t give the doctor another thought.

  Those kids had it so hard. They lost their hair. Threw up spontaneously. Dealt daily with the idea of death. Many were far from home, sent here to the specialty wing for cancer patients after their own hospitals had exhausted all options.

  My days felt like battles, miniature war zones.

  And yet here was this Dr. Darion Marks, asking me to do something for him.

  I was so sure he was gone that I jumped when he spoke again.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I couldn’t make our meeting two weeks ago,” he said.