"Yes!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air with excitement. "Do it!"
Everyone laughed easing the tension between us. Any judgment was gone.
I turned to Britta whose eyes were wide in anticipation. Taking both her hands, I got down one knee in front of her family. She murmured something incomprehensible, shock settling in.
"Britta Valentino, I was your fake fiancé once. Now I want to know if you'd like to make it official, and become my wife?" Retrieving my grandmother's ring she'd fallen so deeply in love with, I held it on the tip of her finger.
Britta placed her free hand over her heart and steadied her breath. "I thought we were just confessing today... but yes! Yes, Hawk. Of course, I'll become your wife." She laughed out the last few words, wiping the tears cascading down her cheeks. Cupping my face, she lowered her mouth to mine and kissed me for confirmation. Her family clapped and offered their heartfelt congratulations, but all I wanted was to keep tasting Britta's lips.
"All right, all right," Ricky's voice sounded over the chatter. "Break it up, you two. You may have won us over but don't push it."
I stood, accepting his outstretched hand. "Congrats, bro," he offered, a smile lighting up his face. "Look after my sister or I'll cut your balls off and feed them to the-"
"Fishes. Yeah, yeah, I know how you Italians roll."
We worked our way through the family, hugging and shaking hands. Everyone seemed at peace with the idea, and when they all started to set the table for the Sunday feast, I stole Britta out onto the porch.
I stood behind, wrapping my arms tightly around her, my chin resting on her head.
"I've got something for you," I said.
"Oh? You already gave me your precious grandmother's ring."
"Mmm... this is something you can wear tonight."
She turned around, wrapping her arms around my neck. She was beaming from ear to ear, and it was fucking beautiful.
"Ohhh... new collection?"
"Maybe. But I need my number one model to try it on first." Britta held one hand out between us while I reached into my pocket. Restraining my smile, I placed the tiny piece of fabric in the palm of her hand.
"A G-string?"
"Not just any G-string. It signifies the time we were caught... with our pants down."
She giggled and unfolded the panties to see the image on the front. Her giggles turned to cackles as she stared at the unicorn.
"My poor unicorn was violated," she snorted, remembering the moment she shoved me in the closet in a desperate attempt to hide any trace of me.
I scoffed in mock indignation. "The unicorn isn't the one who suffered, I have a feeling he might have enjoyed it."
She peered over my shoulder and into the house where her family was all chatting, a coy smile present on her pretty face. "I might go put these on now so over dinner you can think about all the ways you can violate this unicorn."
I inhaled sharply at the thought, knowing I'd be seeing her naked wearing only the G-string later on.
"Britta Valentino, you're the right kind of naughty, and I love it."
Her lips touched mine. And four words left her lips.
"Unicorns.
Whiskey.
And...
Hawk Carnage."
The End
Keep on reading for the first chapter of Lotus by T.L Smith and Perfect Lies by Melissa Jane.
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AS SOON AS I SAW IT, the game was over. I'd been played from the start. The odds had been against me the entire time, my gut instinct screaming ‘I told you so.' Why did I never listen?
The tattoo of the Virgin Mary.
It represented everything I was fighting against. It told the story of how my partner was murdered. And now here it was, on the man who I thought was on my side. The man I thought would have my back. Yet, he was the very man who had led me to the biggest ambush of them all, his gun and that of four others pointed straight at me.
I had been his bait.
I had let him lure me here.
And, as I was about to die, I learned the hardest lesson of all.
Never trust a saint.
"YOU GONNA EAT THAT?" my partner, Agent Tomas Garcia asked, eyeing up the rest of my pumpkin pie.
"Nope. Yours," I said, pushing my plate across the grimy table and between his greedy little hands. Nowhere near our regular haunt, we were trying out a new diner after a lengthy court session and I just wasn't feeling its unhygienic vibe.
"What's wrong?" He stabbed a piece of pie with his fork while glancing up, a wicked gleam in his milk chocolate eyes. "Trying to fit your ass into that dress tonight?"
"I'll have you know it fits like a glove."
"Does that mean too tight?"
"Fuck you!"
"Okay."
I snorted a laugh because while he probably meant it, we both knew we just weren't compatible. He preferred the skinny girls who required far more maintenance than needed and well... I had curve that could possibly be due to excess pumpkin pie and I got by without regular visits to the salon. And Tomas? He just wasn't my type. Despite having the most beautiful complexion, an African American/Hispanic mix, he was just too sweet for my usual type. Even with his incessant teasing, we were close friends in and out of our field. We both worked for the FBI as fraud and money laundering specialists and for a year, we'd been partners.
"You still my date for tonight then?" he asked shoveling another forkful of dessert into his mouth.
"Do you even need to ask?"
"Just checking. Delacroix reckons he has a new assignment for us."
"Oh yeah?" This piqued my interest. We had just settled a heavy case and I was always excited to start another one. Garcia always put my enthusiasm down to being a rookie and that give or take a few years I will be desperate for an out.
"Apparently, we have a meeting tomorrow with LA agents," he continued.
"Does that mean we get to leave New York for a while?" I enjoyed the heat but the city was always prone to a sticky humidity that became unbearable.
"Maybe." I could tell even he was excited by the prospect.
"So, you gonna tell me where you went for your week long vacation?"
Holding his fork mid-air, he looked like I was asking a stupid question.
"I told you."
"No, you didn't."
"Woman, do you not listen to a word I say? I told you I was in Arizona."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, that's so." His voice became high-pitched. A tell-tale sign he was lying.
"Okay," I said unconvinced.
"What? You wanna ghost me now?"
"Maybe."
"Like to see you try being incognito with that ass of yours."
"I'll break your face."
Tomas flashed me a wicked grin which in turn brought out my own. Although it didn't look it at some points, we worked well together. For some reason, he was keeping his holiday venture a secret from me, and for now, I would respect him holding onto it. But I was also well aware of the fact that he only ever lied to protect me.
"SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS!" Tomas's eyes widened in appreciation. "You do put yourself together well," he exclaimed, kissing me on the cheek.
"As do you. Nice suit." I admired the tailored Armani. Although he earned more than me, I often wondered just how big the pay gap was considering his beautiful apartment, clothes, and car. He was certainly a man who enjoyed the finer things in life.
"You were right about it fitting like a glove. Who did all this?" He waved his hand around indicating my made up face and long wavy hair.
"Me," I replied indignantly. "I actually do put in an effort when I come to work. You know hair, makeup, nice clothes. It's not such a huge change."
"Yeah, but you don't have your bits on display at work."
I threw a glance down at the elegant strapless floor length dress. "My bits are not..." Meeting his humored eyes, I saw the familiar twinkle that told me he was teasing and jabbed him in the ribs with my polished nail.
"Relax, Nina..." his tone became sincere, features softening, "...you look absolutely beautiful. Now get on my arm so I can parade you around."
I hooked my arm through his and we both absorbed the grand room ahead before making our entry.
It was ridiculously extravagant, no expense spared. The ballroom was huge and filled with the likes of politicians, staff who belonged to the DEA and FBI as well as the NYC Mayor. Tomas and I were expected to attend as we were the leading agents fighting the recent pharmaceutical war. Our latest case was almost a year in the making after a young upstart bought his way into a company selling affordable drugs for HIV sufferers. Not long after taking on his new role, the price of the drugs jumped seven thousand percent rendering it impossible for suffers to afford any treatment. It was a low act and a very public one. After some investigation, it was discovered he signed and submitted false documents to acquire legal possession of the company rightfully left to the original business partner. The man he defrauded? His father. The lawyer who signed off on the paperwork? His girlfriend of three months.