Not only is it not exactly authentic, but it’s going to be disastrous… I’m fairly certain of that. He’s still working on his cooking skills – all he knows how to do is brown rice, broccoli, and chicken. But even I tried it once myself, and it didn’t taste like the real thing at all.
And after dinner, we watch television together. It’s something so banal, so domestic, and yet it is something that makes me surprisingly happy. And when the episode of Game of Thrones finishes, we turn the television off, and Duncan still kisses me like he used to. He tells me how gorgeous I am, and with soft dabs of his lips on my neck and shoulder, he makes me shiver and hum, and then he climbs under the blanket and he makes me shudder and moan.
We go to bed together, and we make love, and then he holds me tight, and I know that he’s never going to let me go. It’s like this every night. I’ve never felt so secure, and yet that is not enough to stop me from sometimes second guessing myself.
Did I do the right thing, running away, taking the baby, keeping it a secret? If I hadn’t have done that, then Duncan might not be here with me now. Dad would have had him killed.
Before bed my mind kicks into overdrive, like it does most nights now, and I consider how at one point, not so long ago, I thought that I’d have to live out the rest of my life on my own. That I’d have to be a single mother, and that I’d have nobody to turn to.
That I’d have to be endlessly strong, that I wouldn’t have somebody to rely on, to let my guard down around, to protect me and my child in the warm embrace of his arms when I wasn’t feeling up to it, when I wanted a break. When I couldn’t be that iron woman, forged in fire, that somehow I feel I’m expected to be.
Duncan falls asleep first, unburdened at night in the same way that I am. He’s so well-trained to sleep as soon as he shuts his eyes, from all the naps he used to take throughout the day after heavy training sessions so that his body could recuperate. I sometimes envy him.
But his slow breathing, his arm around me, and knowing that he’ll be there for me, really knowing… I couldn’t ask for anything more, I guess.
It all sort of worked out. We saved our baby, saved our relationship. We’ve got money, lots of it, and we’ve got jobs. Duncan’s not fighting anymore, and Dad’s not in the picture anymore.
It’s crazy, insane, really. It could have so easily not worked out.
But it did work out in the end.
Duncan rolls over, half-asleep, and murmurs, “Stop thinking so much.”
“Go to sleep,” I tell him softly.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “Things are only going to get better.”
“I know,” I tell him.
He wraps a leg around me, as if somehow trying to make even more of me his. “I love you more than anything, Dee. I think we’re going to be fine.”
And like that he falls asleep again, and when he sleeps his body is perfectly still.
I slip my fingers in between his, force myself to stop thinking, to shut my eyes.
I think we’re going to be fine, too.
Thank you for reading Untamed.
**Coming up is the included bonus book Uncaged, which tells the story of Pierce and Penelope, who we have met briefly. To read Uncaged, flick to the next page!**
Uncaged
A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance
By
Emilia Kincade
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental. All characters depicted in this work are adults.
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Table of Contents:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three