Read LUCI (The Naughty Ones Book 2) for Free Online Page A

are really doing a number on my usually sweet, sarcastic baby.
    “You’re right.”
    What else can I say? She’s got me pegged like a motherfucker and we both know it. I knew it in that hospital and I’ve thought about nothing else since she told me to screw off.
    I’ve had a shitty childhood and it bred some trust issues. So what? I’m a grown man and I should have manned the hell up a long time ago and accepted that just because my own parents were assholes does not mean everyone else is a lost cause.
    I know this, I’ve come to accept that I’ve lived almost half my life in a fog, pushing people away and closing myself off like an idiot. All that’s on me and I know that I don’t deserve Luci, that I can’t blame her for never loving me again.
    Too bad accepting that and letting her go are two totally different things.
    My words seem to shock her and I watch in amusement as her expression goes from nuclear rage to shocked suspicion.
    “You know?”
    “Yeah. I know that I fucked up because I was a coward who would rather push the people he loves away than risk being abandoned. It’s taken me a while to really look at myself, Luci, but I finally did it when I realized what I mistake made with you. I didn’t like what I saw. So here I am, begging you, pleading. Please forgive me and give me another chance. I swear to God, Luci, if you just give me a chance to show you how it can be, that we can be together and have the happy ending…you won’t ever regret it.”
    My heart’s beating like a jackhammer and I feel my palms go liquid when she just sits and stares at me like I’ve grown another head or two.
    I can’t say I blame her for the lack of trust, and I definitely can’t blame her for wanting to protect herself from further hurt. I deserve whatever she throws at me, and I will take it all with not a word of protest.
    Losing though?
    Rule three. Never quit.
    I’m sure as hell not about to break that particular rule now that I’m playing for the future of my unborn children and the only happiness I will ever have.
    After a long silence and a lot of sweating while she chews her lips, I close my eyes in resignation when she looks at me and slowly shakes her head.
    “I can’t do this again. I’m sorry, Cage, but the answer is a definite no. You hurt me a lot. It took me a long time to get the message that you and me aren’t meant to be, but I got it now. Loud and clear. I can’t go back to the desperate, hopeful craziness of the past because it would just push me too far this time. I’m done. Finished. Over you.”
    Shit. Looks like plan B just became a reality.
    “Okay,” I murmur, getting to my feet and stalking over to her slowly, my heart hurting a little as I bend down and brush a soft kiss to her ash-blond hair. “I get it. I’ll be seeing you around, Luce.”
    It takes everything I have in me to walk away from her as those beautiful green eyes mist over and I see her lip tremble, but I do it because like I said, I have every intention of winning this fight, and to do that I need to ensure that I have a connection to her that can never be broken.
    I hope she forgives me for what I’m about to do, though. God I hope so because as things stand, I am determined to make Luci Braxton my wife. Right now, there’s only one way to do it.
    I make the call I didn’t want to make just as I slide into the car waiting for me and pray that things work out.
    “Well? Did she go for it?” Dyson Braxton barks as soon as he answers my call.
    He may float around in a fog of love and lust for his wife most of the time but the man is and will always be a shark, just like me and the boys, and he knows how to play things when he’s invested.
    He came to me not too long ago when, just like me, he got word from the security team that’s been tailing her since she hit sixteen years of age. Seems Luci’s dad is not into the thought of having his only princess impregnated by some dick he doesn’t know.
    Plus,