Breaking Stone: Bad Boy Romance Novel (21 page)

“
O
nce upon a time
—” The wedding guests groaned.

“What? So I write stories, and now I want to tell you one. Once upon a time, there was this guy who was a bad boy. He messed around...a lot. Girls, booze, crazy stuff, and he was lucky enough to build a world from all that insanity and write about it. He thought he had it all, and even through the times when he could see something was missing, he still talked himself out of that because the bad boy was capable of deluding himself.

“His life spiraled out of control. He wrote more books, became more famous, made more money...and he made sure he lived the dream. Everyone wanted a piece of him, but the time came when he thought he couldn’t do it anymore. The thrill had gone, and so had his inspiration. So his agent gave him an assistant. A shy, brave, honest young woman who believed in him, even when he didn’t. He thought he could have some fun with her, boasting, showing her a slice of his crazy life, and in turn, drive her away because somehow, she’d forced him to look in the mirror and face the person behind the reflection. He didn’t like what he saw. But it didn’t matter how badly he behaved, because it didn’t turn her away. Instead, she stepped up and embraced some of the crazy and flat-out had nothing to do with the stupid, self-indulgent stuff. She saw something in him beyond the good-time bad boy.

“Every time this girl walked into the room, his heart went crazy, his mouth dry, his feelings for her so deep and immense, he thought she must have bewitched him because he no longer wanted the clubs and the excitement, and he sure didn’t miss the hangovers. But he didn’t believe he was capable of love, didn’t really think it even existed. And he was scared. Scared of this way she had cracked him open, and even more scared that if he stayed with her, he’d hurt her. He realized that she was too precious to damage, so he sent her away.”

I looked around the room. The place was silent. June had her handkerchief out, dabbing her eyes.

“He was broken without her, so he wrote her a story, put himself in it, and wrote the ending he really wanted. It was his explanation and his apology. He sent it to the girl and told her not to read it. You see, despite her being near-perfect, she could be stubborn at times. He knew the best way to get her to read it was to ask her not to. By the way, that’s book seven in the
Steele Heart
series, available at all retailers or in the lobby.”

Most of them laughed, but Katrina rolled her eyes.

“She read it, and she came to me and forgave me for being a dick, and today, I’m overjoyed to say that Katrina and I finally have our own happily ever after.”

I turned to my beautiful,
blushing,
bride. “Thanks, Poppins. I’ll love you forever.”

Rip stood, holding his glass aloft. “Let’s raise our glasses to Katrina, and to Stone, who probably doesn’t deserve her.”

* * *

“
M
y God
, Stone. This place. Have you seen the color of the water?”

Katrina stood on the deck of our
bure
built over the lagoon. We had our own jetty and complete privacy, the perfect honeymoon spot. She wore her bikini with a sarong wrapped around her. I tugged at the knot and tossed it onto one of the outdoor chairs.

“The water is the perfect temperature.” I took hold of her hand. “We’re going to run to the end of the jetty and jump.”

“I’m not sure,” she said, trying to tug her hand from mine.

“Come on, Poppins. I intend to take a leap of faith with you, somehow, every day of our life. Are you ready?”

Now, she beamed at me.

“On the count of three. One...two...start running, and...three, jump.”

We flew through the air together, hands linked, and hit the warm, tropical ocean. Surfacing, Katrina hooked her arms around my neck and kissed me, lifting her legs around my hips, the buoyancy of the water keeping her bobbing against my cock. Even after the long flight, I was hard for her.

“If every leap has a warm, soft landing like this lagoon, Mr. Logan, I’ll be more than happy to take that jump with you.”

“Good news, Mrs. Logan, because there’s another warm, soft landing I’m looking forward to.”

She wriggled her hips. “Actually, this landing’s become decidedly hard.”

I tugged at the ties at the side of her bikini, tossing it so that it hung from the deck.

“People will see, Stone,” she hissed.

I loved that she always had that sense of propriety about her to keep me in check, but it wasn’t necessary today. “Didn’t I tell you? We’re the only ones here.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Specialty of the island is no more than five sets of guests, and they do their best to make sure those guests never meet unless they want to. Do you see anyone around?”

She had a good look about, not taking my word for it. I loved that she was wise that way. “I think we’re alone.” Her voice was tinged with excitement, eyes sparkling like the ocean.

I tugged my board shorts off and sent them the same way as Katrina’s bikini.

“That’s better.” I took hold of my cock, nestling it in the slick cleft between her legs. “Let’s see if we still fit.”

“Oh, look, we do,” Katrina sighed. “Did I tell you I loved you today, Mr. Logan?”

“I believe you did, Mrs. Logan, but you’re welcome to tell me as often as you’d like.”

We spent the afternoon on a large bed with the tropical sea breeze blowing across our naked bodies. We dozed, made love, slept again, and as the sun set, we ate our evening meal on the small private jetty.

It had been a long flight, and that, added to the time difference and the aftermath of the wedding, saw Katrina yawning by eight p.m.

“Go and get ready for bed. I’ll join you in a minute.”

Moments later, Katrina called from the bathroom. “Come and look at this.”

On the bathroom wall was a small lizard.

“It’s a gecko,” I told her. “Do you want me to move it outside?”

“No, it’s okay, so long as it doesn’t walk on my face.” She shuddered.

I laughed. “It’ll probably eat any insects that come in. I think it’s a lucky omen.”

Katrina was pulling things out of her bag. “I think it’s a thief,” she said. “I can’t find my birth control pills.”

“Perhaps you forgot to pack them.”

Katrina looked at me in the mirror, the hint of a smile on her face. “I packed them, Stone.”

“Perhaps I unpacked them.”

She stared, long enough that I began to feel nervous.

“Are you serious?” she finally asked.

I nodded.

“You don’t want to use birth control anymore.”

“That’s right.”

“So...we’re going to try for a baby?”

“Yeah. And then we’re going to try again, and again, and again. And even when we’re successful, we’ll keep trying, just in case.”

She grabbed my hand, tugging me out of the bathroom. “No time like the present.”

* * *

I
found
Stone and Buster in the kitchen going through their normal breakfast routine, Stone cooking eggs and sharing with Buster a slice of toast and peanut butter while they waited for me to arrive. I was later than usual this morning because I wanted to be triple-sure before I broke the news.

“Coffee?” Stone asked.

I was about to say yes, but suddenly, I wasn’t sure if I should be drinking coffee. “I’ll start with a juice,” I said.

On the door of the fridge was Stone’s list. The line that said
fall in love
hadn’t been crossed out. Instead, he’d drawn a big love heart around it, written our initials within the heart, and drawn a gigantic tick beside it.

Underneath, he’d written,
make babies
.

I stared at those two words, my heart thumping faster than Buster’s tail when he saw a tennis ball.

“Katrina?”

“Uh, yeah?” Stone had been speaking and I hadn’t heard a word.

“I said, two eggs, or one?”

“One...I hope.”

“You hope?”

“Stone, where’s the pen?”

“Buster chewed it. That’s why I’m late starting breakfast. I’ve been trying to get the ink off the floor tiles.”

I looked at the floor and saw the blue ink. The same color blue as the cross I’d just stared at on three different pregnancy tests. I rummaged around in the drawer and found another pen. Buster jumped to get it.

“Eat your toast, Buster. Pens are not dog food.”

Stone’s eyes were on me as I approached the fridge door, my hand shaking as I ticked the last item on his list.

“Poppins,” he gasped. “You’re kidding me.”

“Not kidding.”

“We made a baby?”

The spatula clattered to the floor, and I just managed to get an
uh-huh
out as Stone swept me into his arms.

“We’re having a baby. We’re having a baby,” he said over and over as he spun me around, kissed me, spun me again, then placed me carefully back to the ground. Buster was doing what had forever been known as his
caviar
dance, leaping around and barking.

Stone kneeled on the floor and lifted my t-shirt. “I probably shouldn’t have spun you around. Sorry if I made you dizzy, baby.” He planted a long kiss on my belly.

“A new chapter in our book, Poppins,” he said, his eyes glistening. “It’s going to be a bestseller.”

* * *

* * *