Kaleb (34 page)

Was
she the same person she was before? Yes. In many ways, she was still that wild,
carefree woman, but thanks to Kaleb and the love he blessed her with, she was a
better woman.
A stronger woman.
And that was one of
the many reasons she loved him. Their lives were just beginning together, and
she had Kaleb to lean on when she needed him and vice versa. She could easily
take a page from the Walker’s book because when it came to those they cared
about, they always stuck together, and above all else, they would always be
there for each other.

Always.

♂♀

Kaleb
held Zoey’s hand, glancing out at all of the familiar faces looking back at
them. His brothers were standing beside him, every one of them proud of all
they had accomplished.

Together.

Today,
well, this was about their dream; the groundbreaking of the new resort, which
had thankfully consumed most of his time, taking his mind off of what the
future held and the anticipation of the day he would make Zoey his wife. He
couldn’t help but think that, in just a couple of months they would be doing
this yet again, only at that time Zoey would be making him the happiest man on
the planet.

But,
right now, this was where he wanted to be. He was too busy living each day,
sharing each minute with the woman he loved and working on building a life of
their own. She was his rock.
His anchor.
She grounded
him when the chaos that was now their world could’ve very well consumed him
too. Building Walker Demolition had been a cake walk compared to the time and
effort it required to build a resort the likes of which none of them had ever
known.

“I
love you.” He whispered, brushing his mouth against her ear.

“I
love you, too.”

And
that was what he lived for.

Glancing
around him, Kaleb noticed his brothers were lined up, grinning like fools.
Sawyer appeared to be on top of the world, in his element as the spokesman for
Walker, Inc.
And the self-appointed MC of today’s
groundbreaking ceremony.
The rest of them would easily take a step back
from the limelight.

Braydon
and Brendon, well, they were their usual, rambunctious selves. At the moment,
they were mindlessly flirting with a group of women who had arrived for the
ceremony. Not uncommon.

Ethan
was apart from them all, talking to their father in an animated fashion. The
two men had so much in common, probably more so than the rest of them. It was
eerie to see how much Ethan resembled their father, in both his looks and his
mannerisms. He was definitely the most mature of the bunch and the voice of
reason on many occasions.

As
for Travis, well, that was to be seen because the man had set himself apart
from the rest of them long ago. Whatever happened to him, no one knew, but
whatever it was seemed to be eating away at him more and more each day.

Still
staring at Travis, Kaleb stopped. There was one missing, and he wasn’t sure how
they hadn’t noticed from the beginning. He didn’t see Zane anywhere, and he
wasn’t sure exactly how they had missed him. Likely it was from all of the
hoopla going on, but regardless, his brother should’ve been there.

“Where’s
Zane?” Kaleb said out loud, not sure who was listening, but suddenly frantic
because his youngest brother wasn’t there.

“I
don’t know.” Zoey answered him, taking his hand as she scanned the crowd of at least
one hundred for Zane, as well. “I haven’t seen V either.”

Kaleb
turned to Travis. “Where’s Zane?”

As
though the others sensed something was wrong, everyone stopped what they were
doing and made their way over, including their parents.

“Where
the fuck is Zane?” Travis asked, irritation, but more so concern lining his
face.

“I
haven’t seen him today.” Ethan admitted, looking around as the others were
doing the same.

As
if on cue, Zoey’s phone chirped. She let go of Kaleb’s hand and retrieved it
from her pocket. Kaleb glanced down at the screen at the same time. By now,
Luke and Logan McCoy had joined them, as well as Alex McDermott, Cole Ackerley
and Dylan Thomas. They were all staring at Zoey as if whatever information she
just received was earth shattering news.

“Oh, my God.”
The look on her face and fear in her eyes had Kaleb grabbing her phone. It
didn’t go unnoticed that her hands were shaking, but she let the phone go.

Looking
up at his brothers, his parents, and their new business partners, Kaleb couldn’t
get the words out.

“What
the fuck is it?” Travis asked, stepping forward. “Where the fuck is Zane?”

“That
was V.” Zoey whispered, glancing over at Kaleb’s parents. “He’s in the
hospital.”

Kaleb
managed to look up into Travis’ face, realization dawning. He wasn’t going to
voice what else was on the text from V, but Travis didn’t need any further
explanation, neither did the others.

What
they had thought to be an idle threat just turned into their worst nightmare.

♂
♀

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Check out more from Nicole Edwards:

www.nicedwardsauthor.com

The Club Destiny Series:

Conviction

Temptation

Addicted

Seduction

And coming
in 2013
–

Infatuation

Captivated

The Alluring Indulgence Series:

Kaleb

And coming in
2013 –

Zane

Travis

Continue reading for an excerpt
from

TEMPTATION

The second book in the Club Destiny
Series:

Sierra
Sellers
has never had a problem finding a date, but when
her mother’s meddling ways result in her being set up with the intensely sexy
Luke McCoy, owner of Club
Destiny,
Sierra learns she
can’t fight temptation. When he unleashes her deepest, darkest fantasies, she
finds herself in a position she doesn't want to get out of.

Luke
McCoy
has run fast and hard from the demons that chase
him. The hot, fierce need that pushed him beyond the boundaries he hadn't
realized he’d erected resulted in a two month hiatus from the world he’d built
for himself.
A world concreted in lust and forbidden
fantasies.
So when his twin brother Logan introduces him to Sierra, Luke
finds
himself
up against another temptation that he
can’t resist.

Cole
Ackerley
never backs down from a challenge, but that was
before he’d been intimately introduced to Luke McCoy. Throw in the black haired
vixen with the glowing blue eyes, and Cole finds himself engulfed in a ménage
hot enough to rival the sun. When his feelings for both of them ignite, Cole
learns the true meaning of self-restraint.

The
deep, soul scorching hunger that ignites between the three of them turns into a
firestorm of sensuality and lust that only burns brighter and hotter with every
encounter. But when Luke continues to push them away, can Cole and Sierra find
a way to show him there are no boundaries when it comes to love?

~~  **  ~~  **  ~~ 
**  ~~

 
“Club Destiny.”
Luke didn’t bother trying to hide the gruff
irritation in his voice when he clicked the answer button on his cell phone and
all but slammed it against his ear. The damn thing had been ringing nonstop for
the last two hours, so he’d stopped bothering to look at the screen before he
answered.

“Hey, bro.
What’s going on?” Logan, Luke’s nothing-if-not-persistent twin brother greeted
back, seemingly immune to Luke’s umbrage.

Flying
under the radar for the last two months had taken some creative manipulation,
but Luke had pulled it off, making a full-fledged effort to work on some of his
own personal issues. Nonetheless, said personal issues were not resolved, but
he found himself right back in the thick of things once again. He shouldn’t be
surprised that his brother was calling, and he wasn’t really, he just wasn’t in
the mood to talk to him considering the ass chewing he was expecting.

“Not
a damn thing. What about you?” He barked back, walking through the main floor
of his club on the way to his office.

He’d
spent the better part of the morning with Club Destiny’s head bar manager, going
through their weekly order, and trying his damnedest to get back into the
groove. Between that and answering the phone, he hadn’t had a minute to
himself.
Which, in his current state, was probably not a bad
thing.

“Glad
you could make it back.” Logan said, and Luke heard his brother’s sarcasm, as
well as his frustration, but at the moment, he didn’t give a damn.

“What
do you want?” Luke made it to his second floor office and slammed the door
behind him.

Thankfully
there were only a handful of people at the club that early in the day since
they weren’t open to the general public yet. Only members were allowed in
during the morning hours, and they all knew to give him a wide berth on a good
day. Unfortunately for them, today wasn’t a good day.

Even
with the few familiar faces he’d seen that morning, Luke’s only desire was to
be left alone. Although he’d managed to abandon his responsibilities, as well
as any of his personal relationships for the last eight weeks, Luke still
wasn’t in the mood to be around anyone, and he wasn’t keen on the idea of
talking to his brother either.

“What
the hell’s wrong with you?” His brother never did have a problem calling him to
the carpet so to speak, and apparently, Logan wasn’t in much of a better mood
than he was.

Which was surprising with all that had
apparently happened to Logan during the time that Luke had been away.
The man was a husband now, for Christ sake. That alone should make his brother
much more pleasant than he currently was.

With
a silent groan, Luke flopped down into the high back executive chair that he
managed to occupy for at least a few hours every day. Glancing around the
immaculate office, gleaming with hardwood and soft, iridescent lighting, he
tried to remember what made him find comfort in the place.

Oh
wait. He didn’t.

The
oversized mahogany desk, the full size, distressed leather sofa, and the
intricate,
way
overpriced designer rug had been someone’s idea of
soothing. Instead, the result was just fucking ugly. And the confined feeling
that overcame him when he walked in didn’t help either. Without windows, the
not so small space seemed more like a broom closet than an office.

Even
after spending thousands of dollars on some highly recommended interior
designer, Luke hadn’t felt comfortable in the space.
Which
explained why he spent most of his time down in the club or caught up on the
mountains of endless paperwork from home.

Despite
his discomfort with enclosed spaces, the club as a whole offered him a sense of
peace that was absent from his personal life, thanks to his own demons that
managed to haunt him day and night like a bad case of the flu. Rational
decisions weren’t generally on Luke’s short list of things to do, so purchasing
the club ranked right up there with one of the best he could come up with in
quite some time.

Though he often wondered if the club
actually intensified those demons.

Remembering
that he still held the phone to his ear, and his brother wasn’t going to wait
patiently for long, Luke answered.
“Just trying to get some shit
done around here.”
And not succeeding worth a damn
.

Luke
almost felt guilty for directing his annoyance at his brother, knowing the
other man had spent the last two months trying to juggle his own
responsibilities, including a full time job and apparently a new wife, along
with covering for Luke’s absence at the club. Yes, the wife part had been a
surprise because when Luke had left town, Logan and Samantha were only dating.
When he came back…
Bam! –
new
sister-in-law.

For
some unexplained reason, just the thought of Samantha had Luke’s body going
instantly hard. Most likely that was due to the fact that he’d known Sam
intimately, on more than one occasion, thanks to the few times Logan had
invited him to be the third. The remembered feel of Sam against him, or her
hot, sweet mouth on him, had Luke almost longing for another encounter with
her.
Almost
being the key word.