ROMANCE: BAD BOY ROMANCE: Basketball Daddy (BWWM Alpha Male Billionaire Pregnancy Romance) (African American Unexpected Pregnant Contemporary Romance) (158 page)

Margie was walking by herself, her earphones plugged into her ears. It was a day to be happy, she had aced her tests and Lance had passed it too. Not that she admitted she cared, but of course she cared. She’d seen him in class on the day of the test a few days ago and her heart had skipped a beat. He’d seen her too and she was the one who had shied away from the stare. Whatever happened between them, Margie knew he didn’t deserve to be kicked off the team or the college. He was a smart guy and it seemed like he actually did take her advice and studied.

She felt a tap on her shoulder just as her favorite song came to an end. She whipped around to find Bryan behind her, his hands thrust into his pockets and a big smile on his face. Margie rolled her eyes, pulled out one of the earphones and held it away from her ear.

“What do you want?” she asked him, as he continued to smile.

“How are you, Margie?” Bryan asked, making sure a distance was maintained between them.

“So you know my name now. Good. Again, what do you want?” Just the look of him made her blood boil. She hated him. She wanted to punch his face and wipe that smirk off. Bryan took in a breath and looked away with heavy, lidded eyes, before turning back to her.

“I wanted to have a chat. Congratulations. I heard you topped your business class.” Bryan suddenly stuck out his hand towards her and Margie looked at it with her face scrunched up.

“Are you kidding me? You can’t have stopped me in my tracks to congratulate me. If you don’t tell me what you want, I’m going to walk away.” Margie was about to plug the earphone back in when Bryan put his arm across in front of her, a dramatic gesture to ensure that she didn’t walk away.

“No. No. Okay. I wanted to apologize,” he said, and Margie raised her eyebrows.

“For what?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

“For what I was saying that day at the game. I know you heard me. And I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for spreading those things about you and Lance,” he said, hanging his head low. Margie could barely believe it.

“Are you serious? What is making you apologize to me? You don't strike me as the kind of person who spends every day counting their sins.” Margie pulled out her other earplug as well and Bryan let a short laugh escape his lips.

“I’m apologizing because Lance told me the truth.” Bryan looked up again and Margie shook her head in further surprise.

“Truth?” she asked.

“About his relationship with you. I’m sorry that I spread gossip based on an assumption.” Bryan sighed. His cheeks were flushed. From the corner of her eye, Margie saw a movement and realized that Lance had appeared from the side. He was leaning against a tree now, his arms crossed across his chest.

She looked over at him and he smiled at her.

“Please leave now, Bryan,” Margie said, without looking at him. She sensed him shrug and leave immediately.

Lance and Margie stood looking at each other for a few seconds before he walked over to her. He looked gorgeous, as ever. His dark brown hair was brushed to the side, falling over his forehead. His green eyes were large and begging for forgiveness.

“Hey,” he said softly. Just his voice was enough to make Margie want to fall straight into his arms.

“Hi,” she said, and he smiled, finally.

“What was that about? Did you force Bryan to apologize to me?” Margie was still confused. She’d been fooled once before, she did not want it to happen again. This time, she was going to get the facts straight.

“Kinda. Especially after he told me what happened at the game. I don’t know why I’m still friends with him after all the shit he’s pulled over the years.” Lance ran his fingers through his hair. His sharp jaw was outlined perfectly by the fading light of the evening, and Margie knew exactly what it felt like to run her finger down it. She gulped and tried to strengthen her resolve again.

“So he just made all of that up?” she asked, and Lance nodded.

“The part about the pity sex. Yeah. Of course I didn’t say that. You should have known I didn’t.” Lance looked her directly in the eye as he spoke and Margie tried to hold his gaze. It was hard to do that and not simply melt into his arms.

“So what had you told him?” she asked. She needed more information.

“That we were intimate. That I didn’t know you well but wanted to get to know you better. Of course he didn’t like it. None of the guys like the sound of it, or that I’m not dating a cheerleader again,” Lance said with a sigh. Margie licked her lips and looked at him, trying to study him closely. Could he be trusted? Was he trying to dupe her again?

“And why did you wait this long to say all this?” she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Because I wanted to wait until the test was over. Just so that you don’t think that I
am
actually using you. Now that the test is over, I don’t need you to be my tutor anymore, but I still want to get to know you,” he said, and stretched his hand out towards her. Margie looked at his hand, breathed in and slowly placed her own on his open palm. There it was, that electric shock again!

Lance pulled her to him and she rested her hands on his shoulders.

“I can’t believe I’m falling for it again,” Margie said, shaking her head.

“From now on, we’re going to speak our minds and be open about everything. I’m sorry that I caused you pain. You caused me a whole world of hurt that night at the bar,” Lance said with a laugh, and Margie rolled her eyes.

“When I was pretending to laugh and have fun?” She laughed with him.

“That dress was killing me,” he said, and tightened his hand around her waist. Margie grazed her lips along his chin now, unable to control herself any longer.

“I can wear it again for you if you like,” she said with a giggle, and Lance kissed her softly on the cheek.

“Please do. But this time, don’t screech at Chloe and ask her to get off you,” Lance said, laughing again. Margie felt her cheeks flush, embarrassed that he knew about that.

“I’m sorry. That happened right after I heard Bryan talking. I had nobody else to take my anger out on,” Margie said, hiding her face on his chest. Lance was stroking her hair as he spoke. She could feel his fingers creeping up her back to trace the shape of her bra strap through the fabric of her clothes.

“Do you want to come to mine this time?” she asked, whispering in his ear, and Lance looked back at her. He was not expecting her to be this forward when she was so shy the last time.

“Yes,” he replied hoarsely.

The crowd cheered in waves. The game was being filmed this time by national television and the team supporters who were attending the game had been instructed to cheer in a wave pattern. There were going to be scouts in the bleachers, and Margie’s heart was pounding again. There was no doubt about it, Lance was going to be spotted, handpicked for a National League team.

She was in one of his jerseys, her hair tied up but her curls tumbling down over the back of her neck.

She cheered loudly as Lance kicked the team to victory. Bryan, at the other end of the seats, leaned forward to pass her a smile. Margie nodded in response. She decided she was going to warm to him.

Lance was on the shoulders of his teammates again and he caught her eye. Margie blew him a kiss and he mimed a catch and then rubbed it on his cheeks. Margie’s smile widened and she covered her mouth as she laughed. They’d been together for three months already, college was nearing its end and each day was better and better with him.

She watched as the cheerleaders swarmed the field now and Chloe ran right towards Lance. He leaned in towards her from above, still on top of two of his teammates’ shoulders and gave her a quick hug. Margie felt a jealous tug somewhere at the bottom of her heart, but he looked up immediately towards her and smiled. He was telling her that she had nothing to worry about. Lance was a man very much in love, and he was in love with her.

“He’s proven me wrong.” Claire’s voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Claire’s first game, and she had agreed to accompany Margie after days of pleading.

The buzz in the crowd had caught on to her as well. Claire was standing and clapping now, just like everyone else. Hank, the Arts Major from the bar, was beside her, equally converted on his first attendance of a football game.

“Your boyfriend is quite the performer,” Hank leaned forward to say, and Margie couldn’t help but laugh. She agreed. If there was ever a performer, it was Lance Healy.

People everywhere were blowing horns and waving big foam thumbs in the air, and Margie found confetti stuck to her hair now. This was going to be her life now, she was going to attend his games and watch on proudly as Lance took his team to victory after victory.

“Here she comes.” Claire nudged Margie with her elbow just as Chloe appeared behind them.

“We won!” Chloe shrieked, right into Margie’s ear.

“We did!” Margie said excitedly, and Chloe shocked her with a tight hug.

“What’s the deal with her then?” Claire asked, as they watched Chloe walk down the seats towards Bryan and the other guys.

“Nothing. She still hangs around Lance a lot, but she knows she doesn’t really stand a chance with him. She’s kind of nice to me, though. So as long as she doesn’t throw herself at him anymore, I have no complaints,” Margie said with a sigh and a smile.

“You’ll have to deal with that a lot, though,” Claire said, rolling her eyes at Chloe, who was now hugging Bryan tightly. “Fangirls throwing themselves at Lance,” Claire added.

Margie sighed and shrugged. That is what she had signed up for with Lance as a boyfriend, she knew that.

“I consider myself lucky,” she said with another shrug. Claire pointed ahead and Margie turned to look. Lance had broken away from his team and was climbing the short distance through the bleachers towards her now.

“You are very lucky. And he’s a lucky guy to have you,” Claire said, clapping again as the crowd cheered for Lance as he made his way to Margie.

Margie’s heart was beating fast. Lance was coming to her. She was important to him, more than the game and more than the cheers.

“We won!” he said, just as he came up to her and lifted her up in his arms to give her a twirl.

“We won!” she repeated after him, and leaned in for a kiss.

“Let’s get out of here?” he asked, gripping her waist tightly.

“What about celebrating with your teammates?” she asked, and Lance laughed.

“They’ll understand,” he said, planting a kiss on her belly.

“We’re leaving, Claire. I’m abducting your friend,” he said, turning to Claire and Hank.

Margie couldn’t do anything else other than blush a bright red.

*****

THE END

Bonus Book 34: Slave to the Barbarian King

By:
Eliza Moon

Description

A BBW ready for a one night stand PLUS a hot alien warrior instructed to abduct her PLUS a king looking for a new bride in his harem...

Twenty-six-year-old Natalie has been dumped by her boyfriend. Heartbroken, she goes out and gets drunk at the bar, and the man sitting next to her asks her out. Thinking that a one night stand with the handsome stranger will get her mind off her ex, she leaves the bar with him.

Erdal is a Darrenkar, a race that inhabits the far off planet of Estion. The night his parents are assassinated, the six-year-old prince is taken as a slave. And almost a century later, the heir to the throne has become the ruthless king’s mercenary and head of the Royal guard, with no memory of the destiny that runs through his veins...

Erdal loathes humans. But now, the king wants him to find a suitable bride from Earth. A human. Erdal is reminded of his dead wife when he meets Natalie. The resemblance is uncanny. She’s drunk and he is strangely attracted to her. He easily lures her and takes her away. After a one night stand, Natalie is whisked away to another universe, not knowing she is in for a surprise.

By the time they reach Estion, she is pregnant. And now the king wants her dead. Will Erdal risk everything and save Natalie’s life? Will Natalie be able to trust a man who is a known assassin? And will Erdal find out his inheritance and claim the throne?

Planet Estion in the Orion Star System.

Royal Palace of the Darrenkar.

Estion, Year 2268 (One Estion year is 395 days)

The night had grown cold when the boy woke with a start. The light from the blue moon streamed in through the huge windows and lit up his alabaster-white skin. Rubbing his emerald-green eyes, the six-year-old prince got out of bed wearing his dark night robes, and followed the sound that had woken him. He thought it had come from his father’s chambers. He tiptoed outside, crossing the hallway. The door to the king’s chamber was ajar. He peeped inside and found it dark and eerily quiet. Then he heard muffled voices from across the room. The large glass door leading to the terrace was open and the king and queen’s bed was empty. His heart racing, he slowly crept toward the window, staying in the shadows, and peered outside. In the pale light of the moon, he saw his mother and father held captive by two hulking men. The men held his father’s arms behind his back. His mother was held in the same manner as she silently cried. A third man stood in front of his father as he drew his sword and, before the boy could react, the man had plunged the sword into the king's heart. Blood poured out as the body fell down. He went for the queen next and her scream died on her lips with her last breath, as she too dropped on the floor. Their bodies lay motionless in the expanding pool of dark blue blood.

His breathing had become labored and he was rooted to the spot. The men turned and walked toward the window. A hand came up from behind him and covered his mouth, dragging him backward into the shadows.

"Do not make a sound, my Lord," Ornek whispered in his ear as he quickly dragged him out of the chambers.

Ornek was the most senior of king's royal guard. His long silver hair was tied at his neck. His bright green eyes were kindly and the aging ridges on his temples betrayed years of wisdom. He wore the royal armor, silver steel over black leather clothing and a dark blue cape.

The invaders were at their heels. Ornek grabbed the boy's arm and they ran downstairs into the grand hallway.

"W-who are these people?" the boy stammered.

"The Rok... they plunder and kill anyone who gets in their way. We have feared this attack for months. But I didn’t know it would come to this."

"They killed father and mother," he sobbed, tears streaming down his face, as tried to keep up with Ornek.

"Erdal, your life is in danger. We must get out of here now," he said, as they ran down the stone steps outside toward the gravel driveway.

The royal guards were in a grave sword fight. Bodies were strewn all over the place. More hulking men with white hair and dark gray skin entered the palace and killed everything that got in their way. Swords clashed in the night and blood was spilled.

"Listen to me carefully, my lord. The throne is yours, but right now you must go into hiding.”

They got to a black vehicle, dodging a few attackers. Ornek was quick with his katana. Forged from the rare steel native to Estion, its blade was sharp enough to split a single feather.

He severed the head of one of the attackers and led Erdal toward the small shuttle. Erdal got inside and Ornek strapped him to the seat as he pressed an amulet into his hands.

"It's the Erasmeth. Always keep it with you. When you come of age, this will help you to claim your rightful place as king," Ornek said, as he quickly tapped commands on the panel inside, and the engine revved into life. The aircraft levitated into the air. Ornek gave Erdal one last look.

“Go... be safe!” Ornek said, as he gazed at him. “We will meet again.”