Emeralds, Rubies, and Camouflage (16 page)
“They’ll be home soon. We can’t stay here all day I’m afraid.”
“I know,” she agreed,
dropping a kiss on his chest, the skin salty on her tongue. “Let’s just have five more minutes though. Then we can get dressed and face everyone.”
“Beck’s going to take one look at us and know what we’ve been doing,” Holt warned with a chuckle.
“We owe him,” Myra confessed. “One minute they were here and the next he had them on the road. He’s a take charge guy.”
“That he is but don’t praise
him too much—he has quite an ego.”
Giggling, Myra cupped Holt’s jaw so she could look into his eyes. “I think my mission will be building up your ego. I want you to know just how perfect and wonderful you are.”
He brushed her temple with his lips, the skin warm in his wake. “I’m not even close but I’m happy that you think so. I think you’re pretty wonderful too. I want to make this work, Myra.
I want to try and build a future with you and Amelia.”
“And they lived happily ever after.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes but not because she was sad. These were the best kind of tears. The happy ones.
She and Holt had both been hurt, looking for love and acceptance. Afraid to reach out to each other, they’d somehow found the courage to try just one more time.
The love of her life. The
man of her dreams.
‡
“Y
ou’re a lucky
man.” Beck slapped Holt on the back as they smoked their cigars out on the veranda. It was a sultry summer night and Holt and Myra’s engagement party was in full swing. The house was packed with friends and family which made it difficult for Holt to keep
Myra by his side. She was now off talking weddings with Amanda, Susie, and Lily.
“I am,” Holt agreed. “But I wouldn’t say we had an easy time getting here. We had Bobby to deal with after all.”
“Ah yes, he didn’t give up easily, did he?” Beck studied the glowing tip of the cigar. “What’s he up to these days? I didn’t see him tonight.”
“He’s on the road.” Holt shrugged carelessly but remembered
that Bobby had been a real pain in the ass to deal with. Sadly he’d been more excited about Holt’s wealth and how he might share in it than about being a father to Amelia. “Myra is fine with him seeing Amelia whenever he’s in town, which from what I’ve seen will only be three or four times a year. He’s moved up to Nashville with his new girlfriend.”
“It’s all water under the bridge now. You’re
going to be a married man by the end of the year. Are you nervous?”
Holt and Myra had planned a New Year’s Eve wedding and then a honeymoon cruising in the Caribbean. Amelia was going along too. If they were going to be a family they might as well start out their life as one. Holt was looking forward to being a stepfather and perhaps a father to one or two of their own children.
“Not a bit.
What’s to be nervous about? I’m marrying the most beautiful woman in the entire world. I plan on us being very happy.” Holt eyed his older brother, dapper in his black tuxedo. He’d caught the eye of several unattached females tonight. “What about you? Are you planning to stay single forever? There has to be at least one woman out there who could stand to spend her life with you.”
Something strange
flickered across Beck’s features – so quickly for a moment Holt thought he’d imagined it. Beck had secrets. That much Holt knew. But he didn’t have any idea what they were, only that his brother was silent on certain subjects.
Love and commitment were two of them.
“I highly doubt it,” Beck laughed, tossing his cigar into a nearby pottery ashtray. “Forget about me. I’m a lost cause. But don’t
be sad. I plan to do this playboy thing for all its worth. So many women, so little time.”
Beck sighed dramatically but his face was covered with a wide smile.
“Pace yourself. You’re not as young as you used to be.”
His brother laughed and pointed to voluptuous blonde in a strapless black dress surrounded by a gaggle of adoring males.
“Excuse me, but I think I’m being paged.” Beck straightened
his tie. “She looks lost. Poor thing. Time for me to swoop in and rescue her.”
Myra passed Beck as he made a beeline for the blonde. Holt watched as Beck leaned close, whispering in the woman’s ear. Her smile lit up and she walked away arm in arm with Beck, not giving her other suitors a backward glance.
“He’s amazing.” Myra shook her head as she also watched Beck’s male mastery with the fairer
sex. “How does he do it? What do you think he said to her? I’m a billionaire with a big penis?”
Holt choked on the smoke in his throat and Myra slapped him on the back as he coughed it up, laughing at the same time.
“You’ve got some mouth on you. I love it.”
She pressed herself against him and licked her full lips, promise written in her eyes. He couldn’t wait until all these damn people were
gone and the two of them were alone.
“And I love you. Although I haven’t had a chance to show you since last night,” she teased, her face alight with contentment and joy. “Maybe when Amelia goes to sleep and all the guests are gone.”
“Is she having a good time?”
Amelia had picked out her own dress, a pink confection that made everyone ooh and ahh over her tonight.
“She’s holding court right
now on the dance floor. She and Nicky are the hits of the party. They even managed to get Lily and Dane out there.” Myra tugged on his arm. “Speaking of dancing and having fun, how about you and me take a spin?”
Holding her in his arms was definitely high on his list of things to do tonight. But first things first.
“One minute. I have something for you. I forgot to give it to you earlier. It
goes with your dress.”
Holt pulled a long black-velvet case from the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket even as Myra held up her hands and shook her head.
“Holt, you have to stop buying me things. I don’t need stuff, I only need you.”
He knew that but he still liked buying her presents.
“This is really a present for me. It will make me happy to see you wearing it. Open it.”
She flipped open
the case and gasped, her mouth falling open. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Holt.”
It wasn’t nearly as gorgeous as she was, but then he was biased. He lifted the emerald necklace from the blue satin lining and slid it around her lovely neck, the emerald fiery against the creamy skin, and just the same shade as her green silk gown. He swept her silky copper colored
hair over her shoulder and fastened the delicate clasp, her enticing scent enveloping him. She leaned back against him and sighed in contentment, her hands covering his.
She’d brought love and acceptance into his once shattered world and created a new one.
Holt was a happy man and he had Myra to thank.
And love. And cherish.
A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough.
The End
Thank you for reading
Military Moguls – Emeralds, Rubies, and Camouflage.
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Olivia Jaymes is a wife, mother, lover of sexy romance, and caffeine addict. She lives with her husband and son in central Florida and spends her days with handsome alpha males and spunky heroines.
She is currently working on a series of full-length novels called The Cowboy Justice Association. It’s a contemporary erotic romance series about lawmen in southern Montana who work
to keep the peace but can’t seem to find it in their own lives.
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Emeralds, Rubies, and Camouflage