Redeem Me (Beckett Brothers #2)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

November

Ivy

It’s a balmy twenty-five degrees in St Barths and Caelon and I are basking in the sunshine on Flamands Bay. The kids are with their new nanny, Nikkita. I take care of them most of the time, but Caelon insisted we need time together, too. Especially given we’ve decided to try to expand our family sooner rather than later.

Scarlett and James got married here last week in the most beautiful, intimate ceremony. We decided to stay on for another week by ourselves when they left for their honeymoon.

‘Do you think the dog’s okay?’ Caelon asks. He and Roxy bonded while he was recovering from his surgery at home. The two of them are joined at the hip, whether it’s on the couch –Italian leather or not – or in the garden. Roxy follows him round like a lovesick puppy. I can’t blame her. He’s pretty fucking spectacular, even if I do say so myself.

‘Liz and Samuel are probably spoiling her.’ I swat a hand in front of my face. ‘Let me rub some cream on your back.’ I roll up one of the hotel’s plush daybeds and straddle my fiancé’s backside. The sunlight glints off the enormous diamond ring on my left hand as I reach for the sunscreen.

Caelon proposed properly three weeks after he was discharged from the hospital, when he’d had the chance to meet my parents and ask their permission. I’m not sure they were utterly convinced it’s the right move for me, but they’ve finally accepted I’m old enough to make my own decisions. And Dermot couldn’t stay mad at Caelon after everything that had occurred, especially given that they’re going to be brothers now. We’ve yet to set a date for the wedding, but we will, soon.

‘Only if I can rub you down afterwards.’ Caelon twists his head to face me. The sight of his burning eyes is enough to send a lightning bolt of desire flashing through my core.

‘That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.’ I shimmy my hips, wiggling on top of him.

As I massage the sunscreen into his broad, strong shoulders, I trace the lines of the tattoo that turns me on so much. ‘When did you get this ink?’

‘A couple of years ago.’

‘What’s the significance of the phoenix and the flames?’

‘At the time, it was the largest design the artist could offer,’ he shrugs. ‘I wanted to feel the pain of the needles everywhere. I wanted to hurt on the outside, like I did on the inside. But you know what the phoenix represents?’ Caelon flips beneath me, so I’m resting on his pelvis instead of his ass cheeks. I squeal, but he steadies me with two strong hands.

‘The Bennu bird that bursts into flames upon its death? I studied Egyptian mythology in high school, but that’s as deep as my knowledge goes.’

‘As the tattoo artist was inking me, he told me the story. In Greek mythology, the phoenix is a legendary bird that after its death is reborn from its ashes, signifying immortality and renewal. The phoenix rising represents the circle of life, death and rebirth. I didn’t believe any of it, of course. Rebirth seemed like a load of bollocks until I met you.’

‘And now?’

‘Now I am the phoenix, reborn after death, overcoming adversity and beginning a new life. And you, Tranquil, are the hot flames forcing me upwards, licking my skin and scorching my soul, forcing me up from the darkness, pushing me out of my comfort zone. I was ice when we met. You were fire. Opposites attract, right?’

‘They certainly do.’ That darkness that attracted me in the beginning still lingers, but these days he’s not afraid to let me shine a light on it and live it with him. ‘I’m so glad that life is with me.’ I lean down to kiss his lips.

‘Me too.’ He runs his hands over my waist as his cock stirs underneath me. ‘Finally, I’ve stopped beating myself up about things. Finally, I feel like I’ve been through enough. No amount of torturing myself will change the past. Which is why I’m fully focused on the future. And I plan on making the most of every second of it.’

The sound of waves crashes invitingly in the distance while the scent of summer lingers on the warm breeze whipping through my hair and kissing my face. It’s utter paradise.

‘You know you deserve to be happy.’ I cup his face with my hand.

‘Thanks to you, I finally believe it.’

‘Come on.’ I leap up, reaching for his hand, lacing my fingers between his, tugging him from the day bed. ‘Let’s soak up this moment. We’ll be back in Dublin before we know it.’

We’re the only two on the small, secluded beach. The white sand seeps between my toes as we stride towards the turquoise glittering sea.

‘It’s been a crazy summer.’ Caelon snakes his hands around my waist, his black eyes boring into mine with that intensity that snared me in the first place. ‘I found myself in you, Ivy, but God woman, I love losing myself in you too.’ The air crackles with an invisible charge.

As much as I’ve loved seeing Caelon come back to life, seeing him smiling and laughing, his broody tortured look will always be my kryptonite.

I trace the hard planes of his six-pack as his lips crash onto mine in a blaze of heat and need. Our teeth clash as we claw at each other with an animalistic urgency. His hand reaches for my bikini and tears it from my body with two sharp tugs.

My moans fill his mouth as I fumble to undo his swimming shorts. ‘Get on all fours.’ He nudges me towards the warm sand.

I do as I’m told, with pleasure, baring my backside to him. I want this as much as he does.

He drops to his knees behind me and lets out a low growl as he devours me with his eyes. ‘You’re weeping for me.’ I watch over my shoulder as he licks his lips like he’s starving.

‘Still like it rough?’ he growls, folding himself over me and sinking his teeth into the back of my shoulder.

His face dips and he offers my slit one long, languid lick before plunging his cock into me so deep it hits my stomach.

I cry out in pain, but as he slides back and sinks himself inside me again, that pain quickly morphs into a decadent, depraved pleasure. Thick, strong fingers dig into my hips, hard enough to mark the skin as he pummels into me relentlessly.

‘Harder,’ I pant, thrusting against him. I love how he’s not afraid of hurting me, love how he trusts my body can take him, the way it’s made to. I’ve never felt more alive. I’m teetering on the delicate edge of that pain/pleasure threshold and when I fall, it’s going to be catastrophic .

‘I love how you take my cock,’ he murmurs, licking the spot on my shoulder where his teeth nipped.

I pant, grinding back on him. As my orgasm builds, my clit throbs, begging for attention. ‘I need your fingers, too.’

‘So greedy.’ He reaches round until his fingers find my sweet spot. I cry out in relief as he pinches, rolls and rubs. ‘I need you to come, Ivy, because I am seconds away from filling you up. Maybe this time I’ll put a baby in there.’

My eyelids squeeze tight as every muscle in my body goes taut. He pulls himself almost all the way out of me before slamming back into me, and I am gone, catapulting into the most devastating release of my life. My core clenches. Pure primal pleasure vibrates through every single cell in my body.

‘Fuck,’ he bites out before sinking his teeth into the skin of my shoulder as he spills himself into me. His hips still and his grip on my waist loosens. He rests his cheek on my back as he struggles to catch his breath. My knees are chafed from the sand, but a deep sense of satisfaction overrides all of my discomfort.

‘Are you okay, sweetheart?’ He asks through his own ragged breaths.

‘I’m not okay. I’m destroyed, in the most decadent way,’ I admit. Even though I’ve wanted a baby for a while now, I almost hope it doesn’t happen right away. Trying is so much fun.

His lips blaze a trail of kisses across my exposed shoulders as he slides out of me. Come drips between my thighs and on to the sand. ‘Let’s go get you cleaned up.’ He motions to the sea. ‘Then we can do it all again.’

‘You’re a bad man, Caelon Beckett,’ I tease, slipping my hand in his. ‘Just not in the way you thought you were.’

‘I’m your bad man, Tranquil.’

‘You bet you are. Always and forever.’ I kiss the back of his hand as the sun kisses us from above .

Ruin Me: A hot, forbidden, bodyguard romance (The Beckett Brothers Book 3)

RUIN ME BLURB:

AVERY:

I’m a psych graduate turned glamour model, but it’s not as glamorous as it sounds when I’ve got a stalker leaving black calla lilies in my dressing room with little love notes that say, “I’m coming for you.”

Cue my worst nightmare: needing a bodyguard. But not just any bodyguard—Killian Beckett, the infuriating CEO of a global security empire, former soldier, and certified grouch.

Killian’s all hard muscle, military precision, and absolutely zero charm. He insists on hovering around like I’m some kind of fragile damsel in distress.

Newsflash: I’m not. And his ‘no-nonsense’ attitude drives me straight up the wall. The guy radiates disapproval—of my job, my dates, my wardrobe. You name it, he’s judging it.

Unfortunately, Mr Control Freak also looks like he was sculpted by the gods, and smells like temptation itself.

The more time we spend sparring, the more I realise there’s something buried under all that brooding. Something damaged. Something that just might ruin us both if I get too close .

Sleeping with my bodyguard?

Bad idea.

Falling for him?

Absolutely fatal.

KILLIAN:

Babysitting a spoiled celebrity wasn’t how I planned on spending my days, but when Avery’s name lands on my desk, I can’t say no, even if she’s trouble wrapped in taffeta.

Avery is everything I can’t stand: reckless, loud, and she lives for attention. Day and night, her smart mouth tests my patience, and her curves increasingly test my control.

I don’t even like the woman, but my God, do I want her. But I can’t cross that line. Instead, I watch, I wait, and I fight—both the outside threats and the escalating pull between us.

But the battlefield I learned to survive on is nothing compared to the war Avery stirs up inside me.

Getting involved with a client is the ultimate risk in my world, but when it comes to her, I’ll risk it all.

Even if it ruins me…

Get RUIN ME here…