Unexpected
Fate by Harper Sloan
Prologue
“Axel
Reid, don’t you dare!” my mom exclaims. Then she yelps when my
daddy charges through the front door.
“Don’t
I dare what, Princess? No way that
boy is going near my girl. Look at him! He looks like he can’t
wait to creep on my daughter!”
“Well,
there is no need to scare him to death!” she mocks.
My
cheeks heat instantly when I see Dane start backing away from the
porch. My hopes of being able to actually go
to my senior prom are starting to go up in flames.
Poof.
Just
like that.
Not
that I should be surprised about it. Mom did her best to calm Daddy
down, but we should have known better. He took one look at me and
stormed over, only to return ten minutes later looking like he does
now.
So
embarrassing.
“You
need to stop this nonsense right now, you big lug, or you’ll be
sleeping on the couch,” Mom fumes.
“Like
hell I will, woman!” Daddy roars at my mom.
I
watch her face get sharp. He stops long enough to sling one
of—that’s right, ONE of—the rifles he’s carrying over his
shoulder, where it lands next to the other one he already has over
his other shoulder.
Only
my mom would be brave enough to deal with him when he’s in “Protect
Dani from everything with a penis” mode. He looks absolutely
ridiculous. He has two hunting rifles now hanging by their leather
straps over each shoulder. He has two handguns strapped to each
thick thigh, two on each side of his belt, and various knives along
the way. His shirt, which he thinks is hilarious to wear when I
attempt to go out on a date, says I
kill things…and eat them.
I know it’s a hunting shirt—for animals, not teenage boys—but
Dane doesn’t.
Mom
moves in front of him, standing in the front doorway and blocking his
path, where Dane is still slowly retreating. She’s been dealing
with this way before they even had me. He’s…protective. I guess
that’s the nicest way to put it. Well, she calls him protective.
However, I call it possessive, overbearing, controlling, demanding,
and jerky.
“This
is her senior prom, Ax. You wouldn’t let her go last year.” She
pauses when he grunts. “And I’m sorry, but you won’t be
stopping her this year. She has a right to experience this. And
Dane is a nice boy. Right, Dane?” she yells over her shoulder.
“Uhh…”
he stammers, causing my daddy to grunt some more.
“The
boy doesn’t even know how to talk, Izzy. I bet he will be nothing
but handsy and think with his little pecker. Nope. No way. Not
near my baby girl.”
Oh.
My. God. I wish I could just fall into a hole right now. I try to
see over my parents to find out if Dane heard that, but with Daddy
basically being a giant, that’s not happening.
“You
did not just say that!” I yell at his back.
Daddy
turns around, his movements awkward with how many weapons he has
strapped to his body. His green eyes, so like my own, slant and
harden. He looks down at my dress for the thousandth time since I
came downstairs and doesn’t even bother hiding his displeasure that
it’s showing too much of my body. Even if it is about as tasteful
as it gets.
My
strapless, red dress has a sweetheart neckline, and everything he
calls my “girly bits” is covered. There isn’t really any
cleavage. Well, okay, there is some, but surely with my lack of
being busty, you couldn’t even call what is
showing “cleavage.” His first problem was with how much of my
legs was showing. Then I made the mistake of turning around without
my wrap on. That’s when he saw that the dress was completely
backless to my bra line. Well, what it would be if I had been
wearing one. Which is clearly when he lost his mind.
“You
look just like your mother did that night twenty years ago when we
finally came back to each other. Right down to those strappy shoe
things. And I guarantee you, Danielle Reid, any teenage boy who
doesn’t bat for the other team will be thinking thoughts I’ll cut
his dick off for. No. You aren’t going with that boy, and that’s
final.”
I
harden my eyes, and his narrow even further.
I
put my hands on my hips, and he squares his shoulders, his rifles
clinking together.
I
raise one brow, and he mirrors the action.
“Daddy.”
“Dani.”
“I’ll
cry.”
“No,
you won’t. You have more balls than that.”
“Want
to bet?” I attempt to muster up some tears, knowing that he won’t
be able to handle them, but before I can force the first one out, my
brother jumps into my line of sight and blocks our standoff.
“Yo,
Dane! You just run along now. Dani is unfortunately feeling a
little under the weather. Ebola. Or the flu. I don’t know. It’s
really ugly and you probably don’t want to be around this. The
boils—they could pop at any moment.”
“You
did not just do that,” I heatedly whisper, fuming at his nerve.
Nate
turns and smirks at me. “Oh I just did.”
“I
can’t believe you two!” I spin to look at the one person who can
help me. “Mom, seriously?”
Her
expression softens, and she just shakes her head. “I’m sorry,
Dani. I tried.”
“You
two,” I start, pointing between my older brother and father. “You
just can’t leave it alone? I’ll be eighteen in a few months.
What are you jerks going to do then?”
“You’re
not dating, Danielle. Not ever.”
“Oh
yeah, Daddy? And how realistic is that crap?”
“Watch
your mouth, little princess.”
“Mom?”
“I’m
so sorry, Dani.” She walks over and wraps me in her small arms.
I
could probably really cry now a lot easier than when I was trying to
fake it, but I’ve never been one of those girls who weep
constantly. It would be easier to just go upstairs, take off the
dress mom and I spent hours looking for, scrub off the light makeup
she helped me apply, and pretend this night didn’t happen.
***
An
hour later, I’m sitting in my bedroom, still wearing my perfect
dress. My makeup is still done and my hair is still flowing in long
waves. And I’m no less mad at the men in my life than I was
earlier. I’ve considered climbing out my window. I’ve
considered asking my best friends, Lyn and Lila, to come help me
escape. But what would be the point? Rambo-Dad already scared away
my date, the only boy left in school who had been willing to ask me
even though his friends had warned him about my father.
I
lie down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling. Maybe I should go
away for college. I planned on living at home while I attended
Georgia Tech, but there is no way I can deal with this stuff any
longer. If my father had things his way, I would be shipped off to
become a nun. Or he would buy an island and make it an all-girls
cult.
“Uhggggg!”
I yell to the empty room.
“Seriously,
Dani-girl, things can’t be that bad.”
I
jump up when I hear the deep, gravelly, insanely sexy voice coming
from my bedroom door. That voice. My lord. The things it alone
does to me should be classified as illegal.
My
hair slaps me in the face, a good handful landing in my open mouth,
and I hastily pull it out before I turn to where he
is standing.
My
lord, he’s beautiful. He’s always been. My heart speeds up when
I take in his smirking face and the mischief dancing in his brown
eyes.
“Cat
got your tongue?”
I
shake my head.
“Speechless?”
I
shake it again.
“Do
you really have some flesh-eating, boil-slash-Ebola-like sickness?”
he laughs.
I
narrow my eyes at him, and his rich laughter booms through the room.
“I’m
just kidding, Dani-girl. Come on. Get yourself ready and let’s go
rock this prom.”
My
jaw drops again. “What?”
For
the first time, I notice that he’s dressed in a perfectly tailored
tux. My eyes travel down his tall form to his shining, black dress
shoes. On the way back up, my eyes hit the corsage spinning around
his finger before I look back up into those gorgeous eyes.
“Let’s
go, beautiful.”
“Does
Daddy know you’re here?” I ask, not moving from my spot.
He
sighs, steps into my room, and walks over. His cologne, Gucci Black,
wraps around me. He’s worn the same scent for years. I perversely
sniff it every time I hit the mall with Lyn and Lila. That
scent—it’s my undoing.
He
grabs one of my hands and gives my knuckles a kiss before placing the
corsage around my wrist. He gives my hand a squeeze before letting
go. Placing his strong hands on my shoulders, he presses down until
I’m seated on my bed. Kneeling before me, he takes my feet one by
one and fastens the straps of my black heels before standing and
grabbing my hands, again, to pull me to my feet.
The
whole time, I act like a freak and just gape at him.
What
in the hell is going on?
“Ready?”
he asks.
“Uhhh…”
“Right.
You’re ready,” he laughs, grabs my hand, and pulls me through the
house, down the stairs, and into the entryway of the house, where my
parents are waiting.
Mom
has her camera ready, forcing us to take some pictures, for all of
which I’m sure I’m just standing there in a daze. I think I
smiled in them, but I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell
is going on. Daddy smiles big and triumphantly the whole time, like
he’s won some battle here.
“Oh,
good. You got here,” Nate mumbles through a sandwich he’s
stuffing down his throat.
I
shake out of my stunned stupor and look over at him. “You did
this?” I ask with disbelief.
“Well,
duh. Can’t have my little sister miss her prom because of some
boils. Plus, I knew this guy,” he says, pointing at our father,
“wouldn’t mind him.”
He takes another bite before he looks over my shoulder. “And I
know he
isn’t going to try to pet the cat.”
“Nathaniel
Gregory!” Mom gasps.
“What?
Why do you think Dad acts like he does? Just because I’m willing
to say the words doesn’t mean you have to freak out.”
I
look over at my mom, who has turned bright red.
Daddy
laughs at her embarrassment and pulls her into his arms. “Are you
sure we didn’t drop that one a few times as a baby?”
She
slaps his hard stomach and shakes her head. “You look beautiful,
honey. Have fun, okay?”
I
smile at her and move my eyes to Daddy to judge his mood.
He
just smiles at me. “I trust him.
He won’t let any of those pimple-faced, prepubescent boys touch a
beautiful hair on your head. Have fun, sweetheart.”
I
walk over and give them both a hug, standing up on my toes as far as
a can to whisper my gratitude in his ear. He’s annoying,
overprotective, and possessive of his girls, but I love him and I
know he comes from a good place.
“Uh,
excuse me? Do I not get any little-sister love here? I’m the one
running this show, you know?”
“You’re
such a dork, Nate,” I laugh and give him a hug before turning back
to my date.
He’s
standing by the door, talking in low tones to my daddy. I can’t
hear him, but he’s still smiling, so I’m guessing there isn’t
any talk about dismemberment going on. He looks over, his smile
deepening and the lines around his eyes crinkling. Something moves
behind his eyes that darkens them slightly, but he looks back over at
Daddy, finishing up their conversation.
“Ready,
Dani-girl?” he asks a few minutes later, making my heart speed up
again.
Holy.
Crap.
“Yeah.
I’m ready.” Or at least as ready as I’ll ever be.
**
That
night, while dancing to Brett Young’s “Kiss by Kiss,” I knew I
would never be the same. I could feel the jealous waves coming off
every female in the room as he
held me in his arms. Of course, I had a man and not a boy as my
date. Five years older than I am and very obviously not a teenager.
Being
held in his arms was a dream come true. His scent invaded my lungs
with every inhale. His eyes twinkled as his smile held me hostage.
I knew I would never love a man as much as I love him.
Yeah.
That was the night I confirmed what I had always known. What I had
always felt.
Cohen
Cage owned my heart and I never wanted it back.
Meet Cohen & Danielle in the newest stand alone
in
the Hope Town Series by Harper Sloan!
Releasing:
February 17th
Amazon
US: http://amzn.to/1Aguv8a
Amazon UK:
http://amzn.to/1z4HNQJ
Nook:
http://bit.ly/16PbeyN
Unexpected
Fate
(Stand
alone)
Have
you ever felt like you were living your life for a future that was
predetermined? Like there was some bigger picture you just prayed you
would someday see clearly? That picture has been crystal clear to me
since I was old enough to recognize it for just what it was.
Or
I should say recognize him for who he was.
I’ve
loved Cohen Cage since I was a small child. He’s been my everything
for the last twenty-two years. I’ve loved him through every
girlfriend he’s ever brought home. Through his college years and
then mine. I’ve loved him through two deployments. And ever since
the day I told him how I felt, he’s acted like I’m a stranger.
My
name is Danielle Reid, and it’s time for me to get my man.
Our
future is an unexpected fate, and no matter what our parents,
siblings, and friends say…it’s going to be worth every second of
the fight to make it happen.
About
the Author:
Harper
lives in small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of
Peachtree City. She (and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they
dubbed 'Estrogen Ocean', much to her husband’s chagrin. Harper has
a borderline unhealthy obsession with books; you can almost ALWAYS
find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad reality TV and
cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero--the super alpha
kind!
Harper
started using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep
at night; and with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to
just relax. It didn't take long before a head full of very demanding
alphas would stop at nothing to have their story told.
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