FEBRUARY FREEBIE

Hello February! Month of hearts? Nah... (lol bitter single woman here) I'd better call it Strong Steele month! Why? You'll see... *wink wink* And to start the new month, here's a freebie for you all. The Epilogue of the one shot. I'm not quite sure about how you would feel about this, especially Strong Steele's still an on-going story. But just keep in mind that this is a DIFFERENT story. So this ending's still part of the Fantasy. I am so glad that you loved the story. Thank you for such amazing responses. And yes, I would love to share more in the future. 

And also, if you would like to know, after SS I will work on editing the story from Chapter 1 and then convert it to ebook formats too. No more Author's note, will try to correct all mistakes to make it a better read. So I could also save it on my Kindle library. What do you think? I will post it here when it's done :)

For those who don't have the e-readers/apps, I have created a page here on the blog for the One Shot so you can read it online. (You'll see it on the top). The links for the download are still live, you can download them anytime. 

That's all for now. Hope you'll like the epilogue! 

Ella xx

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Just One Night

Epilogue

All-night stakeouts had gotten a lot harder to bear. Knowing what was at home, curled up in my bed waiting for me, made me want to just shoot the suspected perps and let God sort them out. I grinned at himself, ran a hand over my sweaty neck.

Well, at least we got a good collar tonight.

Out of habit, I tried the knob on the laundry room door and frowned as it turned easily, letting me in. Damn aggravating woman. Even as I had the thought, the smell of coffee and breakfast curled its way around my senses, trying to distract me from my annoyance. But even though I was a man who lived by my stomach, it couldn’t hold a candle to what the sound of her humming in the kitchen did to me.

She hadn’t done that at first, but as time had passed and things had gotten better, I’d found it an endearing habit. One I suspected she was rediscovering. Right now she was singing an off-tune version of a Rod Stewart classic. You’re in my Heart.

In the beginning, I thought it was my job to be the white knight. I’d already plotted it out. A word to an old friend in the New York DMV, and her sister and the fiancé would have enough traffic violations on their records that every cop in the state would be pulling them over. If they really pushed me, I’d talk to my college buddy who worked with the Bureau. Lola would believe she’d been put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list with scum like bin Laden.

However, in the end, it was Ellie who’d made things better. Not just for her parents but for all of them. Myself included. All she’d needed to know was that she wasn’t alone. That she had someone in her corner.

The little spitfire had marched herself up to New York, planted herself in Lola’s office, called in the fiancé and laid it out for them. Their parents deserved quality care. There was an excellent facility within ten minutes of the house and she’d already talked to the administrator about hiring on there part-time, the balance of her hours to be spent in direct care of her parents, in a place where she’d have the resources to give them what they needed. She further informed them if they didn’t agree to kick in where insurance wouldn’t, she’d stand outside their with a very large sign stating they’d embezzled funds from one of their major clients.

They’d actually had the brass balls to test her, but the next morning she’d shown up on the sidewalk in front of their snazzy office with a brown bag lunch and a large printed placard in hand. Just like that, the fight was won. They even repaid her the funds she’d pulled from her own meager savings to pay the nurse who’d covered the dayshift for her while she was in New York.

I'd handled the night shift and had learned firsthand in three days what she’d been dealing with for over two years. Enough to make me want to make my own visit and let them have it.

I’d been so proud of her though. I’d wanted to go with her, but she’d taken my hands, her eyes shining, chin firm, and said, “You’ve given me the strength to do this. If you’ll take care of my parents while I’m gone…I want you to know them. And them to know you.”

Her mother took to me right off. It tore out my heart, how fragile and light her body was when I moved her in and out of the bed, even as she was able to make me laugh with the sassy sense of  humor she’d given her daughter. Her dad played a vicious game of checkers, though we had  to start and stop it over a day’s time to finish it. By the time I helped move some of their things  into the long-term care facility, I cared enough that I ached for them, particularly when I saw they wouldn’t share a room together. But Ellie had worked out having them on the same hall, despite their  differing conditions. Her mom didn’t have much time, and her father was still struggling with his therapy. But already, when I came to the hospital to join Ellie for dinner, I saw a peace in her mother’s eyes, the worry she’d been carrying for her daughter and husband now not as sharp.

There was sadness and pain. A lot of tears. But there was also happiness and the discovery of what being in love was all about, in the shadow of two people who had truly lived it, were living it to the very end.

Things had changed so much for both me and Ellie. Love was like that. Magic.

Just like all the books said.

I slipped into the kitchen. The shadows had disappeared from beneath her eyes and she’d put on some weight, in all the right places. One of those places was very pleasingly displayed as she bent over, loading the dishwasher. Thank God, she was wearing the white nurse’s uniform I liked so  much, the one with an above-the-knee skirt. It wasn’t immodest, but it hugged her trim figure like an hourglass and had a zipper down the front that gave me no end of fantasies, to her amusement. She hadn’t yet donned her ankle socks and comfortable orthopedic shoes, which while good for work,  tended to minimize her sexy legs. Of course, I didn’t mind that. There were too many male orderlies and doctors at that place she worked as it was. I’d be glad when that diamond on her finger had a second gold ring keeping it company.

She was rearranging the plates I’d tossed in haphazardly yesterday morning. I needed to do better about that. I’d rather conserve her energy for other things.

I eased up behind her and as she straightened, I caught hold of her waist, making her jump, but when she tried to turn, I held her fast, sliding one hand up to claim one breast, easing down the zipper to find curves cradled in a thin lace bra. As a sexy little tremble ran through her, I pressed my attentive cock up against her soft ass.

“You didn’t lock your door, little girl. Look what kind of trouble you let into the house.”

“Mmm…” A shudder rippled through her as my fingers teased a nipple while my arm held her fast.

“You’ll have to make it fast,” she whispered, laying her head back on my shoulder as I bent my head to her throat and bit. “My fiancé is due home any minute and he’s very jealous. He’s a cop,” she added.

“He has a gun.” As I pressed harder against her, she smothered a giggle. “A great…big…gun.”

My hand came up, collared her throat. “You are going to start locking that door." The other hand cupped her breast. She gasped as I fondled her, the sweet noises from her just made me harder than a rock. “How long before that fiancé of yours gets here?”

“Any minute. I think I hear him parking now. You better hurry.”

I opened my jeans, pressed her against the kitchen counter with my thighs and bent my knees just enough. “Pull up your skirt for me, sweetheart. Show me that pretty ass of yours.”

As she reached back, I growled appreciatively at the way it thrust her breasts out. I was damn ready to explode. As soon as she pulled the hem up, revealing her round buttocks provocatively accented by that bit of lace between the cheeks, I caught the crotch of the thong, pulled it aside and thrust home.

She was ready too. She cried out, began to spasm around me almost immediately.

She loved it when I played rough with her, my kitten with her own sharp claws. But I'd always be careful, because I would hate myself if hurt her. I her back up against my chest, her cheek alongside my jaw so her cries caressed my face  with her breath even as I pounded into her wet cunt, imagining her wearing this tiny scrap of lace all  day long at work, the uniform cloth rubbing against the bare cheeks of her ass.

The image sent me over, as I suspected she knew it would. Whether she’d planned to wear it today or snuck it on just before I pulled in and—damn, which probably meant she’d unlocked the door just  to give me a reason to get tough with her. Oh, what I would do with her. As good as she was at driving me insane and keeping my cock in the begging position, she was just as good at listening. At knowing when I didn’t want to talk, needed the feel of her arms around me, snuggling up to me while I nursed my beer and unwound after a tough day. I just liked hearing her move around the house, watching the curve of her delicate cheek in the lamplight,  the flicker of her beautiful eyes. The way she got ready for bed. Her cotton sleep shirts, the way she stuffed her feet in bunny slippers and raked her fingers through her hair when she first got up in the morning.

I worked her hard against the sink and she gave me just as good back, squeezing me, rubbing her bottom against me so I couldn’t resist. Still hard, slick from her juices, I pulled out and put it back inside that tiny rosebud opening, taking her down deep and propelling her finished climax into a whirlpool of aftershocks that had her thrusting back against me again, her breasts quivering. As our breathing slowed, I ran a hand down her front, a soft caress of her breast,  fingers dipping into the dent of her navel, then down to cover her mound, pressing my fingers on her clit so she arched up hard, breath leaving her fast, her ass squeezing my cock like a vise. Fuck me.

“Ah God.” I buried my face in her hair. “Missed you.” She always made the ugliness go away. I didn’t need to tell her about it. She cleaned me with just a touch.

“I can tell.” She pressed her lips to my throat, her body still trembling where I was caressing her, up and down. I could have her hot again in no time, wanted to, but damn if breakfast didn’t smell good.

I grinned at myself then lifted her hand that had the engagement ring on it to my lips.

“I’m going to keep riding you about that door. Did you unlock it right before I came in?”

Her eyes sparkled at the double entendre. “I’ll never tell.”

“Ellie—”

She put a finger up to my mouth, her eyes soft, lips wet with my kisses. “Some chances are worth taking.” Then, at the lingering worry in my eyes, she relented. “Yes. I unlocked it when I heard you pull into the driveway.”

I shook my head at her and gave her ass a gentle squeeze. I went for the wash cloth, but she beat me to it, wetting it with warm soapy water and then caressing me with it, giving me that shy look below her lashes as she cleaned my cock for me.

Breakfast maybe could wait. God, she was going to kill me.

“What you were just talking about…that’s what I intend to do.”

“Hmm?” She glanced up at me as I put a finger under her chin, tilted her face up.

Her hands continued to cosset me, but her fingers were firm, stroking, the light in her eye telling me that she was on my wavelength about breakfast.

“Once I marry you. There’s one particular chance I intend to take. Over and over and over again. Mrs. Boyle.”

She rolled her eyes but moved in for the kiss, let me wrap my arms around her and take her under again.