Melody Anne - Baby, It’s Cold Outside

“Then I guess you’d better kneel, Beck Rivera.”

A brief flash of fuck, really? tweaked his mouth before it curved up into that do-me grin. He jackknifed to his knees before her, his hands coasting down her thighs over the acre of fabric as he felt a path to her ankles. Checking for injuries just like the first night he rescued her outside Dempsey’s. Only this time, he would find her strong and whole.

Girl walked into a bar, hooked up with her destiny.

Gently, he raised her foot and kissed the visible skin with hot, purposeful lips, transferring his intimate heat to her body. The sight of him in supplication unraveled her like a loose thread on a sweater.

Lifting his head, he held her gaze boldly. “You’re strong and sexy and I love you. I need you to breathe, but I need to make sure my woman can breathe first. What do you say, querida?”

He delivered the Rivera smile, the same crooked one he wooed her with that day in the ring after he had taken down one Cochrane and set his sights on conquering another. He captured her heart then, and had held it in his iron fist ever since. Beck saw her. He truly did. She could spend the rest of her life looking at him looking at her.

There was only one thing she could say.

“Rip it, Beck.”

A quicker-than-the-human-eye move, and he tore her dress from the hem all the way to midthigh. Gasps hissed though the stultifying air at the sight of her skin shining in glorious Technicolor under the harsh ballroom lights.

Unfolding to his full, staggering height, he stood back, an expression of plain relish on his face at what he had created.

“Now give me your mouth, Darcy.”

She launched like a heat-seeking missile and kissed him with everything she had.

“About time,” Grams muttered, though she sounded a little choked up, the old softie.

“Right on, Mrs. C,” Beck said, once he broke their kiss. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my girl away from all this. Think you can hold down the fort here?”

“Go, go!” Grams flapped her birdlike hands. “I need to do the rounds and squeeze more money out of these clam-fisted tightwads.”

On ramshackle legs, Darcy leaned down and kissed Grams on the cheek. “You sure you can manage?” She motioned to her ripped dress and bared shoulders. “I might look like a walking middle finger to your donors, but I can stay if you need me.”

“Be gone, girl. Someone else can put in the work for a change.” Grams curved her regal gaze behind Darcy. “Tori! Get your plastic butt over here and push.”

Beck was already half carrying, half dragging Darcy to the exit. Past Chicago’s glitterati. Past a parade of shocked, pursed mouths. Past her stone-faced father.

She stopped and pivoted. “Just a second.”

“You sure?” Beck asked, concern bracketing his mouth.

Her father stood, age and disappointment sketched in craggy lines on his face. “Darcy.”

Looping her arms around his neck, she hugged him for the first time in so long it brought tears to her eyes.

“Thank you, Dad. Thank you for pissing me off so much that it made me strong and beautiful.” She smiled up at his flinty gaze. “Call me when you’re ready to talk.”

Sometimes you forgive people simply because you still want them in your life, but if her father wanted more, he would need to meet her halfway. She refused to allow another bead of toxicity to burn her skin. Taking Beck’s hand, she led him from the ballroom and didn’t look back.

In the Drake’s foyer, Beck placed his fireman’s jacket over her exposed shoulders, and the protective gesture loosened that painful knot beneath her breastbone and activated the waterworks. He crushed her to his strong chest and gave her a few precious moments to lose it. The tension sloughed away with every jerky sob until she rested, boneless and spent in his arms.

“Happy?” he murmured.

“Ecstatic,” she said thickly into his neck. Peeking up, she met the serious blue gaze of her first and last love. “I love you, Beck.”

“I know.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips that turned ferocious in seconds. A soul kiss that went on forever, but was still over too soon.

Behind her, she heard an interrupting cough. The mayor stood with a smirk on his face, a redhead on his arm, and a security team bringing up the rear.

“Nice exit, monkey,” Eli said, kissing her damp cheek. “Very colorful.”

She sniffed, not quite ready or willing to pull it together. “Watch out, Mr. Mayor. Standing too close to me, you might lose some voters.”

“Or attract the youth base. If they actually voted.” He shifted his sharp gaze to Beck and back to Darcy. “Surely you have better manners than your grandmother, Darcy Cochrane.”

She rolled her eyes. For years, Eli Cooper had teased her like an older brother and his ascent up the political ladder had made him only more insufferable. “This is Beck Rivera, one of your bravest at Engine 6.”

“Rivera?” The mayor’s lips firmed. As the official boss of the CFD, part of Eli’s job was keeping tabs on the firemen, and with his antics, Beck had clearly not eluded the mayor’s notice. “Incident back in November. Tough situation all around, but I hear you acquitted yourself well. On the mend?”

Beck nodded.

“You’re one of Sean Dempsey’s foster sons. You lost me a shitload of money at the Battle of the Badges.”

“I’m one of his sons. And I recommend that next time you don’t bet against a Dempsey.”

Eli’s mouth hooked up in appreciation of Beck’s snappish correction. He parted his lips to say more, but checked it when one of his lackeys whispered in his ear.

“Have to go kiss some rich donor asses. Good to see you, monkey.” Man-to-man nod at Beck.

As the mayor and his entourage left, Beck drew a callused finger over her jaw. “Since when are you on such good terms with our fearless leader?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you he was an old friend? I had the nicest chat with him last night about bureaucracy and red tape and how absolutely nothing gets done at city hall over the holidays. He’s trying to put a stop to all that lollygagging. Part of his platform, you know.” She shot him a wicked grin.

Beck grasped the lapels of the jacket he had caped her with and drew her flush, his eyes dark with molten hunger. “You didn’t have to do that. But thank you.”

“What use is the Cochrane name if I can’t pull in a favor every now and then?” She dropped a kiss on his sensuous lips. “Besides,” she whispered, a teasing glint in her eye, “I was only doing what’s best for you.”

Beck drew back and studied her playful smile. “Querida,” he chided, “too soon.”

She laughed. “I’m just getting started, Beck Rivera. The next step? Branding you as mine.”

That earned her a sexy Beck growl. “I like the sound of that, mi amor. Think of me as a new canvas for your portfolio. This heart, this soul, this body . . .” He held her hand over his chest and the wild th-thunk of his heart. “Use me, Darcy.”

She planned to. Just imagining the artistry she could create with this man filled her heart to bursting with love, life, and magic.

“I already know how I want to ink you next, Beck. Something old school, maybe a heart with my name.” She lowered her palm to his tight, trim ass, that part of him she had noticed first in a dingy CFD gym all those years ago, and gave it a healthy squeeze.

“Right. About. Here.”

Jennifer Probst’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels, novellas, and ebooks include the acclaimed Marriage to a Billionaire series, as well as Searching for Someday and Searching for Perfect. She lives in upstate New York. Visit her at www.jenniferprobst.com.

Emma Chase is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Tangled, Twisted, Tamed, and Tied. She lives in a small town in rural New Jersey with her husband and children. Follow Emma on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her at www.emmachase.net.

Kristen Proby is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Loving Cara and Seducing Lauren, as well as the popular With Me in Seattle series. Kristen spends her days with her muse in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her at www.kristenproby.com

Melody Anne is the New York Times bestselling author of the indie published Billionaire Bachelors series, the Baby for the Billionaire series, and the Surrender series, and she has a new series coming soon from Pocket Books. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her at www.melodyanne.com.

Kate Meader is the author of the sexy new series Hot in Chicago, coming soon from Pocket Books. When not writing, she works in an academic library in Chicago. Visit her at www.katemeader.com.