Kisses After Dark Read Free

at the mercy of a violent, unpredictable man and couldn’t risk letting that nightmare back into her life—even if it meant spending the rest of that life alone.

Chapter 2
    Waking as a married man for the first time, Owen Lawry experienced a feeling of pure contentment and relief. The contentment came from having his new wife sleeping naked in his arms. The relief was because he could now finally admit he’d been waiting for something to go wrong.
    He’d worried about his father’s trial somehow derailing their plans. He’d worried Laura would wise up and realize she could do better. He’d worried about… well, everything. But none of the things he’d worried about had come to fruition, and now he was married to the only woman he’d ever loved, with twins on the way and her son, Holden, in Owen’s life to stay.
    Speaking of Holden, they needed to get up and get going to relieve Uncle Shane, who’d been good enough to spend the night with the baby so they could have their wedding night to themselves.
    Owen began kissing Laura’s back, starting at her shoulder and working his way down.
    “Mmm, is that my husband trying to wake me up?”
    “Who else would it be?”
    Her soft, sleepy laughter was an immediate turn-on, although everything about her turned him on, from her blonde hair to her blue eyes to her gorgeous breasts and the belly that was just starting to protrude with pregnancy. He adored every perfect inch of her.
    “What time is it?”
    “Just after nine.”
    She jolted. “Holden.”
    “Is with Shane, who would’ve called if he couldn’t handle the morning routine.”
    Laura relaxed, but only slightly. “We should get going.”
    “We have an hour until brunch.”
    “A whole hour?”
    “Sixty minutes to do whatever we want before we have to rejoin our lives already in progress.”
    “Whatever shall we do?”
    He nudged at her from behind. “I have a few ideas.”
    Laughing, she said, “You always have that idea.”
    “Never more so than right now. I’m so happy you’re finally my wife, and I get to keep you forever.”
    She curled her hand around his, which was nestled right beneath her breast. “You got to keep me forever before vows were spoken. Yesterday was just a formality.”
    “Still…”
    Laura turned onto her back and looked up at him, propped on his hand as he gazed down at her. “Were you worried something would go wrong?”
    He thought about dodging the question, but there was no dodging the honesty or the love he felt coming from her every time she looked at him. “A little.”
    “Why?”
    Owen felt stupid for letting his insecurities invade their first morning as a married couple. “Doesn’t matter now.”
    “Yes, it does. Tell me.”
    He blew out a deep breath and looked down at her, so perfectly beautiful and all his for the rest of his life. “I guess I still wonder how I got so lucky to find you, first of all, and then… That you fell in love with me. Still boggles my mind, Princess, even after all this time.”
    She reached for him, and he went willingly into her loving embrace. “You know when I fell in love with you?”
    “When?” He already knew, of course, but he loved to hear her tell him anyway.
    “The first time you picked me up off the bathroom floor when I was so sick with Holden. There I was, pregnant with another man’s child, and you took care of me like the baby was yours, like I was yours.”
    “You were already mine. Both of you were. You just didn’t know it yet.”
    “And you were already mine. I love you as much as you love me, and I want you to have faith in that—always.”
    “I do.”
    “So you said yesterday.”
    He laughed at the witty comment that was so in keeping with who she was. She made him laugh every day. She made him think. She made him want like he’d never wanted anything or anyone.
    “Please don’t worry about something going wrong between us. You’re stuck with me forever.”
    “Never been happier to be stuck