Laurann Dohner: Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 2

“I’ve been on more dates than I can count. Men ask me out all the time—”

“I don’t think I want to hear this,” he angrily cut in.

“Yet I can easily count how many men I’ve allowed in my bed,” Robyn continued. She reached up and touched his jaw. “That’s an easy tabulation.” Her eyes sparkled. “You would be the second.”

Jake stilled, processing that. His gaze searched her face. “You mean you haven’t slept with anyone since your divorce?”

She shrugged. “My ex…that was a disaster, as you know. So I decided to wait until I fell in love with a man who I was one hundred and ten percent certain was nothing like him.”

A small, barely perceptible half-smile tugged at the corner of Jake’s mouth. “You saying you’re in love with me?” he murmured.

Robyn rolled her eyes good-naturedly and thumped him on his massive chest. “Yes, Simple Simon! That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she laughed. She searched his face, her expression growing serious. “But your world… I can’t thrive in a place like that.”

“That makes two of us,” he sighed.

Her heart soared with hope. “Can you really give that up?” Robyn squeaked. She cleared her throat. “Really?”

Jake smiled—a true, genuine, full-fledged smile.

“There’s nothing to give up, baby,” he admitted. “I would have walked away from that bullshit after my contract expired anyway.” He absently rubbed his jaw, the stubble there so sexy to her. “The only two people from that life I want to keep around are my mom and Tyrone—they never fit in any better than I did anyway.”

Robyn smiled. “I’m extremely fond of both of them.”

“They feel the same way about you.” Jake gave her an affectionate squeeze. “With or without you, I’m walking, baby girl,” he murmured. “I just hope it’s with your sexy ass.”

I am so in love with this man! “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” Robyn promised, her heart soaring somewhere far above cloud nine.

Jake smiled—again! “I think you got a thing for Rainmen,” he teased.

She grinned. “Nah. Only for my Rainman.”

Jake smiled as he watched his new bride dance the Tarantella Napoletana with Nicky and her father. He decided to let her enjoy it because it was the last time she’d be dancing for about seven months. They had found out only yesterday, the night before their wedding, that Robyn was pregnant. To say they were ecstatic would be the world’s greatest understatement.

He was going to be a father and he had just become a husband. Jake felt like the luckiest man alive. No Super Bowl ring came close to the ring he now wore on his finger. The world he’d gladly left behind was all smoke and mirrors, but Robyn was very real and now completely his.

His wife smiled at him as she danced. Fuck, but he had never thought he could be this happy! Even his mom seemed livelier yet more serene now that they’d officially moved out of the Upper East Side and into the Mulberry Street building. She lived in an apartment across from Robyn’s parents because, as Maria DiMarco said, “Eileen is one of us now.”

His gaze flicked over to the two mothers in question. They were embroiled in conversation as Maria herded his mom over toward a table of drinking DiMarco men. Jake couldn’t make out everything Maria was saying, but he heard the words “Uncle Vito” and “Band-Aid” as they passed by. He grinned.

To the rest of the world, Little Italy was famous for food, wine, festivals and, yeah, the mafia. To Jake Chamberlin, retired quarterback of the New York Bloods, Little Italy was where he’d finally found himself. It was the place where miracles like Robyn and their baby took place. It was…home.

And there was no place like it.

I’m a full-time “in-house supervisor” (sounds much better than plain ol’ housewife), mother and writer. I’m addicted to caramel iced coffee, the occasional candy bar (or two) and trying to get at least five hours of sleep at night.

I love to write all kinds of stories. I think the best part about writing is the fact that real life is always uncertain, always tossing things at us that we have no control over, but when you write, you can make sure there’s always a happy ending. I love that about writing. I love to sit down at my computer desk, put on my headphones and listen to loud music to block out the world around me, so I can create worlds in front of me.

Cyborg Seduction 1: Burning Up Flint

Cyborg Seduction 2: Kissing Steel

Cyborg Seduction 3: Melting Iron

Cyborg Seduction 4: Touching Ice

Cyborg Seduction 5: Stealing Coal

Cyborg Seduction 6: Redeeming Zorus

Cyborg Seduction 7: Taunting Krell

Mating Heat 1: Mate Set

Mating Heat 2: His Purrfect Mate

New Species 1: Fury

New Species 2: Slade

New Species 3: Valiant

New Species 4: Justice

New Species 5: Brawn

New Species 6: Wrath

New Species 7: Tiger

Riding the Raines 1: Propositioning Mr. Raine

Riding the Raines 2: Raine on Me

Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 1 anthology

Zorn Warriors 1: Ral’s Woman

Zorn Warriors 2: Kidnapping Casey

Zorn Warriors 3: Tempting Rever

Zorn Warriors 4: Berrr’s Vow

Cyborg Seduction 1: Burning Up Flint

Cyborg Seduction 2: Kissing Steal

Cyborg Seduction 3: Melting Iron

Cyborg Seduction 4: Touching Ice

Cyborg Seduction 5: Stealing Coal

New Species 1: Fury

New Species 2: Slade

Something Wicked This Way Comes Volume 1

Zorn Warriors 1 & 2: Loving Zorn

Zorn Warriors 3: Tempting Rever

Zorn Warriors 4: Berrr’s Vow

Regina Carlysle is an award-winning, multi-published author. She likes books that are hot, edgy and often humorous, and puts all three of those elements into each of her stories. Regina lives in west Texas and is a doting, fawning and over-indulgent mother to her two kids. When she’s not penning steamy erotic tales or hot contemporary stories, she’s indulging in long chats with friends who help her stay sane and keep her laughing.

Drilled

Eagle’s Refuge

Ellora’s Cavemen: Flavors of Ecstasy IV anthology

Feral Moon

High Plains Shifters 1: Highland Beast

High Plains Shifters 2: Lone Star Lycan

High Plains Shifters 3: Ringo’s Ride

High Plains Shifters 4: Edge of Nowhere

High Plains Shifters 5: Lawman

Jaguar Hunger

Killer Curves

Mistletoe Magic: Breath of Magic

Mistletoe Magic: Elven Magic with Cindy Spencer Paper & Desiree Holt

Panther Moon

Return of the Daredevil

Return to Delight

Spanish Topaz

Tempting Tess

Trouble in a Stetson

Aged to Perfection anthology

Cougar Challenge: Needing a Cougar anthology

Ellora’s Cavemen: Flavors of Ecstasy IV anthology

High Plains Shifters: Lone Star Beasts

High Plains Shifters: Riding the Edge

Mistletoe Magic anthology

Sequins, Saddles and Spurs anthology

Tempting Turquoise anthology

Torrid Topaz anthology

I love writing for Ellora’s Cave. I was an avid fan long before I had the courage to write my own stories. For many years I was primarily a painter. I started writing several years ago when I felt the need to fill a larger canvas and tell bigger stories without actually taking up more space. lol