A roar of disbelief filled the lobby and camera flashes nearly blinded him. Still, he kept his attention on Sophie, spying the shock and confusion that widened her eyes and parted her lips. Questions bombarded him, and he held up his hands, warding them off. Again, silence descended.
“Over the next few months there will be a search for my successor. He or she will be carefully handpicked to replace me as CEO. I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m resigning. I plan to go back to my first love, my art. I gave it up to run Black Crescent, but I’ve decided to return to it. And possibly—if the woman I’m in love with will agree to marry me—to plan a wedding.”
Again, the room erupted. But he cared only about Sophie’s reaction, and his heart seized at the shock and tears and...and love. Please, God, let that be love glistening in her gray eyes.
“I let my pride and fear blind me and hold me hostage for far too long. And I’m praying that it doesn’t cost me her love. I’ve spent too many years in my father’s shadow, worrying what other people thought. If I was worthy enough. But she brought me out of the dark and into the light with her love. And because she loves me, I am worthy. And I want to spend the rest of my life proving that she didn’t make a mistake by taking a chance on me. If she’ll have me.”
He stared at her, silently willing her to let him tell the world her identity. But more, silently asking her again for her forgiveness and her love. Her hand in marriage.
It seemed like an eternity passed as he stood behind that podium, reporters yelling at him, cameras flashing again and again. But still, he caught her nod. Caught that beautiful smile that lit up her face, her eyes and his heart.
“Sophie, will you come up here with me?”
She didn’t hesitate, but wound a path through the throng, and like Moses with the Red Sea, they parted, letting her pass. He didn’t pay attention to anyone but her. His heart swelling larger than his chest as she neared. And when his hand finally enfolded hers, something inside him that had been hollow, filled. That lost puzzle piece slotted into its place, and he was whole. Complete.
He drew her close, and closer still until she walked into his arms. Bending his head over hers, he pressed a kiss to her hair. A shiver worked through him and he didn’t care who saw it. She was in his embrace again. Her scent enveloped him. She warmed him. And God, he’d been cold for so long.
Leaning back, he cupped her face, tipping her head back. The tears he’d glimpsed seconds ago tracked down her face, and he wiped them away with his thumbs, brushing his lips across her cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, her lips.
“Sophie Armstrong, I’m who I was meant to be with you. I was created to love you, and I not only cannot imagine a future without you, I don’t want one without you in it. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes, Josh,” she said without hesitation and with a certainty and confidence that erased the hurt, shame and pain that had dogged him for fifteen years. “I love you, and there’s nothing I want more than to live by your side.”
With reporters exploding into chaos around them, he claimed her mouth.
And his future.
Dynasties:
Seven Sins
It takes the betrayal of only one man
to destroy generations.
When a hedge fund hotshot vanishes with billions,
the high-powered families of Falling Brook
are changed forever.
Now seven heirs, shaped by his betrayal,
must reckon with the sins of the past.
Passion may be their only path to redemption.
Experience all Seven Sins!
Ruthless Pride by Naima Simone
Forbidden Lust by Karen Booth
Insatiable Hunger by Yahrah St. John
Hidden Ambition by Jules Bennett
Reckless Envy by Joss Wood
Untamed Passion by Cat Schield
Slow Burn by Janice Maynard
Available May through November 2020!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Scandalous Reunion by Jules Bennett.
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Scandalous Reunion
by Jules Bennett
One
Sam sipped his black coffee and glanced at the stacks of mail on his desk. After being away for three weeks, the piles weren’t too bad. His assistant had sorted them between junk and urgent. Sam opted to go with the junk first to get that out of the way.
As he reached for the piece on the top, his cell vibrated on his desk. He glanced to the screen, but didn’t recognize the number. He set aside the piece of junk mail and answered his phone, already looking to the next piece.
“Sam Hawkins.”
“Sam, hi. It’s Maty Taylor.”
Maty Taylor. No two words could thrust him faster or deeper into his past than the woman who’d left him brokenhearted...a woman he hadn’t spoken to in sixteen years.
Refocusing on here and now, Sam struggled to catch back up to what she was saying.
“...the attorney representing Rusty Lockwood,” she went on in her professional tone as if he were a total stranger...as if their intimate bond had been severed forever when she left. “I’m calling to set up a meeting.”
Sam’s hand froze on the letter addressed to him as he gripped his phone with his other hand.
“Maty.”
Just saying her name seemed foreign, yet still so familiar, but he had to say it. He wanted her to nix the stiff tone and talk to him like
