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  Love So Wild

  The Lawson Brothers: Book Eight

  By

  Marquita Valentine

  Love So Wild

  Copyright © 2017 by Marquita Valentine

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted downloaded, distributed, stored in, or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover by Lindee Robinson

  Professionally edited by Cynthia Shepp

  Proofed by Proofreading by Rose

  www.marquitavalentine.com

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  Love So Wild

  Pilot Elijah Lawson always knew he’d return to Jessamine, marry a hometown girl, and settle into a very predictable kind of life. After all, he’d made a promise to his parents that once he’d gotten his fill of adventure he would do exactly that… and Eli was a man of his word. Only he can’t get the bewitching redhead he’d fallen hard for while out in Colorado out of his head, and he’s afraid no woman in Jessamine will ever measure up. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop his family from trying to set him up with every single woman in town… until Skye Holland shows up on his doorstep.

  The only reason Skye Holland moved back to North Carolina was so she could do the right thing for her one-year-old son. A boy, after all, needed his father, while she… she simply needed a fresh start. But first, she has to let Eli know their red-hot affair had consequences. But she has no intention of repeating the past, no matter how many old feelings come rushing to the surface when they’re together.

  Too bad for Skye that Elijah has other ideas, and he’s not going to let their second chance at love get away…

  Books by Marquita Valentine

  Boys of the South Series

  Live For You

  Only For You

  True For You

  All For You

  Wish For You

  Burn For You

  Melt For You

  Take The Fall Series

  Take the Fall

  When We Fall

  After We Fall

  Hard To Fall

  Royals in Exile

  Royal Scandal

  Royal Affair

  Sports Romance Standalones

  Scored

  Sidelined

  Contracted

  Seducing the Billionaire Series

  Seducing the Billionaire’s Wife

  Seducing the Billionaire’s Secretary

  The Lawson Brothers Series

  Love So Hot

  Love So True

  Love So Irresistible

  Love So Tempting

  Love So Perfect

  Love So Unexpected

  Love So Right

  Love So Wild

  Holland Springs Series

  Drive Me Crazy

  Driving To You

  Twice Tempted

  Third Time’s a Charm

  His Christmas Wish

  Just Desserts

  Not Over You

  Be Mine

  The Brides of Holland Springs Series

  The Billionaire Bride

  The Temporary Bride

  The Forgotten Bride

  The Christmas Bride

  The Scottish Bride

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Book

  Books by Marquita Valentine

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  Books by Marquita Valentine

  About the Author

  Prologue

  ‡

  Elijah Lawson had always been partial to redheads. Add in a sexy tattoo to the middle of her slender back and he was a goner.

  The redhead standing in the window of the old drugstore on Blake Street fit the bill. She was busy arranging bottles of varying heights into some semblance of order. He walked inside, curious as to what she was doing and her name.

  “Hi, how can I help you?” she asked.

  “Not sure,” he said, trying like hell not to be stupefied by the beauty of her face or the freckles that covered it. He was such a goner for freckles, too. Okay, so he was into everything about women’s bodies. He wouldn’t apologize for that. “What are you selling?”

  “Love potions. Poisons. Curses. Things of that nature.”

  “Sweet. Not in the market for those at the moment, though.” He grinned, holding out his hand. “I’m Elijah Lawson, and your voice sounds like home to me.”

  “Nice to meet you.” She took his hand, giving it a firm shake. “Not sure where that is, but I’ll take your word on it.”

  He didn’t let go of her hand. Felt too good to let it go. She had the softest skin he’d ever touched.

  “Kinda need that hand to finish up this display for my friend,” she said.

  Eli let go. “Male or female friend?”

  She eyed him. “Does it matter?”

  “It matters if that friend is more than just a friend.”

  Skye smiled, her freckles the cutest thing he’d ever seen on a woman. “My friend is only a friend.”

  That was his opening. “I do have a question. Two questions to be exact.”

  She looked at him expectantly. “I hope to have an answer or two, then.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Skye Holland.” She raised an eyebrow. “And the second question?”

  “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

  “No, not dinner.”

  Eli’s stomach dropped in disappointment, but he tried not to let it show on his face. “Okay, sorry to have…”

  She cut in, a playful lilt in her voice. “However, there is a new bar a couple of blocks down I’ve been meaning to try out.”

  The relief he felt was almost tangible. Odd that he should care so much about a date with a stranger. “Should I meet you there or—?”

  “A nice southern boy like you should pick me up at my place and take me there,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He rocked back on his heels, feeling so good about this chance meeting that he wanted to do something stupid—like mark her as his own.

  “You can pick me up at eight.”

  “I need your address.” Thank the Lord he had the presence of mind to ask for it.

  Her smile turned rueful. “Guess that would help. Sorry, I’m out of practice.”

  “Me, too, but maybe between the two of us, our lack of practice will make for one hell of a good first date.”

  *

  Skye tumbled to the bed, Elijah coming to rest on top of her. She moved restlessly against him, loving the feel his hard length against her.

  “Mariah,” he said.

  “Nope.” She kissed the side of his neck. “Cletus?”

  He lifted his head, laughing. “Seriously?”

  “It’s a perfectly respectable middle name.”

  “If you live in Mayberry.” His lips descended onto hers again, and they didn’t come up for a
ir for at least the next two minutes. “Swear I can’t think straight.”

  “Blue,” she said, breathless.

  “What?”

  “That’s my middle name,” she clarified, not the easiest thing to do when lips so divine that angels had to be jealous were making their way down her neck.

  “Hello, Skye Blue. I’m Elijah.”

  “I know who you are.”

  She felt him smile against her skin, his hands under her shirt and resting on her waist now. “No, Elijah’s my middle name.”

  “What’s your first?” she asked, toying with the buttons of his shirt. It was parted in the middle, giving her an up close and personal view of his magnificent chest.

  He leaned up on his elbows. “Now that requires a different sort of persuasion.”

  Pushing him onto his back, she straddled his hips. “How about this?” She flashed him, lifting her shirt and her bra away in one fell swoop.

  His eyes fixed on her bare breasts. “Christopher. My first name is Christopher, and I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

  “Not yet, you haven’t.”

  Then she tackled him.

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Two years later

  The only thing Elijah Lawson loved more than flying was his family. They were the only reason he’d come back to Jessamine and bought a bar with his cousin Preston.

  Family was everything to him. Since birth, it had been drilled into him that, no matter what, family came first. However, after six months of looking at the same landscape every day, he was starting to get itchy. It crossed his mind that maybe it was time for him to leave again—time to find another adventure—and the feeling was growing more with each passing day.

  That feeling, if acted upon, would break his mother’s heart. His dad’s, too, truth be told. They were funny like that.

  There was only one time in Eli’s life he had felt grounded enough to consider setting up house and not going anywhere. It had been with a woman whose hair reminded him of sunsets, whose eyes reminded him of home, and whose kisses made him forget his own name.

  However, that was two years ago, and he hadn’t heard from her since.

  Sometimes, he wondered if she’d been real at all.

  “You planning on staring at her all night… or are you finally going to get out there and introduce yourself?” Preston asked.

  Elijah turned slightly, still polishing the glass in his hand with a clean rag as they stood behind the bar and surveyed their establishment.

  It was a Saturday night, and the bar was hopping. Music played, and the dance floor was full. Elijah didn’t feel much like dancing or introducing himself. All he felt like was observing. It came naturally to him. Plus, observing didn’t get him in trouble or make him think of settling down.

  Observing didn’t get his heart broken.

  “Nope. I’m good.” Elijah set the glass into the tray and picked up another one, intent on polishing the sheen right out of it. “Really, really good.”

  Preston gave him an incredulous look. “Seriously, dude?”

  “Yup,” Elijah said. “What else am I supposed to do?” Yeah, he was stupid for asking his horndog of a cousin about what to do with a woman who was interested in him. However, his horndog of a cousin was no longer a horndog, not since he was happily married to Apple McCoy.

  “I don’t know… maybe see how it goes after a man and woman introduce themselves to one another? I know that might seem shocking to a guy such as yourself, but it’s how things are done around here. Try the local customs, cousin, and see what happens.” Preston nodded at the woman across the floor.

  To Elijah’s horror, she started walking their way.

  “Look who decided to take matters into her own hands.” His cousin laughed.

  Son of a gun. This was not what Eli wanted to happen. “I didn’t mean for you to ask her to come over here and do that,” he said as he slammed the glass down harder than he’d meant to. “I was just making conversation… I was out of my mind. Shit. I don’t know why I talk to you at all.”

  “Because I’m a wealth of information, and it’s a proven fact I know what the ladies around here like.”

  Elijah gave him an ‘are-you-kidding-me’ look. “Still priding yourself on that?”

  Preston shook his head. “No need to. I mean, I did land Apple McCoy. However, it is my duty to put my former extraordinary talents to good use when a fellow Lawson needs help.”

  “I don’t need help,” Elijah grumbled.

  The brunette was almost on top of them.

  Preston leaned over, whispering slyly, “By the way, your momma said to tell you to treat Jamie Watson kindly, and that one date wouldn’t kill you.”

  Eli almost groaned. Of course his momma had her hands in this. She’d been trying to set him up since his feet touched the ground in Jessamine. While he loved his mom and appreciated her “thoughtfulness,” he knew no matter the woman he was set up with, she’d never measure up to Skye. He knew it all the way to his soul.

  Jamie stopped just shy of the bar and smiled. He vaguely remembered her from high school, or at least an impression of her. She’d been kind and… maybe on the dance squad or a cheerleader? He was shocked he could remember that much, seeing as how they’d graduated seventeen years ago.

  Preston clapped him on the shoulder. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a party of ten to see to right now.”

  Convenient. Eli let him go without a fight, mostly because he was certain his cousin would say something encouraging to Jamie.

  “Jamie Watson,” Elijah said with a nod. “How are you?” Man, he was going to regret letting her down, and not only because she was pretty and sweet. He hated being put in this position of power, hated being responsible for the future happiness of someone he didn’t know all that well.

  “Elijah Lawson. So good to finally talk to you,” Jamie said as she sat on the bar stool directly across from him. “It’s been a while… and I’m doing great, actually. You?”

  Automatically, he flashed a smile. “Fine. What can I get you? First round is on the house.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “I’ll take a glass of white wine.”

  “Good choice.” He turned, grabbed a bottle of zinfandel off the shelf behind him, and then poured some into a clean wineglass. “What brings you to Whiskey Hollow?”

  Son of a gun.

  He shouldn’t have asked, but he’d been asking the exact question for months now. It had become a habit. A sort of on-the-fly questionnaire to help Preston and him figure out where to spend the advertising money. So far, word of mouth was their best avenue…

  Except his mouth, at this moment, had probably just gotten him into big trouble. While he might have a reputation for being the wild Lawson, he did not want to get the reputation for being the asshole Lawson.

  Jamie lifted her shoulder in a dainty shrug. “A little birdie told me the time was right to stop by and see you. I’d been meaning to have a drink at your establishment for a while now, anyway.”

  “Appreciate your business,” he said, trying to direct the conversation to very general and banal topics. “Do you still live in Jessamine?”

  It was an innocent question.

  A friendly question.

  One he’d ask anyone in his bar.

  She smiled. “Moved back right after college. I work in advertising for a company out of Raleigh, but I get to telecommute. Nothing like wearing your pajamas and fuzzy slippers to morning meetings.”

  He grinned, despite his best intentions. “Sounds like a dream job.”

  “It really is. It wasn’t easy to get it, but when I want something, I do whatever it takes to make it mine.”

  Yeah, that was attractive as hell. A very small part of him wanted to see what whatever entailed, but the gentleman in him won out. “Good for you.” He took a breath. Let it out in a rush. “Great seeing you, Jamie, but I have to get back to work.”

  Her confident smile fell, but then returned
in full force. “Maybe you should give me your number. I could text you later, so we can talk without interruption.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m… involved with someone.” He didn’t know what made him say it. Maybe a weird hope that somehow, someway, he’d find Skye again. Or maybe it was the photograph of the Colorado sunset he’d put up by the door that had gotten his attention. Made him think of flying and adventures.

  Who was he kidding? The sunset—with its rich reds, oranges, and golds—held the colors of Skye’s hair… and until he could get her out of his mind, there was no way he would string a woman along.

  It just wasn’t right.

  “Oh-kay,” Jamie said, standing. Her forehead creased. “Thanks for the wine.”

  “You’re welcome.” He moved to the other end of the bar, tossing over his shoulder, “Have a good evening. Be sure to tell your friends about us—ladies’ night is every second and fourth Thursday of the month.”

  “Asshole,” Jamie muttered, loud enough for him to clearly hear.

  Maybe he was, but it was better for her to be angry he hadn’t responded to her flirting than for him to use her to get his mind off the one woman who wouldn’t leave him alone.

  “Not your type?” Preston asked when he stepped back behind the bar.

  Eli shook his head. “I like to pick out women on my own.”

  “Aunt Delilah only wants what’s best for you.”

  He knew his momma wanted that, and he also knew she saw it as her duty to get her only unmarried son hitched—regardless if he were ready or not.

  Except he was ready.

  Kind of.

  Well, he was ready for the right woman, but she didn’t exist in Jessamine.

  “I’ll talk with her.”

  Preston’s eyes danced. “Best talk to her tomorrow morning, because I heard from a very reliable source that Sage McCoy is next on her list.”

  “I think we have enough McCoys in this family already. No offense.”

  “None taken.” Preston hefted a tray of glasses on his shoulder. “I already got the best McCoy there is. The rest pale in comparison.”

  Elijah knew exactly how his cousin felt.