Live For You (Boys of the South ~ Book 1) Read online

“You were pregnant?” My mother’s hands cover mine, squeezing them.

  I hadn’t realized I’d spoken the words out loud. “Yes,” I whisper.

  “And that butthole still cheated on you?” Startled by my mother’s cursing, my mouth drops open. Butthole is tantamount to my mother saying the F-word, in church, while the pastor is praying.

  “He didn’t know.”

  Her lips flatten. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Why didn’t you come to us? We would have supported you, honey.”

  “I didn’t know, not until I’d come out of surgery. Doctor Benson told me before he brought y’all in. He wanted to know what he could and couldn’t share with you.” I shrug helplessly. “I thought it was my punishment.”

  “You think you were punished?”

  I look down at the quilt, star pattern blurring as I blink. “Don’t you? I drank excessively, then got behind the wheel of a car.”

  “Oh honey, it was a freak accident,” she says, gathering me close. “I think you’ve punished yourself enough, don’t you?”

  “That’s what Cole said,” I sob. “He loved and accepted me for me. He doesn’t care that I can’t have kids. He said that he wasn’t with me for my uterus.”

  “Now he’s a keeper.” I’m not sure why my momma has this positive outlook at this moment. Maybe this is her way of handling it. Maybe this is how she’s being strong for me.

  “He’s gone,” I remind her.

  “I assume you know where he lives.”

  “Yeah, but do you think Daddy’s just going to let me walk out of here?”

  “My dramatic daughter.” She leans back and brushes my hair out of my eyes.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad standing in the doorway. His face is drawn and his arms are crossed.

  “Everything all right in here?” he asks.

  My mother sighs. Dramatically. “I’d really like some ice cream, honey. I think I’ll take Violet with me to the Piggly Wiggly.”

  “Good,” he says. “Maybe you can talk some sense into her.”

  “Doubtful,” she says with a wink, then she lowers her voice. “Is Cole’s house on the way?”

  My eyes widen. “Yes.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Violet

  Cole’s sitting on the back steps of his house, smoking a cigarette and staring up at the sky when I find him.

  “Hey.”

  He looks at me, his face betraying nothing. “Hey, yourself.” He grinds the end of the cigarette on the heel of his boot and tosses it in an old jar.

  “I got your text.”

  “Lapse in judgment.”

  “So, you’re not sorry?”

  “No, I’m sorry all right.”

  I place my hand on his shoulder, his muscles tensing beneath my palm. “You only did what you thought was right, but I think you should have talked to me about it first.”

  He shrugs off my hand and straightening to his full height, towering over me as I stand on the hard ground. Then he exhales. “Fine. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to keep dating anymore. Your thoughts?”

  This is so unlike him. “I think you’re being an ass right now.”

  “Yeah, well like father like son.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t know your dad, but I’m pretty freaking sure that you’re nothing like him.”

  “Everett Morgan, your producer, is my dad.”

  I gasp. I can’t help it. “But he’s married and has a kid,” I say stupidly. As if that ever stopped anyone from cheating.

  “And?” He rubs a spot over his ear and I want to hug him. I want kiss him and tell him that it’s okay.

  “And nothing. I don’t care he’s your dad or that you and Jaxon are…step-brothers, half-brothers…whatever you are, it doesn’t matter to me who your dad is. I’m not with you for your DNA.” I grin, tossing the familiar words back at him.

  “What did you say?”

  Smile falling, I take a step closer to him. “I said that I’m not with you for your DNA.”

  “Not that part. The part about Jaxon being my step or half-brother.” He jumps down the steps to stand beside me and grabs my arms. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that you’re Everett’s kid and so is Jaxon, so I’m not sure how that works. Or if it even matters in the grand scheme of things. I don’t want to be with him. I love you, Cole.”

  “Jaxon Hunter, your ex-boyfriend, the one who cheated on you and got you pregnant is the son that asshole actually wanted? Motherfucking hell, Rae. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Tell you what?” I cry. “How was I supposed to know Everett’s your dad?”

  “Not that.” His grip tightens, bordering on pain. “Why the hell isn’t his last name Morgan?”

  “Cole, you’re starting to hurt me,” I say and he immediately lets go. I rub my arms and look away. “Hunter is his stage name. He didn’t want to get jobs or preferential treatment by using the Morgan name.”

  “Must be nice,” Cole says. “Around here my name counts for shit.” He rounds on me, gently lifting my chin so our eyes can meet. “Is that what you want, Rae? A future with me, someone whose own parents hate him. Not just my dad, but my mom, too.”

  I can’t stop the tears. I thought I was all cried out but I was wrong. “Yes, you dumbass, I want you.” I smack his shoulder. “I love you. I want to be with you. I want everything with you.”

  *** *** ***

  Cole

  I stare at her, at her big blue eyes overflowing with tears. She’s tearing out my heart. And I can’t stop thinking that I don’t deserve her. Then again, until recently, she didn’t think she deserved me. And it seems that neither one of us know what is good for us.

  Maybe we do belong together after all.

  But I’d made a promise to her dad to break up with Rae. That I would give her the chance to meet people and just get back to normal. I thought I was doing right by Rae, by her parents who obviously love her.

  “Shit,” I growl, rubbing that spot over my ear harder.

  And maybe I should stop living my life for other people who don’t matter in the grand scheme of things by trying to please them and their sense of how things should be.

  Maybe it’s time I live for what I want.

  “It’s not going to be easy, me and you,” I finally say and she gives me a wobbly smile. “We’ve got our families to deal with, college for me and your career for you.”

  “I always liked you hard,” she says, a blush stealing on her cheeks.

  “Naughty, Rae,” I scoop her up in my arms, heading inside. No one’s home but me. Parker took Kelly and headed out of here as soon as he’d seen the foul mood I’d come home in.

  “Besides, I really want to go to college, or at least a semester of it,” she says as I walk through the house.

  “Here or Tennessee?”

  “What do you think?” she asks with a flirty smile.

  I give her a wicked grin. “I’m thinking I like this plan of yours, especially if it means you’ll be able to sleep in my bed whenever you want.”

  “Are you proposing moving in together, Cole Morgan?

  “Guess you’ll have to find out.” I set her on her feet and place my hands on her hips, bringing her against me. I’m hard and ready to go. “Now that we’re though talking—”

  “But what about this weekend?” she asks and I groan.

  “I’m not having that motherfucker in my bar, if that’s all right with you?” I pull my shirt over my head and immediately her small hands set to exploring. “Hell, yes,” I growl. I thought I’d never be touched by her again.

  “It‘s your bar, Cole. Keep it. Sell it. Burn it to the ground. You’re the one in charge.” She unbuttons my jeans.

  “Damn but you’re sexy when you talk like that,” I growl before covering her mouth with mine. She sighs and her lips part. Our tongues tangle as I taste her desire.

  “What about the press? What will you do
when it gets out we’re dating or that I did lose a baby—”

  “We’ll deal with all that when the time comes,” I assure her. And I mean it. I’m not letting her face any kind of fallout alone. She’s been alone long enough.

  “What if Violet Lynn sang in your bar?” she asks, but I’m too busy stripping her out of her clothes to answer. “Or maybe Violet Lynn singing as Rae Givens?”

  “No country music in my bar, baby.” I take a sweet nipple in my mouth and suck hard. Her fingers fist in my hair and pull my head away. Her breast leaves my mouth with a sexy little popping sound.

  “What if I promise to let you approve my set list?” she asks as my pants and boxer briefs are flung across the room. “Anything you want, I’ll sing it.”

  I position myself between her thighs and press forward. “You drive a hard—” She gasps as I thrust deep. “—bargain.”

  Her eyes flutter close as her back arches. “Is that a…ohmygod, yes?”

  Biting my lip, I dip my head and nuzzle her throat. “Yes.”

  “I love you, Cole.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Forever.”

  “Always.

  And that’s the last coherent conversation we have for a very, very long time.

  More Bestselling Novels by Marquita Valentine

  Holland Springs Series

  Seduction of the Billionaire Playboy Actor

  Twice Tempted

  Third Time’s a Charm

  His Christmas Wish (a novella)

  Going the Distance Series

  Drive Me Crazy

  Driving To You (a novella)

  Boys of the South Series (New Adult Contemporary Romance)

  Live For You

  Only For You ~ (Conclusion of Violet and Cole’s story, Summer 2013)

  Acknowledgments

  I couldn’t have written this book without the love and support of my wonderful husband, Matthew. Or the amazing patience of my little ones while Mommy was on deadline.

  Andris Bear, Olivia Kelly, Tammy Falkner, Gwen Valentine, Sarra Cannon and Carly Phillips—you guys are THE BEST. I don’t think I could’ve written past page one, without y’all’s encouragement.

  My readers, for assuring me that no matter what I write, they will follow. As with each book, I put my heart into my writing. BUT this series already has a special place in there. My biggest hope is that it will for you too.

  Nationally Bestselling author, MARQUITA VALENTINE, writes small town romances that are anything but small. Marquita met her husband aka Hot Builder at Sonic when they were in high school. She suggests this location to all of her single friends in search of a good man—and if that doesn't work, they can console themselves with cheesy tater tots. She lives in North Carolina in a very, very small town with Hot Builder and their two children.

  You can find her all over the Internet, starting here: www.marquitavalentine.com

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