Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

Eventually he would see how they complimented each other. That Charlie had a way of being a softer version of herself when we weren’t at work. Sometimes she and Linc would come over for dinner. I would catch him doing the little things I loved that Luke did. Kissing her neck. Refilling her drinks. Making sure she had a blanket if we were out by the campfire. Linc was always more openly warm and loving than his younger brother, but I knew I had cracked every wall Luke Canton put up.

I had torn them down with a sledgehammer. And we built new walls together. The ones that sealed us inside a world with just the two of us and our baby. I knew when he asked me to marry him the road was going to be harder before it got easier.

Charlie had to work some kind of witchcraft to convince the Warriors to let the fallout from my scandal blow over. But she did it.

The biggest turning point came when she convinced me to do an exclusive one-time interview with Sports Now. A country star had never done anything like that before. Sports fans loved music, sure, but they weren’t my audience.

But her idea was brilliant. The Warrior fans rallied around me when they realized how quickly I had been slaughtered in the Nashville press. It made Luke instantly likeable that he stood by me. Even more that he asked me to marry him.

“Can we have them over for dinner?” I suggested. “And Helena and James?”

“Are we running some kind of match-making business on the side?” he groaned.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye. “It’s family. And friends. And if they all end up hooking up there is nothing we can do about it.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Fuck,” he growled. “James is going to think I’ve adopted him or some shit.”

“Love you, babe.” I smiled. “I’ll get everything ready. You just show up with beer and your brother.”

“Love you too.” He snaked an arm around my waist.

I inhaled sharply. His eyes raked over my lips and

I knew what was coming next. It didn’t matter that we were married. It didn’t matter he had kissed me so many times it wasn’t possible to count. All that mattered was that he stole my breath every time he did it.

His mouth covered mine and I moaned softly as his tongue slipped between my lips, curling with expert flicks.

He eyed me. “If you didn’t invite all these damn people over tonight I could take that kiss a lot further when I got home.”

I pulled his lips back to mine, clinging to his neck, begging for more. The passion rolled between us. The fire stirred under my skin.

“Fuck, Alexa,” he whispered.

I looked into his eyes, trying to steady myself. God, he made me spin. He lit every fuse I had.

“Ten minutes?” I asked.

He growled, but I knew exactly how we would spend the next ten minutes. I smiled at him as he lifted me on the kitchen counter.

He would love me until we both drowned in our fever. And when he was done and I let him walk out of my arms, I would stroll to the front window to watch him drive toward the city.

I never would have thought the first time I drove to this ranch in the middle of the night that this would be the place I would raise my family. I thought it was a bachelor pad. The home of an egotistical womanizer. And maybe back then it was. But now it was where Luke and I loved each other.

It was where he whispered dirty things in my ear that made me quiver with want. It was where we stayed up all night and binge-watched TV shows. It was where we decorated the nursery for our baby. And invited our friends to be a part of what we had built together.

It was the place where my husband could make me come one more time on the kitchen counter before he left for work. Where I could tell him I loved him. Where we made our future. The walls were filled with music and football. Sports and art. Love.

I didn’t miss Nashville. I didn’t miss the mansion with the infinity pool, or my five-car garage. This was where I was meant to be. Because every time Luke was home I knew I was with the other half of my heart.

For the next ten minutes everything else would fall away. I would be his and he would be mine.

“You drive me completely crazy, you know that?” His gaze pierced me.

I nodded. “You drive me crazier.” My chest heaved with anticipation.

“Let’s make it fifteen, Mrs. Canton.” The hunger filled his gaze and I knew I had stoked more than I realized.

I bit my bottom lip. I had it so bad for my husband. For Luke Canton. For the man who had turned my life into a perfect country love song.