Eye Candy

Taylor: Yeah. Why? Are you?

I pressed a hand over my chest and could breathe easier already. One down. One was fine.

Then Heather: Channing and I just had fight sex, so not really. What’s going on?

A second one. She was alive. Feeling tears in my eyes, I texted back, Nothing. Have sex again, then again. Keep having sex until you guys forget what you’re fighting about.

She replied again, but it was late. Whatever she had to say, I was more relieved that she was fine. She and Channing would be fine too. They always circled back to each other.

I was waiting for Logan still, and as if on command, my phone buzzed from his reply.

#logansdickisinsidehiswoman #thisisanautomatedtextreply #pleasereplyduringnormalwakinghours #justkiddinghisdickwillbeinsideheragain ;) All serious, you okay? You texted Taylor too.

I groaned out loud, feeling the boulder that’d been sitting on my stomach disappear. They were all fine.

“Sam?” Mason woke from my noise. His hand moved, and he tightened his hold on my breast. “Another nightmare?”

“No.” I laughed, more from relief than anything else. “I’m good. I’m fantastic actually.”

“Yeah?” He lifted his head, his eyes peering at me.

I grinned at him, but sent a quick text to Logan. Nightmare. Better now. Send my apologies to Logan’s dick. Then I tossed my phone on the floor and settled back, feeling Mason moving over me. I looped my arms around his neck. “I am. I could be better, you know?”

“Really?” He grinned, leaning down to nuzzle my neck.

Everything was fine. Everyone was fine.

With that last thought, I turned, seeking Mason’s mouth with mine. Now it was my turn to be fine, and as his mouth met mine, I knew I would be.

Later, much later, after we were both sated, I saw my phone blinking from the floor.

Rolling over, I grabbed it and began to turn it over, but then something caught my eye, and I looked.

A pile of clothes were on the floor.

Mason must’ve left them, but I saw what was on top. There were no holes or openings for the eyes, nose, or mouth.

I whipped back.

Mason had fallen asleep after we had sex, but he wasn’t asleep anymore. He was looking right at me, like he knew what I found.

It was all a dream.

Right . . .





Don’t miss these other titles from NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author TIJAN


Fallen Crest Series

Fallen Crest High

Fallen Crest Family

Fallen Crest Public

Fallen Fourth Down

Fallen Crest University

Fallen Crest Home

Fallen Crest Forever

Fallen Crest Christmas

Carter Reed

Carter Reed

Carter Reed 2

Jaded

Jaded

Still Jaded

Jaden

The BS Series

Broken and Screwed

Broken and Screwed 2

The Immortal Prophecy Davy Harwood

Davy Harwood in Transition

Davina

Standalones

Cole

Home Tears

Home Torn

Anti-Stepbrother

Evil

Logan Kade

Kian

Sustain

Fighter

A Whole New Crowd

The Original Crows

Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail

Visit her at www.tijansbooks.com





About the Author


Tijan is the New York Times bestselling author of the Carter Reed series, the Fallen Crest series, and the Broken and Screwed series, among others. She lives in northern Minnesota.

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SO MUCH MORE


J. Daniels





BEN


“Happy Halloween, Daddy!”

I wince when Nolan—my six-year-old—pounces on top of me, his bony knees digging into my sides and his elbows jamming between my ribs.

“Halloween’s tomorrow,” I say, peeking an eye open.

Dressed in his Captain America costume, minus the mask, Nolan presses against my chest and sits up tall. “No, it isn’t. Mommy said it was today. She showed me on the calendar.” Worry pinches his eyebrows together. “It’s today. I know it is.”

I smile and bend my arm up underneath my head.

“Daddy, are you fibbing?” Nolan leans closer to me and studies my face. “You’re fibbing, aren’t you?”

I squeeze his side until he giggles.

“I knew it! I knew today was Halloween!”

“Are you excited to go trick-or-treating?” I ask.

“Oh yeah!” He pumps his fist into the air. “And to go to the party tonight! I’m gonna get so much candy. Mommy said I can have whatever Chasey can’t eat, so that’s gonna be a lot. I’m gonna be set for life, I think.”

I glance at the empty side of the bed and sit up, yawning and scrubbing my hands down my face. “Where is Mommy?”

“She’s in the bathroom with Chasey trying to get him to pee.” Nolan shakes his head. “I don’t think he’s ever gonna stop using diapers, Dad. He’s just not getting it like we did.”

Laughing, I rustle his dark hair. “He’s only two. Give him time. He’ll get there.”

“I don’t know . . . Mommy said he’s stubborn like you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. I heard her. She said it.”

Mm. Stubborn, huh? I’ll show her stubborn.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Chase yells, running into the bedroom wearing his pajamas.

“Nobody is ready except me,” Nolan grumbles.

“We have, like, eight hours, Nolan. Relax.”

“That’s not a lot of time.”

I lean over and pull Chase up onto the bed when he struggles to climb up by himself. “Did you go potty, little man?” I ask against his cheek.

“No potty!”

Nolan sighs. “See? I told ya.”

“Captain ’Merica!” Chase bends sideways and reaches for his big brother. I let him go, and the two of them giggle and tumble over together onto the bed.

I smile watching them.

They look alike and they don’t. It’s the dimples that tie them together. And the big gray eyes they both share. Other than that, Nolan looks more like me, and Chase resembles Mia. He has her full lips and milk-chocolate-brown hair. He acts like Mia too. Chase gets quiet when he thinks, where Nolan will tell you every thought that’s going through his head as he’s thinking it. There isn’t anything he won’t share with you.

“I gotta poop.”

I laugh under my breath, watching Nolan scramble off the bed and run out of the bedroom.

Chase giggles around the thumb stuck in his mouth and looks over at me. “Poop,” he mumbles.

“Yeah. He’s going potty like a big boy. Are you gonna go potty?”

“No potty!”

I grab his ankle and pull him closer to me, biting his belly until he squeals in delight.

“Mom!” Nolan hollers down the hallway. “I gotta get in there! Hurry up!”

Mia says something I can’t make out, and then Nolan is running back into the bedroom with the top part of his costume hanging around his waist, mumbling something about Mia taking forever. He darts into the master bathroom and slams the door shut.

The hallway bathroom is the kids’ bathroom. They use it. We don’t, unless we absolutely have to. Anyone with little boys knows what goes on in their bathrooms. It’s like a war zone in there. Nolan’s been potty-trained for years, and he still gets distracted when doing his business. If he hears the slightest noise outside that door, he’s turning around mid-stream to check it out and pissing all over the place.