Beginnings: A Happily Ever After Romance

Book 4: Allie Styles Romance

by Sydney Campbell

Genres: contemporary romance; happily ever after; steamy romance

Synopsis

This final installment in the Allie Styles Romance series sees Allie and Matt finally settling into their happy-ever-after. Join your favourite lovebirds as Matt sweeps Allie off her feet with a surprise proposal and an intimate destination wedding in Mexico filled with adventure and romance. Not to mention a hot-as-hell honeymoon...

Back in Montreal, the newlyweds settle into their new home and meet their new neighbours, each of whom will be making up the next series of books, Courtyard Tales of Contemporary Romance. Louisa and Ian, Casey and Zach, Hailey and Sam... each couple with their own steamy story to tell.

Release date: November 1, 2020

Publisher: JAM Contemporary Romance

Print pages: 139

Sample

 

It was mid-October, and the weather was just starting to turn. Through the window, I could see the wind blowing through the leaves on the nearby trees. I was in the kitchen putting away the dishes from the drying rack when I heard Matt come home from work. Seconds later, he appeared behind me, kissing the back of my neck. Loki, my 70-lb black mutt, was trailing just behind him, tail wagging.

I turned to look at Matt, gorgeous as always. He was dressed in a grey cable-knit sweater and dark blue jeans. We had been back in Montreal for three weeks, our time in Israel having been extended due to unforeseen complications with Matt’s client. The change in weather had been steep, but I was grateful we hadn’t come home mid-winter. That would’ve been brutal. Still, I found I was affected by the chill, more so than other years.

“You weren’t cold like that?” I asked.

“No, Mom. I was not,” he laughed.

He grabbed our little box from the cabinet and sat down at the kitchen table to roll a joint, watching me as I worked. He was silent. I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at him.

“What’s up? You just enjoy watching me bend and stretch while I put shit away?” I asked.

He smiled.

“No. I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about.”

I walked over and sat down across from him. He lit the joint, took a quick toke, and passed it to me. I accepted it gratefully. 

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Well, first of all, I want to move.”

I sat up, surprised. But when I thought about it, it wasn’t a crazy idea. I did not live in the nicest area, and between the two of us, we could afford something nicer. Maybe even with a yard for Loki. 

“That’s not a crazy idea,” I said.

It was his turn to look surprised.

“I didn’t think that would be so easy.”

I passed him the joint and got up to resume my work. I pulled the last of the dishes from the drainboard and reached to put them away in the cabinet above the counter. 

“What else you got?” I asked, my back to him.

He didn’t answer, so I closed the cabinet door and turned around. To my shock, he was before me, on one knee, holding out a simple yet exquisite single square-cut diamond set on a platinum band. 

“I wanted to know if you’d marry me.”

I stood there, paralyzed. I could hear every sound in the room. The buzzing from the overhead light, the faint strains of music coming from the apartment next door, the steady pant of Loki’s breath as she lay on the floor beside us. I felt every hair on my body stand up like I was hyper-aware of everything, all my senses on alert. I stared at him, unable to comprehend this feeling.

“Just say yes,” he said, smiling.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He stood up and slipped the ring on my finger.

“YES!” I screamed and threw my arms around his neck, jumping up and wrapping my legs around him. He laughed and stumbled as he caught me, and we twirled around a few times before he sat me down on the kitchen counter. He slid his arms around my waist and kissed me, my body melting against his.

“I love you, Allie Styles.”

“I love you, Matt Goldberg.”

“Shall we celebrate?” he asked, with a glint in his eye.

“What did you have in mind?”

He gently lifted me off the counter, set me on the ground, and took me by the hand. Together we walked to the bedroom. He turned to me as we stood beside the bed and began to undo my buttons, slowly, one by one. I stood still, breathing heavily, watching his fingers work and imagining where they might end up. He slid my shirt off my shoulders and snaked his arms around my back to work the clasp on my bra. As he pulled it from my shoulders, down my arms, he leaned in and gently kissed each of my breasts. I sighed.

“Yes,” he murmured. “More of that, please.”

Matt loved the noises I made during sex, and I went nuts when he talked dirty to me. After a year of being together, we knew each other’s turn-ons like we knew our own breath. We could read each other with a simple touch. If he looked at me across a crowded room, I was instantly making excuses for our departure. 

I wound my fingers through his curls as he undid the button on my jeans, then slid them over my hips. He knelt before me, tugging on my panties and closing his eyes momentarily as he pushed them down past my knees. I loved the effect I had on him. It made me feel like a goddess, and I was convinced that was at least 80% of the reason the sex was so hot between us. 

I stepped out my jeans and panties and Matt stood up again, drawing me close and kissing me deeply. I was completely naked except for my ring. Matt pulled away and looked at me for a moment. 

“I can’t wait to watch you touch yourself with that on,” he said.

I smiled wickedly and took his sweater by the hem, pulling it over his head. He complied, raising his arms and then tossing it to the side. I repeated the same action with his T-shirt, then ran my hands over his chest, pausing to play with his nipples, something that never failed to drive him crazy. 

I ran both hands down towards his belt, working the buckle and then undoing his fly. I dropped to my knees as I pulled his jeans down to his ankles, lifting each foot to slide them off completely. I reached up to take him in my mouth, but he took hold of my hands and pulled me back up to face him. I gave him a questioning look. Who turns down a blow job?

“Do you remember the first time I made love to you?” he asked.

“Like it was yesterday.”

He continued to hold my hands, preventing me from touching him. I leaned forward to kiss him and he pulled back. Then he leaned back in and whispered in my ear.

“How I touched every inch of you before I let you come?”

I closed my eyes. I momentarily lost my train of thought as he let go of my hand and trailed his fingers down my arm. I shook my head to clear it and took a step backwards.

“That was a one-time offer,” I said.

“Was it now?”

He took another step towards me and I took another step back.

“Am I going to have to tie you up?” he asked mischievously.

“No.” 

He took another step towards me, and again I stepped back. 

“You’re no fun anymore,” he lamented.

I stood up straight.

“I’m no fun?” I said. “Tell you what. If you can catch me, you can do anything you want to me.”

As I turned and fled the bedroom, I heard him rifling through the night table drawer. Loki barely lifted her head as I raced past the kitchen naked. Clearly, she was used to our antics by now. I hit the living room and took up position behind the couch. 

Matt appeared moments later, walking calmly and carrying a length of rope. I smiled at him.

“You’re smiling?” he asked. 

I shrugged.

“You’re fooling no one,” he said. “Your nipples are hard.”

I instinctively raised my hands to cover my breasts and regretted it, the contact sending waves of pleasure through my body. I dropped my hands and said nothing as he stepped towards me. As soon as he took a step to the right, I went left. He laughed softly.

“You think this is how it’s going to play out?”

He shook his head and took two steps forward. He stepped up onto the couch and swung over the back, all in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, he had me pressed up against the window, the leaded panes surely making an indentation on my back. He dropped the rope, took my face in his hands, and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hopped up onto the window ledge, positioning my legs around his waist and resting my feet up against the back of the couch. It was perfect leverage, and I was shocked we’d never thought of it before.

I looked up into Matt’s eyes and saw nothing but lust staring back at me. I squeezed my thighs together. He closed his eyes momentarily and I felt him grow hard against me. My head swam when I thought of the pleasure I brought him. I took his hand and brought it up to my breast. Once there, he knew exactly what to do. I lay my head back against the window as he took my nipple in his mouth, and before I knew it, I felt him slide into me. 

I opened my eyes and took hold of his shoulders, bracing my feet against the couch as I prepared to meet him thrust for thrust. He took hold of my hips and looked me in the eye.

“You’ll be mine,” he said, his voice husky.

“I already am.”

He put his head down and established a rhythm. I moved with him, moaning as he picked up speed, raising my ass off the window sill. 

“Allie…”

“Fuck me, Matt. I want to watch you come.”

He placed his palms against the window and I lowered myself back onto the sill, clinging to his neck for support. He rode me hard, bringing me unexpectedly close to my own orgasm. I pressed my breasts up against his chest and felt him shudder as he thrust into me one last time. I had been so close.

He pulled out and smiled at me, and I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him downward. 

“Two seconds,” I said. “I promise.”

He obligingly dropped to his knees and buried his head between my legs. His tongue did a lazy swirl around my clitoris before taking it in his mouth and sucking gently. It was all I needed. I exploded around him, holding onto his head for balance as my orgasm ripped through my body. He kissed me, then leaned back against the sofa and gazed softly into my eyes.

“Mrs. Goldberg,” he said dreamily.

“Ms. Styles,” I replied firmly.