Meet Cohen &
Danielle in the newest stand alone
in the Hope Town
Series by Harper Sloan!
Unexpected Fate
by Harper Sloan
Have you ever felt
like you were living your life for a future that was predetermined? Like there
was some bigger picture you just prayed you would someday see clearly? That
picture has been crystal clear to me since I was old enough to recognize it for
just what it was.
Or I should say
recognize him for who he was.
I’ve loved Cohen
Cage since I was a small child. He’s been my everything for the last twenty-two
years. I’ve loved him through every girlfriend he’s ever brought home. Through
his college years and then mine. I’ve loved him through two deployments. And
ever since the day I told him how I felt, he’s acted like I’m a stranger.
My name is Danielle
Reid, and it’s time for me to get my man.
Our future is an
unexpected fate, and no matter what our parents, siblings, and friends say…it’s
going to be worth every second of the fight to make it happen.
Prologue
Prologue
“Axel Reid, don’t
you dare!” my mom exclaims. Then she
yelps when my daddy charges through the front door.
“Don’t I dare what,
Princess? No way that boy is going near
my girl. Look at him! He looks like he can’t wait to creep on my
daughter!”
“Well, there is no
need to scare him to death!” she mocks.
My cheeks heat
instantly when I see Dane start backing away from the porch. My hopes of being able to actually go to my
senior prom are starting to go up in flames.
Poof.
Just like that.
Not that I should
be surprised about it. Mom did her best
to calm Daddy down, but we should have known better. He took one look at me and stormed over, only
to return ten minutes later looking like he does now.
So embarrassing.
“You need to stop
this nonsense right now, you big lug, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch,” Mom
fumes.
“Like hell I will,
woman!” Daddy roars at my mom.
I watch her face
get sharp. He stops long enough to sling
one of—that’s right, ONE of—the rifles he’s carrying over his shoulder, where
it lands next to the other one he already has over his other shoulder.
Only my mom would
be brave enough to deal with him when he’s in “Protect Dani from everything
with a penis” mode. He looks absolutely
ridiculous. He has two hunting rifles
now hanging by their leather straps over each shoulder. He has two handguns strapped to each thick
thigh, two on each side of his belt, and various knives along the way. His shirt, which he thinks is hilarious to
wear when I attempt to go out on a date, says I kill things…and eat them. I know it’s a hunting shirt—for animals, not
teenage boys—but Dane doesn’t.
Mom moves in front
of him, standing in the front doorway and blocking his path, where Dane is
still slowly retreating. She’s been
dealing with this way before they even had me.
He’s…protective. I guess that’s
the nicest way to put it. Well, she
calls him protective. However, I call it
possessive, overbearing, controlling, demanding, and jerky.
“This is her senior
prom, Ax. You wouldn’t let her go last
year.” She pauses when he grunts. “And I’m sorry, but you won’t be stopping her
this year. She has a right to experience
this. And Dane is a nice boy. Right, Dane?” she yells over her shoulder.
“Uhh…” he stammers,
causing my daddy to grunt some more.
“The boy doesn’t
even know how to talk, Izzy. I bet he
will be nothing but handsy and think with his little pecker. Nope.
No way. Not near my baby girl.”
Oh. My.
God. I wish I could just fall
into a hole right now. I try to see over
my parents to find out if Dane heard that, but with Daddy basically being a
giant, that’s not happening.
“You did not just
say that!” I yell at his back.
Daddy turns around,
his movements awkward with how many weapons he has strapped to his body. His green eyes, so like my own, slant and
harden. He looks down at my dress for
the thousandth time since I came downstairs and doesn’t even bother hiding his
displeasure that it’s showing too much of my body. Even if it is about as tasteful as it gets.
My strapless, red
dress has a sweetheart neckline, and everything he calls my “girly bits” is
covered. There isn’t really any
cleavage. Well, okay, there is some, but
surely with my lack of being busty, you couldn’t even call what is showing
“cleavage.” His first problem was with
how much of my legs was showing. Then I
made the mistake of turning around without my wrap on. That’s when he saw that the dress was
completely backless to my bra line.
Well, what it would be if I had been wearing one. Which is clearly when he lost his mind.
“You look just like
your mother did that night twenty years ago when we finally came back to each
other. Right down to those strappy shoe
things. And I guarantee you, Danielle Reid, any teenage boy who doesn’t bat for
the other team will be thinking thoughts I’ll cut his dick off for. No.
You aren’t going with that boy, and that’s final.”
I harden my eyes,
and his narrow even further.
I put my hands on
my hips, and he squares his shoulders, his rifles clinking together.
I raise one brow,
and he mirrors the action.
“Daddy.”
“Dani.”
“I’ll cry.”
“No, you
won’t. You have more balls than that.”
“Want to bet?” I attempt to muster up some tears, knowing
that he won’t be able to handle them, but before I can force the first one out,
my brother jumps into my line of sight and blocks our standoff.
“Yo, Dane! You just run along now. Dani is unfortunately feeling a little under
the weather. Ebola. Or the flu. I don’t
know. It’s really ugly and you probably
don’t want to be around this. The
boils—they could pop at any moment.”
“You did not just
do that,” I heatedly whisper, fuming at his nerve.
Nate turns and
smirks at me. “Oh I just did.”
“I can’t believe
you two!” I spin to look at the one
person who can help me. “Mom, seriously?”
Her expression
softens, and she just shakes her head.
“I’m sorry, Dani. I tried.”
“You two,” I start,
pointing between my older brother and father.
“You just can’t leave it alone?
I’ll be eighteen in a few months.
What are you jerks going to do then?”
“You’re not dating,
Danielle. Not ever.”
“Oh yeah,
Daddy? And how realistic is that crap?”
“Watch your mouth,
little princess.”
“Mom?”
“I’m so sorry,
Dani.” She walks over and wraps me in
her small arms.
I could probably
really cry now a lot easier than when I was trying to fake it, but I’ve never
been one of those girls who weep constantly.
It would be easier to just go upstairs, take off the dress mom and I
spent hours looking for, scrub off the light makeup she helped me apply, and
pretend this night didn’t happen.
***
An hour later, I’m sitting in my bedroom, still wearing my perfect dress. My makeup is still done and my hair is still flowing in long waves. And I’m no less mad at the men in my life than I was earlier. I’ve considered climbing out my window. I’ve considered asking my best friends, Lyn and Lila, to come help me escape. But what would be the point? Rambo-Dad already scared away my date, the only boy left in school who had been willing to ask me even though his friends had warned him about my father.
I lie down on my
bed and stare up at the ceiling. Maybe I
should go away for college. I planned on
living at home while I attended Georgia Tech, but there is no way I can deal with
this stuff any longer. If my father had
things his way, I would be shipped off to become a nun. Or he would buy an island and make it an
all-girls cult.
“Uhggggg!” I yell
to the empty room.
“Seriously,
Dani-girl, things can’t be that bad.”
I jump up when I
hear the deep, gravelly, insanely sexy voice coming from my bedroom door. That voice.
My lord. The things it alone does
to me should be classified as illegal.
My hair slaps me in
the face, a good handful landing in my open mouth, and I hastily pull it out
before I turn to where he is standing.
My lord, he’s
beautiful. He’s always been. My heart speeds up when I take in his
smirking face and the mischief dancing in his brown eyes.
“Cat got your
tongue?”
I shake my head.
“Speechless?”
I shake it again.
“Do you really have
some flesh-eating, boil-slash-Ebola-like sickness?” he laughs.
I narrow my eyes at
him, and his rich laughter booms through the room.
“I’m just kidding,
Dani-girl. Come on. Get yourself ready
and let’s go rock this prom.”
My jaw drops again. “What?”
For the first time,
I notice that he’s dressed in a perfectly tailored tux. My eyes travel down his tall form to his
shining, black dress shoes. On the way
back up, my eyes hit the corsage spinning around his finger before I look back
up into those gorgeous eyes.
“Let’s go,
beautiful.”
“Does Daddy know
you’re here?” I ask, not moving from my spot.
He sighs, steps
into my room, and walks over. His
cologne, Gucci Black, wraps around me.
He’s worn the same scent for years.
I perversely sniff it every time I hit the mall with Lyn and Lila. That scent—it’s my undoing.
He grabs one of my
hands and gives my knuckles a kiss before placing the corsage around my
wrist. He gives my hand a squeeze before
letting go. Placing his strong hands on
my shoulders, he presses down until I’m seated on my bed. Kneeling before me, he takes my feet one by
one and fastens the straps of my black heels before standing and grabbing my
hands, again, to pull me to my feet.
The whole time, I
act like a freak and just gape at him.
What in the hell is
going on?
“Ready?” he asks.
“Uhhh…”
“Right. You’re
ready,” he laughs, grabs my hand, and pulls me through the house, down the
stairs, and into the entryway of the house, where my parents are waiting.
Mom has her camera
ready, forcing us to take some pictures, for all of which I’m sure I’m just
standing there in a daze. I think I
smiled in them, but I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell is going
on. Daddy smiles big and triumphantly
the whole time, like he’s won some battle here.
“Oh, good. You got here,” Nate mumbles through a
sandwich he’s stuffing down his throat.
I shake out of my
stunned stupor and look over at him.
“You did this?” I ask with
disbelief.
“Well, duh. Can’t have my little sister miss her prom
because of some boils. Plus, I knew this
guy,” he says, pointing at our father, “wouldn’t mind him.” He takes another bite before he looks over my
shoulder. “And I know he isn’t going to
try to pet the cat.”
“Nathaniel
Gregory!” Mom gasps.
“What? Why do you think Dad acts like he does? Just because I’m willing to say the words
doesn’t mean you have to freak out.”
I look over at my
mom, who has turned bright red.
Daddy laughs at her
embarrassment and pulls her into his arms.
“Are you sure we didn’t drop that one a few times as a baby?”
She slaps his hard
stomach and shakes her head. “You look beautiful, honey. Have fun, okay?”
I smile at her and
move my eyes to Daddy to judge his mood.
He just smiles at
me. “I trust him. He won’t let any of
those pimple-faced, prepubescent boys touch a beautiful hair on your head. Have fun, sweetheart.”
I walk over and
give them both a hug, standing up on my toes as far as a can to whisper my
gratitude in his ear. He’s annoying,
overprotective, and possessive of his girls, but I love him and I know he comes
from a good place.
“Uh, excuse
me? Do I not get any little-sister love
here? I’m the one running this show, you
know?”
“You’re such a
dork, Nate,” I laugh and give him a hug before turning back to my date.
He’s standing by
the door, talking in low tones to my daddy.
I can’t hear him, but he’s still smiling, so I’m guessing there isn’t
any talk about dismemberment going on.
He looks over, his smile deepening and the lines around his eyes
crinkling. Something moves behind his
eyes that darkens them slightly, but he looks back over at Daddy, finishing up
their conversation.
“Ready, Dani-girl?”
he asks a few minutes later, making my heart speed up again.
Holy. Crap.
“Yeah. I’m
ready.” Or at least as ready as I’ll
ever be.
**
That night, while
dancing to Brett Young’s “Kiss by Kiss,” I knew I would never be the same. I could feel the jealous waves coming off
every female in the room as he held me in his arms. Of course, I had a man and not a boy as my
date. Five years older than I am and
very obviously not a teenager.
Being held in his
arms was a dream come true. His scent
invaded my lungs with every inhale. His
eyes twinkled as his smile held me hostage.
I knew I would never love a man as much as I love him.
Yeah. That was the night I confirmed what I had
always known. What I had always felt.
Cohen Cage owned my
heart and I never wanted it back.
About the Author
Harper lives in
small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of Peachtree City. She
(and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they dubbed 'Estrogen Ocean', much
to her husband’s chagrin. Harper has a borderline unhealthy obsession with
books; you can almost ALWAYS find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad
reality TV and cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero--the super
alpha kind!
Harper started
using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep at night; and
with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to just relax. It didn't take
long before a head full of very demanding alphas would stop at nothing to have
their story told.
Reach out to Harper on the web:
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