Unexpected
Fate by Harper Sloan
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.
Meet
Cohen & Danielle in the newest stand alone
in the
Hope Town Series by Harper Sloan!
Releasing: February 17th
Unexpected Fate
(Stand alone)
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.
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.
