All I Want is You_A Second Chance Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  All I Want Is You

  Also By Third Base Press

  Dedication

  Description

  Author’s Notes

  Table of Contents Instruction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Thief Of Hearts

  Broken Engagement

  Lucky Neighbor

  Hawaii Big-O

  Brooklyn Big-O

  Inside Job

  Take A Sneak Peek Of… The President’s Secret Baby

  All I Want Is You

  By Carter Blake

  Copyright 2018 by Third Base Press

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. This work is intended for adults only.

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  Also By Third Base Press

  Aiden Forbes

  Inside Job

  Mad Love

  Gage Grayson

  Hawaii Big-O

  Brooklyn Big-O

  Lucky Neighbor

  Broken Engagement

  Carter Blake

  Thief of Hearts

  Dedication

  To Shelby

  Description

  My job is to disappear.

  A thief in the night. A ghost.

  But when it comes to Dani,

  I just can't shake her.

  She haunts my mind.

  Awake or in dreams.

  And just when I think I've finally lost her for good,

  She shows up where I least expect it.

  Just like always, she's looking for trouble.

  Out to save the world.

  But this time the stakes are higher.

  She's hired me to protect her.

  Now we're thrown together.

  In the most dangerous situation.

  But the real danger here isn't her life.

  It's my heart…

  Author’s Notes

  I hope you’ve got your bags packed, your passports ready, and prepared to howl at the moon. Because our boy Janus “The Jackal” O’Connell is back.

  I said it before, the romance genre gets a bad rap sometimes. And that’s why I write the books that I do. I’m not trying to change the genre—it’s been here long before me and it’ll be here long after I’m gone—but I do like to think outside of the box when it comes to this genre.

  Correction, I like to tear the box up.

  That’s why Aiden and I brought you our beloved Brotherhood in the first place. These are guys that work in any genre you throw them in. A good scoundrel works in every setting imaginable. But it’s here in romance that they really get to shine.

  And that’s why they’re back. Or rather Janus is this time around—but don’t worry, the others are going to be along shortly.

  The first book was about finding love when you least expect it. I think it’s something we all enjoy seeing our heroes, and heroines, go through and experience. And I’m willing to bet that it’s something we’ve all experienced ourselves.

  This book is about rediscovering love and experiencing second chances. Love’s redemption, if you will.

  What’s more romantic than that?

  Of course, we’ve got action, adventure and exotic locales to experience and explore too. It’s hard not to have that when the Brotherhood is involved.

  So, grab your scotch. Sit back. And enjoy.

  And, hopefully, you’ll walk away a believing—more than ever—that love always finds a way...

  Yours,

  Carter Blake

  Table of Contents Instruction

  WAIT!

  Please use the TOC (Table of Contents located in the upper left area of your screen) to navigate your way through this book. If you’re zoomed out and you’re seeing a smaller version of the book and it is flipping through that way, please press the center of your screen to get you out of page flip mode.

  Thanks!

  Carter Blake

  Chapter 1

  Janus

  South Sudan—3 Years Ago

  My finger taps against the receiver of my HK416 assault rifle.

  In the distance, I can hear bursts of gunfire echoing in between buildings.

  I look over my shoulder at my friend.

  Even though we’re both wearing sunglasses to shield our eyes from the sun, I know that our eyes lock. And I know that my dark-haired friend has the same concern in his dark eyes that I have in mine.

  A burst of gunfire has us both turning around in surprise.

  Unlike the other gunfire we’ve been hearing, this is much closer—and coming from where we planned to exit.

  “Manticore, time to get the truck.”

  “On it.”

  The soldier of fortune makes his exit out of the room and to our vehicle.

  I walk into the apartment’s tiny kitchen, where my employer is working.

  Danielle Robinson—or Dani, as she prefers—is sitting at a small table, talking to a scared South Sudan woman and her small child.

  The curly-haired brunette is a journalist from the New York Times, investigating the militia attacks here in the country. Manticore and I have been working with her for the last couple weeks as bodyguards and translators—much to the chagrin of our friends.

  Normally, this isn’t my kind of job.

  Gryphon, Leviathan, Manticore, and myself are rogues—scoundrels. Gryphon is the thief, Leviathan is our tech guy, Manticore is the muscle, and I’m the forgery man.

  Playing bodyguard in the middle of country-wide genocide is not our thing, but the money was too good to pass up, and Manticore offered to do the job with me.

  And with Manticore as backup, I’m confident enough I could march into Hell and come out unscathed.

  “We need to go. Now.”

  Dani looks up at me from the small table and scowls. She hates it when I try to save her life.

  “I’m almost done. Then we can leave.”

  Another round of gunfire rings out. It’s a couple blocks away—at most.

  “You hear that? That means we’re done. Now let’s go.”

  “Then we’re bringing them with us,” she says, motioning to the woman and her child.

  As much as I want to say that they aren’t my concern, I’m not about to leave them here to be butchered.

  “Alright, let’s move.”

  I turn and leave the kit
chen. From behind me, I can hear Danielle telling the woman to quickly pack a small bag. The woman rushes past me to her bedroom, and Dani stands beside me with the little girl in her arms.

  “Thank you.”

  From the corner of my eye, I can see her looking at me with a soft smile.

  “Nothing to thank me for. We need to leave, and we have the room. Bringing them with us isn’t a big deal,” I say bluntly.

  “It’s a big deal to them. You’re saving their lives right now.”

  “No,” I correct her. “You are.”

  Another round of gunfire rings out just as I hear Manticore through my earpiece telling me that he’s downstairs with the SUV.

  “Alright, Manticore is downstairs. Let’s get moving.”

  Dani rushes over to the bedroom and grabs the woman. Tears are streaming down the woman’s face. In her dark eyes, I can see a mix of terror and relief.

  Since taking this job, I’ve seen that look of terror in the eyes of a lot of people.

  As disheartening as it is, it makes me thankful that this isn’t the kind of work that I do on a regular basis—not anymore, that is.

  I lead the three of them down the stairs and through the narrow corridors of the apartment to the streets below.

  I make the three of them hold in the doorway while I make sure that the street is clear. Once I’m satisfied, I open the back door to the SUV and motion for the three of them to get in.

  Dani helps the woman and her daughter in first before getting in herself. I shut the door the once they’re in and move around the front of the vehicle. I’m nearly at the passenger side when Manticore calls out a warning.

  With my rifle raised, I spin around and catch sight of several armed militiamen armed with AK-47s.

  They shout at me to stop and put my hands up before abruptly changing their minds and opening fire.

  A hail of bullets whiz by me, and I return fire.

  I hit one of the shooters’ center mass, and he falls dead. The rest of them run for cover, and I take the opportunity to jump into the SUV. I don’t even have the door closed before Manticore hits the gas.

  The armed men shoot at us as we drive by. Their bullets take out a couple windows and ricochet off the metal, but I don’t hear any yells of pain from anyone in the vehicle.

  The sound of a terrified mother and child soon fills the vehicle.

  “Everyone okay back there?”

  “We’re all in one piece,” Dani answers with frantic concern.

  I look into the back seat to see Dani looking at me with her dark eyes. She’s scared—who wouldn’t be?—but still resolute.

  It’s admirable. Even if it’s foolish.

  Over the last several weeks, I’ve learned that’s about par for the course when it comes to Dani.

  I think that’s why I’ve taken such a liking to her, even as I try to deny it.

  “Thank god you drive as good as you shoot,” I say with a forced laugh as I look over to Manticore.

  The man doesn’t say a word in response, but I do see the hint of a lopsided smirk pull at the corner of his lips.

  Thankfully, we get to our hotel without any further incident.

  Dani and I get out of the SUV, but Manticore remains with the woman and her child. It was decided on the drive over that he would look after them while I forge them some new documents to get them out of the country.

  “I’ll get them to the safe house,” he says.

  “And I’ll have some new papers for them for the morning.”

  I leave my rifle behind as I watch Manticore drive off.

  A handful of other reporters from around the world are in the process of checking out and leaving just as Dani and I walk in. They know the mounting danger coming and don’t want to get caught in the inevitable crossfire.

  And neither do I.

  Which is why I plan on getting Dani out of the country first thing in the fucking morning.

  Not only would it look bad on my track record, but I genuinely care about her.

  I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I developed actual feelings for Danielle.

  And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her stick around and die for her story.

  As important as it is, it’s not worth her life.

  Chapter 2

  Danielle

  South Sudan—3 Years Ago

  I’ve been shot at before—it comes with the territory.

  But that doesn’t make it any easier.

  I used to think getting shot at was something that nobody would ever get used to. And then I met Manticore.

  We’ve been shot at a couple times during our time here, and each time, he takes it in stride. The man handles getting shot at about the same way I handle drinking my coffee in the morning.

  It’s frighteningly intimidating.

  But it’s also a tremendous relief to know that I have someone like him watching my back.

  Well, him and Janus.

  While this type of thing seems more part and parcel for Manticore, the same can’t be said for the Jackal.

  Even before I hired him, I could tell that bodyguard work wasn’t his sort of gig.

  He’s capable and just as eerily knowledgeable as his companion; it’s just apparent he’s not as comfortable in the role as Manticore is.

  But I couldn’t ask for a better duo to watch my back than those two—though Janus seems to enjoy watching my ass more rather than my back.

  Not that I’m really complaining.

  Even before I heard his rough yet posh British accent, I was already interested.

  I’ve always had a thing for men with dark hair and blue eyes—it’s like my kryptonite—but Janus is in a league of his own in that department.

  Even in the most intense of situations, his eyes sparkle with this trickster-like mischievousness that draws you in.

  “We need to get your bags packed so that we’re ready to go in the morning,” Janus says as he opens the door to our room.

  It didn’t start out that way, but after we started fucking last week, it just made sense to share a room.

  “We can’t leave now.”

  “Oh, yes, we can. This whole place is about to go tits up, and we’re not sticking around for it.”

  Rationally speaking, I know he’s right. Sticking around here is dangerous, but I’ve come too far to turn back now.

  “Janus, please. If we leave now, then everything we’ve done will have been for nothing.”

  “If we don’t leave, then there’s a damn good chance that you get hurt. Or worse.”

  I’m taken aback by the tender concern in his voice, but it stirs something inside me that I didn’t realize was there before now. We’ve grown close over these last couple weeks, but it feels as though we’ve grown even closer than I noticed.

  He peels off his Kevlar vest and tosses it on a nearby chair before closing the gap between us.

  I feel his rough hands on the sides of my face, and when I look up into his eyes, I don’t see the same playful mischievousness that I normally do. I see affection—genuine affection—and worry.

  “Why don’t we just leave in the morning? We’ll go to my place in Berlin. You can get the start of your story done, and we’ll come back once things start to quiet down.”

  Admittedly, it does sound like a lovely idea, but it’s not one that I can commit to.

  “These people don’t have that kind of time. Someone needs to be here to get their stories and to share them with the world.”

  “Dani, it’s not your job to save the world.”

  “I like to think of it as fringe benefits.”

  Janus rolls his eyes, but he laughs all the same.

  “Stay with me, Janus.”

  “Come with me, Dani.”

  I can tell from the look in his eyes that I won’t be able to convince him to stay. His concern for my well-being has gone from professional to personal—which is a sentiment I share.

  But I can’t t
urn my back on these people.

  Even for Janus—for us.

  And if this is going to be our last tonight together, then I’m going to make it fucking count.

  I grab his face with my own hands and pull him in for a heated kiss. Our lips crash together like a torrential wave.

  He lifts me up off the floor and into his muscled chest.

  Janus has a runner’s frame but is every bit as sculpted as a Greek god.

  My legs wrap around his waist, and his hands move to my ass—which might be his favorite part of my body.

  He moves us over the bed and sets me down on my back.

  We waste no time getting rid of our clothes.

  This isn’t the movies, where we take our time stripping each other down.

  Fuck that. We want each other now.

  Once my pants come off, he grabs me by my calves and pulls me to the ledge of the bed. He drops down to his knees and sets my legs over his shoulders.

  I prop myself up onto my elbows to watch him work.

  His tongue slides out and licks between my pussy lips to the underside of my clit. Janus’ lips wrap around it and gives it a mix between a kiss and a suck. It sends a quick jolt of electricity up my spine and forces a moan from my lips.

  I reach down with one hand and slide my fingers through his short black hair.

  The stubble of his cheeks tickles against my thighs and brings out a soft chuckle from my lips—right up until his tongue slides back down between my folds and into my wet pussy, that is.

  Janus’ tongue swirls and twists as it slips deeper into me.

  In no time at all, I’m throwing myself back against the bed and gripping my scalp like some anchor to keep me from drowning in the overwhelming sensations that he’s sending through my body.

  “Fuck! I feel like I could let you do this forever,” I whimper.

  I can feel his lips turn into a smile against my flesh. His tongue thrusts and licks as his fingers massage my clit to the point that I give in and submit.

  I feel it in my stomach first, and my breath hitches for the briefest of moments before I clasp my hands over my mouth to muffle the screams.

  I shudder and tremble against him, my body moving of its own accord.