You've Always Been Mine (You're Mine, 2) Read online

  You’ve Always Been Mine

  You’re Mine, 2

  Jenika Snow

  Contents

  Copyright

  Newsletter

  You’ve Always Been Mine

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Free Book

  Excerpt: Say You’re Mine

  Excerpt: Dirty (A Real Man, 8)

  You’re Mine Series

  A Real Man Series

  About the Author

  YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN MINE (You’re Mine, 2)

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  [email protected]

  Copyright © January 2017 by Jenika Snow

  First E-book Publication: January 2017

  Photographer: Wander Aguiar

  Cover models: Jonny James & Tiffany Marie

  Photo provided by: Wander Book Club

  Editors: Kasi Alexander and Lea Ann Schafer

  Cover Creator: Popkitty

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

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  Paige

  When Erik left town, I thought my world had ended. Even at the tender age of ten I knew how hard my life would be without him. And as I grow older, as the letters between us became sparse to nonexistent, I can’t help but feel like a wall has been built around my heart.

  There is only one boy for me, and I know I’ll never see him again.

  Erik

  She was my best friend, the only person I knew I couldn’t live without.

  But we had to leave each other.

  Time went on, we drifted apart, and it always felt like I’d left a piece of myself back with her. But I’m a man now, a wounded Marine, and fate brings me back to the one girl who completes me.

  Paige has always been mine, and now it’s time to prove that to her.

  Warning: Tighten that seat belt because you’re about to go on an over-the-top, totally unbelievable ride. Featuring a possessive and devoted hero who saved himself for that one girl, it’ll still have that sugary-sweet aftertaste you crave. Don’t forget that cold glass of water, because you’ll need it for the heat this book—and Erik—is packing.

  Prologue

  Erik

  Ten years old and time to say good-bye

  I didn’t want to leave.

  I didn’t want to let go of her.

  “It’s time, Erik, sweetie,” I heard my mom say, but I didn’t care.

  “I’ll never forget about you,” she said softly against my ear.

  I pulled away, not because I wanted to but because I wanted to look in her face, the one girl who held my heart. I saw the tears rolling down Paige’s cheeks, and a part of me wanted to lean in and kiss them away.

  I reached into my pocket, grabbed the little red string I had, and started tying it around her wrist. I made a bow to finish it off, the loose strands on either side hanging from her tiny wrist.

  “It’s not much, but when you look at it, you’ll know I am wearing mine.” I lifted my arm and showed her the red string tied to my wrist. “When you look at that string, you’ll know we’re connected.”

  “Come on, Paige honey,” her mom said and started moving forward.

  “I don’t want to go, Erik.” Paige pulled me in for another hug.

  “I don’t want you to go either,” I whispered, and my heart clenched hard, painfully.

  Her mom gave me this sad look, and I wanted to lash out. I wanted to scream, to hurt someone as much as I was hurting. I wanted to make a big scene because I was being forced to leave my best friend.

  I gave Paige a kiss on the cheek, tasting her tears. It was a salty flavor that I knew I’d never forget.

  Her mom pulled her away, and our limbs were untangled from each other. I didn’t stop staring at her as she was put in the back of the car. She placed her hand on the window, her face red, her tears falling really hard now.

  My Paige.

  I didn’t stop crying either.

  I felt like a part of me was breaking away, and I’d never get it back.

  “You’re so young. You’ll feel better as time goes on.”

  I didn’t say anything after my mom spoke. I didn’t bother telling her that at ten years old I’d never forget about Paige.

  “You can always write to Paige, maybe even call her from time to time.”

  That wasn’t good enough. I wanted to be beside her, to hold her hand and go on walks with her to the creek like we used to.

  I wanted her to tell me what made her happy.

  I just wanted her near me.

  “Come on, honey, we need to load up the last of the boxes and get on the road.”

  I didn’t care what anyone said, didn’t even want to hear anything aside from the beating of my heart.

  Because it beat for her.

  Paige would always be mine.

  Chapter 1

  Erik

  Welcome back: Twelve years later

  It had been so damn long since I’d been back to this town.

  Twelve years.

  One hundred forty-four months.

  Six hundred twenty-five weeks.

  Four thousand three hundred and eighty days.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  It was a lifetime ago.

  But I never stopped thinking about her.

  I stared at the sign that greeted us. Blue Springs. The town I’d moved away from all those years ago. I was a different person now, a man. I was a Marine, had seen violence, horror. I had a bad leg to show for it, scars, a memory of what I’d done in my life. My memories held darkness and pain, but it wasn’t just about getting injured while fighting that stayed with me, that coated me like this thick second skin.

  It was about who I’d left behind.

  The town held so many memories for me. When I’d first left, as a child, not knowing how to cope, I’d cried myself to sleep so many times.

  “Can you believe we’re back here after all this time?”

  I turned and looked at my mom. I knew she was tired, scared, and pissed most of all. But she put up a good front. She stayed strong, and I knew it was because of me. Even if I was a grown man now and should be taking care of her, still she tried to shelter me. Even though I’d seen war and death, been on the receiving end of it all, still she was a mother.

  I knew it was for me.

  I reached out and took her hand in mine. “Everything will be fine. I’m here now, he’s out of our lives, and we can start over.” Well, it was starting over in the place we began, but she knew what I meant, I was sure.

  And if I ever saw my father again, I’d kick his ass.
/>   Not only did we uproot our life all those years ago because of his new job, but it was only recently that we found out he’d been banging the office secretary for the last five years.

  He threw away his family for a piece of ass, a twenty-something-year-old piece of ass at that.

  My mom smiled. I was really proud of her for not putting up with his bullshit and having the strength to leave. I rubbed my leg absently.

  “Is it bothering you?” she asked, and I shook my head.

  “No. It’s just a habit.” When a bomb had gone off, shrapnel had gone straight into my leg. Now I had a scar that ran the length of my thigh to my knee. I told myself things happen for a reason. Although I was no longer on active duty, I’d earned a Purple Heart, and was now home to be with my mom during this shitty time.

  She left, and I left with her.

  No way in hell would I let her do this alone. Even at twenty-two I knew I had to be there for her. I could finish school in Blue Springs. I’d already applied for the spring semester at the community college, and I’d find work somewhere.

  “I hate that we had to leave all those years ago, only to come back and stay with your cousins and aunt.”

  I shrugged. “It’s better than staying there with that asshole.” I had my hands on my thighs, wanting to punch him right in his fucking face.

  “He’s still your father. Don’t talk about him like that.”

  I clenched my teeth but was respectful enough not to say anything else. I could have said a shitload about him. Him fucking that woman explained a lot; why he’d seemed distant, stayed later, was gone on “business meetings” on the weekends. He’d neglected us to get his dick wet.

  Yeah, I had no fucking sympathy for that bastard.

  Silence stretched on for long minutes, and my thoughts went back to all those years ago, to happier times, to a person that hadn’t ever let me down.

  Paige Masterson.

  She’d been my best friend since kindergarten, and for the next four years we’d been inseparable. Leaving her behind when we moved had been the hardest damn thing I’d ever done. I might have only been a child, but even now I still remembered her. I remembered the sweet smell of her and how she made my heart race.

  “It’s a shame you lost contact with Paige,” my mother finally said, breaking up the silence.

  I stared out the passenger side window.

  It was a fucking tragedy that we lost contact. But I was back in town now, and I had the rest of my fucking life to make it up to her, to be there for her in all the ways that counted.

  I thought back to how it had all gone away, how we’d drifted apart. I should have tried harder, been a better friend.

  For a year after we moved I wrote to her every day. And if I was lucky I was able to call her. But back then my parents didn’t have a cell phone with unlimited minutes. We didn’t have the Internet where I could Skype with Paige. I was at the mercy of letters, a calling card if I was lucky, or my parents being generous and letting me call her long distance.

  But seeing her again, actually coming back to Blue Springs back then wasn’t an option, not when it was a three-day drive straight through, and I didn’t have my license. My parents also couldn’t afford a plane ticket.

  And by the time I was old enough and had enough money, we’d drifted apart, to my devastation.

  So those few phone calls had been my saving grace.

  But as the years went on, those letters we wrote back and forth grew less and less. Schoolwork, friends, and the distance put this wedge between us. I hated that it had come to that, loathed that we hadn’t tried harder to stay connected. Then I’d gone into the military right out of high school. Four years later and here I was now, coming back, wounded, my heart still beating for one girl.

  “Yeah, it’s a shame.”

  It is a fucking tragedy.

  But I never forgot about Paige.

  I never stopped thinking of her as my best friend, never stopped seeing her as my soul mate.

  And coming back to town had this excitement tunneling through me the likes of which I’d never felt.

  “Although she won’t recognize you,” my mom said and started laughing. She glanced at me, eyeing my arms and neck. “You went crazy with the tattoos and working out. I doubt even your cousins will recognize you.”

  The working out wasn’t just for my sanity, but because I had to be strong to be a Marine. Not just in body but in mind, as well.

  I stared out the window again, thinking about her, imagining what she’d look like now. We might have sent pictures back and forth as the years passed, but I hadn’t seen one of her since we were thirteen years old. Was her dark hair still long and wavy? Did her blue eyes pop with color still? The last time I’d physically seen her had been when I was a devastated ten-year-old, wanting to hold her tight and not let go. I could still hear her voice in my head. How much had she truly changed?

  As drastically as me?

  God, I want to see her so badly.

  Even through the shit storm that was our current situation, I’d anticipated coming to Blue Springs and reconnecting with Paige. I had no doubt it would be like I’d never left. You don’t have a friendship like that without knowing that person even a thousand years later.

  But the one thing that stuck with me, like a living nightmare of reality, was the possibility that she had someone. Hell, she was twenty-two now, the same age as me. For all I knew she could be married, have children.

  The very thought of her with someone else, of having a family without me, made me so damn anxious I shifted on my seat.

  No, I wouldn’t go there. If it came to it and I found out she did have someone, that she was happy, I’d gladly take her in my life as a friend.

  I’d take her any way I could have her.

  Are you sure you can just let go like that, though?

  Chapter 2

  Paige

  “Welcome to Sweeties,” I called out when I heard the bell above the front door chime, but I didn’t look up from the cash register. “Have a seat wherever and I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

  I gave the customer I was checking out their change, offering a smile. Then I went to make a shake. I filled the malt cup up with vanilla ice cream, grabbed the chocolate syrup, and started pouring it into the mixing cup. The sauce sprayed out unexpectedly, and I cursed. I looked down at my chest, chocolate sauce all over my breasts and stomach.

  Fantastic.

  I made quick work of trying to clean off my shirt, but all that did was smear the sauce.

  “Might make bigger tips with that all over you,” Big Bill said.

  I glanced up at the cook. The older man grinned, but it wasn’t lewd. He was as protective of the girls who worked here as he was at cracking annoying jokes.

  “You got that shake ready?” Cait asked, the only other waitress that had shown up to work today.

  “I’ll have it in a second.”

  A squirt of whipped cream.

  A cherry on top.

  A straw shoved inside.

  I glanced up, spotted the group of three guys that had just come in, their backs to me, and grabbed some menus. After dropping off the milkshake at a table, I headed over to take their orders.

  It was busy, we were short staffed, and my feet were killing me. I also had another hour left on my shift, and I already felt like pulling my hair out. Not to mention I had a term paper to finish that was due Monday for my economics class at the local community college.

  Once at their table, I set a menu in front of each of them, grabbed my pad and pen out of my apron, and focused on my paper.

  “Cheeseburger and fries. Coke.” I recognized that voice. When I glanced up, I looked between the two guys who were seated to my left.

  Will and Cal Michaels.

  They were brothers, twins, and had gone to the same high school as me. But they were in a totally different social group than I’d been in. I’d been the nerdy girl, and they’d been the jocks.<
br />
  They were also Erik’s cousins, although while growing up they hadn’t been close, like at all. I doubted they even kept in contact with him after he moved.

  “Same for me, but give me a cherry shake,” Cal said, getting the exact same thing as his twin.

  I nodded and wrote down their order. “And for you?” I asked, turning my attention to the third guy. He had his head lowered, and the baseball cap he wore concealed his face. I took a second to look at the numerous tattoos that covered his arms, even his hands, and the ones that lined his neck. No doubt that ink also covered his chest and back.

  This guy really didn’t look like he belonged in Blue Springs. The tattoos alone made him stand out, but I couldn’t help but appreciate them. Our town was small, intimate. We had Friday night football games where the whole town came out and watched, a big rodeo once a year, and ice cream socials during the summer.

  This guy was covered in tattoos, had a baseball cap that said F*ck Off, and looked broody as hell, even though he hadn’t said one word to me or even looked my way.

  He’d used his body as a canvas, and although I didn’t know who he was, I felt like it suited him well.

  “Can I get you something?” I asked again, feeling like I’d been standing here staring at him for hours.

  “She doesn’t recognize him,” Cal said, but I still stared at this mystery inked-up guy.

  “I can’t blame her,” Will said.

  And then the tattooed guy did look at me. The first thing I noticed was the intense brown of his eyes.

  Eyes that were familiar, that had recognition filling me. His dark hair was short, but I could see the strands peeking out from under the cap. And his face, covered in a days’ worth of dark scruff along his cheeks and jaw, was hard, angular, and very masculine. He was familiar, but I didn’t think I’d ever seen him before.