Bad Boys of London: The Complete GYPSY HEROES Collection (87 page)

She nods happily.

‘So what will you do when you open your presents later and everybody looks at you?’

‘Pretend to be surprised and happy,’ she says coolly.

I have to laugh. ‘Show me your surprised and happy face,’ I ask.

She opens up her eyes, drops her jaw, and smacks her cheeks with her palms while managing to look like she is grinning. ‘Yeah, that’ll work.’

She makes her face normal again. ‘Did Santa leave you presents?’

‘He gave me mine early this year.’

She crosses her little arms over her chest. ‘What did he give you?’

‘He gave me a wife.’

She frowns and looks at me as if I am stupid. ‘Auntie Snow is not a present. A present is like a real thing. Like a toy or a doll.’

‘That’s true. Maybe he’s left one under the tree for me.’

She slips off my lap. ‘I’ll go and look for you, OK?’

‘OK, but don’t peek.’

She shakes her head solemnly. ‘No, I only peek at my own presents.’

At the front door, I hear Layla, BJ’s and Tommy’s voices wishing my mother a merry Christmas. Liliana forgets about looking for a present for me, and rushes off to the front door. Jake returns from the garage where my mother keeps her fridge, carrying two bottles of whiskey. It has started snowing and there are snowflakes on his hair and shoulders. He sets the bottles on the table.

‘What time will Dom be here?’ he asks.

I look at my watch. ‘Anytime now.’

At that moment BJ and Layla come through the door. BJ is holding a baby carrier. The room fills with the sound of us wishing each other a merry Christmas. A pink-nosed Layla kisses both Jake and I and then disappears off to the kitchen to see what the women are up to.

BJ leaves the baby carrier on the floor by the chair next to me and collapses into the chair. ‘Where’s the fucking alcohol?’ he asks.

I laugh and Jake pours out whiskey for us all. Before we can take a sip, Dom and Ella arrive. Ella is carrying their little boy, Alex. Jake pours another glass. Again the room fills with sounds of Christmas greetings.

‘You guys started without me,’ Dom complains, as Ella goes out with Adam.

‘Nope,’ Jake says and pushes a glass into his hand.

We raise our glasses. ‘May it always be this good,’ Jake says.

And we drink. Life is good.

Just before lunch, Snow comes up to me. ‘I’ve got a surprise present for you,’ she says, her eyes shining.

‘I thought I got mine last night?’ I tease.

‘This is better.’

I raise my eyebrows. ‘Better than the one I got last night?’

‘Much,’ she says, her eyes sparkling.

She puts her hand out, I take it, and let her lead me. She pulls me upstairs to my mother’s guest bedroom.

‘Are you ready?’

I guide her hand to my crotch. ‘Is that ready enough for you?’

She gasps and says sternly, ‘It’s not that kind of present.’

‘Well, then it can’t be better than last night’s.’

‘Shane?’ she whispers.

‘Yes’

‘Don’t spoil it.’

I put my hands up in surrender.

She opens the door and we enter … and a male German shepherd puppy is sitting inside a large metal cage.’

‘Merry Christmas,’ she shouts.

I turn my head to look at her. ‘This is my present?’

‘Yes, isn’t he wonderful?’ she enthuses ignoring my unenthusiastic tone.

‘So my present is a dog from your favorite breed?’ I ask.

‘Yes,’ she says blithely, and goes to open the cage door. The dog immediately jumps all over her excitedly. And I can see that she is dying to pick him up, but she doesn’t.

‘Have you any suggestions for a name for him?’ she asks instead.

I shrug.

‘You could call him Ghengis … if you want to,’ she suggests.

I turn away from her and say, ‘Ghengis.’

The dog immediately looks at me with its bright, intelligent eyes.

I turn to her. ‘How strange. He seems to answer to that name.’

She bites her lip. ‘I might have called him by that name once or twice,’ she admits.

‘So, how long have you had him?’

‘I’ve been keeping him here secretly for the last two weeks. I wanted to house train him before I gave him to you. I know the apartment is too small for him, but we’ll be moving to our new house in two months, right? And Chitra will be coming to stay with us so she can help take care of him too.’

‘Right.’

‘See how perfect it is?’

I smile. ‘How old is he?’

‘They’re not sure because he was abandoned, but he’s about four months. Look what he can do, though,’ she says scooping the bundle of excited fur up in her arms. She takes a treat out of her pants pocket and holds it in front of his nose.

‘Off,’ she says and the puppy stills.

‘Look in my eyes,’ she says firmly, and the puppy immediately ignores the treat and looks into her eyes.

‘Take,’ she orders, and the puppy immediately gobbles down the treat.

‘Good boy,’ she approves. She brushes her chin against his head and looks at me. ‘You can teach him so many other things.’

I grin. God I love this woman so much I could eat her. She just solved my biggest problem. Here is the bodyguard that I was looking for. I will train him myself. This dog will go everywhere she goes and be her protector when I am not around. 

SHANE

Christmas Night

I get back from the toilet and there is a dark shadow on my side of the bed. I go closer and it raises its head and gives a low growl.

‘What the fuck?’ I swear.

I hear a giggle from Snow’s side of the bed.

I switch on the light and Snow has her head buried under the cover, trying to stop herself from laughing, but her shoulders are shaking silently. On my side of the bed, Genghis has his teeth bared and his eyes are downright frosty. It looks quite comical. Then Snow pops her head out of the blanket and she is laughing behind her hands.

Suddenly I freeze with the realization of how precious this moment is. I wish that I could hold it for a hundred years. My four-month-old, usurper puppy trying to claim my woman for himself, and my woman giggling like the most beautiful, carefree child.

But I know the puppy will become a loyal dog, the giggling beauty will become a woman who will have my children, the dog will die, and the woman will become old, wrinkled and frail.

And then we’ll all become a fistful of dust.

But today …  my cock is throbbing with hot blood and I am king of my empire of dirt.

I chase the dog away, rip open my dressing gown, and claim the woman. A big cock wrapped up in a ribbon and a bow is extremely difficult to resist.

The dog is too young to know: the second mouse always gets the cheese.

The End.

Want to know Zane’s story. Part 1 of 2 Books will be out sometime in March, 2016.
Here’s an exclusive sneak peak of

You Don’t Own Me

Which, I think may just be my steamiest book to date. :)

‘YOU DON’T OWN ME’

‘Yes, I fucking do!’

Georgia Le Carre

I’ll tell you just how much a dollar costs

The price of having a spot in Heaven,

                         -To pimp a butterfly

Chapter One

Dahlia Fury

‘O
h, my God, Dahlia, you have to help me,’ Stella, my best friend and roomie cries. She has burst open my bedroom door and is standing at the threshold theatrically wringing her hands.

Stella is a well-known drama queen so I don’t panic. I mute my video and turn towards her. ‘Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.’

‘I have a massage client in less than an hour and I’ve just realized that I’ve also got another client coming here.’

See what I mean about drama. ‘Just cancel one of them,’ I suggest reasonably.

‘I can’t do that. The one who is coming here is that crazy rich bitch from Richmond who told me she is going to recommend me to all her crazy assed rich friends in Richmond. She’s probably already on the train. And the other is a Russian Mafia boss.’

I frown. First of all I didn’t know she had a Russian mafia boss as one of her client. Must address that one later, but for now. ‘So what do you want me to do?’

‘Can you stand in for me?’

I shake my head resolutely. ‘Nope. Absolutely not. You’ll just have to tell the Mafia boss that you can’t make it.’

‘I can’t do that,’ she wails. ‘One of the clauses in the confidentiality agreement I signed was that I would never miss any of my appointments once I agreed it unless it was a life or death situation.’

‘Huh?’ I cock an eyebrow. ‘He made you sign a confidentiality agreement?’

She makes an exasperated sound. ‘Yes.’

‘What kind of person puts an unreasonable clause like that into an agreement with their
masseuse
?’ I ask, genuinely surprised.

‘Dahlia,’ she screams in frustration. ‘Can you focus, please. I’m running out of time here.’

‘It’s simple. Go on to the Mafia boss, and I’ll tell your other client when she arrives that she can have a free massage next week.’

‘No, she can’t come next week. She is away, and anyway, she’s in pain and really needs me.’

‘So tell the Mafia boss that you can’t make it because you have a life and death scenario.’

‘You want me to lie to Zane?’ she asks incredulously.

‘If that’s what his name is,’ I reply coolly.

She comes into the room and starts pacing the small space like a caged animal. ‘I’m not going to lie to him. He’ll know.’ She stops and stares at me. ‘He’s got like the coldest most piercing eyes you ever saw. It’s like they can see right through you.’

I laugh. ‘I can’t believe you said that.’

‘I’m serious, Dahlia. Lying to him is out of the question.’

‘Well, then you’ll have to let the rich bitch down.’

‘Did you not hear me. She’s in pain. Oh, please, please, can you help me this time. I’ll owe you big time.’

‘No,’ I say clearly. The solution to her problem seems obvious to me —she should cancel the Russian guy.

‘I’ll do the dishes for a whole month,’ she declares suddenly.

I pause. Hmmm. Then I shake my head.

‘I’ll do the dishes and clean the apartment for a whole month.’

I hesitate. ‘Even the bathroom?’

‘Yes, even the bathroom,’ she confirms immediately.

‘I’d love to help but—‘

‘Two months,’ she says with a determined glint in her eyes.

My eyebrows fly upwards. I open my mouth and she shouts out. ‘Three fucking months.’

To say that I am not tempted would be a lie. I HATE cleaning the bathroom. I am very tempted, but I can’t actually take her up on her offer even if she offered me a year’s worth of bathroom cleaning.

‘Jesus, Stella. Just stop. You know I’d love to take you up on your offer, but I simply can’t massage like you. I just about know the basics and rich bitch’s problem sounds complicated. For all I know, I’ll just end up making her back worse and instead of giving you a glowing recommendation to all her rich friends she will do the opposite. ’

Stella fixes her hazel eyes on me. ‘I wasn’t thinking of her.’

I look at her incredulously. ‘What?’

‘He just needs a simple basic Swedish. Just exactly what I’ve already taught you. You just need to put a bit more effort into it. He likes it really hard.’

‘Like hell, I’m massaging your Mafia boss.’

She falls to her knees. ‘Oh please, please, please.’

‘If you’re trying to make me feel guilty, it’s not working,’ I say.

She looks at me pleadingly. ‘Pleeeeeeease. I promise you he’s really easy to do.’

‘Oh yeah. Is that why you’re so terrified of him?’

She turns her mouth downwards. ‘I’m not terrified of him.’

‘Could have fooled me.’

She sighs. ‘Actually, I’m a bit … in lust with him,’ she confesses with a wry smile.

‘A bit? You?’ I explode in disbelief. This is Stella, the woman who turns a spider sighting in her bedroom into a shrieking Victorian melodrama.

‘Yeah,’ she says softly.

‘In lust?’

‘Yeah.’

 I shake my head in wonder. ‘Since when?’

‘Since,’ she shrugs, ‘forever. I’ve always had a thing for him, but of course, he’s way out of my league. The women he dates are all like six feet tall and totally perfect. I only register on his radar as a pair of strong hands.’

I stare at her suspiciously. ‘Are you just making all this up so I’ll go and massage him?’

She shakes her head. ‘No.’

‘Why haven’t you told me about this man crush before?’

She looks down at her right shoe. ‘There seemed to be no point. I’ve come to terms with it. The truth is it is way stronger than a crush, and it could even be love, but there’s nothing I can do about it.’

Suddenly I realize why every time we go out she freezes out every man, even the ones that look like serious contenders, who come up to her. ‘Oh, Stella!’ I breathe. I had no idea she was suffering in silence.

She looks at me sadly. ‘It doesn’t matter. It’ll pass. But right now I just need your help. I don’t want to let him down or give him cause to fire me. Until I’m ready to let go of him I want to keep this job going.’