Believe: Not Until You, Part 7

Believe: Not Until You, Part 7
Roni Loren

Part 7 of 8 of an intensely erotic serial in the Loving on the Edge series. Perfect for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey.Roni Loren’s sexy novel Not Until You picks up as Cela decides to leave the life of submission behind. But having had a taste of Foster’s intense passion isn’t making it easy to go back to her old ways…Having flirted with forbidden desires, Cela leaves Foster and returns home to her small Texas town to work in her father’s veterinary practice and embrace a “normal” life. Everything is exactly how she left it – everything except her. But Foster made his feelings clear about their relationship, and she’s determined to find a way forward without him…even if her heart refuses to let go.Foster knows that he made a mistake in letting Cela go before he told her his true feelings. Intending to set things right, he goes to her hometown to lay himself bare. But when he gets there, he sees Cela in a compromising situation that makes him doubt that there was anything special between them at all…

NOT UNTIL YOU

Part VII

NOT UNTIL YOU BELIEVE

Roni Loren

Contents

Cover (#u3b47be69-4fa5-5917-b013-29297a1ae478)

Title Page (#u35483fcb-652a-50ba-b64f-94c61029f8ce)

Chapter 32 (#u83a21ab2-7889-5da9-b295-b13013f54a03)

Chapter 33 (#uf3dae23d-8c6e-5e11-893f-c73df3a5df47)

Chapter 34 (#u681d4374-7bf0-55e5-8950-e96563fb235a)

Chapter 35 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 36 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 37 (#litres_trial_promo)

Buy Not Until You Love (#litres_trial_promo)

Special Excerpt from Need You Tonight (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Roni Loren (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 32 (#ulink_853955ec-7376-59b4-be21-b998bfe8e460)

Foster shoved open the door to his apartment, feeling like he’d been put through a meat grinder, then stuck back together again. The weariness of days on the road and the scent of airport bars clung to him like some unwanted traveling companion. He tossed his keys on the counter and grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

Pike strolled into the kitchen, pulling a worn Toadies concert T-shirt down over his head. “Heh, well, look who it fucking is. He returns. All hail the King of Douchebaggery.”

Foster shot Pike a murderous look. “Fuck off, Pike. I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh you’re not?” he asked with a sneer. “Well, you know what I’m not in the mood for? My goddamn friend who disappears and then doesn’t answer his fucking phone for a week.”

“I told you I’d be out of town. I wanted to be alone.”

“Or with Bret.”

He scowled. “She only hung around for the first part of it. We had some business to handle.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

Foster tipped back his beer, tempted to throw it just to hear the glass break.

“It wasn’t like that.” Though it almost had been. He and Bret had been friends for a long time and had fooled around off and on through the years anytime one of them got a little too drunk or a little too lonely. They weren’t suited—both too dominant for the other—but an angry fuck between two control freaks could work out a lot of rage. And it had been in the back of his mind when he’d called her in for a last-minute business trip. He’d needed something—anything—to numb the pain he’d felt when Cela had said she couldn’t be submissive.

But when it came down to acting on anything with Bret, he hadn’t been able to drum up an iota of interest. He’d ended up sitting in a bar with her and getting shit-faced drunk while he told her all about Cela. Fucking ridiculous.

Pike sniffed. “It wasn’t like that, huh? So you just paraded her in front of Cela to be a complete asshole.”

“Cela? She doesn’t know Bret.”

“She knows you were out of town with her.”

“What?”

Pike’s jaw flexed. “And if you had answered your goddamn phone I could’ve told you that.”

“Fuck.” He raked his hand through his hair, his head booming like a bass drum beneath his fingertips. “I’ll talk to her. Apologize. I have a list of dick moves to make up for at this point.”

“Yeah, well, good luck talking to her, buddy,” Pike said, leaning back against the edge of the counter and crossing his arms. “She left a few days ago.”

“What?” He stared down at his beer, trying to process that information. “Oh, right, her birthday trip. She’d mentioned that to me. I’ll talk to her when she comes back. It’ll give us both time to get our heads together.”

Pike shook his head slowly, his expression making the hairs prickle on the back of Foster’s neck. “No, man. That’s not what I mean. She left. Like for good. Her job fell through.”

Every ounce of alcohol Foster had consumed in the last week seemed to burn a path up his throat, singeing his insides and threatening to come out. “She moved home?”

Pike sighed. “There was no one here to convince her otherwise.”

Foster sagged against the counter, his beer forgotten in his hand. Cela was gone. Gone.

“What happened between you two, man?” Pike asked, no sarcasm left in his voice. “One minute you’re buying her a bed, the next she can’t get out of town fast enough.”

He rubbed fingers over his brow bone, massaging the spot where all the pressure was building. “I asked her to wear a Home Safe anklet.”

“Ah, fuck, Foster,” Pike said with a groan. “Just what every girl wants—a piece of jewelry her boyfriend can stalk her with.”

“You know I wouldn’t use it like that,” he bit back, but he couldn’t muster much fire behind it. Suddenly, he was tired, so very exhausted by it all. “I just wanted her to be safe.”

“Uh-huh.”