Occasionally Yours: A Second Chance Romance (Astor Family Series Book 4)
Occasionally Yours
Hayley Faiman
Contents
Also by Hayley Faiman
Stay Connected
Prologue
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
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Epilogue
About the Author
Occasionally Yours
Copyright © 2021 by Hayley Faiman
All rights reserved.
Cover Designer: Pink Ink Designs. Cassy Roop. http://www.pinkinkdesigns.com
Editor: My Brother’s Editor. Ellie McLove. http://www.mybrotherseditor.net
Proofreading: My Brothers Editor. Rosa Sharon. http://www.mybrotherseditor.net
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Visit my website at: http://hayleyfaiman.com
Created with Vellum
Also by Hayley Faiman
Men of Baseball Series—
Pitching for Amalie
Catching Maggie
Forced Play for Libby
Sweet Spot for Victoria
Russian Bratva Series —
Owned by the Badman
Seducing the Badman
Dancing for the Badman
Living for the Badman
Tempting the Badman
Protected by the Badman
Forever my Badman
Betrothed to the Badman
Chosen by the Badman
Bought by the Badman
Collared by the Badman
Notorious Devils MC —
Rough & Rowdy
Rough & Raw
Rough & Rugged
Rough & Ruthless
Rough & Ready
Rough & Rich
Rough & Real
Cash Bar Series —
Laced with Fear
Chased with Strength
Flamed with Courage
Blended with Pain
Twisted with Chaos
Mixed with trouble
SAVAGE BEAST MC —
UnScrew Me
UnBreak Me
UnChain Me
UnLeash Me
UnTouch Me
UnHinge Me
UnWreck Me
UnCage Me
Unfit Hero Series —
CONVICT
HERO
FRAUD
KILLER
COWBOY
Zanetti Famiglia Series —
Becoming the Boss
Becoming his Mistress
Becoming his Possession
Becoming the Street Boss
Becoming the Hitman
Becoming his Wife
Becoming her Salvation
Prophecy Sisters Series —
Bride of the Traitor
Bride of the Sea
Bride of the Frontier
Bride of the Emperor
Astor Family Series —
Hypocritically Yours
Egotistically Yours
Matrimonially Yours
Occasionally Yours
Esquire Black Duet Series –
DISCOVERY
APPEAL
Forbidden Love Series —
Personal Foul
Kinetic Energy
Standalone Titles
Royally Relinquished: A Modern Day Fairy Tale
Stay Connected
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I believe in true love, and I believe in happy endings.
Christie Brinkley
Prologue
FIVE YEARS AGO
LAWRENCE
Rory watches me for a long moment. She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, then worries it for what feels like an hour. She doesn’t say anything right away, then her lips turn up into a huge smile.
“Yes,” she breathes.
“Yeah?” I ask.
“I love you, Lawry, so yes.”
Lifting my arms, I wrap them around her and pull her tightly against me. Tilting my head to the side, I touch my lips to hers. She lets out a small gasp, just like she does every time I kiss her. I use the opportunity to slip my tongue inside of her mouth.
I taste her, knowing that in a few minutes, I’ll be tasting more than just her mouth. Sliding one of my hands up her back, I tangle my fingers in her hair at the nape of her neck and grip the strands tightly. Holding on to her as if she could disappear in my grasp.
She whimpers and I swallow the sound. Shit, I love the noises she makes when I kiss and touch her. I don’t think that I’ll ever get tired of it, which is why I’m marrying her as soon as humanly possible.
Reaching for the hem of her top, I peel it off slowly, then toss it to the floor. She’s not wearing a bra. Another thing I fucking love about her. Kissing down her neck, I suck on her collarbone, shifting over to the hollow of her throat.
Moving down the center of her chest, I look up at her through my lashes, and groan. Her back is arched, her head is tilted back, and she’s trembling.
Soon to be my wife, the future Rory Astor.
Moving my lips over to her nipple, I suck it in deep, sinking my teeth into her skin gently as she starts to pant. I slide my mouth over to the other side and do the same, lifting my hand and pinching the nipple I just abandoned.
Releasing her breast, I look up at her and grin. She lifts her hands, sliding her fingers through my hair, gripping it, and holding on at the back of my head. Her blue eyes find mine and she doesn’t move. She holds my gaze before her lips purse together and she lets out a s
haky breath.
“Promise me you’ll never hurt me.”
Her words should be a red flag. I don’t know much about her. This entire moment, this entire idea, is lust driven. I know that it is, but I can’t stop myself. I can’t stop any of it. I need her too damn bad.
“Never, Rory. Not fucking ever,” I say, promising something that I can’t truly come through with.
I’ve learned in school that you shouldn’t make promises like the one I just have. You can’t magically fix someone. You can’t swear that you won’t hurt them, because you have no control over their feelings or emotions.
Plus, the reality is, I will hurt her during our marriage, in some way, shape, or form, I will no doubt hurt her. But this isn’t a class, this is my real life, and I don’t ever want to hurt her. She’s been through enough.
She shimmies out of her shorts and panties as I stand and remove my T-shirt and jeans. I kicked my shoes and socks off a while ago. Licking my lips, I look down at her naked body and wonder how in the fuck she wants me. Why would she want anything to do with me? She’s absolutely stunning in every way and I’m just a scholastic nerd.
“Lawry,” she calls out.
My body jerks and I lift my gaze from her tits to connect with her eyes. Smiling, I close the short distance between us, then I practically jump on top of her. She squeals as she falls backward and lifts her head, touching her lips to mine.
Her legs spread and she lifts them, wrapping them around my lower back. Shifting backward, I feel her pussy against the head of my cock, and with my eyes on hers, I sink inside of her body.
Once I’m completely buried, I stay that way, unmoving, as I look into her eyes. We don’t say anything, the moment is too important to speak. Plus, what else is there to say other than, I love you, and we’ve each already voiced that.
Watching her, I can’t look away.
This is monumental.
This is life defining.
This is probably the riskiest thing I’ve ever done.
Her arms tighten around me and she lifts her hips, silently urging me to move. She’s tight and warm. Wet and perfect. I don’t want to move, because I know if I do, I’ll blow my load too fucking fast.
“Please, Lawry,” she whispers. “It hurts.”
“Shit,” I hiss.
I don’t want to hurt her. Shifting backward, I pull almost completely out of her, then sink back inside. Keeping my eyes on her, I move to a rhythm that is slow and steady, knowing if I go too fast, I’ll come in an instant.
She licks her lips as she looks up at me, her lids lowered. She lets out a breath, her hips lifting to meet mine with each downstroke. It’s fucking amazing. The moment feels bigger than any other time we’ve been in bed together. It feels gigantic and I know that this is something that is going to change our lives.
It does. In an instant almost.
RORY
I am now Mrs. Lawrence Astor.
I didn’t think that I could be this happy. I didn’t think that it was possible. Looking down at my hand, I spin the plain platinum band around my finger, staring at it as we drive away from the courthouse.
It’s been a week since he asked me to marry him, and now we’re officially married. When I left home, I brought my birth certificate with me and I’m glad for it. That way, I was able to become his wife.
Lawrence has saved me and he doesn’t even know it yet. In fact, there’s a lot that he doesn’t know about me. So much so that I hope my past doesn’t come back to ruin my life—ruin our lives.
“I can’t wait to take you home for Christmas so that you can meet my family. My dad is going to love you. My brother will hit on you. My sister acts like a bitch, but she’s really sweet, so I think eventually she’ll love you, too.”
My mouth goes completely dry at the mention of his family. My heart starts to race and I wonder if I could have a heart attack in this moment, right here in the passenger seat of the car. He continues speaking even though I haven’t said a single word. I’m completely silent in my sheer panic.
“Aside from my mom, my family is great. I can’t wait for everyone to meet you. We can do Thanksgiving at your family’s if you want?”
I gasp loudly and the car swerves to the side of the road. Then it comes to a screeching halt. Lawrence calls out for me. He says my name more than once, but I can’t move. I can’t even breathe. There is ringing in my ears and it’s so loud, it drowns out everything.
Then all of a sudden, it stops.
Slowly, I open my eyes and look around. It takes me a moment, but I shift my gaze over to him. He looks scared, totally freaked out, and I press my lips together, rolling them a few times.
“You’re going to need to tell me what that was about,” he demands.
Shaking my head, I lift my hand and reach across the car, wrapping my fingers around the side of his neck as my eyes fill with tears. I’m only able to hold the tears back for a moment, two at best, then they start falling down my cheeks like a leaky faucet.
Completely unstoppable.
“Talk to me, Rory,” Lawrence pleads. “Tell me what’s going on.”
We’re parked on the shoulder of the interstate and it’s really not safe. Cars are buzzing by at ninety miles an hour. I’m scared we’ll be hit even though I can hear the ding ding ding of the hazard lights.
“It’s nothing,” I whisper as I lift my hands and attempt to wipe the tears away.
There’s a moment of silence that passes between us and I think that maybe, just maybe, he’ll leave it alone, but he doesn’t. He’s switched his school lessons on and he’s going to analyze me. I don’t want that, not now, not ever. He can’t know that part of my life. He’s too good to know all that bad.
“Rory,” he grinds out.
Licking my lips, I give him a shaky smile. “I just… I don’t want to talk about my family. You’re my family now.”
He narrows his gaze at me but thankfully doesn’t demand anything further. “How about we go to a nice dinner? It is our wedding night,” he says, giving me a grin and successfully changing the subject. “And when I start working, I’ll buy you a real ring. Cover you in diamonds,” he offers.
“I don’t need diamonds, just you,” I say with a smile.
Lawrence shakes his head once, then touches the hazard light button and eases back into traffic. He doesn’t go back to his apartment, instead, he takes me to dinner. It’s not anything extremely fancy, he says. I don’t know what he considers fancy, but this is pretty nice to me. Honestly, anything with electricity and running water is fancy to me.
We eat steak, potatoes, veggies, bread, and then for dessert, we share a slice of chocolate cake. It’s absolutely perfect in every way and I couldn’t imagine it being anything else. There is nothing I could want for in this moment, in this marriage.
Just me and Lawry.
Thankfully, Lawrence doesn’t ask me any more questions about my family, but I have a feeling he’s going to demand to know soon enough. He’s my husband and he’s going to want to know.
He deserves to know, right?
Isn’t that what a marriage is about? Knowing one another, knowing every little detail about the person? Their past, present, and future.
One day I’ll have to tell him, there won’t be a choice, but right now, I just can’t bring myself to do it. We leave the restaurant together, hand in hand, but I can’t stop thinking about my family. I can’t shake off thoughts of my past, about the place I’m running from.
“I have one last surprise for you,” Lawrence announces as he climbs into the driver’s seat of the car.
He starts the engine and I watch him for a moment, he’s so excited. Instantly, my stress and worry disappear, just like they always do when he’s around.
“A surprise?” I ask, sitting up straighter.
I turn to look at him. The moon and dashboard lights highlight his profile. He’s driving, but he isn’t heading back to the small apartment we share. Something that we o
nly started sharing a few weeks ago because I was desperate.
Because I lied to him.
I keep lying to him.
One day he’ll know the truth, but that day isn’t today. Today I’m going to enjoy this moment, live in it, love in it, relish in it.
Chapter One
RORY
I stare at the apartment building. I know that it’s his. He hasn’t moved in three years. He’s only moved once and that was from Austin to Dallas.
Once he moved back to his hometown, to Dallas, he’s stayed in the same building. He would tell me if he were going to move. He’d figure out a way to get a message to me. He’d text the phone that he gave me years ago, the phone that I only turn on when I leave home and come here.
He wouldn’t be able to find me otherwise. I don’t exist except for my birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, and certificate. Which may seem like a lot. But I’ve never been to school, I’ve never had a job, and I’ve never filed taxes. I am simply a name on a piece of paper and nothing more.