I only feel one thing — acceptance.

  My journey hasn’t been easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. While it royally sucked, life had a bigger plan. Looking back now, I’ve come to realize that we endure certain things to grow as people. Our experiences don’t define us, but the way we survive them does. Out of everything, that’s what I’m the proudest of. Every action might not have been the best decision, however, some were necessary.

  Now, I look out to my entire family from Logan and Brook’s living room. Emmett is standing up in front of the Christmas tree staring at the colorful lights, pawing at the endless number of ornaments that he can break. It’s barely been twenty minutes and we’re already seven ornaments in.

  Christian is here with Selena on his lap, drinking a glass of eggnog, telling each other the stupidest jokes I’ve ever heard. You know, the kind that are so ridiculous they’re hysterical. Her brother and sisters are in the kitchen picking at the desserts Brook set out. Selena stopped telling them no because they kept going back in to grab more sweets. If anyone deserves to be a little bratty, it’s on Christmas Eve.

  Jordan sits across the room on his phone, flashing a smirk. “You talking to anyone special?” I inquire, not feeling too awkward since we’ve been working on our relationship since everything happened with Vinny. It’s not perfect, but we’re getting there.

  “No, just a friend.”

  “Sure! A friend,” Christian drunkenly chuckles while Logan chimes in with him.

  “Oh, is it Lacey?” Brook asks, getting an eye roll from Jordan. There’s been a rumor going around for the last few months that Jordan and Lacey are an item. Jordan has told me numerous times that nothing has happened between them for years.

  “No, nothing has happened between them since that summer,” I state, taking a sip of eggnog. My hope is that everyone will get off his back.

  Christian whips his head over in my direction. “What summer?”

  “Yeah, what happened?” Logan asks, looking between Jordan and me.

  I glance over to Jordan who looks like he wants to crucify me. He never told me they didn’t know. “Shit, Madi. I didn’t know you couldn’t keep a fucking secret.” Oh boy, he called me Madi. He’s furious.

  “I didn’t know it was a secret!” I whisper-yell across the room.

  “Is anyone going to fill me in?” Christian chuckles, “Please, for the love of God, give this dog a bone.”

  “I slept with Lacey— once.”

  “I knew it!” Christian jumps up, clapping his hands together. In the process, Selena flies down onto the floor. “Shit, sorry babe. I got too excited.”

  “Yeah, I could tell.”

  “And you two haven’t?” Logan asks, stopping mid-way through his sentence as Jordan shoots him a glare.

  “No, it was one summer. I didn’t know she was staying at the lakehouse and one thing led to another.”

  “When was it?” Christian, the nosey bastard, asks.

  “The summer before she went to college.”

  “Holy shit,” Logan smirks, getting a kick out of this. “You gave me shit about dating Brook and you were practically robbing the cradle.”

  “She was eighteen at the time,” Jordan defends himself, “It was a one-time thing. I didn’t know she was a . . .” He stops suddenly, but we all know where he was going.

  “Oh damn, you cherry popping Stallion!” Christian is getting a kick out of this. The only thing I can think about is how I’m going to be on Jordan’s shit list for a very long time.

  My brothers start bantering back and forth with Reggie chiming in every now and again and I smile. I smile because no matter what type of chaos my life is, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I take another sip of eggnog, feeling the cushion to the seat lifting up as Reggie stands.

  He turns to look at me with an emotional look crossing his face, staring like I’m the most precious thing in the world. Within a second, he’s shooting down to the floor and not in the way I think.

  I only recognize what’s happening when Brook shrieks like a high schooler. Reggie is on one knee, in front of my fucking face, shaking like a Pomeranian in a thunderstorm. I blink a few dozen times in the span of a minute to make sure I’m not hallucinating, but how can I be when a red box is being shown to me with one really shiny ring and a bigger diamond than I deserve.

  “Madigan Archer-Steele, I don’t know where to begin. You came into my life like a wrecking ball. That first day I met you, I knew my life was changing, only back then, I thought it was for the worst. After seven months of having you by my side through every single minute of the day, I can’t imagine a moment without you. You wrecked my world, girl, so bad that I can’t imagine it without you. We’ve been through the best and the worst times together, Mad. It’s what makes me realize that you and I can overcome any obstacle we face because we’re stronger together. Will you marry me?”

  My heart pounds inside me so hard that I don’t even know what I’m saying but I know I said something when Reggie yanks me up into his arms and plants the biggest kiss of my life on me. Only, now, I have a diamond on my finger.

  He sets me back down onto the couch and I take a look at my hand, shaking so hard from the overall shock.

  Even feeling as shocked as this, I know I’m where I belong, and boy does it feel so good.

  Authors Note

  I’ve only recently started these author notes, but you guys have been giving me amazing feedback after reading them. So, I guess I’ll continue to write them when I’ve officially typed “The End” on whatever manuscript I’m working on.

  First of all, I want to apologize for taking a break for so long from this series. For those of you who have patiently waited the two years it took me to come back to the Steele Bros — thank you. It wasn’t an easy decision to take a step away, but it was one I needed to make. If I had kept writing, I would’ve been forcing words out and the book wouldn’t have been any good. Unless the characters are speaking to me, I can’t authentically write a book and this is why you see me jumping from series to series.

  I’m so happy to have this book finished, through my editor and in your eager hands. I promise that I won’t make you wait nearly as long for the next one. Jordan has already been blabbing away in my head, but he needs to wait because I’m working on about seven other projects.

  Now, on a more serious note, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering why Madigan went down the path she did. She was both an emotionally and physically abused woman escaping her abuser, and if that wasn’t enough she was pregnant. Surely, everyone had expected she would’ve been fine once she got to Atlanta within the safety of her brothers and Reggie’s protective grasp.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Like everyone else on this planet, Madigan got fucked by the world. She found herself meeting her brothers who she was forbidden from connecting with while her father was alive, newly left her abuser and found some sort of bond with Reggie which quickly turned romantic.

  Like you, I had expected some sort of showdown with the Falcones and for it all to be over and done with. While we did get some conflict when it came to them, I believe the Falcones will be causing trouble down the line, especially considering what happened.

  What I didn’t expect was for Madigan’s character to come to me in a dream and tell me that she couldn’t have this baby. As an author, things come creatively in many forms. Sometimes these “voices” talk to us, sometimes we have dreams, and sometimes we’re influenced by things that happen in our day to day lives.

  While writing this story, I experienced a miscarriage.

  This is the first time I’ve written that down anywhere or have spoken about it in a “public” way. Part of me remembered that dream where I spoke to this fictional character and argued with her about having this fictional child. There was no way I’d write an abortion because it didn’t fit with the storyline, with her characteristics or the type of person she is. However, I knew after my own experience how she wasn’t able to have that child.

  I knew the pain, the grief, and the guilt all too well. I knew how no matter how much the doctor told you it wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t help but feel that way. I knew thoughts running through her mind as her physician told her that science isn’t perfect, that she was but a small percentage, that the likelihood of this happening next time was very low, about how she’d probably go on to have a healthy pregnancy after this.

  I felt every single thing that Madigan did, and I believe that because of my own experience, I was authentic in the feelings and emotions that come with a loss like this.

  For women like myself and Madigan, I beg you to talk to your loved ones when you go through a miscarriage. Speak to your partner, parents, or friends. Reach out to grief counselors. But no matter what, remember that you aren’t alone.

  Tough as Steele

  Want to start at the beginning?

  Tough as Steele (Steele Bros #1)

  Blurb:

  First Rule: Don’t sleep with the man who’s invested in your company.

  I broke it before I even knew who he was, but either way, I know that he would have gotten under my skin.

  What’s not to love about Logan? He’s handsome, a hundred percent alpha, and is resilient in his business. Everything about him is sexy.

  I don’t know what this is, or what it will become but I fear the day that my secrets catch up with me. Will we even last when he finds out everything about me?

  I’m not the woman I appear to be.

  Add to TBR: https://goo.gl/ovMWtv

  Read with Kindle Unlimited Here: https://goo.gl/JpgS6Q

  Prologue

  Logan

  I couldn't seem to keep my focus as I looked down from our spot in VIP, noticing a woman dancing down below. I was with my two brothers; Christian, my younger brother, and Jordan, my twin. We were supposed to be taking advantage of our seclusion at Illusion, a club that Christian owned in downtown Atlanta, to talk business; the seedy kind. It was about the business that kept the Steele name synonymous with power and money, and it was my job to keep it that way, even if I didn’t necessarily agree with the way my father had set it up for me.

  But down below us was a woman I knew nothing about but knew that I needed to. She was thin, but not the kind that made you worry about her eating habits. Her hair was light blonde, falling down in loose waves that framed her face in just the right way. I kept willing her to look up and see me for some reason. It was like I expected a connection with a total stranger. It wasn’t like me, but she didn’t look like just anyone else either.

  "You know we are going to have to take the damn guns apart, separate the muzzle and the breech at the very least to get them to the Irish mob. They are coming to us from the suppliers fully locked and loaded, and I don’t think we are going to get them to where they need to go like that with all of the new security going on in Europe," Jordan announced. Though, I was only half listening. I was mesmerized by the angel on the dance floor, moving her body expertly to the beat of the music.

  "The Irish mob is preparing for a war; gotta be the only reason they need all this ammunition so badly," Christian piped up in speculation.

  "Shut up until we know anything definitive about that. I don’t want rumors flying from our mouths to make it worse," Jordan warned.

  I saw the woman in the tight, black dress smile as she danced all her worries away with some other women. What was it that had made her smile? Then, my twin brother's voice cut through the trance I was in.

  "See something you like down there, Lo?" he asked. I looked up to Jordan, and it was like looking into a mirror. His dark brown hair and eyes were the same as mine. It had always been that way. The only difference was how we dressed most of the time and that he preferred a clean-shaven existence while I liked to keep at least some stubble.

  I nodded in the direction of the blonde for my answer. Jordan chuckled, turning his gaze on her as well. "She is a stunning piece. I think I am going to go down there to make a move on her." Jordan moved just one step before I put my hand out in front of him to stop him. I couldn’t let that happen.

  "The girl is mine, whether she knows it or not." Both of my brothers were shooting me a curious look. It wasn't like me at all to call dibs, especially on some girl whose name and number I didn’t know. I knew nothing about her, and I wanted her. I had to have her. I wasn’t that type of man, never in my life, but I guessed with whoever she was, I was.

  I turned to the man behind us who was sitting quietly. Reggie was my security detail, always just a step behind me to be sure I was safe, but he had become so much more than that. He was my right-hand man and best friend. He was an equal to Jordan and Christian in that regard. "Find out everything you can about that girl." I pointed down at her as Reggie came to see. He nodded and walked away, going to use whatever channels and connections he had to get me what I wanted. I knew he wouldn’t fail me.

  I turned back to my brothers, noticing how there were a few women lingering in the VIP section as well; the kind that paid their way up there. They were not close enough to hear anything we said, but they kept looking us over. No, not us, Christian. Either they knew he owned the place, or they were more drawn to his buff look, blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was a good looking young man but did not look anything like Jordan and I, not in an obvious way. I was lucky, though, because things got complicated enough with Jordan and me. We didn’t need a third man looking like us.

  "You know, there is a red head back there undressing you with her eyes," I told Christian, pointing my drink in the direction he needed to look. Christian turned to look for a moment, a sly smile coming across his face. He liked his women just as much as the rest of us. He hadn’t really been in love just yet, so there was no baggage or heartbreak to hold him back from anything. He would have his day, though, I knew it. Then, none of us would ever hear the end of his pining. My little brother was going to fall hard and not know what hit him. The thought made me wonder if I was about to do the same.

  I looked down at the dance floor again and didn’t see her anymore. I doubted she had left so early. She had probably gone to get a drink, and I hated the idea that some other man may have been trying to buy one for her right at that moment. But it didn’t matter. Once I found her again, I would make sure she saw no one else.

  When Reggie finally came back to me, I was all ears. My mind had been consumed by all thoughts involving that woman, and I couldn’t even focus on why I had come there. It was just as well, because my brothers had gone off to make the most of their time at the club, leaving me alone in my seat.

  Reggie sat down next to me with a cool but smug smile on his face. "Her name is Brooklyn Harper. She has a younger brother, and her mother passed away. There are rumors that her father is-"

  I put my hand up to cut him off. That’s not what this was about. "Tell me the good stuff."

  Reggie nodded. "She's developed an all-natural makeup company and has been looking for investors for quite a while." I couldn’t help but feel an internal hilarity at this. The legitimate part of my business was being an investor. It was the front I used for all of the Steele family's success, even though, behind the scenes, the biggest reason had to do with the gunrunner dealings.

  Christian came up behind me, clearly done with whatever woman he had been dancing with and slapped me on the back, playfully. "You sly dog! I know exactly what you have up your sleeve. You’re going to have a meeting with this girl, aren’t you, brother?"

  That was a good idea. "Reggie, find out where Brooklyn likes to hang out."

  Stripping A Steele (Steele Bros #2)

  She told me she didn’t want me, but one way or another I’ll have her

  I’m not the kind of man you say no to.

  When I want something, I get it.

  I’m a Steele, and I always get what I want.

  Selena may think she doesn’t want me, but she will.

  Our game of cat and mouse was all fun and games until the night someone decided to hurt her.

  Now I’ll make sure the bastard pays with everything he has – and I’ll make sure she knows that I’ll never let another close enough to harm her again.

  I’ll do everything in my power to protect her.

  Add to TBR: https://goo.gl/wqrMkM

  Read with Kindle Unlimited Here: https://goo.gl/2RPtK9

  Chapter 1

  Selena

  Like a record playing on repeat, it’s the same shit on a different day. No matter what I do to escape the normalcy that floods my life, I can’t, as much as I try so hard to. It’s just past six in the morning, and I wake up to the sounds of my baby sister’s cry flooding through our house. There’s no reason for her to cry, and yet, she still screams her bloody head off every morning. Only today, well, today I thought I’d be able to sleep in for just a little bit.

  I toss my comforter to the left, sling my legs over the bed, and stand up quickly, hoping that I can get to her before she wakes up the whole house. In the back of my mind, I know that it’s no use. There’s this running joke that Ellie wakes up the neighbors, and to be honest – she might.

  I open the door to my bedroom and walk directly across the hall to hers. She’s sitting up in her toddler bed, tears flowing over her soft, rosy cheeks. She just turned three, and for the life of me, I still don’t understand why she cries. When she was a baby, I understood it, she needed to be fed, or a diaper change, or maybe she was tired. Now, it’s different. She wakes up every day crying like something horrific has happened to her.

  I turn my expression into a happy, doting smile as I walk over to her, sit on her bed and pull her into my arms. “Baby, what’s the matter?” I ask her as I brush my thumb under her tear ridden cheeks.