Never Mine: A Base Branch Novella (Titan World) Read online

  He loved her to-the-point approach.

  Jillian’s pink lips parted and then closed. Her gaze lifted and speared his heart, not to maim but capture, he prayed. “Wherever we are in the world?”

  Callum stepped into the room and nodded, unwilling to speak his mind until the girls were out of earshot.

  She settled her gaze on Aria. “I promise. Where you go, I go.”

  “Forever?” Aria pushed.

  “Until you’re grown and you don’t want me to.” Jillian smiled and pressed kisses to each of the girls’ foreheads.

  “I’ll never not want you with me,” Aria assured her.

  “Me either,” Ashlyn agreed.

  “That sounds perfect.” Jillian laughed. The warmth of it set his soul aflame. She braced the girls’ faces in her hands and caressed their cheeks. They melted into her.

  “Okay.” Sugar blotted at her mascara, stood, and grinned at the girls. “Who wants ice cream?”

  The room erupted with giggles and cheers. Boomer bounded on his haunches as though it were a high jump contest. He won, hands down. Jared even gave a, “Heck, yeah.” The girls raced for the door with Asal—with whom they’d made fast friends on the flight over—but stopped in the doorway with Sugar and looked back.

  Jillian stood. “I’m going to talk with your daddy for a few minutes, and then we’ll be there. Promise. Save me some, okay?”

  “I’ll try,” Aria snickered.

  “Jilly, can Boomer come with me for the ice cream?” Ashlyn gripped his collar so firmly, her pudgy little fingers turned red and white.

  “Absolutely, but he can’t have any. No matter how much he asks, okay?” Jillian lifted her gaze to Jared for a ten-four.

  “Wait for me.” Parker pulled the tech lab door closed behind him and rushed past them to bring up the rear. “I could go for some vanilla. Might even splurge with chocolate sauce.” He closed the war room door on their dispute of the best ice cream flavors, isolating him and Jillian in the space.

  “Somehow, I get the impression my dog is really Ashlyn’s dog?” Jillian stood next to the conference table with both hands pressed into fists at her side. Neither her shoulders, nor her wide eyes, nor her slight smile said angry.

  Reserved, maybe.

  “Jared gave him to you because I didn’t think you’d take him if you’d known he came from me.”

  Her fist flattened out and shot to her rounded mouth. “But, Callum, those dogs aren’t cheap.”

  “Relax. We, the girls and I, rescued him from the shelter when he was still a puppy, a huge puppy. A guy I worked with owed me a favor, and his father happened to be a top-notch trainer.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and her hand stayed fastened over her mouth. “How long?”

  “Two months after the funeral.” Callum stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from launching himself at her as Aria had.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Her lips peeked out from her fingertips.

  “It was a surprise. The girls and I visited him all the time. I just knew one of them was going to blab, but they wanted to make you smile as much as I did.” He took a step closer, unable to stop himself. “I was going to warm you up to the idea of a dog after the cemetery, but…things didn’t work out like I’d planned.”

  “Yeah, plans.” Jillian gave a trilling, derisive sigh. “They always go to shit, don’t they?” She posed her question to his shoes but then slowly lifted her gaze. Her fingers fell away, revealing a smile that bloomed as wide and bright as he’d ever seen it. “And sometimes, those plans fall apart to make room for something else; something different and unexpected but no less beautiful or worthwhile.”

  She took a step closer to him. “I was coming here to ask Jared for time off so I could go to the States, claim my family, and—”

  Oh, hell no. No more waiting. Those words hit him in the center bull’s-eye. Callum snatched her to his chest, locked his arms around her, and sealed his mouth to hers. Jillian devoured him as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Her fingers bit into his neck and back. Tears tickled his cheeks.

  “I am yours, Jillian,” he growled against her mouth.

  “Wait,” she panted.

  “I’ve been waiting so damn long.”

  She braced his face in her palms and pled with her eyes. He moaned against her cheek but stilled with a hand wrapped around her ponytail. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “I know how much I’m about to ask of you, but…”

  “Ask, Jillian. If it’s in my power to give it to you, it’s yours,” he promised.

  “Like Aria said, no matter where we are in the world, I want you and the girls to be with me. I want to be with you. I want us to be a family…here, for now. Maybe some place else later, but I want us to start fresh together.”

  “I didn’t hear a question.” Callum released her hair and pressed a finger to Jillian’s full lips that parted on a rejoinder. “I didn’t need to. In case our appearance on the other side of the globe wasn’t gesture enough, maybe this will be.”

  He set her on her feet, bent a knee for the first time, and stole Jillian’s hand as it made its way to her mouth.

  “The girls and I decided we wanted you, wherever and however we could get you. We sold the house, bought dog toys, a hell of a lot of luggage—most of it pink—and one more thing before we left.”

  “Callum.” Jillian sighed.

  He fished out the ring he’d scoured jewelry stores and artists’ galleries for a month to find. The copper-finished medium width band reminded him of all the wires she’d cut or lost in her lifetime. This one, their relationship, wouldn’t be severed. It formed a protective metal box around the stone at the center, around Jillian, and still allowed her brilliance to shine through.

  “Jillian, we’ve never had anything conventional in our lives. But we have trust and understanding, laughter and love, two stunning girls and a dog together. I choose you here or anywhere in the world, as long as we’re together. Be our future?”

  Her hand quaked in his. Breaths rushed in and out of her chest. Moisture dripped off the tip of her nose.

  “You are mine. I am yours today until my dying day.” She nodded furiously. “Yes.”

  Callum pressed the ring onto her finger and eased her onto his knee. His palm cupped the back of her neck. Her lips warmed his. She tasted like charcoal, sulfur, dirt, and home. He eased his tongue between her lips for a deeper taste. He pulled her close until the outside of her thigh brushed his burgeoning hard-on. She leaned into him, pressing her chest to his and sucking his tongue.

  “I’ve missed you, Jillian. I need you.”

  Jillian pulled back, gasping. “I suppose we need to go have ice cream?”

  “Fuck the ice cream.” Callum stood and shifted two chairs out of the way with his boot. He laid her on the conference room table and spread her legs wide.

  “Here? Now?” She gestured to the room and her dusty clothes.

  Like some desert dirt would stop him from getting close to his woman. He settled his erection at the juncture of her hips and leaned over until his face was a breath away from hers.

  “Always. Anywhere,” he growled and set about claiming his very-soon-to-be bride.

  ENEMY MINE

  Base Branch Novel 1

  When friends become enemies and enemies become lovers.

  Born in the blood of Sierra Leone's Civil War, enslaved, then sold to the US as an orphan, Base Branch operative Sloan Harris is emotionally dead and driven by vengeance. With no soul to give, her body becomes the bargaining chip to infiltrate a warlord's inner circle. The man called The Devil killed her family and helped destroy a region.

  As son of the warlord, Baine Kendrick will happily use Sloan's body if it expedites his father's demise. Yet, he is wholly unprepared for the possessive and protective emotions she provokes. Maybe it’s the flashes of memory … two forgotten children drawing in the dirt beneath the boabab tree… But he fears there is more at stake than his life.

  I
n the Devil's den with Baine by her side, Sloan braves certain death and discovers a spirit for living.

  READ MORE

  Books by Megan Mitcham

  BASE BRANCH SERIES

  ENEMY MINE

  JUSTICE MINE

  STRANGER MINE

  WARRIOR MINE

  DANGER MINE

  PRISONER MINE

  VERSIONS

  VIRTUES

  VARIATIONS

  NEVER MINE

  CAPTOR MINE

  SURVIVOR MINE

  BUREAU SERIES

  FOR ALL TO SEE

  PAINTED WALLS

  ANTHOLOGIES

  ANTICIPATION

  COWBOY HEAT

  HIGH OCTANE HEROES

  CONQUESTS

  ROGUES

  SEX OBJECTS

  WILD AT HEART VOLUME II

  benefiting Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

  BOX SET

  HEARTS IN DANGER

  Limited Edition

  benefiting the American Heart Association

  For information on new releases and giveaways, sign up for Megan’s newsletter at www.meganmitcham.com.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Megan Mitcham was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor's degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and began working for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.

  In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And oh, Mercy, she was hooked!

  The USA Today Bestselling Author lives in Southern Arkansas where she pens heart pounding romantic thriller novels and window-steaming erotic romance. For information on releases and giveaways subscribe at meganmitcham.com!

  Facebook: AuthorMeganMitcham

  Twitter: @MeganMMMitcham

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  Website: www.meganmitcham.com

  For information on new releases and giveaways, sign up for Megan’s newsletter at www.meganmitcham.com.

  Titan World

  Did you enjoy this Titan World story? Discover the series that inspired the World!

  AUTHOR: Cristin Harber

  WEBSITE: http://cristinharber.com/

  Click HERE to sign up for Cristin’s NEWSLETTER.

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