The After Dark Collection: Books 1-3 in The Gift Series Read online

  The After Dark Collection

  Books 1-3 in The Gift Series

  Lauren Blakely

  Little Dog Press

  Contents

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  About

  Volume 1

  I. The Engagement Gift

  About

  1. Lily

  2. Finn

  3. Lily

  4. Finn

  5. Lily

  6. Finn

  7. Jake

  8. Lily

  9. Finn

  10. Lily

  11. Jake

  12. Lily

  13. Finn

  14. Jake

  15. Kate

  16. Lily

  Epilogue

  Volume 2

  About

  The Virgin Gift

  1. Nina

  2. Nina

  3. Adam

  4. Adam

  5. Nina

  6. Nina

  7. Nina

  8. Adam

  9. Nina

  10. Nina

  11. Nina

  12. Adam

  13. Adam

  14. Nina

  15. Nina

  16. Nina

  17. Adam

  18. Adam

  19. Nina

  20. Adam

  21. Nina

  22. Brandon

  23. Nina

  24. Adam

  25. Nina

  26. Brandon

  27. Adam

  28. Brandon

  Epilogue

  Another Epilogue

  The Decadent Gift

  About

  The Decadent Gift

  1. Kate

  2. Kate

  3. Jake

  4. Kate

  5. Jake

  6. Kate

  7. Kate

  8. Jake

  9. Jake

  10. Jake

  11. Kate

  12. Jake

  13. Kate

  14. Kate

  15. Jake

  16. Kate

  17. Kate

  18. Jake

  19. Kate

  20. Jake

  21. Kate

  22. Trish

  23. Kate

  24. Jake

  25. Kate

  26. Trish

  27. Christine

  28. Kate

  29. Antony

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  Contact

  Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Blakely

  Cover Design by Helen Williams. Photo by Steph Bowers

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This contemporary romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This book is licensed for your personal use only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with, especially if you enjoy sexy romance novels with alpha males. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  Big Rock Series

  Big Rock

  Mister O

  Well Hung

  Full Package

  Joy Ride

  Hard Wood

  The Gift Series

  The Engagement Gift

  The Virgin Gift

  The Decadent Gift

  The Heartbreakers Series

  Once Upon a Real Good Time

  Once Upon a Sure Thing

  Once Upon a Wild Fling

  Boyfriend Material

  Asking For a Friend

  Sex and Other Shiny Objects

  One Night Stand-In

  Lucky In Love Series

  Best Laid Plans

  The Feel Good Factor

  Nobody Does It Better

  Unzipped

  Always Satisfied Series

  Satisfaction Guaranteed

  Instant Gratification

  Overnight Service

  Never Have I Ever

  Special Delivery

  The Sexy Suit Series

  Lucky Suit

  Birthday Suit

  From Paris With Love

  Wanderlust

  Part-Time Lover

  One Love Series

  The Sexy One

  The Only One

  The Hot One

  The Knocked Up Plan

  Come As You Are

  Sports Romance

  Most Valuable Playboy

  Most Likely to Score

  Standalones

  Stud Finder

  The V Card

  The Real Deal

  Unbreak My Heart

  The Break-Up Album

  21 Stolen Kisses

  Out of Bounds

  The Caught Up in Love Series:

  The Swoony New Reboot of the Contemporary Romance Series

  The Pretending Plot (previously called Pretending He’s Mine)

  The Dating Proposal

  The Second Chance Plan (previously called Caught Up In Us)

  The Private Rehearsal (previously called Playing With Her Heart)

  Stars In Their Eyes Duet

  My Charming Rival

  My Sexy Rival

  The No Regrets Series

  The Start of Us

  The Thrill of It

  Every Second With You

  The Seductive Nights Series

  First Night (Julia and Clay, prequel novella)

  Night After Night (Julia and Clay, book one)

  After This Night (Julia and Clay, book two)

  One More Night (Julia and Clay, book three)

  A Wildly Seductive Night (Julia and Clay novella, book 3.5)

  The Joy Delivered Duet

  Nights With Him (A standalone novel about Michelle and Jack)

  Forbidden Nights (A standalone novel about Nate and Casey)

  The Sinful Nights Series

  Sweet Sinful Nights

  Sinful Desire

  Sinful Longing

  Sinful Love

  The Fighting Fire Series

  Burn For Me (Smith and Jamie)

  Melt for Him (Megan and Becker)

  Consumed By You (Travis and Cara)

  The Jewel Series

  A two-book sexy contemporary romance series

  The Sapphire Affair

  The Sapphire Heist

  About

  A tantalizing collection of the first three books in the bestselling The Gift Series by #1 NYT Bestseller Lauren Blakely!

  Volume One

  Part I

  The Engagement Gift

  About

  Some things are better left unsaid.

  Besides, I don't need to act on every wild thought that flits through my imagination, not when my fiancé and I have the kind of life I've aways longed for -- passionate
, intimate and oh so real.

  I can’t risk losing him, so I focus on building our life together as a couple, expanding my career as a sports reporter, and prepping for our wedding. But the more insistent my thoughts become, the closer I get to telling him what I want most...The question though is what will happen to our unbreakable bond when I do.

  1

  Lily

  Lily

  Some things you just knew at first blush.

  Whether you were attracted to that handsome guy across the crowded bar. Whether that hot tip on a story would turn into a juicy exposé.

  Whether you were rocking a fabulous dress.

  That kind of certainty didn’t make you cocky. It made you aware. It made you instinctive. I believed in instincts.

  For the record, I was marrying the guy I met in the bar, my last story won me an award, and this dress made me want to write a thank-you note to the makers of satin.

  This was the dress.

  The white V-neck sheath gown hugged my hips, boosted my breasts, and showcased just the right amount of shoulders for my cascade of blond hair.

  I checked my right side, my left side, my backside. “And the verdict?”

  The question was perfunctory, but still, I wanted to know if Kate saw what I saw.

  “That’s the winner,” declared my maid of honor.

  I smoothed my hands over the shiny fabric. “Yes. I’m down with this dress one hundred percent.”

  “Someone knows what she likes.” Kate crossed one leg over the other from her spot on the plush pink chair in the dressing room.

  “Are you surprised I agreed so quickly? Or surprised I have a strong opinion?”

  “I shouldn’t be since you’re the queen of knowing your own mind. I’m surprised only because being a bride does something to a woman’s head. Makes you think crazy thoughts, consider things you’ve never considered before, make decisions that surprise besties. So, I suppose I figured you’d find a reason to hate the perfect dress.”

  “Ha. No dress-hating from me.” I slid my hands over my thighs. “I’m as sure about this dress as I am about marrying Finn.”

  Kate tightened her brunette ponytail. “Then that’s as sure as anyone can be about literally anything. Are you still disgustingly happy and having hot, dirty times every night and thoughtful, intelligent conversations every single day?”

  A knowing grin—no, an utterly delighted grin—spread over my face.

  Kate knew me so well. Knew my fiancé stimulated me with his brain and, well, his other parts.

  And did so on the reg.

  Yes, I was a lucky girl. Finn Nichols was handsome as sin, with dark hair, midnight-blue eyes, and a body I couldn’t get enough of. But on top of that, he had a huge heart and an insane devotion to my libido. “It’s pretty much like clockwork,” I said. “In fact, I think we had a request to set the atomic clock by our sex life.”

  She glowered. “And I hate you.”

  I arched a knowing brow. “You shouldn’t hate me when my fiancé has a best man who’s smoking hot and who thinks you’re a babe.”

  “Jake?” She looked surprised.

  I nodded. “Yes. Jake. Dark hair, dark eyes, tall as a tree. Jake, Finn’s longtime best friend, former roomie, now works in the Vegas branch of the law practice Finn’s cousin started?”

  “Yes, yes. I know they’re both entertainment lawyers. I just didn’t know you thought Jake was hot.”

  “Empirically,” I emphasized. “He’s empirically hot, like a Hemsworth or that guy who plays Lucifer. And Jake thinks you’re a babe—I overheard him and Finn talking one night about the wedding, and Jake made some comment about the maid of honor being luscious. Anyway, Jake is single, ergo . . .”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a matchmaker. But I’ve just never thought of him that way.”

  But I knew they were right for each other. Just like I knew this dress was divine. “You should think of him that way. Then maybe you won’t hate me for my love life,” I said, sticking out my tongue.

  “Rub it in, girl. Rub the salt in the wound even harder.”

  “But wait. Don’t you have a regular lover?” I asked, teasing her. “What’s his name? Jack the Magic Man?”

  “Vibrators don’t count.” Kate swatted my elbow with her purse.

  I pointed to the back of my dress. “Even if you name them? I would think a BOB with a name would count a lot.”

  She stood, worked my zipper down. “Toys definitely don’t count. But in my vibrator’s defense, since I don’t think one should trash talk BOBs that do the job, this one is hitting the G-spot every single time.”

  “Tell me what that feels like,” I said, playing up the intrigue in my voice.

  Kate tilted a brow. “You want me to tell you?”

  “You’ve always been good at describing Os.”

  With a thoughtful frown, she gazed at the ceiling for a moment before answering. “It feels like a heavenly choir of dirty angels conducting a filthy orchestra in your body.”

  I grinned as I shimmied out of my dress, sighing contentedly. “Those are the best kind, aren’t they?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You’re the worst. You were almost making me feel sorry for you, asking me to tell you what it was like as if you’d never had one. But you’re just toying with me.”

  “I couldn’t resist.” I laughed. “I love how serious you get about finding just the right description. Your brow furrows and everything. It’s adorable.”

  “And since you’re having nightly bang fests and getting your own G-spot Os, now I’m going to have to find a way to taunt you with something.”

  “Nightly and every morning,” I corrected as I handed her the dress.

  “Evil. You’re pure evil.”

  I glanced around the store. The shopkeeper was working in the front, helping another patron. “Also, how are you going to taunt me?” I asked, since the cat in me was downright curious.

  Kate tapped her chin. “Hmm. Thinking . . . thinking . . . wait! I’ve got it.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you realize that the deepest, most powerful G-spot Os come from one thing in particular?”

  “And what is this one thing, Great Scientist of Os?”

  “Just a little thing you’ve always wanted,” she said airily.

  “Tell me!” Now my curiosity was piqued sky-high.

  She lifted a brow. Raised her chin. Put on her best I’ve got something you’re going to want tone. “A ménage. You know, the kind with . . .” She let her voice trail off, and I filled in the dots. The kind with two men servicing me at the same time.

  A frisson of pleasure rushed down my chest, pulsing between my legs at the mere thought.

  The daring, dangerous thought.

  I swallowed, almost like I’d been caught doing something naughty. Wanting something I haven’t had. Wanting my deepest, most private fantasy.

  “How do you know I want that?” I asked.

  She stared sharply at me. “You confessed a few years ago over two truths and a lie that a threesome with two guys was your ultimate fantasy.”

  “You remember that?”

  She rolled her hazel eyes. “As if I’d forget.”

  “That was just a drinking game.”

  She arched a brow. “Ah, Lily, my sweet Lily, you only look innocent. You’ve wanted to be the filling in a man sandwich for years.”

  A flush crept across my cheeks. A tingle raced down my spine as I imagined my favorite videos, my regular go-tos. Kate wasn’t wrong, but those fantasies, those wild, dirty desires had been tabled. And with good reason—you didn’t just order up a side dish of a second hot guy to go along with the smart, devoted, and sexy-as-sin guy you were marrying in a few months.

  “But I’m engaged now,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

  Kate folded the dress once more then winked at me. “This dress is on me if Finn doesn’t say yes when you ask him for one.”

  I gasped. Literally gasped. Because ho
w the hell could I ask for such a thing? “I’m not asking him for one.”

  “What’s the worst he can say? No?”

  I pulled on my jeans and grabbed my blouse. “Um, how about ‘the wedding is off?’”

  She waved her hand in the air, like a celebutante dismissing a passé pair of yoga pants. “You never know unless you try.”

  “But I don’t want to take that chance.”