All Chapters of Wanted By Josh Carter: His Father, My Lover : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Connor’s POV I was already on Lake Shore Drive, heading north toward the house, when my phone started blowing up. First Andrew, then Spencer on the three-way call. “O'Brian, you pussy,” Spencer laughed, half a bottle of something expensive already in his voice. “Come on, we found this new spot in River North. Girls look like they walked straight out of a 1995 MTV spring-break special. You know you want it.” Andrew chimed in, music thumping behind him. “Blonde with the baby-blue crop top just asked if we knew any ‘real Chicago men.’ I told her we had one on the way.” I stared at the dark water sliding past the window. The city lights blurred like an old VHS tape left too close to a magnet. “I’m out tonight,” I said. My voice sounded heavier than I expected. “I thought about Ernest.” Dead silence on the line. They knew that name carried twenty-five years of weight. I closed my eyes and I was twenty-four again. 1993. I was nobody. Just a junior assistant at Carter Wine Co., l

Terrence’s POVSleeping alone sucked. I hated it with every fiber of my being. I was used to the warmth of Ava’s body curled against mine, the soft rhythm of her breathing, the way she always stole the blanket and then snuggled closer when I stole it back. That was my safe place. That was home. But last night I had to crash on Jason’s couch in his hotel suite because my wife had locked me out of the family apartment we were sharing for the wedding weekend. One look at me stumbling in at four a.m. with Jason’s blood on my knuckles and Gideon’s drama still clinging to my jacket, and Ava had pointed at the door without a word.I didn’t even blame her.I had promised her, after the last almost-divorce, after the counseling, after the nights she cried herself to sleep because I came home smelling like someone else’s perfume, that I was done being stupid. And then Jason decided to turn Josh’s bachelor party into a war zone and I jumped in the middle like the loyal idiot I still was.

Third Person POV The November sky over Chicago was the clearest blue anyone could remember. Soft sunlight poured through the tall arched windows of the grand ballroom at the Langham Hotel, turning every crystal chandelier into a thousand tiny rainbows. The entire space had been transformed into a dream of white and gold. Thousands of white roses and creamy peonies spilled from golden vases. White orchids hung like clouds from the ceiling. The aisle was a river of white petals scattered over pale gold carpet. Even the chairs were wrapped in white silk with golden bows. It was the kind of wedding little girls draw in notebooks and grown women pin on secret boards. Cassie stood just outside the double doors, heart beating so hard she could hear it over the string quartet playing a soft version of “A Thousand Years.” Her father held her arm gently, eyes already shining with tears. Her mother stood on her other side, clutching a lace handkerchief and trying not to sob out lou

Cassie’s POVThe party was still in full swing when Josh decided he had waited long enough.He leaned down to my ear, lips brushing the sensitive skin just below it, and murmured, “Mrs. Carter, I’m taking my wife to bed.”A delicious shiver ran straight through me. Before I could answer, he swept me up into his arms like I weighed nothing, veil, train, baby bump and all, and announced to the entire ballroom, “Good night, everyone. I’m officially stealing my bride.”Laughter and whistles exploded behind us. Someone shouted, “Get a room!” Andrew yelled, “You already have the whole floor!” Beckie wolf-whistled so loud half the room turned. I buried my burning face in Josh’s neck, laughing helplessly as he carried me out.The second the ballroom doors closed behind us the noise faded to a muffled hum. His long strides ate up the hallway. I clung to his shoulders, legs dangling, heart racing.“You’re insane,” I giggled against his throat.“Your husband is insane,” he corrected, voice low a

Cassie’s POVJosh was still inside me, pulsing gently with the last shivers of his climax, when he rolled his hips again and stole every ounce of air from my lungs. My body was molten, oversensitive, every nerve ending singing, but the moment he moved I felt that greedy, impossible hunger flare back to life like it had never been satisfied.“Again,” he growled against the damp skin of my neck, teeth scraping the marks he had already left there tonight. “I’m nowhere near done claiming my wife.”I laughed breathlessly, half delirious, and shoved at his chest until he let me flip us. The sheets were a wreck of silk and sweat and scattered rose petals, and I straddled him like a queen claiming her throne. I sank down slow, inch by thick inch, watching his face the entire time: the way his eyes went black, the way his jaw clenched, the low, broken curse that slipped out when I took him to the hilt.“Jesus fucking Christ, Cassie,” he rasped, hands immediately coming up to cup my breasts t