Cherished Enough, page 1
Other Books by Kelly Elliott
COMING SOON
Love in Montana (Meet Me in Montana Spin Off)
Fearless Enough
Cherished Enough
Brave Enough – August 29, 2023
Daring Enough - November 21, 2023
Loved Enough - February 6, 2024
Forever Enough - April 30, 2024
Enchanted Enough - July 23, 2024
Perfect Enough - October 15, 2024
Devoted Enough - January 7, 2025
Holidaze in Salem
A Bit of Hocus Pocus
A Bit of Holly Jolly
A Bit of Wee Luck
A Bit of Razzle Dazzle – Summer 2023
The Seaside Chronicles
Returning Home
Part of Me
Lost to You
Someone to Love
*Series available on audiobook
Stand Alones
The Journey Home*
Who We Were*
The Playbook*
Made for You*
*Available on audiobook
Boggy Creek Valley Series
The Butterfly Effect*
Playing with Words*
She’s the One*
Surrender to Me*
Hearts in Motion*
Looking for You*
Surprise Novella TBD
*Available on audiobook
Meet Me in Montana Series
Never Enough
Always Enough
Good Enough
Strong Enough
*Series available on audiobook
Southern Bride Series
Love at First Sight
Delicate Promises
Divided Interests
Lucky in Love
Feels Like Home
Take Me Away
Fool for You
Fated Hearts
*Series vailable on audiobook
Cowboys and Angels Series
Lost Love
Love Profound
Tempting Love
Love Again
Blind Love
This Love
Reckless Love
*Series available on audiobook
Boston Love Series
Searching for Harmony (New Edition Coming 2023)
Fighting for Love (New Edition Coming 2023)
*Series available on audiobook
Austin Singles Series
Seduce Me
Entice Me
Adore Me
*Series available on audiobook
Wanted Series
Wanted*
Saved*
Faithful*
Believe
Cherished*
A Forever Love*
The Wanted Short Stories
All They Wanted
*Available on audiobook
Love Wanted in Texas Series
Spin-off series to the WANTED Series
Without You
Saving You
Holding You
Finding You
Chasing You
Loving You
Entire series available on audiobook
*Please note Loving You combines the last book of the Broken and Love Wanted in Texas series.
Broken Series
Broken*
Broken Dreams*
Broken Promises*
Broken Love
*Available on audiobook
The Journey of Love Series
Unconditional Love
Undeniable Love
Unforgettable Love
*Entire series available on audiobook
With Me Series
Stay With Me
Only With Me
*Series available on audiobook
Speed Series
Ignite
Adrenaline
*Series available on audiobook
COLLABORATIONS
Predestined Hearts (co-written with Kristin Mayer)*
Play Me (co-written with Kristin Mayer)*
Dangerous Temptations (co-written with Kristin Mayer*
*Available on audiobook
Cherished Enough
Book 2 Love in Montana Copyright © 2023 by Kelly Elliott
Cover Design by: Hang Le
Interior Design & Formatting by: Elaine York, Allusion Publishing
Developmental Editor: Kelli Collins
Content Editor: Rachel Carter, Yellow Bird Editing
Proofing Editor: Erin Quinn-Kong, Yellow Bird Editing
Proofing Editor: Elaine York, Allusion Publishing
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.
For more information on Kelly and her books, please visit her website www.kellyelliottauthor.com.
Contents
Discover Other Titles by Kelly Elliott
Map & Family Tree
Prologue - Morgan
Chapter One – Morgan
Chapter Two – Ryan
Chapter Three – Morgan
Chapter Four – Ryan
Chapter Five – Morgan
Chapter Six – Ryan
Chapter Seven – Morgan
Chapter Eight – Ryan
Chapter Nine – Morgan
Chapter Ten – Ryan
Chapter Eleven- Morgan
Chapter Twelve – The Ringmaster
Chapter Thirteen – Ryan
Chapter Fourteen – Morgan
Chapter Fifteen – Ryan
Chapter Sixteen – Morgan
Chapter Seventeen – The Ringmaster
Chapter Eighteen – Morgan
Chapter Nineteen – Ryan
Chapter Twenty – Morgan
Chapter Twenty-One – Ryan
Chapter Twenty–Two - The Ringmaster
Chapter Twenty-Three – Morgan
Chapter Twenty-Four – Ryan
Chapter Twenty-Five – Morgan
Chapter Twenty-Six – Ryan
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Morgan
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Morgan
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Ryan
Chapter Thirty – Morgan
Epilogue – Hunter
CONNECT WITH KELLY ONLINE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prologue
MORGAN
Sophomore Year of College — Two Years From Present Day
“This Halloween party sucks. We should have stayed at our dorm and studied like I suggested,” Krista said as she glanced around the room.
We were at one of the frat houses for what everyone said was the most epic Halloween party on campus. So far we’d been hit on by nearly every male in the room. I watched more guys take girls up those stairs than I cared to count.
“We need to find Heather, and then we can leave.”
Krista rolled her eyes. “She’s probably in some room with her dress up to her waist and some guy in her—”
“Krista!” I squealed.
She gave me a befuddled look. “What? You know I’m right.”
I laughed, then stood on my toes in an attempt to look over everyone.
“Would you like to dance?” a voice said from behind me. Turning to look over my shoulder, I couldn’t help but smile at the guy’s costume.
“A skeleton ringmaster. I love it.”
He smiled back.
“Whoever did your face makeup should be given some kind of award,” Krista stated.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice sounding a bit muffled. “Dance?”
He held his hand out to me, and I looked over at Krista. “For fuck’s sake, go dance,” she said. “At least one of us needs to have some fun. I’ll go find the whore.”
“Krista!” I said with a pleading look.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll go find the tramp.”
I let out an exasperated sigh as my best friend turned on her heels and headed up the steps in search of the third person in our trio of friends.
Turning back to the stranger, I placed my hand in his. We weaved our way through the crowd of people on the makeshift dance floor. The frat house was in a historical home right off campus, and it looked like we were in the old ballroom.
The skeleton drew me to him, and I cleared my throat and took a step back. It was a little bit too close for my comfort.
“Sorry,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “What’s your name?”
“Morgan,” I answered. “You?”
“Rich.”
“Nice to meet you, Rich,” I said as we moved to the slow song that was playing. His hand drifted a little more down my back, but I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not.
“Are you in the frat?” I asked.
“No, my best friend is, though.”
I nodded.
“Are you in a sorority?”
“God, no!” I blurted out. “Not that there’s anything wrong with them. That’s just not my scene.”
It was his turn to nod.
“You look familiar to me,” he said. “I wonder if we’re in any classes together.”
Looking up at him wi
“Tell me you don’t like the mystery of it.”
“It is pretty neat,” I said, laughing somewhat nervously. He was for sure moving his hand down.
“Can I kiss you, Morgan?”
Okay, that was a first. Guys didn’t usually ask—they just dove in.
“Um…”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
I shook my head as a memory of Ryan holding me while we danced resurfaced in my mind.
“Then what harm is one little kiss?”
I licked my bottom lip and noticed how he reacted to it. Pressing my mouth into a tight line, I looked around. The place was packed with people. What would the harm be? If I thought about it, I freaking deserved a kiss for staying at this stupid party for as long as I had. If a guy pinched my ass one more time, I was going to scream.
“I guess one kiss would be harmless.”
He smiled, and I couldn’t help but notice his perfectly straight teeth. I suddenly wanted to know what Rich looked like.
I reached up onto my toes, and he leaned down. The kiss was soft at first. Nice. He licked my bottom lip, and I opened to him. When his tongue touched mine, I could taste beer and peppermint. Gum, maybe?
He moaned and deepened the kiss. At least one of us was getting something from it because I felt nothing. He was a good kisser, but still…nothing.
When he grabbed my ass with both hands and pulled me against his body, I gasped at the feel of his hard erection. I put my hands on his chest and pushed as hard as I could.
“Stop!”
A few people turned and looked at us, and he stepped back and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry.”
Wiping my mouth, I exhaled. “Listen, I’m not interested in anything.”
“You kissed me, though.”
Frowning, I said, “That doesn’t mean I want to go any further with you.”
Taking a step closer, he leaned down. “Are you sure, Morgan? Because I really, really want to f—”
“Found her!” Krista said as she pushed between me and Rich. My eyes were wide with horror because I was pretty sure he’d been about to say that he wanted to fuck me.
“Great, let’s go,” I said as I grabbed Krista and Heather’s hands and practically ran from the party.
“What was that about?” Krista asked when we got outside.
I dragged in a few deep breaths. “Christ,” I said. “I hate men. The guy asked me to kiss him. I thought it would be harmless, but I swear he wanted to take me right there on the dance floor.”
Krista rolled her eyes. “Men are pigs, especially when they’ve been drinking.”
I looked at Heather. “Where were you?”
She blushed and looked away.
Krista scoffed. “About to have a threesome with two guys.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
Heather laughed. “Just because some of us are saving ourselves doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t play and have fun.”
“You’re either going to end up pregnant, or with some STD,” Krista said as we hooked arms and started to walk down the street toward my car.
“There’s something called a condom, Krista. You should try one,” Heather said. “You need a good pounding to jolt you out of your virtue.”
A strange feeling crept up my neck as I glanced over my shoulder and back at the party. My eyes scanned the outside and porch, but thankfully, I didn’t see the skeleton ringmaster guy.
Facing forward again, I shook off the feeling and counted down the days until I got to go home and see my family.
And Ryan.
Ringmaster
I watched her walk away with her two friends. My mouth still tasted of her. It wasn’t enough. I wanted more. The sting of her rejection burned, but I needed to remind myself that she wasn’t like her whore of a friend, Heather. Morgan was a good girl.
And good girls were always worth the wait.
Chapter One
MORGAN
Christmas Eve Night – Present Day
I stood and stared at the building in front of me. The Coming Soon sign was the first thing I’d seen when my older brother Blayze removed his hand from my eyes. My gaze went to the store name, and I was pretty sure my breathing stopped.
A La Chic Boutique – Owners, Georgiana Crenshaw and Morgan Shaw.
I’d told Georgiana, Blayze’s girlfriend, that if I ever opened my own boutique, I wanted to call it something with the word “chic” in the name. We’d been in England at the time because Georgiana was writing a fashion piece for Vogue and had invited me to come over with her for a week. I had jumped at the chance since she was interviewing one of the top up-and-coming designers, Lady Mary Douglas.
Georgiana had replied with, “How about A La Chic Boutique?”
“I love it!” I’d squealed, writing the name in my dream journal. It was something I’d started when I was only ten. My mother’s idea. She had given it to me on my tenth birthday while we were out riding. It was a place to record all my dreams, she’d said. And I had written down a lot of dreams over the years, but becoming a designer had always been the most enduring one.
Of course, there’d also been the dream of having Ryan Marshall, my brother’s best friend, fall madly and deeply in love with me. But I learned how to push that dream away.
The feeling of warm tears on my cheeks pulled me back to the present.
“Morgan? Are you going to say anything?” Georgiana asked.
As I wiped the tears away, my brother wrapped his arm around me and said softly, “Not to rush you and this experience, but the snow is coming down harder and I can’t feel the tip of my nose anymore.”
Leave it to Blayze to lighten the mood. I looked at Georgiana with what I was sure was a dumbfounded expression. “A boutique? You really want to open a boutique and have me be your partner?”
Georgiana nodded and let out a soft chuckle. “Not only my partner. I want you to design a line of clothing that’s exclusive to the store. Morgan, you’re crazy talented and your work needs to be featured. Mary agrees.”
Oh. My. Gosh. I pressed my hand to my mouth as a sob slipped free, along with more tears. I looked back at the building in shock. Was this even possible? Could all my dreams literally be coming true right now? Well, almost all of them. There was still the Ryan dream. I was still secretly head over heels for him. That thought was for another time though.
“If you need time to think about it, I completely understand,” Georgiana said. “I know you have a semester of school left and—”
“Yes!” I screamed out. A group of people walking by all turned to stare.
“She’s just excited about a new clothing store coming soon,” Blayze stated with a bemused expression that said he was sorry for my crazy outburst.
I wanted to throw myself at Georgiana. “Oh my God, yes! Georgiana, this is my dream. I never imagined it would come true so soon. I don’t know what to say. I mean, I’m broke, and I’m not sure how I’m supposed to help pay for this.”
Blayze and Georgiana both laughed, then she replied, “You’ll more than make up for that with your clothing line. Besides, your father and mine are helping us both reach this dream by backing us financially until we can start turning a profit.”
I wiped my tears away and then threw myself at Georgiana, causing her to nearly stumble back. I couldn’t control my emotions as I cried into her coat, repeatedly saying “thank you” and telling her how much I adored her and couldn’t wait for her to be my sister-in-law.
Pushing me back to arm’s length, Georgiana said, “Sweetie, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“I don’t know how to thank you!” Turning to my brother, I blurted out, “You have to thank her for me with some amazing sex or…or…like a trip somewhere!”
Blayze’s face went red and he blinked at me a few times. “You couldn’t have just suggested taking her on an amazing trip?”
I waved off his comment. “Really, Georgiana, thank you so much for this opportunity. I love you!”
“Oh Lord, here come more tears,” Blayze mumbled as Georgiana started to cry, which made me cry all over again.
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, let’s take this back to the truck where there’s heat and at least your tears won’t freeze on your faces.”
Blayze and Georgiana dropped me off at my grandparents’ place, and I discovered that some family and friends were still there. I rushed into the house and ran to my father first, throwing myself into his arms.
