Hometown Heartless

by Aarons, Carrie

  “I love you, guys,” I say simply.

  “What, no Kennedy speech? You’re usually the educated, long rambling one.” Bianca giggles.

  “I just … this is perfect. I can’t imagine a better night than this to cap off a great year,” I say.

  It was great. There were so many speed bumps, and I was challenged at every turn, but that’s what makes life great. In the end, I grew so much, had my best friends by my side, and I got the guy, so I think great is a perfect word.

  “You got that right.” Rachel kisses my cheek.

  “Hey, that’s my cheek.” Everett leans in, grabbing my hips and spinning me so that we’re dancing in each other’s arms.

  “That was my cheek first. These,” Rachel slaps my butt, “are your cheeks.”

  I yelp, and her sauciness makes Scott, who grabs his girlfriend, laugh. Those two are made for each other. Damien scoops Bianca up, and the six of us slow dance in the vicinity of each other.

  “I can’t keep my hands off you,” Everett growls in my ear as we sway.

  Our sex life has been insane. Ever since we lost our virginities to each other in my basement, we’re like crazed bunnies. Everett can’t get enough, and sometimes I want to jump him when we’re sitting at a dinner table with other people. Our need for each other, since we added sex to the mix, has only intensified tenfold.

  And it doesn’t help that tonight he’s wearing a tuxedo that makes him look so freaking handsome, he should be on the cover of GQ or something.

  “I have somewhere I want to take you.” His stubble caresses my cheek.

  “I thought we were taking the party bus to the shore house with everyone else.”

  It’s tradition for Brentwick seniors to go to the Jersey Shore after prom and party in a rented house. I’ve been looking forward to this more than prom. One last ridiculous bash with my best friends.

  “Oh, we’re going to go party at the shore. Don’t you worry your pretty little head. But, I thought tonight could be just about us.”

  Everett produces a room key from his pocket, waving it just in front of my nose.

  “A hotel room on prom night? How cliché of you.” I flutter my lashes.

  “Well, it’s not like anyone will be losing it. You know, since you’ve already let me inside you,” he whispers in my ear.

  I push at his chest, laughing, but he brings me back in close. His lips tickle my earlobe, his words winding in at a low octave. “I figured we could spend the next twelve hours in every position we haven’t explored yet, before we’re thrown in a house with your drunk high school friends. I want to devour you slowly, with no one else around.”

  Well, when he says it like that.

  “Yes, you’re inside me forever.” My voice takes on a note of wistfulness.

  “And you in me,” he says, his deep voice switching from teasing to loving.

  Everett and I have been attached on a deeper level for a long time. From the days of school kids, looking out for each other, to before he was deployed when we couldn’t find the words or courage to admit our feelings. In a way, I’m glad we had the time to write all of those letters, because it made it easier to develop our connection with no teenage bullshit or physical intimacy in the way.

  I used to feel like I didn’t truly belong anywhere, even in the most familiar of places with the most familiar of people. Now, after all we’ve been through, we’re better and stronger than we’ve ever been. Both individually, and definitely together.

  And I know, that from here on out, wherever I go as long as Everett’s with me, that will be my home.

  He is my home.

  Epilogue

  Everett

  Four Years Later

  Coming off of an EMT shift, when you have difficult calls, is always exhausting.

  But coming off of an all-night shift where you deal with two car accidents and a college student with alcohol poisoning … that’s a whole other level.

  So when I pull up to my apartment and see a certain car parked outside, my heart warms and a smile spreads over my face. And I fall even more in love with her when I unlock the door and smell the scent of frying bacon.

  “Woman, are you trying to get a ring out of me?” I call out and hear an answering laugh from the kitchen.

  Kennedy walks out in yoga pants and a university logo sweatshirt, holding a plate stacked high with waffles. “Are you saying you want to marry me?”

  She barely has time to put the plate down on my small kitchen table before I’m bear hugging her and lifting her off the ground. “You know I do.”

  In the last four years, our love has only grown stronger. To the point where I tell her daily that I’m going to get down on one knee. It’s just a matter of time now, as Kennedy told me it has to be after graduation. She’s always been a rule follower and getting engaged comes after college.

  Although it doesn’t mean she can’t show up at my apartment to cook me breakfast after an all-nighter. Or sleep here three to four times a week.

  She lives with her three best friends from college in a house just off campus. They all met freshman year in the dorms, and I’m glad she has people she’s close with up here. I’m working a lot and have met a few buddies through my soccer league that I hang out with. I was adamant that she have her own college life, even though I followed her here. She deserved to have the full experience, and we’re lucky everything has worked out so perfectly.

  She graduates in two months, and then we’re going to rent our first place together, wherever we end up. Right now, we’re waiting back on some job offers Kennedy got, in three different cities. I’m letting her decide, because all I need is her, and a new adventure will be cool wherever it is. Her nursing program has been tough, but she’s a star in her own right. I know that she’ll help so many people, and her goal is to try to coordinate living in the same city as either Rachel or Bianca.

  “Seriously, sit down. Food will be ready in two minutes.” She kisses me quickly and then scurries back to the kitchen.

  My place is small but functional, and it’s been nice to have my own space that isn’t my parents. I feel like a full-grown adult most days.

  “Seriously, I love you. I have the best girlfriend ever. Sex and waffles after a long night at work? Perfection.”

  I passed my EMT course in New York about a month after we got here and immediately started picking up shifts at the local rescue squad. Throughout the course, I kept doubting myself that this was the job for me. Had I done it out of a moment of spontaneity? Was I really going to be able to help people?

  My first night at the rescue squad by Kennedy’s college, I saved a five-year-old boy from an overturned vehicle. I visited the hospital any time I could in that week where he was recovering from multiple injuries and still get a Christmas card from his family to this day. This job is the best decision, aside from letting Kennedy in, that I’ve ever made.

  I was born for this. It’s not the army where danger lurks around every corner. But it’s enough that the chaos feeds my soul, and I’m doing real, good work. I still have nightmares from time to time, about my deployment overseas, but they’re few and far between. I still see a therapist up here once a month and make sure to loop Kennedy in if it’s a particularly hard day.

  “Who said anything about sex?” She smirks as she comes in with the plate of bacon.

  I sip from the coffee mug she already set down, though I shouldn’t have caffeine if I’m about to go to bed.

  “Well, you showed up in my apartment after work. And for any normal couple, that would be at night after a shift, meaning this is a full-blown booty call. So, show me that ass.” I reach for her, tickling her side.

  “Everett! Stop!” She laughs through huffed breaths.

  God, she’s gorgeous. And smart, and insanely patient. Kennedy is everything I’m not, and she makes me a better man.

  And I wasn’t kidding about wanting to marry her. She may make me wait until graduation, but that doesn’t mean th
ere isn’t a diamond ring sitting in the drawer of my nightstand.

  I can’t wait to give it to her.

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  Also by Carrie Aarons

  All of my books are currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.

  Standalones:

  The Tenth Girl

  You’re the One I Don’t Want

  Privileged

  Elite

  Red Card

  Down We’ll Come, Baby

  As Long As You Hate Me

  All the Frogs in Manhattan

  Save the Date

  Melt

  When Stars Burn Out

  Ghost in His Eyes

  On Thin Ice

  Kissed by Reality

  The Rogue Academy Series:

  The Second Coming

  The Lion Heart

  The Mighty Anchor

  The Nash Brothers Series:

  Fleeting

  Forgiven

  Flutter

  Falter

  The Flipped Series:

  Blind Landing

  Grasping Air

  The Captive Heart Duet:

  Lost

  Found

  The Over the Fence Series:

  Pitching to Win

  Hitting to Win

  Catching to Win

  About the Author

  Author of romance novels such as The Tenth Girl and Privileged, Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the love stories of her imagination, and the athleisure dress code, much better.

  When she isn't writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She’s a jersey girl living in Texas with her husband, daughter and furry son.

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