Love Series (Complete Series)

by Natasha Madison

  “They treat her like shit,” I counter.

  “When she sat in the restaurant and wanted the booth to swallow her whole, your leg shook the whole time,” he continues.

  “She’s fucking embarrassed, and she has no reason to be.”

  “You invited her in your home to stay with you,” he finally says, hitting the nail on the head. “You haven’t dated one girl in seven years.”

  “It’s too …”

  “Oh, please,” my mother says, finally rolling her eyes. “I finally see the look in your eye I thought would never be there. The light.” She shakes her head. “There is nothing wrong with this. But”—she looks at my dad—“you would never do anything to hurt Hailey, anything, even start a friendship with a woman who holds a piece of her sadness.”

  “It’s not her fau—” I say as my mother holds her hand up, turning to my father.

  “What is this when I have no other questions and I’m done talking? Sort of like mic drop.” She motions with her hand. I don’t answer because the door opens, and Daisy comes running in first.

  “We are going on a bacation,” she says, and I laugh as she points at me. “At your house.”

  I smile at her. “Is that so?” I ask and look over to see Samantha and Lizzie come in, holding hands.

  “So the girls think that spending the weekend away would great,” she says, smiling. “Mr. and Mrs. Williams, if you want, you can go, and I can bring Blake back.”

  “That sounds great,” my mother says and gets up, looking at the girls. “I’m going to get Henry to put our tent in the backyard, and maybe you guys can have a sleepover.”

  I look at my mom, not sure what she is getting at, but the kids get excited. “Can we do s’mores?” Lizzie asks. “And hot dogs on a stick?”

  “Well, it isn’t backyard camping without it,” my father says as he pats their head. I watch the girls run upstairs to pack.

  “I’m going to make sure that they don’t over pack,” she says, walking upstairs while I walk my parents out.

  When I go back inside, I see the girls coming down with two backpacks. “We each have our own bag,” Lizzie tells us, and I see that Samantha is coming down, and she has changed to jeans, carrying her own bag.

  “Are we ready to go?” I ask her as she grabs a jacket and makes sure everything is off. “I’ll load the girls.”

  We walk out, and the girls get situated. Samantha comes down the steps, getting into the passenger side, and we take off.

  We make it home just in time for dinner, and my mother calls to tell us that she is coming over with pizza. I walk into the house, leading the girls to the spare bedroom. It has a queen-size bed, so they are all excited about sharing.

  They dump their bags, and I look at Samantha. “Follow me,” I tell her and go to the second guest room right next to mine. I open the door for her to see the queen-size bed, the white covers look super fluffy. “This is your room,” I tell her and take her bag. She walks into the room and stands in the middle of the room while I dump the bag on the bed.

  “This is perfect,” she says, looking around. I walk to stand in front of her. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she starts saying and looks down, her hair falling in front of her face. I reach out to move her hair, and she looks up, smiling at me. My thumb rubs her cheek as I get closer to her. “Blake …”

  “I haven’t kissed a girl in seven years,” I whisper to her as my head slowly moves down to hers, and she leans up, her breath hitching. I’m so close, close to finally tasting her when the door flies open, and Daisy yells, causing us to jump apart. “Pizza is here,” she says and turns around.

  “Well. That wasn’t at all what I thought the first time would be like,” I say and hear Samantha laughing.

  “It’ll be better when they are in bed.” She grabs my hand, walking to the kitchen where my parents have the pizza set up on the counter, and my mother is making plates for the girls. It’s the longest dinner of my life. I swear it lasted more than humanly possible for us to eat pizza.

  Finally, my parents leave but not without promising to be back for breakfast and come with us to the zoo. When she leaves to put the kids in bed, I sit on the couch, my feet outstretched in front of me as I flip through the channels while I wait for her.

  I hear the door close as she comes into the living room, her feet now bare. She comes to the couch, sitting on her legs next to me. “Hey,” she says, looking at the television.

  “Hey,” I say, looking at her. “Was everything okay?”

  “Yes.” She smiles. “I couldn’t think of a better night.”

  “I didn’t think my parents would ever leave. Honest to God, they stayed forever.”

  She leans forward, laughing. “It wasn’t that long,” she says. My head turns to her.

  She leans in and kisses my lips, just like that, no waiting, no talking, she just comes and places her lips on mine softly. My hand goes to her cheek, right as her mouth opens and her tongue slides against mine. She changes the angle to deepen the kiss, and it goes from soft to hungry. I grab her hips, bringing her to straddle me, and her knees land on either side of my hips. My hands get buried in her hair while her hands rub up my chest. When she gets to my neck, her hands thread through the hair at the base of my neck. I move her head from right to left as our lips stay together.

  Neither of us wanting it to stop, we both try to lead the kiss. I finally let her lips go as our chests rise and fall at the same time. “That was,” she says softly, “perfect.” She brings her lips down to mine again; this time, just giving me soft kisses.

  “Your lips,” I tell her, “were made for me to kiss.” She comes back for another kiss. I kiss her until we are both breathless. I kiss her until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. I tuck her into bed, the kiss bringing me on the bed with her, and I fall asleep with her head tucked into my neck and my arms around her. And I feel suddenly at peace.

  Samantha

  Samantha

  This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, ever. It’s almost like it’s a huge marshmallow. “Mommy. Blake made breakfast.” I hear Lizzie say from the side of the bed, and my eyes open.

  Blake. I smile. For the seven years he hasn’t kissed, he’s certainly made up for lost time. The minute I sat on that couch, I couldn’t wait any longer and just went for it. I stretch my hands over my head and look at Lizzie. “Morning, baby.” I smile at her. “What time is it?”

  “Almost nine thirty,” she says, and I jump out of bed. “Blake let us help make pancakes,” she says when we walk out of the room. I walk into the kitchen and see that the table has been set.

  “Morning,” I say softly, going over to Daisy and kissing her nose. “Did you sleep okay?” I ask her, walking to the kitchen and Blake. I lean up and kiss his lips, and then we both stop, forgetting that the kids are here. We both look over and see that Lizzie saw but then smiled and looked down, sitting down. “Morning,” I whisper to him. Taking him in, track pants and t-shirt, his hair all out of place from sleep or from my hands.

  “Your coffee is on the counter.” He points with the spatula in his hand while he flips the pancake.

  “I can’t believe I slept so late,” I tell him, picking up my cup and taking a sip.

  “Yeah, I snuck out before the girls woke up, and by the time I got out of the shower, Daisy walked out and asked if she could have pancakes.”

  I put the cup down and look at this man. Two months ago, I didn’t even know him, yet I couldn’t picture my day without him now. A man who I hated, a man who slowly fixed my broken pieces.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks, coming to me after he puts the last pancake on the plate.

  “Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. “Just thinking.”

  “We—” He doesn’t have time to say anything because the doorbell rings, and then the front door opens.

  “I heard that my special two girls are in town.” We hear Nanny from the front room as she walks toward the kitchen. S
he sees the girls and claps her hands together. “There they are. I heard you were here, and I couldn’t stay away,” she says, going over to them and kissing their head. “Good morning, you two.”

  “Good morning,” I say. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “Oh, no,” she says, then sits at the table. “I heard you’re going to the zoo and then backyard camping.” She turns to look at the kids. “Joanne was taking the sleeping bags out when I dropped by there. She is so excited,” she says. The kids start talking, and they basically don’t stop the whole time we eat. I sit at the table, and it just feels right. Everyone helps clear the table and get ready to go to the zoo.

  It’s hands down the best day. So easy and smooth, at one point, Blake carried Daisy on his shoulders when she complained she couldn’t walk another step. Henry and Joanne were pointing out all the new things to the girls, who hung on their every word. Nanny even entertained animal sounds as we walked along the path.

  We all went back to Joanne’s house, and she dragged the kids into the backyard. I don’t know who was more excited about the tent—Joanne or the kids. Henry built a little fire right outside, and she got the sticks and hot dogs so everyone could cook their own hot dogs. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in my life; my cheeks literally hurt from smiling.

  My girls were at ease, and I was at ease. I walked the whole day without looking over my shoulder and without the fear I would run into someone who knew my in-laws or would want to see how I’m doing without Eric. Who would tell me what a great man he was and blah, blah, blah. I look over and see Daisy yawning.

  “We should get going,” I tell Blake, who gets up. The girls say goodbye to Joanne and Henry, giving them each a hug.

  We walk into the house, and I tell them it’s bath time. When the kids finish, I tuck them in, and they both fall asleep right away.

  I walk out to the living room to find Blake, but it’s empty, as well as the kitchen. I walk toward the back, calling his name. “Blake,” I say. Walking into his room, I hear the shower running. The room is neat; a sitting chair in the corner with his clothes piled on it. I look around the bedroom, seeing that the bed is a king covered with a soft blue duvet and gray throw pillows. My eyes land on the picture of him and Frankie right next to his bed.

  My feet move without my consent, my hand reaching out and grabbing the picture to look at them. Their smiles fill the picture. My finger moves over Blake’s face; he looks so young and so happy. His green eyes bright and shiny.

  Then my eyes go to a smiling Frankie, her wild curly black hair blowing in what probably was a windy day. “Hey.” I hear him say when he walks into the room, holding a towel around his hips.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, putting down the picture on the bedside table. “I shouldn’t have come in here without …”

  He walks to me, bending his head down. My eyes land on a lone wet drop on his chest, and it hypnotizes me. I didn’t even realize he wasn’t wearing a shirt, showing me that he is all muscle. His abs defined, his chest broad, and his arms full. “It’s okay, Samantha,” he says softly, and my eyes snap up to his eyes.

  “She’s beautiful,” I say softly

  “She really was,” he says softly, coming closer to me, his scent hitting me right away. The need to run my hands up his chest, to pull him close, and kiss him is so big my heart beats so hard and loud.

  “You look so happy,” I say to him when we stand toe-to-toe.

  “I was happy,” he says, his hands moving to my hips. “Never thought I could be that happy again.” He pulls me closer. “I was wrong.” It’s the last thing he says before he leans down or I lean up; either way, our lips touch. His hands move from my hips to my back, pulling me closer to him as my hands move around his neck. We both moan when I feel his hardness against my stomach. His lips leave me wanting more as he kisses my jaw, under my jaw, my neck. “Will you stay with me tonight?” he asks, and my body goes tense for a second. “Not for that,” he says, laughing; the heat of his breath on my neck making me shiver. “Today was the first day in seven years I felt carefree.” He kisses me softly. “The first time in seven years I didn’t for one minute say why me.” His kisses are even softer. “The first time my chest didn’t feel like someone was sitting on it.”

  “Today, I walked without the weight on my shoulders,” I tell him, and his head comes back while he looks in my eyes. “Today, I walked that whole park without a worry in the world because I knew if anything happened, you were right there.” I smile and lean forward to kiss his chest, right in the middle. My lips feel the pounding of his heart. “Today, I saw my girls smile, and laugh, and giggle, and be happy.” His green eyes get teary. “Today, I saw them not have guilt over being happy. Today, I saw Lizzie, who has been quiet and observant the whole time, throw her head back and laugh.” Now the tears come to my eyes. “Today, you gave that to them.”

  “Okay, so you’re definitely staying in this room,” he says, laughing, “but I have to change.” He looks down at his towel and the tent under it. “Do you need to shower?” he asks me, and I nod. “Go get your things to shower in here, and I’ll go check on the girls and leave their door open in case they call out.”

  I’m not used to sharing my responsibility with anyone or counting on anyone; it’s just been me. “Okay,” I say, going to my room and grabbing my things to head into his bathroom. The glass shower doors still have drops of water on them. I undress, setting the water, and walk under the rain shower. It’s so perfect and relaxing; I throw my head back as the water flows through my hair. I open my eyes, taking in the charcoal gray shower tiles that match the wood wall. Such a man cave yet so homey. I grab his soap, open it up, and squeeze it a bit to smell him. I pour a little in my hand, rubbing my hands together and washing myself with it. I use my own shampoo, rinsing it through. Grabbing a towel to dry off, I wrap my wet hair and get dressed. I brush out my hair, braiding it on one side.

  Opening the door, I see him already in bed with the television playing. I walk to the chair and set my clothes on top of his. Walking to the bed, I throw the covers over and get under the sheet, my heart hammering away. I get closer and closer to him, looking up and smiling. He leans down and kisses me. “You smell like me,” he says, and I think I turn a shade of beet red. “I like it,” he says before scooting down and facing me, his hand on my hip, our chests together. I lean forward, kissing the crook of his neck.

  Humming, I lay my head on his shoulder, and his arms wrap around me. I take in his heat, his body, just him. I close my eyes for one minute, just to rest, and it’s a second too long because I fall fast asleep. With his arms around me, I sleep like I’m floating on a cloud. We wake during the night, reaching for each other, and I kiss him each time I wake up and then fall back to sleep the minute his arms are around me. “Mommy.” I hear my name softly from the side of the bed. “Mommy.” I open my eyes to see Daisy. I get up and look over at Blake who is now awake and sitting up, looking over at me and then at Daisy. “I had a bad dream,” she says, crawling into bed with me. “A monkey was coming after me to eat my candy,” she says, and I laugh at her. She buries her head into my neck, and I wrap my arms around her. Blake settles behind me with his arms around me and Daisy.

  He kisses the back of my neck softly. “Sleep,” he says, and I do, till I hear my name again. “Mommy.” I open my eyes and see Lizzie. “I don’t want to sleep alone,” she says, and I’m about to get up and go into the other room when Blake pushes to the edge of the bed, taking me with him. I bring Daisy with me, leaving Lizzie enough space to crawl into bed. “Did you fall asleep in here watching television?” Lizzie asks, looking at me.

  “Yeah, she did,” Blake says from behind me. “I didn’t want to wake her.”

  I look at Lizzie looking at me and then Blake. “Okay,” she says, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Morning comes way too quickly, and I’m expecting to get up with some stiffness since we slept four in a bed, but it’s the opposite. I wake up perf
ect, and we all get up at the same time.

  The kids lie on the couch while we work side by side making breakfast. “What time do you work today?” I ask him, dreading that I have to go back home.

  “I start at three,” he says. “I leave at two thirty, but you can stay later if you want.” He hands me a plate of toast.

  “No, I’m going to head back to get the kids settled before school.”

  “Is it weird that I miss you?” he says, standing next to me.

  “Only if it’s weird that I miss you too,” I say, buttering the toast. I dread sitting down and eating, and I dread the time flying by. I dread going around the house, making sure we don’t forget anything. I dread fixing the beds and packing our stuff.

  He brings the bags to the car while we follow him. “Blake, can we come back?” Daisy asks, stepping into the car.

  “Anytime,” he says, smiling and bending to kiss her cheek. “Get into your seat,” he instructs, closing the door.

  “I had so much fun,” Lizzie says. “I want to come back soon,” she says, and he bends and kisses her cheek also.

  “I’ll make it happen, Lizzie,” he tells her with a wink while she gets into her side of the car. He pulls me by my hand to the back of the car. “I know they can still see us,” he says, “but I can’t not kiss you.” He grabs my face in his hands and bends to kiss me. Softly, then a little more, until he’s peeling himself away from me. “I’ll see you Thursday,” he says.

  “What?” I ask him.

  “Samantha, I’m off shift on Wednesday afternoon. So Thursday, I’m coming to see you and the girls.” I don’t think he’s asking me, more like informing me.

  “Okay,” I say, walking with him hand in hand to the driver’s side door. He opens the door, waiting for me to get in.

  “Drive safe,” he says. “Call me when you arrive.” He leans in once more, kissing my cheek. “See you guys Thursday.” He closes the door.

  I pull away, looking at him in the rearview mirror. The thought of going back home fills me with sadness and anxiety. The girls watch a movie, leaving me with my own thoughts.