Perfect Kisses

by Maine, Miley

  “We’re having another baby?” he chokes out. “Are you serious? That’s so amazing. I mean, every single day you find a way to make me happy, but this… this is just incredible.” He pulls back and grins at me. “I can’t believe I get to have another child to love.”

  “I’m going to be a big brother again?” Travis calls out with excitement. “I can’t wait.”

  He joins in the hug with us and I embrace them both together, admiring how far we have all come in such a short time. It has only been eighteen months really, even if it feels like a lifetime, but it’s been the best experience of my whole life, and I just know that it’s only going to get better from here on out. We both and our ever expanding family will only get better and closer with every single passing day.

  “I love you so much.” He rests his forehead against mine and smiles, the intense powerful love flowing between us as he does. “You are my happy ever after.”

  “That’s exactly how I feel about you too.” I tell him. “And I will keep loving you forever.”

  Excerpt: Dad’s Best Friend

  I thought I was immune to men. I thought they were more trouble than they were worth. Until I met Noah.

  Dad is the only family I have.

  But to pay for college, I work non-stop at a miserable waitressing job

  And now I have a new opportunity Working for dad’s best friend.

  Noah’s a veteran. A good guy but a really bad boyfriend.

  How does it matter? I don’t care about men. Or dating.

  But that was before I met Noah.

  A gorgeous temptation I didn’t expect.

  The attraction is mutual, the chemistry explosive.

  Until…

  Secrets pop up and Noah’s on the run.

  I’m not letting him run alone.

  I’m not letting anyone ruin my happily ever after.

  Noah

  I flipped through our security checklist one last time. “Kids sneaking in with fake IDs should be about the worst problem we have tonight.”

  The building, a newly renovated nightclub in downtown Louisville, named Black Cherry, still smelled like new lumber and fresh paint. Strobe lights had been installed. The dance floor was polished, and the stage where the DJ would sit was newly constructed.

  “That’s exactly what we want. No trouble,” David Chapman said. Not only was he a close friend, he was also my mentor, and my former Army commander. And now he was my business partner.

  I texted the owner of the club and let him know that everything was ready on our end. “It’s crazy that we’re already on the job,” I said to David.

  David and I had an office space, but we hadn’t opened the doors yet. As soon as we mentioned to a mutual friend that we were going into the security business, we’d started having people call us. We hadn’t even advertised. We had several clients, including this club owner, and all were via word-of-mouth. Neither of us had expected to have any clients this quickly.

  Ready or not, there was no way we could pass this club up. Black Cherry was the hot new place to be, and we would have been crazy to refuse.

  David nodded. “Let’s hope it keeps up.”

  I grasped his shoulders in agreement and looked up at the exposed steel beams in the high ceiling. “I’m going upstairs,” I said. I left him at his designated station, the front door of the club, while I headed up to mine. My job was to stand on the balcony where I could keep an eye on the floor of the nightclub.

  We had cameras on every angle, and a guy watching them, but there was no substitute for having someone on the floor of a club, especially if there was a crowd.

  And it looked like there would be a crowd. This club had garnered a lot of hype online, and we expected tonight to be busy because it was the opening night. There was already a line at the door.

  Once I was on the balcony, I was mostly out of sight. I scanned the exits, and kept an eye on the DJ and the bar.

  We’d run background checks on all of his employees, both permanent and temporary, and we’d helped him hire bouncers and staff. Everything was going according to plan.

  I watched David move from the door to check in with each employee. He was forty-six, ten years older than I was, but he was in better shape than most twenty-five year olds. His retirement from the Army had shocked the hell out of me, but I understood why he did it.

  He'd missed a lot of time with his daughter while she was growing up. Now that she was going to college in Louisville, he was going to stay close and actually get to spend time with her.

  I’d followed him into civilian life not long after, but my retirement had been forced on me by a bullet.

  I wasn’t ready to retire from the Army. I liked being a soldier and serving my country. But I’d been shot in the ribcage. And while I could walk and run now, and probably beat the hell out most people if I needed to, my lung capacity was reduced enough that I wouldn’t pass the Army fitness test anymore.

  But our new job wouldn’t involve running for miles, or carrying heavy equipment under a hot desert sun. I was going to be evaluating homes and businesses for security risks, and recommending what kind of surveillance they needed. We were also going to provide bodyguard services for special events, and eventually expand into contracting with full time protection detail for interested clients.

  This nightclub was a far cry from the desert where we’d been deployed. Just twenty minutes after the doors opened, college-aged kids were pushing their way in. The young women had on body glitter, skimpy dresses and strappy heels, and the young men had on distressed jeans and tight shirts. Looking at them made me feel a thousand years old.

  Music thumped. Drinks flowed. Bodies writhed on the dance floor.

  Everything smelled like cherry. Apparently the owner went overboard with the theme, and every single drink had a cherry added, and they’d filled the air with some sort of fake cherry scent. It was disgusting, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. It hadn’t slowed them down a bit; they were grinding on each other with great enthusiasm.

  A loud roar, followed by the sound of a glass shattering caught my attention. Fucking hell.

  I’d cursed us by thinking this would be an easy job.

  Near the DJ, a guy had grabbed another guy, and was holding him by the throat.

  The lights were already low, and with the red, blue and green flashing strobe, it was hard to see how bad the fight was. I moved for the staircase, but David was already headed over. Two young hotheads would be nothing for him to handle. Sure enough, he had his hand on the taller one’s chest, and the other he had by the back of the neck.

  I exhaled as I watched from my vantage point. He’d always been good at breaking up a scuffle.

  As he led the two guys toward the exit, a blur moved behind the bar area, toward the private staff area. Immediately, I was on high alert. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was training, but I knew without a doubt that something was wrong.

  I raced down the stairs.

  As my boots hit the bottom step, I smelled smoke.

  * * *

  Sunlight poured through the blinds of my office, searing right into my eyeballs. I’d opened them because I’d thought the sunlight would help me wake up. But all it was doing was frying my brain. Or that’s how it felt.

  My head pounded and my throat itched. I’d taken two hot showers the night before, but the combination of the scent of fake cherries and charred wood was seared into my lungs.

  I let my head thump down on my desk as David walked in the door. He didn’t look any better than I did. Our first night of work had been a late one. As David took care of the two thugs who were fighting, I chased the guy who’d snuck into the staff area.

  I’d smelled smoke for a reason.

  The little shit had tried to start a fire. David had joined me as soon as he could, and we’d gotten it put out and gotten everyone evacuated safely. None of the patrons even had so much of a cough.

  Then the fire department had arrived, and th
ey’d wanted to talk to both of us. It had been 2:30 a.m. before we got home. Now at 8:00 a.m., we were both back at the office.

  ‘“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” I said.

  He walked over and pulled the blinds closed. “New clients?”

  I sighed in relief at the dimmer room. “Yes. Everyone heard how you stopped the fight with little to no effort, and how I caught the arsonist before the fire actually started, and they all want to hire us now.” I rubbed my temples. “Of course in the stories, you wrestled both guys to the ground with one hand, and the guy was setting me on fire, not the building.”

  David laughed and walked over into his office. “It’s a good problem to have. But we need more staff. And soon.”

  “Yeah.” I picked up a stack of papers. I followed him into his office and dropped the pile of papers onto his desk, right in front of him. “These are the resumes that came in this morning. A lot of them are qualified, assuming they pass the background check. But I can’t get very far, because I’m answering the damn phone.”

  “We need a secretary,” he said.

  No shit. We needed a lot of stuff. “We’ve had applicants for that too.”

  David picked up the resume on the top of the pile, but he didn’t even get to read it before the door was chiming. We had another prospective client.

  Fuck my life.

  I hopped up and smoothed my hair back and stuck a peppermint in my mouth. We were fucking lucky. I’d spent every dime I had, and then did some investing in this business. I’d expected to live lean for a little while, and have to do some recruiting, but so far the business was coming to us. I sure as hell wasn’t going to squander this opportunity.

  It was time to go meet our visitor and get some more business for our company. I had bills to pay. Both mine and my little sister’s. If I didn’t pay hers, then she and my baby nephew would be out on the street.

  Sophia

  I was really tired of the smell of bacon and eggs. It was 9:00 p.m., and customers were still ordering breakfast food.

  It was on the menu, and it was cheap, which made it popular, so I could hardly complain. But every inch of my uniform and my skin reeked of that smell. I couldn’t wait to wash it off.

  “Are you ready for your check?” I asked the four young women that were seated at a corner table. I knew who they were, but I pretended I didn’t, and I hoped they’d extend me the same courtesy.

  I was wrong.

  They weren’t here for the cheap bacon and eggs.

  They were here for me.

  Here to torment me.

  I waited, hovering next to the table while they smirked at each other. I’d also hoped that childish bullying wouldn’t take place among seniors in college, but I’d been wrong about that too.

  Sophia, just skip the tip, and get the hell out of here.

  I knew that’s what I needed to do, but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from a challenge.

  “Sophia.” One of them pursed her ruby-red lips. Her name was Molly. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

  I’d been working here at the Spice Bar for three years. It was the most popular diner near the campus. I could walk back and forth, which gave me more time to study, and everyone knew I worked here.

  Including this crew.

  We were all in the same human anatomy class. I wasn’t sure why they were taking it. None of them seemed to want to study at all. They certainly weren’t getting into any accredited medical school, no matter who their parents were.

  Tomorrow, we had a test coming up. I needed to study. I had a 3.98 GPA, and I planned to keep it that way. I’d already applied to the master’s program for criminal justice, and I’d be starting in the fall. I wanted to go into the FBI, assuming I could get accepted in Quantico. I didn’t have time to screw around with party girls.

  Last night, they’d shown up to my dorm room.

  At first, I’d ignored the knocks. Anyone who knew me knew to text first.

  They didn’t give up, so eventually I pulled the door open.

  Molly had smirked at me. “Hi. We need some help.”

  I didn’t have time for chit-chat. “With what exactly?”

  “We know you’re a really good student.”

  I nodded. It was true. I sat in the front row, I took copious notes, and I never missed a class. Quantico didn’t take shitty students.

  “We aren’t doing so hot in human anatomy, but it’s too late to drop the class.”

  That was a no-brainer. It was almost the end of the semester.

  I didn’t say anything, so she kept talking. “Since it’s so hard, we need you to pay attention to the questions on the test. The human anatomy professor is really bad about not switching the tests up. If you can remember them, then write them down for us.” She licked her lips. “We’ll pay you.” She dropped her voice to a faux whisper. “We know you need the money.”

  Wow.

  Did I look like someone who would cheat for a few dollars? Even a few hundred? Even if I was desperate? This kind of shitty scheme was a good way to make sure I would never be accepted into the FBI. Or even the master’s program I planned to attend.

  I tried to picture the look on my father’s face when I told him I’d been kicked out of the university for cheating. Not even cheating on my own test, but for others. For money.

  In what universe would I even consider this? To save someone’s life? Sure. But that was it. She knew me. She knew I would never agree to this.

  I lifted my chin and pulled my shoulders back. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

  Her lips formed into a pout. “I need this grade to pass the class. If I don’t pass, then I won’t be able to graduate on time.”

  I’d looked at my clock. But her silent pout didn’t work too well. “There’s still plenty of time before the test.” I couldn’t believe I was going to offer her any help at all, but I was. “I can help you study.”

  Her pout formed into a scowl. “I can’t. We have a pledge meeting tonight. I have to be there.”

  I shrugged. “That’s your choice.”

  “Come on, Sophia. I need your help,” she said, letting her voice take on a high-pitched whiny quality. It reminded me of my mother, which was not a good thing. When I was a kid, my mother used that voice to get what she wanted from my dad. For some reason, it always worked.

  I don’t know if my dad just wanted to make her happy. Or if it had annoyed him so much he just wanted to make it stop, which is what I wanted to do. I had never bothered to ask him. We didn’t talk about things like that.

  “I will help you. I’ll help you study,” I said.

  “How am I supposed to learn all that? I can’t keep it straight.” Her voice rose even higher.

  I was done. If she was anything like my mother, she wasn’t going to appreciate my offer to help, no matter how genuine it was. My mother had never appreciated my father. I rubbed my eyes. I must have been more tired than I’d realized, if I was comparing random sorority girls to my mother.

  “I’ll see you later.” I started pushing the door closed, and she pressed both hands against it.

  “You’re such a bitch now,” she said. Now her voice had taken on a harder edge. “You used to be nice.”

  Yeah, when we were freshman I used to let her copy my notes. “Good luck on your test.” I had no interest in humoring her anymore.

  “You said you needed money!” she screamed.

  There was no point in responding to her insults. I shoved the door closed and locked it. She pounded on it a few times. Was this real life? I’d never imagined a senior in college could act like this. She shouted and screamed a few times, and I put my headphones on. Sooner or later someone or something would distract her.

  But now she was in the restaurant where I worked, and she’d brought along her little gang.

  I saw what she was going to do before she did it. She lifted her hand and knocked her cup off. It hit the floor. The glass busted, and Coke sp
rayed everywhere.

  “Oops,” she said. She picked up her napkin and patted her mouth daintily. “I think I like it here,” she said. “I think I’m going to come. Every. Single. Day.”

  Fuck. I could not do this anymore. I made decent tips at the Spice Bar. But it was time for me to move on. I would start grad school in three months. It was a good time for a fresh start.

  My dad didn't have any extra money right now. He had just invested all of his cash into a new business, but maybe he could use a receptionist.

  At this point, I didn't mind asking him for a favor. I'd gotten a full scholarship to college, and I worked the whole time. However, my spot in the dorm ended in just a few weeks. I'd already planned to move back home with him for the summer, and he’d agreed. Maybe I could work with him too.

  Obviously I didn't get a tip from that table. And not only did she break that glass, she smeared ice cream all over the table. It wasn't fair for me to make the busboy clean it up, so I spent twenty minutes after my shift scrubbing the table with soap and hot water.

  Maybe some people would say I should stand my ground. That I shouldn't let some nit-wit moron chase me off campus. But I was twenty-three years old. I had no interest in parties or sororities or fraternities. I tolerated those aspects of campus life because of my full scholarship.

  But I had two more years of school to get my master’s, and then I could apply for the FBI. If I didn’t get accepted into Qunatico for training, then I would go back to school, and spend another three years getting my Ph.D.

  I had a plan, and it did not involve placating idiots.

  It was midnight before I made my way out of the restaurant. Instead of heading back to the dorm, I drove straight to my father's house. I had my backpack with me, and all of my books and my laptop. I had more luck studying at my dad's house.

  These days he was working most of the time, and he never dated. Technically he was still married to my mother. But neither of us had seen her in over a year.