Forever With You

by Beverley Kendall

  Graham lets out a throaty chuckle. “I’m not letting you out of this bed.”

  I give a hum of satisfaction.

  Suddenly, Graham stiffens against me. I tip my head back, my gaze questioning. “What’s wrong? Would you rather do something else?” I half tease.

  “It just occurred to me that we still have a problem. Your father says he didn’t send the email, which means someone else has it out for me.”

  My body relaxes and I press a kiss on the side of his neck before telling him the story of my brother’s ridiculous girlfriend.

  He responds with a weary shake of his head but there’s no mistaking the relief on his face. “Women, why do we men put up with you?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  His expression softens. “Because I’m crazy in love with you.”

  I let out a contented sigh. “Me too.”

  Epilogue

  “Well?” I ask the second Graham opens his apartment door to me.

  He treats me to a full wattage white smile and I immediately melt. “Don’t I even get a hello?” he asks before planting a kiss on my lips.

  I’m flushed and bemused when he finally lifts his head. “Hello.”

  Grinning, he tows me behind him into the dining area where the table is set and dominated with Chinese take-out cartons. My nostrils are seduced by the scent of spicy garlic and sesame oil.

  He waves his free hand over the table. “I didn’t want you to feel left out since Troy’s treating April to a candlelit dinner tonight.”

  “Does that mean you’re proposing tonight too?” I tease. That’s why Troy is going all out with a romantic dinner, flowers and a gorgeous diamond ring. My roomie has no idea what she’s in for.

  Graham pulls me into his arms and gives me another quick kiss on the lips. “When I propose, you’re not going to see it coming, I promise you that.”

  I hum my pleasure and tighten my arms around his waist. “I like the sound of that. Now, are you going to tell me?” He’s been keeping me in suspense since we talked on the phone an hour ago. Liv and I had been in the middle of helping Troy get everything ready for his surprise.

  “Claremont offered me the job.”

  I let out a squeal of delight and pull his head down for another lusty kiss. “Oh honey, I’m so happy for you. Have you decided which job you’re going to take?”

  He’s gotten four job offers but the one he got today is the closest and would allow him to live in the area. It’s the one he—we’d been hoping he’d get. Not that we wouldn’t do the long-distance thing if we had to but it wouldn’t be easy living so far away from each other.

  He looks down into my smiling face. “They’re offering ten thousand less than the one in Kent, and fifteen less than the job in Manhattan.”

  My spirits fall, my balloon of jubilation deflating. Kent is two hours away and Manhattan is four. Both jobs would require him to relocate. “That’s a lot of money.”

  He doesn’t disagree with me. “Yeah, but when you factor in the cost of living…” He shrugs.

  “What about the other benefits?” Hopefully that will make up for anything he’s giving up.

  “Since it’s a smaller company, they aren’t as good. But then I never expected them to be.”

  “Right, but we said that anything beyond a ten percent difference in pay from the one in the city would be a non-starter. This would be twenty percent.”

  “Are you saying I should turn it down and take the one in Manhattan?” he asks, eyebrows raised.

  “It’s not what I want but this is your career, and the job in Manhattan has better pay, better benefits with lots of room to grow. It won’t be easy having you so far away, but we’ll visit each other as much as we can. The drive is only four hours and it’ll only be for a year.”

  Only four hours. No longer would he be minutes away. No staying over at his place during school nights and there’s no way I can keep a part-time job if I want to see him.

  He sifts his fingers through my hair. “Are you sure?”

  No. “I’m sure. And next year when I graduate, I’ll get a job in Manhattan or thereabouts. What’s important right now is that you take the better job.”

  “You wouldn’t want to live up here? You said you loved the area near the lake.”

  “There are equally nice places on the outskirts of Manhattan. Remember, I grew up in one of them.” The houses are crazy expensive but with what we both have in savings, we should still be able to afford something nice when we’re ready to settle down.

  “So that’s it? You think I should take the job in the city?”

  I nod. Graham worked his butt off the past year to finish his degree. If anyone deserves this job, it’s him. And he’d been up against plenty of highly qualified candidates.

  “What if I told you I wanted to take half the money from my dad’s life insurance and invest it in Blake’s new company? It would give me a twenty-five percent stake.”

  My mouth drops open and a breath comes out in a whoosh of air. “Work with Blake?”

  “In uni, we used to talk about it. And now that he’s pretty much gotten everything set up and is looking for someone to run the marketing department, I figure why not, especially now that you two are so close,” he says playfully.

  Soon after Graham and I got back together, Blake’s attitude toward me underwent a seismic change. Thank goodness because I know how important it was to Graham that we got along. Gone was Mr. Surly and in his place was a really nice guy whom I could relate to. Besides being easy on the eyes, Blake is super smart and has a wicked sense of humor. More than anything, I like him because he’s a good friend to Graham.

  “Is this his idea?” I ask.

  “He broached the subject first, yes.”

  “And this is what you want?”

  Instead of answering, he lobs the question back at me. “First tell me what you think of it.”

  “Would that mean you’d stay here?” I know the Blake leased office space in Glendale, which is a forty-five-minute drive from Warwick.

  Graham pulls me closer. “I could. Or we could get a flat someplace between here and there.”

  My pulse jumps. “Are you asking me to move in with you now?” We’d talked about moving into together, but not until after I graduated.

  “You’re going to need a new flatmate and Blake decided he’s going to find a place closer to the office.” He pauses and places a lingering kiss on my lips. “And I want to come home to you every night and wake up beside you every morning.”

  This man. What did I do to deserve him?

  “Of course I’ll move in with you.” I’m giddy thinking about sharing an apartment with the man of my dreams.

  He smiles lovingly at me. “So you’re okay with me going into business with Blake?”

  “Sweetie, I know that you’ll be great at whatever you do no matter where you work.”

  “What do you think your parents will say?”

  I snort a laugh. “They won’t be surprised. Anyway, they both like you. They already think of you as their future son-in-law.”

  My dad is trying to get him interested in golf. It’s been an uphill battle. Graham hates it but tolerates the infrequent nine-hole game to please my father. In turn, Graham likes to schedule our visits with him on the days a soccer game is being televised.

  As for my mom, she adores him. But then, my boyfriend has a way with mothers. What’s nice is that I’m back in contact with his mom. We manage to see her and her husband every other month or so. This year, we’re spending Thanksgiving with them, Christmas Eve with my dad and Christmas with my mom and my brothers.

  Smiling, Graham runs his hands down my back and over my butt. After giving it a squeeze and a light slap, he sets me away and pulls out a chair for me at the dining table.

  Once seated, he pours two glasses of my favorite white wine.

  When Graham lifts his glass in a toast, I do the same. “Thank you for pushing your way back int
o my life. I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

  I laugh, Graham smiles as our glasses clink.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll have the rest of our lives.”

  “And it still won’t be long enough,” he murmurs, his gaze growing heated.

  My eyes trace the angular planes of his beautiful face, loving him with every fiber of my being. “How does forever sound?”

  He leans over and kisses me on the lips. “As long as it’s forever with you.”

  THE END

  * * *

  Thank you for reading FOREVER WITH YOU.

  I hope you enjoyed Emily & Graham’s story

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  Beverley loves interacting with readers

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  And communicate with her via email at beverley@beverleykendall.com

  First book in the Trapped series

  TRAPPED

  My life has turned out to be such a cliché. And not in a good way.

  It’s not exactly Sixteen and Pregnant, but at eighteen my only advantage is a high school diploma. And if that’s not enough, the father—and I use that term loosely—couldn’t have hightailed it out of my life fast enough.

  I thought I really knew him. Unfortunately, my boyfriend of three years transformed from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde once he realized his carefree, childless days would be coming to an end.

  I’m over him now though. The real love of my life is chubby, has more gum than teeth, and stands a little over two feet tall. She may not have been planned, but I’ve never regretted having her. She is the center of my world.

  A world that’s turned upside down when my ex returns ready to earn the love and trust of the child he abandoned before birth.

  Letting him into my daughter’s life is one thing but letting him back into mine isn’t going to happen. Because the biggest mistake of my life has a name, and that name is Mitchell Aaron Kingsley.

  And he’s one mistake I don’t ever intend to make again.

  **Includes the prequel, The Trap and the Christmas Bonus short

  Chapter One

  Who the hell is knocking on my door?

  I angle my head to check the time on the cable box. It’s 10:50 p.m, too late for visitors and too early for Steve to be back from his date with April.

  Shannon doesn’t stop kissing me so I can only assume that either she didn’t hear the knock or is ignoring the interruption and wants me to do the same.

  I try to get back into the kiss but give up when whoever’s on the other side of the door refuses to go away, the knocks sharper, harder, more impatient sounding.

  Fuck.

  I gently push Shannon away and off my lap. “I got to get that,” I mumble, two beers away from being officially drunk, a condition I’m probably a little too familiar with for my own good. I’m a responsible drunk though. I never drink and drive.

  “Who is it?” she asks, her blue eyes dulled by her own alcohol consumption.

  “I don’t know,” I grunt and push to my feet.

  I leave her on the couch pouting. This is the second time we’ve hung out. No sex yet. Thought I’d seal the deal tonight.

  Another knock has me impatiently yanking open the door.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake!

  I catch a glimpse of my sister just before she shoves past me and into the apartment.

  And here I’d half convinced myself that Steve must have lost his keys.

  “Diane, what the hell?” I absently push the door shut before turning to face her. But she’s still on the move, marching purposefully toward the living room.

  What is she doing here?

  Did something happen to Paige or the baby?

  No, Diane’s too pissed for that, I quickly conclude, my momentary panic subsiding.

  She screeches to a halt when she sees Shannon and takes in the state of her undress. I thank God we’d just started fooling around and that my date’s still in her bra and jeans.

  Whipping around, Diane glares at me. “Is she the reason you’re not coming home this time?” she demands, gesturing toward Shannon.

  Slow to react, Shannon frantically begins to button her blouse. “Mitch, who is she?”

  “I am his sister,” Diane replies tersely, turning her glare back on Shannon.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask pointedly.

  Diane’s head jerks in my direction, her gaze narrowing until her eyes are slitted.

  “You haven’t been home in over a year and you’re asking me what I’m doing here?” She pauses and does that thing with her hands—palms down, fingers splayed at her sides—when she’s trying to control her emotions. After exhaling a deep breath, she says calmly, “Look, you may want to ask your date to leave because I’m pretty sure you’re not going to want her to hear what I have to say.”

  My sister should know better than to throw out a challenge like that, especially when I’ve been drinking. “No, say whatever you have to say so I can get on with my date.”

  Diane’s expression darkens ominously. “Fine,” she snaps. “Grow up, Mitch and come home. I don’t care how you feel about Paige anymore, but you have a daughter who needs her father.”

  Shannon lets out a gasp. “You have a kid?” she squeaks.

  Bowing my head, I close my eyes and squeeze the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

  Hell, what did I expect? The date is officially over. It’s time to call it a night.

  It doesn’t take me long to see Shannon home. Her building is within walking distance of mine. Of course she presses me about my kid. My answer is short and doesn’t encourage further conversation. Yeah, I have a baby, a daughter.

  The truth is, I don’t know much more than that. I figured the less I know, the easier it would be to deal with everything. Guess what? Not by a long shot. Not even alcohol can make me forget.

  By the time I get back to my apartment, my sister seems to have lost some of her anger. I wish she hadn’t. It’s easier to hold on to mine when I’m faced with hers.

  “Sit,” she orders when I walk into the living room. I hate that she looks sad, that she looks like she’s been crying. Or maybe she’s just tired.

  Without arguing, I take a seat a couple of feet from her on the couch. She immediately angles her body toward me.

  For several long beats, she simply stares at me, her expression pained. Right now sobriety is a ruthless monster I don’t want to face but I don’t have a choice anymore. My buzz is long gone and the life I’ve tried to ignore the past year, descends down on me like a sledgehammer.

  “Mitch, I love you.”

  Fuck fuck fuck. I swallow hard. This is the last thing I want to hear. I don’t want her to be kind. I don’t want her to love me. Not when most days I can barely stand being in my own skin.

  “Diane, don’t,” I say in a voice that’s not my own.

  She scoots closer to me, grabbing my hand in hers. “No listen to me. I love you too much to watch you self-destruct. Right now you’re throwing your life away with both hands and I can’t stand by and watch you do that.” Reaching out with her free hand, she brushes my hair from my forehead like she used to do when I was a kid. “Please come home—at least for the summer. I know you don’t want to admit it but you need your family and we need you. Brianna needs you.”

  There’s no way to describe how I feel at that moment. It’s not a hurt. It’s not an ache. It cuts deeper than that. And buried beneath all of it is a longing I’ve refused to acknowledge for over a year. For the past seven months.

  I have a daughter. A daughter I’ve never seen, never touched and never held. When the reality of that sinks in, it hits and it hits hard.

  I clear my throat. “Di—”

  “Don’t give me an answer now. Just think about it. Plus,” she coaxes lightly after a pause, “the kids miss
their uncle Mitch.”

  Nothing like a whole lotta guilt and a bit of emotional blackmail to make me feel like shit. Not that I don’t deserve it.

  “I miss them too.” No lie. As much as they can sometimes drive me crazy, I never knew until this past year how empty my life would feel without them.

  Shit, I miss all of them, even my brother-in-law Dan.

  Just don’t ask me about Paige. I don’t want to think about her. She’s the reason for all this…crap. The reason for the train wreck that is my life.

  During the silence that falls, Diane puts her arms around me and pulls me close. After a moment’s hesitation, I return her embrace. Any anger I felt toward her is long gone. She’s the one constant in my life. The one person I can always count on.

  Before releasing me, she gives me a kiss on the cheek. “You need a shave,” she says, affectionately running her hand over my bristled jaw.

  “Yes, Mom,” I reply, all mock solemnity.

  “Think about what I said,” she instructs softly.

  All I can do is nod.

  She smiles. “Good.”

  I follow her when she rises to her feet.

  “Let me get out of your hair. I’ve got to catch an early flight home tomorrow.”

  “Where are you staying?” I’d offer to sleep on the couch and have her take my room but my sister would never accept. It has something to do with sleeping in an apartment inhabited by college guys.

  “I booked a room for the night at a hotel near the airport.”

  As I thought. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  “No, I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl. You, on the other hand, look like you could use some shuteye.”

  “In other words, I look like crap.”

  Diane laughs. “You could never look like crap. I was actually thinking it looks like you’ve put on a bit more muscle.” Reaching out, she squeezes my biceps. “Been working out?”