by Toni Aleo
She looked around, and I did the same. The room was a standard room, but it was full of candles, and then on the bed was a box of pizza and some beer. Wasn’t sure how she got that in here since they wouldn’t let us bring in beer in Malibu, but then maybe the rules were different here. Not that that mattered, since she was supposed to have been hit by a car!
“Yeah, I’m fine. We always said we should have date night here—”
I held my hand up again, stopping her. “My mom told me you got hit by a car.”
Her jaw dropped, and then she started to sputter with laughter. “What! I told her to tell you I twisted my ankle again!”
I inhaled hard, running my hands down my face. “I’m going to kill her.”
“You guys have a really funny relationship.”
“Yeah, they’re basically children and I’m the adult.”
Bo scoffed at that. “I mean, I wouldn’t go that far.”
I tucked my hands into my pockets and looked up at her. She looked back at me, her cheeks full of color as she chewed on her lip. I wanted to close the distance between us, kiss away all the lip gloss she wore, but I wasn’t sure what was going on here.
But that didn’t matter, because without thinking, I reached for her, pulling her hard to me before crashing my lips to hers. She kissed me back with just as much need as her fingers trailed up the back of my neck into my hair. Squeezing her in my arms, I heard the crunch of the paper she was holding, but I didn’t care because I wanted to cry out in elation. I parted only slightly and whispered, “I texted you.”
“I know,” she whispered back, moving her hands down my face, her thumbs resting against my lips. “I wanted to answer back, but I couldn’t do it over the phone. I wanted to do it in person.”
Swallowing hard, I held her gaze. “So what did you want to say?”
“That I was sorry,” she said as an exhale. “That I was an idiot, and that I can’t keep trying to make you pay for the pain that Jesse brought me. You aren’t him, and I knew that from the beginning, which is why I stopped hating you so quickly.”
My face broke into a grin. “You never hated me.”
She eyed me. “I did.” Moving my hands up her back and into her hair, I searched her gaze. She was just so beautiful. “But, um, I was talking to my mom today, and she made a good point, that I’m dragging around my past as if it’s chained to me. I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to think of my past. I only want to live in the now, with you.”
I pressed my forehead to hers. “That’s all I want.”
“I don’t know what is going to happen.”
“It doesn’t matter, because the thing is, Bo, I’ll never finish loving you. It just keeps going on and on. I’ve finished a lot of things. A period during a game, a goal, and plenty of women that I shouldn’t really be bringing up, but oh well, it’s part of my point. With you it’s constant and I can’t… I just can’t finish. And all I want is for you to love me back and for us to be happy. The future will fall into place as long as we have each other.”
She sighed softly as she gazed up at me. She wiggled her arms up, and I pulled back some so she could hold up her piece of paper.
I want to make promises with you.
Everything inside of me just blew up as I met her gaze again.
“I didn’t want this. I really didn’t, you know I didn’t, but it just seems like we’re supposed to happen. I have never made anyone a promise because of what happened, but now, I want to make the same promises you made to me. Because I don’t want anything other than to be with you.”
“Me too. Fuck, baby, me too,” I demanded, cupping her face. “Listen, I want you to move here with me. I really do, but if you want to finish school, that’s fine. We’ll make it work because we won’t settle for anything el—”
“I want to move with you,” she said, cutting me off. “I’ll transfer, or whatever, I’ll make it work. I want to be wherever you are. And Sweetie. I can’t forget Sweetie.”
“Really?” I asked, and I felt the tears burning my eyes. Every single dream I’d had since the moment I met her was coming true. “You really want that?”
“I do, as long as you want it.”
“You’re damn right I do,” I said before taking her mouth with mine. As I drew out the kisses, she melted against me, and I wanted nothing more than to spend my days doing just this. Being with her. Loving her.
She was what happiness felt like.
Pulling back, I moved my fingers along her temple, into her hair, as she said, “I can’t promise that I won’t bring up my past again.”
“That’s fine.” I pressed my nose to hers. “I can’t promise I won’t annoy the fuck out of you.”
“You will, and I’ll hold out on sex.”
“Seems fair.”
“I thought so.”
We shared a smile. “But something I can promise, there will always be a seat for you at all my games.”
She beamed up at me. “I’ll be there, as long as I get to come home with you.”
“Done deal,” I answered as our gazes burned together. We shared a smile, and my eyes slowly drifted shut as I wrapped my arms around her neck and hers came around my torso. “One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“I promise I’ll love you. For the rest of our lives.”
“Good, ’cause I can promise the same thing.”
“Can’t say it, huh?”
She giggled against my lips. “Gus.”
“Bocephus Jane St. James?”
She didn’t even glare. She kept smiling as she held me in her arms. “I love you too.” She let out a long breath. “I love you so damn much.”
Oh, those words. Just four simple little words that basically demolished my world within seconds. I thought hearing my name fall from her lips was the best sound in the world. Boy, was I wrong. I knew from this moment on, I’d never be the same.
Never.
What more could I ask for? Well, maybe fewer trips to the ER, but then again, I fell madly, deeply, insanely in love with Bo there.
So yeah, I wouldn’t ask for that. Instead, I’d kiss her again.
Because I was Bo’s.
And she was mine.
And I was cocky enough to know that life was going to be great.
Acknowledgments
I’m going to try not to forget everyone. I’m so awful at these things.
First, I want to thank my amazing family, Michael, Mikey, Alyssa, and Gaston. Everything I do, I do it for y’all. I love you all, so damn much, and nothing will ever change that. To the rest of my family, I love you.
Then my tribe, Bobbie Jo, Kristen, and Nortis. These women are my rocks. They believe in me when I don’t believe in myself.
To my life manager, Lisa Holleta. Everyone knows I can’t do life without you. You truly have my best interest in mind and I truly appreciate that. It’s amazing to be able to trust someone so completely and know they have you. I will always love you, Holletta. Thank you for all you do.
When I started in this business, God gave me women to help me make sure to give the best book I can, my betas, Laurie, Heather, Jessica, Althea, Franci, Susie, and Nicole. They are the best, I love y’all.
To Chelle Bliss. I love you girl. Really. I couldn’t do a lot of my work life without you.
To my editing team: Scott and Jeanne. Thank you so much for dealing with all this crazy. I know it hasn’t been easy but I am blessed to have y’all in my life. Thank you so much for all you’ve done. I look forward to our future together.
To Meredith Wild and her amazing husband, thank you for being so kind. For always believing in me and for just being effing awesome.
To my Misadventures sisters, y’all are amazing. Thank you for being there for me when I needed someone to pick me up. I love you all.
To the whole Misadventures team, thank you. Thank you so much for being the best team a girl could get.
And last, but definitely not least,
David Grishman. I don’t think there are enough words to truly thank you for what you’ve done for me. You believed in some crazy, country, hockey nut and gave her her dream. I offered you a kidney and while I’m glad you didn’t take it, I honestly wish I could figure out a way to thank you. I look forward to our future together and I can honestly say I’ve never been happier to be with such an amazing publishing house. Thank you. Thank you so very much.
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Misadventures with the Boss
Available April 24, 2018
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Excerpt from Misadventures with the Boss
My Netflix account was judging me.
At least that was how it felt every time I had to insist Yes, Netflix, I am still watching Absolutely Fabulous, thank you very much. I imagined it asking even more invasive questions—questions my sister would ask if she were here.
Are you sure you want to keep watching?
Didn’t you move to the city for all the exciting nightlife?
And, more importantly—what kind of twenty-something spends their evening watching so many old sitcoms?
I grabbed the throw pillow beside me, tucked it under my chin, and snuggled it close to my chest, ignoring the clunk of my phone as it tumbled to the floor. It wasn’t like anyone was going to call and ask me to hang out anyway. I was so new to the city that I was still surrounded by boxes that desperately needed to be unpacked.
But not tonight. Tonight I was determined to sit like a stubborn bump on a lazy log and do nothing.
Raising the remote, I turned up the volume as the theme song faded and the show began. But just as the dialogue was really starting to heat up, my phone broke into the jazzy, happy tone I’d selected for one caller in particular—my sister.
Think of the devil.
I let it play on a bit, debating whether to answer. I then reached for the floor, snagged my phone from the carpet, and pressed it to my face.
“Hello?” I said, waiting for Hailey’s chipper voice to fill the speaker.
“Piper,” she deadpanned.
“What?” I asked, already feeling defensive and biting back a groan.
First mistake?
Answering the phone.
“Where are you right now? I don’t hear anything going on behind you. No music. No chatter. Tell me at least you’re at some gallery looking at glorious paintings and sipping champagne,” she demanded.
If things were quiet on my end, the same could definitely not be said for hers. As usual, bass-filled music blared behind her voice, getting softer as she moved through whichever bar was the flavor of the week. There were a lot of things a person could say about Hailey, but nobody could ever accuse her of not knowing her way around a party. To be perfectly honest, I was shocked I didn’t hear people chanting her name in the distance, begging her to join them for another shot.
She was like a people magnet, and I was…well, what’s the opposite of a people magnet?
Whatever the answer is, that’s me.
“I’m home.” I stared at the stack of brown cardboard boxes and forced a white lie from my lips because the truth was just too depressing to say. “Unpacking. And can you go outside or something? The music wherever you are is so loud.”
“Right.” I could practically hear her roll her eyes, but in a matter of minutes, the music had dimmed to practically nothing. “Why aren’t you out?”
“Who am I going to go out with?”
“I don’t know. You just go out. Find people along the way.”
I sighed. “I’m not like you. I don’t just enter a room and have people flock to me.”
“But aren’t you lonely?”
I bit my cheek. “I never said I wasn’t.”
“So what are you going to do? Just sit around your apartment and hope friends magically appear?”
“I just got a new job. I’ll meet people there when I start.”
Hailey blew out a frustrated sigh. “This isn’t like college or high school. You can’t just expect to hang with the people you see all day. We’re in the modern age, Pipes. You’ve gotta throw yourself into it. Take risks. Get wild.”
“What, like, join a chat room or something?”
“No, you weirdo. Use an app. All the dating sites have find-a-friend features,” she replied, matter-of-fact.
“Well, ideally I wouldn’t find my friends where people are also trying to get into my pants,” I said primly.
“And why not? I’m willing to bet nobody has gotten into your sensible slacks in a good long while, either,” my sister said with a snort.
“Hailey,” I warned, but she pressed on.
“Come on, everybody’s doing it,” Hailey said. “What could it hurt?”
My pride?
I should have said it aloud, of course, but just like everyone else, I had fallen under the magic spell that Hailey cast on everyone she met. I wanted to please her—to let her have her way. She was just so cool. So everything I wasn’t.
“Exactly,” Hailey said into the silence. “Even you can’t come up with a reason not to. I’m putting you on speaker so I can make you an account right now.” There was the sound of fumbling, and then my sister’s voice came back over the line again. “Okay, ready. You still have the same email address?”
Sucked into the whirlwind that was Hailey and at a loss to come up with a reason why I shouldn’t do this, I nodded, and then catching myself, I said, “Uh, yeah. Same one.”
“Great. Now we need to come up with a username for you.”
“How about Piper Daniels? My name,” I said dryly.
“Do you even internet?” Hailey said with a groan. “No, I think not. We don’t need stalkers tracking you down and trying to make dresses out of your skin.”
I winced and rubbed at my temple with my fingertip. “If you’re trying to convince me this is a good idea, you’re not doing a great job.”
Frankly, all of this was giving me a tension headache. I glanced longingly at the TV as she continued.
“Relax. We’ll root out the weirdos. Now focus. We need a screen name. Think something cute. Something that speaks to who you are as a person.”
I paused, but all I could come up with was Piper Longstocking. Between my freckles and my dark-red hair, it was a nickname that had come all too easy to the less-creative relatives in my family. I suggested this to my sister, and as expected, she scoffed.
“Jesus. God, no. Nothing about that screams sexy to me.”
“I’m not trying to scream sexy. I’m trying to find friends,” I reminded her.
“Well, we’re keeping our options open,” she hedged in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Besides, there’s going to be a picture of you on the profile. I used that one from cousin Anna’s wedding.”
“The one where I’m sneezing?” I hissed, mortified.
“No. What do you take me for, woman? There’s another one. You look cute, trust me. Now, let’s focus this name on something you like to do or something about you. You’re all organized, right? What about something to do with that?”
“Planning Piper?” I suggested.
“I don’t like it. We need to make it sexier.”
“Hail—”
“I’ve got it. Okay. Typed and saved. Can’t change it now.”
“I’m afraid to ask,” I groaned.
“Oh, it’s nothing bad. Just, you know, roll with the punches.”
“And what punches am I rolling with?”
She mumbled at first, so low that I couldn’t hear her.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Fantasy Girl 29,” she said more clearly.
“What?” I yelped. “Are you serious? What kind of person is looking to be friends with someone who names herself Fantasy Girl 29?”
“What? You love fantasy stuff. You’re all
into, like, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, so I thought—”
“That is not how people are going to read that, Hail.”
“Oh well. What’s done is done,” she said in a rush. “Now we just need to answer some questions. You’re a 29-year-old female with a bangin’ bod, and you’re looking for friendship, long- and short-term relationships, and casual sex.”
Panic shot through me, and I let out a squeak. “I am not looking for—”
“Aren’t you?” Hailey cut in. “Be honest with me for just a second here. What would it really hurt for you to get a good, rough bone in every now and again? It’s been ages since you and Tommy broke up, and I seriously doubt you found yourself a fuck boy to get over it, so—”
I wrinkled my nose. “No, I moved to a new city to start fresh and get away from him. Now come on, don’t…”
“Too late. Already done,” Hailey chirped. “No going back now.”
I pinched my nose between two fingers. “Right. Of course not.”
“Now let’s answer some questions. You drink occasionally, and you don’t smoke. Those are easy. You’re an animal person.”
“I’m allergic to cats,” I said.
“But you like them. Good enough.”
“Why do I get the feeling I should hang up and just let you do whatever you’re going to do?”
“Come on, don’t be like that,” she pleaded in that sweet voice that made me want to hand her the moon on a platter. “Now let’s get to the real questions, shall we? Okay, if you were going to have one romantic night anywhere in the world, where would you choose?”
I thought hard. Some girls would say Paris. Others would say a picnic on the edge of a lake.
Me? I glanced at my paused TV and said, “In my apartment. Homemade dinner and some movies. Perfect night.”
Hailey groaned. “I’ll never understand how we came from the same people’s loins, but I’m writing it down because I love you, and surely there is someone out there who will too. Okay, next one. On a scale of one to ten, how adventurous are you?”