After I’d left Tessa that God-awful night she stopped calling Danny, and didn’t call me either. I was heartbroken that she didn’t miss me when I’d gone and fallen in love with her.
A week later, she texted me.
Tessa: I’m going away for the summer. Need some time to heal. I hope you understand. Don’t forget me.
I wasn’t sure what it meant, especially the last part, which provided a ray of hope to my otherwise glum existence without her. I texted back:
Max: I could never forget you.
I didn’t know what else to write, so I left it at that. I understood, really. And I respected her wishes. But damn, did I miss her.
Moreso, I hated myself. I hated what I did to make a living. It took Tessa’s rejection to realize the obvious—I was a scumbag.
I didn’t deserve Tessa’s love. Hell, I didn’t deserve to be in her life at all.
Not unless I made some serious changes.
Chapter 7
My new job at the Port Authority had me in and out of the city all summer, and I’d started a habit of checking on Tessa’s house, with Nellie’s blessing. Someone had been cutting the lawn, but the area in the backyard we’d worked on together in May was overgrown. I spent my evenings tending to it, hoping her neighbors wouldn’t call the cops on me, and even bought a few audiobooks on gardening. Over the hot summer months, I mulched, trimmed, watered the flowers we’d planted, and added some perennials and vegetable plants. I’d even found another ceramic frog, wearing a smile and a tiara, and stood her in the mulch. I named her “Rana” for la rana, “frog” in Italian, and talked to her as I gardened.
Yep, I pretty much lost my mind with Tessa gone. Still, being around her home helped me settle into my own new life, somehow. I started to like myself again. Maybe because of the alone time, the meditative aspects of working in the dirt as the sun set every night, or being out of the business. I wasn’t sure, but each day I felt more like someone I could be proud of.
Then, everything changed one hot Friday evening in August. After my shift at the Port Authority, I drove to Tessa’s and jumped out of my car, stopping in my tracks when I realized her front door was open and her car was in the driveway.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I hadn’t been prepared to see her, and I didn’t want to overstep my place in her life. Silently, I damned Nellie for not giving me the heads up.
Deciding I wasn’t going to pressure her with my presence, I turned to go back to my car.
She called my name. “Max!”
The sound of her voice penetrated straight to my heart. Slowly I turned, having imagined the moment of seeing her again every night since she’d been gone.
She stood on the front porch wearing a short, flowered sundress. Her hair had grown, her skin looked tanned. Even from my spot in the middle of the street, I could see the blue of her eyes.
“Don’t leave,” she yelled.
I walked to the porch and stood in front of her, unable to form words. Finally, I reached out and touched her face. “You’re back?”
She nodded. “I missed you.”
My heart pumped and I felt dizzy. “I missed you too, sweetheart.”
She took my hand and led me to the back of the house. Little white lights twinkled around the bushes and patio. Flowers sat in a vase on the glass table, and a bottle of wine was uncorked, two empty glasses waiting. She’d set up dinner.
“Wow,” I said. “Is this for me?”
Tessa smiled. “Penelope told me your routine, so I thought you’d come around back here, and I’d surprise you. I almost missed you though.”
“This looks amazing,” I said, barely glancing at the table because I wanted to look at her. “I saw your car and I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Oh, Max.” She wrapped her arms around me and suddenly, after months of being alone, I felt my whole world come back to life. “While I was away, all I wanted to do was come home and be with you. Finally, I realized that I don’t care where we came from. From this moment forward, I want you—without guilt, without question. And if Ryder comes back to haunt us, or James and what happened to him, then we’ll deal with it together. Because now, thanks to you, thanks to me, I’m feeling ready to face the world. Especially if you’ll be with me.”
I held her close, afraid that the words weren’t real and I was dreaming. “You’ve always had me, Tessa. You always will.”
When she looked up at me, her face blurred, and I realized I was crying. I bent down to kiss her, and the moment our lips met I knew I’d move heaven and earth for the rest of my days to make her happy.
She pulled away but held my face in her hands, resting her forehead on my chin. “I’m sorry that I left. I was scared.”
I kissed her forehead. “I’m glad you’re back. I’m sorry, Tessa, for what you went through. You never have to be scared with me.”
Smiling up at me, she poked my chest. “I heard about your new job.”
“My uncle hooked me up with the Port Authority, and the pay is decent. Overtime and all that regular job stuff.”
“I’ll have to thank him someday.” She peeked at me from under her long lashes. “You didn’t go find yourself another girlfriend while I was gone?”
Laughing, I kissed her again. “There is one lady in my life you probably should know about.”
She lifted her eyebrows. I walked her to the landscaping and the new flowers, then bent to pick up Rana.
Tessa squealed and grabbed the frog princess, holding it to her chest. “She’s so cute. I knew you’d come around on the frog thing.”
I shrugged. “I have to admit, they’re growing on me. Especially Rana.”
She giggled and put the frog back in its spot in the mulch. “I’m not sharing you with Rana. Sorry. I’m going to be the only female, human or otherwise, in your bed.”
As soon as she stood up again, I gripped her waist. “Speaking of bed…”
She ran her hands down my chest. “We should eat first. Isn’t that normal date protocol?”
“Oh, sweetheart. I think we abandoned normal date protocol a long time ago.”
She smirked, tracing her hands down to the waistband of my work pants. “I missed being in your arms. Thought about you…and your body…a lot.” As her lips found my neck, my hands found her ass.
“And I’ve thought about yours.” I pulled her hips into mine, letting her feel how much I missed her. “I’m sorry that we met the way we did. But I don’t regret my life choices because they led me here, to you.”
“I’m still figuring things out, Max.”
“Me too. But I know one thing for certain.” I bent so that we were eye-to-eye. “I love you, Tessa Truett. Dinner looks great, but the only thing I want to taste right now is you.”
She pulled my shirt out of my pants, setting my skin on fire as she touched my bare waist. “That can be arranged.”
We made it as far as the kitchen before we were both naked, and then made love on the living room floor. Finally, as we lay together, she looked me in the eyes and told me the words that made my life, my soul, complete.
“I love you too, Max Constantino.”
I moved in that fall, we eloped in spring, and named our first baby Summer. Her parents hated me until I placed Summer in their arms. Then, they either realized I was in love with their daughter and granddaughter, or just gave up fighting us. Luckily, they weren’t around much, and when I became a father I learned to accept them for what they were—parents who worried about their daughter.
My family, though, loved Tessa from the moment she sat at the table with us, complimented Mama’s sauce, and taught Giorgi to sing the alphabet. Ma made it her life’s mission to keep us fed and happy, and when Summer came along, we could barely get rid of the woman. Tessa insisted on helping out financially, a gift which I appreciated and accepted.
We hadn’t had a traditional beginning, but Tessa and I strived to get to normal, learning from each other and loving one another more and more ea
ch day. Danny and Nellie were still in our lives, and once in a while, when we’d see them, the guilt of my past would rise up inside of me. To tamp it back down, I remembered that I couldn’t go back and change the past, but could only concentrate on the future.
And every day with Tessa and Summer, my heart filled with love, and I couldn’t help feeling like the luckiest guy in the world, with a future that would only get brighter and brighter.
THE END
About the Author
Jessica Calla (THE LOVE SQUARE, The Sheridan Hall Series) is a contemporary romance and women's fiction author who moonlights during the day as an attorney. If she's not writing, lawyering, or parenting, you'll most likely find her at the movies, scrolling through her Twitter feed, or gulping down various forms of caffeine (sometimes all three at once). A Jersey girl through and through, she resides in the central part of the state with her husband, two sons, and dog.
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Unblooded Love
By J.S. Andersen
Prologue
Kris Hales Wagner and her older sister, Sara Miller, sat on the back deck enjoying the nice morning. The blue herons waltzed in the shore at Hammersley Inlet of the Puget Sound, waiting to catch their morning fish.
Born and raised in Shelton, Washington, the sisters got married and stayed in their hometown, like most of the people there. No one really left Shelton. Kris’s husband, Andy, was a CEO for one of the hospitals in Olympia, and Sara’s husband, Rick, worked for The Bremerton Shipyard.
Sara held her four-year-old nephew, Mark. “Are you done having babies?” She envied Kris and watched her nurse her eight-month-old daughter, Lynne. Sara found out she was unable to have children. By luck, so to say, Rick’s younger teen sister got pregnant and didn’t want to raise her baby boy. Sara and Rick jumped for joy to have their nephew to adopt as their own son. They named him Stan and he turned eight a month ago.
Kris’s oldest daughter, Jenni, was seven and had fun on playdates with her cousin Stan. At times Mark was included, but they ended up fighting over who got to play with whose cars. “She looks like Jenni did at this age.”
Jenni was a blonde-haired sea green tomboy upfront, but she would still play with her dolls on the side after building forts and playing cars with her cousin Stan. They were at an age where they were of neither sex, just kids. They were two peas in a pod.
“You have the door going outside locked downstairs so the kids won’t go running out to the dock, don’t you? The tide is rising.”
“Double locked, Mrs. Nervous Wreck. And mind you, Sara, the swimming lessons are in full force and we need to make sure they’re ready in thirty minutes. Thanks for taking them today.”
Jenni and Stan used the blocks to make racing tracks. They set up army men toys and animals as the audience. At times a toy got knocked over from a car and Jenni had to fix it up. She wanted to be a doctor and make ‘the toy-people’ feel better.
Stan got up from the floor to get more cars from the box against the wall and stepped on a couple cars on the racing track. He dramatized the accident, fell over in pain, and grabbed his foot. “Doctor, Doctor, I need an amputation.”
Smart for her age, Jenni crawled over to check Stan out. “Okay, patient. Let me hear your heart.” She leaned over and rested the side of her head on his chest to hear his heart. “Let’s make sure your tummy is working.” She scooted down to listen to his stomach. “Sounds good. Let’s make sure you’re all in place.” She lifted his swimming trunks and saw his boyhood was intact. Last, Jenni lifted Stan’s sore foot and saw red marks from the cars. “Sharpen the knife. It’s time to cut off your foot.”
She pretended her finger was the knife and tickled the bottom of his foot. “No more foot.”
Stan sat up and laughed. “Your turn to get hurt next time.”
Jenni nodded.
A call came down the stairs. “Hey, kiddos. It’s time to go.” Sara’s footsteps echoed in the staircase.
The peek-a-boo no touch was a short faze. Jenni and Stan didn’t feel embarrassed; they were cousins and best friends. They held no secrets from each other. Within the next year, Sara and Rick moved to Bremerton even though Sara fought it for years. The weekly playdates came to an end.
Chapter 1
Nineteen Years Later
Shelton, Washington had grown a couple thousand in size but remained under ten thousand in population. A new development started several years ago up north by the town’s high school and made the whole area boom with businesses. Sad part? It made the old main town down by the inland feel like a ghost town.
Twenty-three-year-old Jenni Wagner was a typical young adult and still lived at home. She looked for a vacant studio or apartment in her price range but was picky. She could move into a place then if she wanted to, but the style was old-fashioned. Jenni figured soon they would build nicer apartments in the newer area of the town.
Her parents, Andy and Kris Wagner, lived in a nice house outside of Shelton with the back of their house facing the Hammersley Inlet of Puget Sound. It was a ranch with a basement with a door to the outside. It was built on a small hill. Jenni lived in the basement and had her own kitchen with a cooking area, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer.
Her parents and Lynne had a room on the main floor and a flight of stairs went up to a small lookout area to see The Sound. It was breathtaking and Jenni loved to sit and stare out the window for hours when the weather was cold and she had the time.
Her younger brother, Mark, twenty-one, lived in Olympia working as a computer programmer. Her little sister, Lynne, age eighteen, was a senior at Shelton High School. When Jenni was home, Lynne would spend time with her getting help with her math.
Shelton was a place where most residents knew each other well, especially when you had family members scattered throughout the town.
Jenni’s mom, Kris, was close to her sister, Sara, and one or more times a month had family dinners when the kids were younger. It slimmed down the past few years because of busy schedules. Stan hadn’t made it for the last couple years because he lived in Tacoma driving diesel trucks, and was often gone for days.
But a few months ago, Stan left the long-distance driving job and moved back to Shelton ten miles from Jenni’s house. He worked for the local Pacific Sound Industries sawmill and hauled logs in. Jenni remembered Stan telling her when they were young playing cars he wanted to drive a big one. His dream came true. Being busy, they hadn’t run into each other yet.
Her schedule caused her to miss the family gatherings too, being a paramedic, and a nine-one-one call receiver on the side. She met her dear friend, Yvette Leduc, who worked as an EMT driver. She was two years younger than Jenni and lived with her boyfriend, twenty-two-year-old Austin Merkley, who also was an EMT driver.
When they had a family get together, Jenni had Yvette and Austin join them. She also used it as a distraction if Stan showed up. She loved her cousin more than as a family member. It was a truth she hoped Stan couldn’t tell. He for sure would block her off for good.
Jenni thought all was going great until one day her mom came downstairs when she was doing her laundry.
“A short notice for a get together tonight. I got word Sara, Rick, and Stan, and a couple of your dad’s cousins, are up for a party. Are you working tonight?”
Jenni wished she was. “No. Yvette is taking a double shift because Austin is out of town. She wants to keep busy.”
“Good for you, not working, but I’d love to have her and Austin over as well. Maybe next time.” Kris headed back up the stairs.
Folding the last of her clothes, Jenni said her thoughts loud enough for her ears only. “It’s not like I don’t love my family, but the thought of seeing Stan
makes me nervous. Keep cool, Jenni, keep cool and all will be fine.”
Aunt Sara and Uncle Rick pulled into the driveway first. She jumped out of the car, grabbed a grocery bag from the back seat, and ran to the front door. Kris saw the ordeal and opened the door. “It isn’t like you haven’t seen me in years. What’s the deal?”
“The ice cream’s about to melt. I should’ve listened to Rick and bought it here and not in Bremerton.”
Laughing, Kris took the bag and put it in the freezer. “I believe this time he was right.” She greeted Rick in the hall. “Andy’s out back setting up the barbeque. Drinks are in the ice cooler by the table on the porch.”
“Thanks.” He went down the stairs, almost running into Jenni and Lynne. “Hey, you two wild animals.”
“Growl.” Lynne scrunched her lips like a lion.
“Watch it. She’s on the wild side.” Jenni patted Lynne’s back.
“Thanks, sis. Not.” The gals continued up the stairs and into the kitchen with Lynne elbowing Jenni’s side, trying to get her off balance.
“What else did you need us to take out back?”
“Look in your fridge, Jenni, and you’ll see the potato and the macaroni salads. Lynne, you can get the Jell-O and fruit salad out of this fridge.” She looked out the kitchen window. “Stan has arrived. It’s been ages.” She washed her hands and went to open the door.
“I’ll help you carry the salad downstairs.” Jenni grabbed one out of the fridge and speed walked down the hall.
“Don’t you want to say hi to Stan?” Lynne put the bowl down and greeted Stan with her mom. “Man, you look good. Too bad we’re related and I’m years younger.” She laughed and gave him a hug.
Craving Forbidden (Craving Series Book 8) Page 36