From the Heart: A Valentine's Day Anthology

by Anthology

  I’m more sorry than I can ever express in words or even gestures. Please, please, please forgive me? I’m leaving for the tour today, and my flight leaves at noon. If I don’t hear from you before then, I’ll walk away and never, ever try to contact you again. But I had to tell you one more time. I had to know for certain if I was gonna be forced to fly away without you, but I don’t think I can. I need you.

  I love you,

  D x

  Aria’s heart broke even harder, which she hadn’t thought was even possible any more. She had to stop him. Dexter had to know she loved him, too. Aria no longer cared that he’d caved and been with another woman behind her back. She should’ve known she couldn’t keep stringing him along. After telling him over and over they were just friends, why shouldn’t he have been free to have some fun? Her jealousy had made her blind to what she’d truly known ever since that day they’d met on that rooftop—they belonged together. All she’d had to do was say it, and he would’ve come running. But she’d pushed him away. She’d chosen her rotten, cheating husband over him, and now they were broken, and she was as much to blame as him.

  She ran inside and grabbed her phone from the kitchen drawer. Her trembling fingers dialled, but his number rang and rang, with no answer.

  “No! Stupid thing.” She peered up at the clock on the wall and felt her legs buckle. It was already past noon. “Five minutes, I couldn’t even get five minutes?” she cried out, screaming at the world as her tears returned after weeks of fighting them away.

  Aria gripped the sink before her with her hands, and stared out at the pristine gardens behind the home she didn’t care a thing about. All the luxury and decadence—it meant nothing. He was gone. Dexter Fray had boarded a plane and left her behind, and it was all her fault.

  She barely registered the phone vibrating on the counter, and her tears blurred her vision as she answered and held it to her ear. Aria had no idea who was on the other end, and didn’t care any more. It could be her lawyer telling her it was fruitless taking her husband to court for his infidelity. It could be CeCe ringing to gloat about her naivety. It could even be Brad himself calling to tell her he was leaving. Nothing mattered to her any more. “Yes?” her voice was cold, empty.

  A deep sigh. That was all Aria heard, but it snapped her right back into reality, and she sucked air into her lungs at such a rate she let out a high-pitched squeal. “Dexter? Is that you?”

  “I thought you’d let me go, Bluebird. I thought I’d have to travel the world with a fake smile on my face, when all the while I would be dead inside. Please tell me you called to say yes?”

  “I don’t know if I can forgive and forget, but I’m ready to try. I need this to be over, I need to know you again. I know you’re going on tour, but will you come and see me when you get back?” she asked, and hated herself for asking, but she needed something to hold onto. “I won’t be living here, but I’ll keep your number and text you my new address. I’m leaving Brad, it’s what I came to tell you that day…” she tailed off.

  A knock at the door made her jump. As she pulled it open, Aria almost fell to her knees. Dexter was stood on the other side, grinning broadly, yet she could see the pain in his red eyes.

  “I’m already here,” he said, sliding his phone closed and stashing it in his pocket. “I had to see you one last time, so I waited after I brought the rose over. I saw you come home at noon, and watched your face as you read the note. I knew I couldn’t get on that flight until I spoke to you, and that I can’t go anywhere without you. Will you fly away with me, Aria?”

  “I don’t know if I can—if I’m strong enough.” Her voice was a trembling, sobbing, whine. “Can you put me in your pocket and keep me safe until my wings are ready?”

  “I could,” Dexter replied, his grin widening. “But you can’t stay in my pocket, ‘cos you’re already in my heart.” He held out his hand. “Fly away with me?” he asked again, but this time more insistently.

  She nodded, and took his hand, but instead of leaving, she led him to the bedroom. Aria grabbed a bag and started packing, while he stared at the bluebird painting with a smile, and then plucked it from the wall to take with them.

  After grabbing her essentials, Aria took the painting from his hands and put it down on the floor carefully. Her bags were packed, and her life was about to change, but she didn’t fret. The shackles of her old life were already falling away, and she grinned up at the gorgeous man before her. Aria wrapped her hands around his waist, and Dexter pulled her close, curling solid arms around her shoulders protectively. She looked up at his strong chin and powerful cheekbones, and had to kiss them. Dexter seemed surprised at first, but quickly thawed and leaned into her.

  “I was wrong to push you away. I’m sorry,” she whispered, and gasped when his hand found the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. Their first real kiss was electrifying. She both melted and exploded at the same time as his tongue invaded her parted lips without any resistance. Aria soared in his arms, and knew she’d found her freedom at last.

  “Don’t ever say sorry, not to me. I don’t deserve it. I’m the one who can never be sorry enough. I was such a fool, but never again. I promise.” He kissed her hard, this time full of urgency and desire. Without hesitation, Aria unbuckled his belt and pulled his shirt over his head, before sliding off her dress and climbing back onto the bed, and she loved their small act of defiance to her cheating husband.

  “Prove it,” she teased, sliding off her knickers. Dexter was naked in a second, and he joined her on the bed. They writhed and grinded against each other, desperate to have more, to be more. Nothing was in their way this time, and Aria wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in all her life.

  She held his heavy hardness in her hands, stroking and teasing, while his fingers rubbed her throbbing core. When Dexter’s teeth tore at the packet he’d retrieved from his wallet, Aria even helped guide the rubber over his glistening shaft, and when he slid inside it was heaven. He stared into her eyes as he made love to her, moving slowly back and forth rather than throw his body against hers hard and urgently like Brad always had. Dexter was big, stretching her wonderfully and hitting places deep within that made her yelp, and Aria was soon seeing stars. He commanded her body in a way she hadn’t known in years, and she gave everything she had back to him in return.

  “You and me, Bluebird. You and me,” he whispered in her ear, kissing and holding her close when her climax burst out of her. He wasn’t far behind, and stared down into her eyes when he came. Dexter looked vulnerable and real, and Aria loved him more than ever. They held each other tight, neither one willing to let go of their wonderful moment of epic initial connection.

  “I love you, Dexter Fray,” she whispered, and kissed him.

  “I love you, too. I have since the moment you caught me hating everyone and everything in the world. You asked me to find what keeps me grounded, well you’re it, Aria. You’re it.”

  When they’d gotten dressed again, she grabbed her bag. She then took Dexter’s hand and held the painting in her other one. They were the only things in her and Brad’s luxury home that meant anything to her, and Aria knew she wouldn’t miss anything else about that old life. She then followed Dexter out into the bright sunshine. Together as one, they simply flew away.

  ***

  They’d never forget that summer where love had claimed them so violently, and neither ever looked back to a time where the other didn’t exist. Together they were one, and knew they’d never care what Brad or anyone else thought of their relationship.

  Aria went on tour with Dexter and his band, where she watched a hundred gigs from beside the stage, and adored every moment of it. Brad had no choice but to let her go, especially when she threatened to take him for all he had for his infidelity, and theirs suddenly became an amicable break-up when her shark of a lawyer confirmed her plan.

  The band changed management, and went back to their older, acoustic style. Dexter was happier
being back to his old self, and Aria found her place alongside them as they toured the world. Regardless of how they’d found each other, all that mattered was that they hadn’t given up in the end.

  Dexter went on to write her hundreds of love songs over his long career as both a member of Another Way and then as a solo artist. Aria sang his heartfelt lyrics to their children as they laughed and played together happily, and they had the most wonderful life together. It was more than she ever could’ve imagined.

  While the course of true love had brought with it overwhelming pain, it’d also delivered them a love so powerful it could never be broken, and they knew no one would ever dare try.

  “There’s a woman for me, and she’ll always be mine.

  I won’t keep away, ‘cos she’s on my mind.

  Love is powerful, a blissful agony.

  And it’s the only way I can live, the only way I can be.

  I’m whole because of your love, you complete me.

  Spread your wings and fly. Fly to me.

  An Aria in my soul, you make me soar,

  Let me be the sun on your face and the one you adore.

  I’ll hold you forever, protect you, lover of mine,

  You set my heart alight, and together we’ll fly,

  Until the end of time.”

  The end.

  Acknowledgements

  I want to say a huge thank you to my incredible street team. You wonderful ladies have encouraged and supported me amazingly and some of you I’ve never met, but I know we’re already firm friends. You talked me through my dilemmas, shared promo after promo, and have given me magnificent feedback on my work all along the way. I can never thank you enough!

  And of course, thank you to the lovely JA Heron for arranging this anthology. You're an amazing writer and friend, and I cannot wait to continue working together x

  Sunshine & Surprises

  Kyra Lennon

  Sunshine & Surprises © Kyra Lennon 2016

  E-edition published worldwide 2016 © Kyra Lennon

  All rights reserved in all media. This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.

  All characters and events featured in this book are entirely fictional and any resemblance to any person, organisation, place or thing is purely coincidental and completely unintentional.

  Chapter 1

  “Oh my God.”

  My whisper burned the back of my throat as I stared down at the white stick in my shaking hands. Pregnant.

  Tears blurred my vision and I opened my eyes wider, willing the droplets to dry up and go away so they wouldn’t smudge my make-up. This was the absolute worse time to have taken a pregnancy test – right before dinner with my family and friends; the perfect end to what should have been the perfect graduation day. And it had been perfect, aside from the nagging worries in the back of my mind.

  Three years at York University complete, ending with a 2:1 in Psychology and an extremely proud mum and boyfriend. The summer sun had shone bright on the happy graduates, and the next day I’d be leaving the north of England behind and heading back to Southampton so I could enjoy the rest of the summer at home, and finally start to spend some real time with my man, Declan.

  Most of the time it had been Declan who had made the journey up to me because, with final exams approaching, I’d wanted and needed to be near the university, close to all the resources I needed to study. The separation had been challenging on both of us in the seven months we’d been together. Clearly not that challenging judging by the indication of the new life growing inside me that I still held in my hands. Our relationship had always been… precarious, and this enormous, life-changing twist could… would ruin everything I’d waited for for so long.

  “Eden! Come on, the taxi’s here! Kara and Lucas are waiting for us outside!”

  Declan’s voice from outside the bathroom jolted me back to the present and I spun around, trying to figure out how to hide the nightmare in my hands.

  “Um, yeah, I’ll be there in a sec!” I called, wrapping the pregnancy test in loo roll then throwing it in the bin and hoping for the best. I washed my hands then stared at my reflection in the mirror. I looked normal, if a little panic-stricken, but at least my make-up was still in place and my eyes weren’t red-rimmed. I ran my hands over my dark hair and blew out a breath then cast my eyes down over my outfit to check for any outward signs of pregnancy. I’d always been curvy, which at that moment, felt like a blessing. Any slight added curviness could easily have been put down to the extra calories I’d put away due to nerves about the big day.

  I had to keep it together, for tonight at least. Probably longer. I needed to get my own thoughts together before I told anyone else, but I wouldn’t be alone for at least another twenty-four hours.

  Too bad I didn’t have a degree in Drama – that would have made putting on an act so much easier.

  Letting out another long, slow breath, I turned around, unlocked the bathroom door and walked out onto the landing where Declan waited for me. My heart stuttered. For this particular occasion, he’d ditched his trademark somewhat scruffy apparel and dressed in black trousers and a blue, crease-free shirt. Okay, so that persistent lock of dark hair that could never be tamed was still sticking up, but I found it endearing. Reminded me that no matter how much older we were, he was still always going to be that boy. The one I’d grown up hating, fighting with, then inexplicably fallen in love with. A wave of nausea passed over me at the idea of losing him. Because I would. He was an extreme commitment-phobe, and even if he hadn’t been, what guy wouldn’t freak out over their girlfriend getting pregnant after such a short time together at just twenty years old?

  And my mum. A shudder rippled down my spine at the thought of telling her. She had warned me over and over to be careful, to not do what she did and get pregnant young. I’d managed a whole year – almost two – more than her, and she had been left with me; my dad ran at the first hint of responsibility.

  “You okay?” Declan asked, his knees bending slightly to lower himself so he could look into my eyes.

  I nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

  His eyes narrowed sceptically for a second, but he straightened up and reached for my hand. “I’d stop to kiss you and tell you how good you look, but there are people waiting for us.”

  I chuckled as he smiled at me. That was Dec; always with the slightly backhanded, awkward compliments.

  “You can tell me later.”

  With his hand in mine, I tried to push reality away for a while to enjoy graduation day properly. I’d worry about everything else in the morning.

  Chapter 2

  “Now that was the perfect way to end our time in York.” Lucas flung himself down into his favourite chair, his hand over his stomach, satisfied with the enormous Chinese banquet we’d just feasted on.

  We’d chosen to go to our favourite Chinese restaurant in the city; we couldn’t think of anywhere else we’d rather spend our last night. Plus, since my mum, and both Kara and Lucas’ parents were in town, we wanted to show them where we ate on very rare special occasions, when we could afford to.

  “Agreed,” Dec said, sitting on the sofa and pulling me down beside him then wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder, feigning about the millionth smile I’d had to feign that evening. It wasn’t that I hadn’t enjoyed our night out; it had been lovely, full of laughter. But nothing had quite reached me the way it should have. I’d used the excuse of having a headache to explain my quietness and my lack of drinking. It wasn’t a complete lie. With so much rattling around up there, there had been a steady pounding against my skull.

  “Do you guys want some coffee?” Kara asked, waiting in the doorway, eager as ever to play the hostess.

  Kara had been my best friend since high school, and she and Lucas had been together since then too. We were extremely lucky to have all wanted to go to and gotten
into the same university. While most people look forward to taking the next step and meeting new people, the three of us still wanted to stay together the way we had been through most of the years we’d been in education. It was only natural that when the time came for us to move out of halls, we chose to share a house together. Back when we’d made all those decisions, they’d been made without Declan – firstly because he never had any intention of going to university, and secondly because I would rather have thrown myself out of a window than spend any more time with him in those days.

  How things had changed.

  “That would be great,” Lucas said. His eyes shone as he looked at her, and weirdly, that was what prompted one of very few genuine smiles from me.

  Relationship goals. It wasn’t that Declan never looked at me that way - he did. But there was a depth to Kara and Lucas’ relationship that came from the fact that they had literally grown up together. Declan and I had only got together after we’d grown up and stopped bickering and now I wasn’t so sure he and I would ever reach the long-term stage.

  “Eden?” Kara said. “Coffee?”

  “Please.”

  Wait. Are pregnant people supposed to drink coffee? I’m sure I read something somewhere about how…? I blinked a few times to stop myself. Not drinking was one thing, but I had barely had time to process the fact I was pregnant, without winding myself up about whether or not caffeine would harm a baby I didn’t even know if I wanted. The truth was, in the past few weeks before I’d found out, I’d had so much coffee, even if I stopped immediately, the poor baby would probably still come out craving Espresso Macchiato.