LOL #3 Romantic Comedy Anthology

by Anthology

  I watched him leave from inside the doorway, laughing to myself when he rubbed his bruised ass. I knew I was letting the cold air in, but I didn’t care. I watched him hobble away until I could no longer see him around a bend in the road. Only then did I shut the door, leaning against it with a happy sigh.

  So maybe I hadn’t succeeded in my plan. But I had a feeling what I’d ended up with—a perfect kiss on the perfect date with the perfect guy—was worth a hell of a lot more than what I was missing.

  And who knew—a lot could happen in a couple days. All I knew for sure was that right now, for the first time in a long time, I felt completely in control of my own destiny.

  My plan would keep for another day or two.

  Author’s Note - Rachel Schurig

  You’ve just finished reading Snow Kissed, a Three Girls short story by Rachel Schurig. If you’d like to spend more time with the girls, check out Three Girls and a Baby, now available for free!

  Three Girls and a Baby (FREE) on Amazon USA

  Three Girls and a Baby (FREE) on Amazon UK

  To find out more about her books and be notified of new releases, sign up for Rachel’s newsletter

  Connect with Rachel Schurig on facebook, on twitter, or at Rachelschurig.com.

  Rachel Schurig

  www.rachelschurig.com

  Begin Again

  Harlow Nash

  DESCRIPTION: After catching her cheating ex in the act, Louisa Gallo has sworn off men forever—until she collides with an old flame and starts to second guess everything she thought she knew about love.

  For Lousia Gallo, dating men is just one disaster after another. When she walks in on her boyfriend getting cozy with her vindictive cousin, she decides she’s had enough. All she wants is some time to herself. Too bad fate has other plans for her.

  GENRE: Contemporary Romantic Comedy, 5,400 words or approximately 21 pages. This is a standalone short story with a happy ending.

  HEAT LEVEL: Sweet! Contains love and romance, but fade-to-black sex scenes. Some mild language.

  Turn the page to read Begin Again by Harlow Nash, or click here to return to this anthology’s Table of Contents.

  Begin Again

  Harlow Nash

  Chapter One

  Louisa Gallo stood in the doorway of her boyfriend’s tiny studio apartment, holding two grilled chicken sandwiches—with the skin off, so precious muscles doesn’t ingest any kind of fat—and watched as his perfectly-toned, spray-tanned ass bobbed up and down on the leather couch—which she’d bought for him. A pair of thin tan legs that didn’t belong to her were wrapped around his trim waist.

  It squeaked and rocked under the motion of their lusty screwing session. The sweat from their bodies glistened under the soft lamplight. Is that my Nana’s Afghan they’re humping on? Oh, hell no.

  She should have seen this coming. The last two months of their relationship he’d been more and more distant… not returning her calls until hours later, canceling dates and working late; that is, if you call spending hours on Facebook and taking selfies working.

  It was the usual dating tango; she helps out a loser boyfriend, only to be repaid by lies and heartbreak. Not that there had been that many loser boyfriends. She could count on one hand the number of serious boyfriends she’d had in the twenty-seven years she’d been on this earth.

  She should have called before she came over. She could’ve spared herself the scarring that this mental image would surely be leaving on her for years to come. That poor afghan!

  She thought about closing the door and sneaking out before anyone saw her. No one the wiser. Then she could call later and dump him and act like it was her idea. It would be nice to be the person doing the dumping for once.

  But she didn’t move. She stood frozen, unable to peel her eyes away from their naked bodies grinding in front of her. Jet black hair fanned out beneath him and she caught a glimpse of the tiny little wisp of a Japanese-Italian woman that she knew all too well sucking on his bottom lip, her blood red nails digging deeply into his toned back.

  Gina Hitaki, her vindictive, competitive cousin. The thorn in her side since birth. The one whom every major milestone in her life had been compared to. She should definitely turn around now and get the hell out of there.

  But before she could, Gina gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Her reaction seemed like one of genuine shock, but Louisa recognized that wicked smile. It was one she had come to know very well in her life.

  Lyle looked up to see what all the fuss was about and recoiled when he noticed Louisa watching them. He grabbed the nearest thing to cover his glistening package—the blue and orange pillow that she had knitted him as an apartment warming present.

  Ewww, now I have to burn it.

  Gina lay naked and relaxed, looking not at all ashamed or embarrassed by any of this. Another check mark for her to put in her little evil diary of no-good deeds.

  Lousia flipped on the overhead light so she could spotlight this catastrophe.

  “Lou, what are you doing here?” Lyle shrieked, “You should’ve… why didn’t you call first?”

  In hindsight, it seemed like such a simple red flag to have missed. For one, he had always wanted her to call before she came over. It was cute at first, because he said he was embarrassed for her to see his apartment untidy. He wanted to keep things nice for her. It was romantic. Which she now saw must have been code for let me shove off my gang of hookers before you get here.

  “Call? Call! You’re the one who sent me a text telling me to come over because you had a big surprise for me,” She yelled.

  She chucked one of the sandwiches at him and it bounced off one of his perfect buns.

  “What? And miss all this?” She quipped and fanned her hand, like Vanna White showing off a dining room table set that nobody wanted to win.

  “Hey!” Lyle whined. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t send any text.”

  He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, as if she was his mom scolding him for breaking curfew. Like he was actually pissed at her for catching him screwing another woman.

  Of course he didn’t send the text.

  Louisa looked at Gina and watched her smile like the cat that ate the canary. She did it. Louisa wanted to shred something. If Gina’s face was closer, she’d go for that.

  “Hmmm… So, this explains why I haven’t heard from you in… two days?” she pointed to the she-devil underneath him. “And I’m guessing all of the texts you sent saying you were busy training clients were BS too?” I will never, so long as I live, date another personal trainer.

  “Oh, let’s not act like this is all my fault. What did you expect? You’re the one who is always too busy. I’m a man, I have needs.” He said, his posture straightening up and getting cocky.

  Is he flexing?

  “Too busy? You mean busy working my ass off so I can help you pay your bills? You sorry sack—”

  “Face it, Lou,” Gina interrupted, “You can’t give him what he needs and I can. I’ve been giving it to him for the last three weeks.” She smiled coyly and ran her fingers through his sunny curls, then sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, further twisting the knife in Louisa’s back.

  Lou felt herself starting to lose her cool. Her throat clenched and her heart thudded noisily inside her chest.

  She had to get out of there before she started to cry from pure rage alone. No way was she giving that nut job cousin of hers the satisfaction. She hated that she cried when she was angry. It always made her feel so weak. Weakness was not something she could afford right now, and it’s exactly what Gina was hoping for.

  Squaring her shoulders, she marched over to Lyle and snatched the hand-knit pillow away from him.

  “Give me that, you don’t deserve it.” She tucked the pillow under her arm and tried to jerk the colorful crocheted blanket out from underneath them, but they were too heavy.

  Gina slipped off the couch onto her butt, letting
out a yelp like an injured puppy. Good. I hope she bruises her teeny tiny man-stealing tail bone.

  Lou tugged on the blanket again until she freed it, and tossed it on her shoulder.

  She spun around on her heel and stomped towards the front door, then turned and shot them her best withering glare.

  “I was going to dump you anyway. You’re… boring. And needy.” She shrugged and play-acted like she couldn’t care less.

  Lyle opened his mouth to speak but then shut it.

  “Oh, and Lyle? Chicken sandwiches without the skin? Really? Without the skin, the mayonnaise, and the cheese, these taste like shit! Fat! Ever heard of it? It’s amazing!” She threw the sandwich on the floor and stomped on it, then faked a smile and slammed the door behind her.

  Chapter Two

  “Disgusting pig… evil, backstabbing, she-beast,” Lou mumbled under her breath as she trudged through a foot and a half of snow to get to her car.

  A few unwanted tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and she swatted them away like flies. I don’t want to cry for Lyle Reed. He isn’t worth it.

  It’s not as if she thought they were going to get married or anything. Right away she could tell that he was the kind of guy who was only ever going to be just a boyfriend—the kind of boyfriend she’d see a few times a week. She’d never leave more than a scant amount of things at his place (a toothbrush, her Nana’s afghan to snuggle up with on a Sunday morning while watching Netflix marathons, a few pair of sexy underwear) so if anything went wrong she could make a quick exit and Poof! Be gone.

  Why had she kept him around anyway? Their conversations were boring, if he wasn’t talking about amino acids, he was having her rub self-tanner on his legs. Oh, that’s right, the sex. It had been mind blowing in the beginning. And, being with someone as attractive as he was had made her feel, well, special. Truth be told, she probably kept him around for the ego boost. And he had probably kept her around for the rent money.

  She was ashamed of herself.

  And while she was being totally honest, she didn’t actually knit that pillow for him. She had knitted it for herself, but it never really did look right in her living room, so she gave it to him.

  “I’ll bet he was lying the whole time. I should look at this as a blessing, right? More money in my pocket,” She grumbled and put the key in the ignition of her silver Honda. It gave a weak start and she eased it out of the driveway, onto the snow packed roads, and headed home.

  No matter what Louisa told herself in order to make the situation seem less than what it was, she couldn’t escape the sting of betrayal. She hated that feeling. An icky, snake-in-the-belly feeling she’d been carrying around with her since her very first love ditched her. Being cheated on felt… terrible. No, it felt horrible.

  Which was worse, terrible or horrible?

  Lou turned up the sad, sappy love song on the radio and sang her heart out. After about ten minutes, she decided that feeling terrible was bullshit. She was sick of putting herself in the same situation, over and over again. She wanted to change. She wanted to be a strong woman who chose the right kind of guy and made smart relationship decisions. She wanted a guy she could trust. One she didn’t have to worry about abandoning her. So she made a vow, right then and there, to stop letting her past relationships control her self-esteem.

  “You know what you need, Lou?” she said to herself, making another vow—a comfort food vow. ”Lou needs a cheeseburger!”

  She drove through her favorite dive, grabbed a burger and fries, and called in sick to work for the rest of the afternoon.

  Before she knew it, the neighborhoods had faded into treelined fences and wide-open spaces. She’d been driving on auto-pilot to her grandparents’ house in the country. It’s where she always went when she was feeling down and needed comfort. Her sweet Nana and Pop-Pop had been gone for years, but her parents had kept the house up as a gathering place for family events and for quiet getaways.

  She turned onto the familiar dirt road, now drifted with snow, that lead to the place she loved so dearly, and felt a warm fuzzy feeling growing inside of her. She imagined a roaring fire in the fireplace and slipping into warm flannel pj’s, heating up hot chocolate and stuffing her face. She couldn’t wait to get her mouth around that cheeseburger. Damn it—this terrible day was going to turn into something good after all.

  Suddenly, something flashed at the corner of her eye, and in a split second, a blur of golden fuzziness darted in front of her car.

  She slammed on the brakes and tried to avoid hitting whatever it was, and the nose of her car crashed into a snowdrift on the side of the road.

  Dazed, she looked around the car and tried to process what the hell had just happened. She saw her lunch had flown out of the greasy bag and dumped itself out onto the floorboard. Cheeseburger and fries, everywhere, destroyed. She sighed. “So much for that.”

  Lou looked around the car to survey the damages. Nothing too terrible—on the inside, anyway. She turned to look out of the back window and saw a beautiful golden retriever sitting next to the fence on the other side of the road.

  “Oh, my god! You poor baby,” she called to the dog. “Please, don’t be hurt!” She reached over to open her door, but it wouldn’t budge. Realizing it must be jammed, she leaned in with her shoulder and threw her weight into it. Still nothing.

  Oh, come on. Seriously?

  “Looks like it’s the window then,” She said, blowing out another weary sigh.

  At least that still worked. She undid her seat belt and rolled the window down, then positioned herself the best she could to try and ease out of the thing. In her mind, this was going to be easy. She would just roll the window down, stick the top half of her body out and glide out of it like a newborn calf, effortlessly landing in the powdery snow.

  Instead, she grunted like a Russian farmhand as she pushed herself out of the window. Her jacket got caught on the door handle, leaving her exposed in an awkwardly angled handstand, her shirt slipping over her head exposing her bare belly and bra to the cold air.

  This cannot be happening.

  Balancing on one hand, she used the other to try and free her coat from the car, jerking and cursing at it like a mad woman.

  A cold wet tongue darted past her open lips. She gagged as the swampy taste of doggy tongue filled her mouth.

  “Hey, there, you ok?” She pushed her shirt out of her face so she could see the dog that was licking her. “Well, at least one of us looks good.”

  The dog sniffed a cold wet nose on Lou’s belly and licked.

  “Hey! That tickles!” She giggled. “You’ve seen that show Lassie, right? Go tell your owner that Lou is stuck in the window and needs lunch, ASAP.”

  The dog pawed at her and coat and whined.

  “I know, I know. I must look silly, but I’m stuck. Where is your owner anyway?”

  No sooner had she spoken the words than the dog raced off down the road, kicking up little puffs of white clouds as she ran. Louisa felt the blood rushing to her head. Great, I’m going to die alone. And hungry. She thought, as her head began to tingle.

  Muffled voices sounded in the distance. Legs. She could see legs running towards her.

  “Are you ok?” The legs began to pick up speed and were almost to her.

  “My jacket’s stuck. On the door.” She waved one arm upwards in the direction of her stuck coat and used the other to try and pull her shirt up to cover herself, making her lose her balance and flop around like a speared fish. A man got down on one knee and steadied her.

  “Hold on there, wild Bill, let me help you.” Legs reached up and unhooked her coat, causing her to tumble into him and crash to the ground. He fell flat on his back, his firm chest cushioning her fall. She had seen this scenario play out many times in romance movies and wondered if she should kiss her rescuer now, or later?

  She pushed her tangled blonde hair out of her eyes to see a handsome man staring back at her.

  Legs was cute. Li
ke, really cute. He was country-boy handsome with sweet blue eyes that looked like home, and a broad mischievous smile that arced up into two adorable dimples. A black stocking cap topped his head and a little bit of rugged five o’clock shadow covered his his jaw and neck. His body felt really good underneath her.

  Lyle had been a pretty boy. Everything was hairless, smooth, and moisturized. This guy looked like a real man.

  She felt her tummy rumble, pushed up against his hard abs.

  “I’m hungry,” She yelped.

  His dimples deepened. “Hi, Hungry, I’m intrigued. I don’t have anything on me but dog treats for Tootsie. You’re welcome to ’em.”

  “Tootsie. Is she ok? She ran out in front of me. I thought I hit her.”

  His eyes widened in shock. “Good God. Are you ok? I didn’t realize she caused the accident. We were out for a walk and she ran after a squirrel. That’s when I heard the thud and came runnin’ just in time to see you doing a handstand out of that window.”

  She felt his heart beat faster as he pushed her hair back to check for injuries. Warm fingers brushed her cheek and her lips. His tenderness shot a fuzzy, electrifying feeling from her lips to her toes.

  “Well, Hungry. I think everything looks pretty good,” He said.

  “It’s Louisa, er, Lou. Everybody just calls me Lou,” She managed to croak.

  He tilted his head. “Hold on. Are you the same Lou who used to visit her grandma every summer in the big, white, two story house down the road?”

  Her breath caught in her throat and she sat up, pulling herself away from his way-too-comfortable-too-soon body.

  “Do we know each other?” She squeaked out.

  “I’d say so. You gave me my first kiss under the magnolia in my back yard, right down there.” He pointed to the house on the property right next to her Nana’s house; the blowing snow glittered in her car’s headlights.

  Oh, my, god. Austin Sanderson.