by Anthology
How had she not put that together when she stared into those sparking blue eyes that felt so friendly and familiar?
Austin Sanderson had been her first for a lot of things. First kiss, first intimate touch, first time. He’d also given her the very first broken heart.
Her face burned so hot, it could have melted the snow.
“Yeah, I remember you all right,” She huffed and got to her feet, dusting the snow off her bottom.
“I remember you taking my virginity and then going back home without so much as a goodbye.”
Austin started, then helped himself up and stood to his feet.
“What?” He glared at her, confused.
“I never saw you again after that.”
“Now, hold on, sweetheart. I seem to remember that story a little bit differently,” he crossed his arms and his sweet face from earlier disappeared.
“You probably sent your dog out here to try and kill me,” Lou huffed. “Where is Cujo now, anyway? Out looking for her next victim?”
“Cujo! I’d better look at you again. I think you might have bumped your damned head harder than I thought.”
Lou’s mouth fell open, incredulous. She was not going to let another man, scratch that, the original man in her life, make her feel any worse than she already did.
“Huh… You… I’m going to… whatever.” She turned around and stormed off. So much for turning this day into something good.
With Austin Sanderson in the picture, things were suddenly looking much, much worse.
Chapter Three
Chilled to the bone was what she was when she reached the old wooden wraparound porch of her beloved family home.
To hell with the car. I’ll worry about it tomorrow.
No one else would be using the road anyway as her house and childhood-heart-breaker’s house were the only two on this road. Both of their families had lived on this land for generations.
Tootsie waited for her by the front door, wagging her tale happily, oblivious to the disaster she had caused.
Lou felt kind of bad that she had called her Cujo. She really did look like such a sweet and happy thing. Tootsie jumped up to great her as she ascended the steps and she gave her a gentle pat on the head. She wanted to sit and pet her for a while, but she didn’t want to encourage her to stay. If Austin’s dog was here, that meant he would be sure to follow.
“Run home, girl.” She waved a hand over to his house. “Go on.” She said, again. Tootsie was not having any of that.
Lou sighed, too emotionally drained to fight.
“Ok, then. You can stay out here for a little while, but then you need to go home. I’m going inside now.”
She lifted up a cobalt blue flowerpot, grabbed the spare key, and unlocked the rustic red door. As soon as she opened it, Tootsie raced past her and into the living room.
“Shit,” She mumbled under her breath. “Tootsie! Come back girl. Come on, baby.”
She tried to whistle, which was ridiculous because she had never been able to whistle. Spittle flew from her lips at her feeble attempts.
“Are you having a seizure?” Austin asked.
She spun around to see him standing behind her, glaring at the back of her head.
He glanced inside to see Tootsie in the living room, rolling around on the rug like she owned the place.
“I see you’ve moved on from stealing hearts to stealing dogs.” Austin was behind her on the porch, smirking.
“I did no such thing,” She huffed.
“I can see my dog inside your house.” He cocked his head and gave her a you’ve-been-busted look.
“She… no, I mean, I didn’t steal your heart. You stole mine. Broke it, actually.” Lou hugged her arms close to her chest and chewed on the inside of her cheek.
“Hah! There you go with that funny memory again. Other way around, dear.”
She could not for the life of her understand what the hell he was talking about. He had clearly lost some brain cells since their youth.
“Just go home, Austin. I’ve had enough of men to last me a lifetime.”
“Bingo, that’s my point,” he said, smugly.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you insinuating that I’m slutty?”
“If the shoe fits.”
“Get off of my porch. Now.” Her eyes were big as saucers.
Unbelievable. The front door made a glorious sound as she slammed it in his face. She took her coat off and tossed it on the couch.
Knock, Knock.
A muffled voice yelled on the other side of the door. ”You forgot to return my dog.”
Oh, Good Lord.
Walking to the kitchen, she ignored him and opened up the cabinets. She hoped there was something, anything, in those cabinets that was still edible. It had been a while since she’d restocked the shelves.
Ahh, she spied a box of little brownie snack cakes with her name on them. Literally, she had written her name on them so her parents wouldn’t eat them when they were staying out here.
She kicked off her boots and flopped down on the couch. Today was definitely a four brownie kind of day. First Lyle, then the wrecked car, and now she had to deal with all of these childhood feelings that were flooding back to her. It was all too much to handle. And, she was still HUNGRY, damn it.
She took a bite of brownie. Then, without her permission, she began to cry. The tears kept coming and she let them fall without wiping them away, taking another bite of the gooey, chocolate sweetness.
The front door creaked open as she popped the last of the first brownie into her mouth.
Austin stuck his head in the door and looked like a little kid awaiting punishment.
“I’m sorry,” He said, letting himself in. Tootsie looked up at him from her new hiding spot under the kitchen table. “That was a terrible thing to say.”
She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand and sucked in a few short, blubbery breaths.
“It’s OK,” Lou said, stuffing another brownie in her mouth.
He brushed the empty wrappers off the couch and sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, pulling her snugly against his body.
“I’m not a slut. I’ve only been with three guys in my entire life, you know.”
“Is that true?”
“Why would I lie about that?” She sighed.
“The summer I went back home without telling you… there is something I need to tell you about that. Your cousin, the little dark haired one who was always hitting on me? A week after you and I’d made love, she came over with a couple guys from your school and said you’d been sleeping with them. They backed her story up and said you’d slept with lots of guys. I was crushed. I couldn’t even think straight. The only thing I knew to do was run away. I told my parents I didn’t want to spend my summers here anymore. I said I was too old to spend summers with my grandparents and wanted to work, missed my friends-stuff like that. I should have talked to you about it, but I was so young and stupid.”
“That Bitch.” Lou gritted her teeth and balled up her fists. “I wish you would have just talked to me about it. You really hurt me.”
“Now that I know that I’ll never forgive myself. All these years I thought it had been the other way around.”
They both shook their heads with disbelief.
“My whole life I’ve had this… this thing hanging over my head and tainting my love life. I never understood why you left. I thought I’d done something wrong, that I wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Are you kidding me? I thought you were perfect. At seventeen, I was ready to go out and buy you a ring!” He laughed.
Relief flooded her chest and eased her mind. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she could breathe. How could she be mad at him when all of these years they’d been thinking the same thing about each other.
“And you think you’ve got issues. I’ve never trusted a woman fully since.” Austin shook his head, n
o doubt pissed at himself for not talking to her about it in the first place, all those years ago.
“Every guy I’ve ever dated has cheated on me. Or dumped me.” Lou said, not so proudly. “I actually came out here because I caught my boyfriend cheating on me today—with the very same cousin who told you I was a loose goose.”
“What’s his name? I’ll kill him.” He puffed up his chest and shook his fist in the air in an overly dramatic fashion.
It made her laugh. “It’s Lyle. Lyle the lying, cheating asshole.”
“What in the hell is wrong with your cousin?” He shot her a horrified look and hugged her closer to him.
Lou relaxed and let her head fall onto his shoulder. She sank into him a little deeper and let the warmth of his chest envelop her.
Wow, this feels nice.
“It’s a long story, but can easily be summed up in one sentence. She is the Devil.” The truth was she’d never fully understood why her cousin had made it her life’s mission to torment her. Some people were just born rotten, and she’d always assumed that was Gina’s case. She planned on confronting her in the future, had imagined it hundreds of times, but right now she was more concerned with how good it felt being in Austin’s soothing arms again.
Even though they hadn’t seen each other in years, things fell right into place. This simple act of kindness he had shown her meant the world. They talked for hours, giving each other the cliff-notes versions of their lives. He really was one of the good guys, after all. She decided.
“You wanna see something stupid?” His face flushed red, hot and embarrased.
“Of course,” She perked up, interested. “What is it?”
“I got a tattoo.”
“Yeah, those aren’t so bad.”
“Of a woman’s name.”
“Oh, yeah, those are bad.” She grimaced. “Let me see, I need a good laugh.”
“Oh, sure, sure, laugh at the single most painful experience of my life.” Austin smiled and his gentle grin lit up the room.
“Well, what else would there be to do?” She elbowed him in the side playfully.
“Ok, as long as it makes you feel better.” He smiled and lifted his t-shirt over his head.
Dear Lord, He looked even better than Lou could ever have imagined—perfectly sculpted muscles, but in a real way. He looked healthy, like he worked his body hard and spent a lot of time with his shirt off in the sun. Fixing things. With his hands. She suddenly wanted to feel those rough hands gliding along her body. She wanted him to pull her close and kiss her long and deep.
“Here she is… ” He pointed to a faint outline of the name Lou done in beautifully scripted cursive, right above his heart.
“I got it right after we made love. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to show you. And then the night I’ll regret forever happened, and I ran away.”
Tears began to fill her eyes again.
“I was on my second session of getting it removed and decided to stop. That experience was… I dunno… removing it would be like trying to erase a big chuck of what made me who I am today. You know what I mean? Do you think it’s stupid?” His eyes searched hers.
The only thing that would be stupid is if you didn’t kiss me right now.
She stumbled on her words, not able to find the ones perfect enough to express the way her heart was feeling. He had tattooed her name on his chest all those years ago. This man she thought had taken her virginity and run away had actually been madly in love with her and thought she had broken his heart on purpose.
To hell with all this heartache.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and answered by pressing her lips gently to his, taking his lower lip into her mouth and nibbling it. She parted his lips with her own and kissed him deeper, their tongues flicking back and forth like a lovers quarrel. Their hands tangled in each other’s hair and searched each other’s bodies, seeking out soft secrets places and hard contours. The weight of his warm body pressing against hers felt like heaven. She was too lost in this moment to think, too full of passion to use caution. This man had set her afire.
He took his mouth off of hers and a little whimper escaped her.
“Well, that was certainly an answer.” He whispered, plucking a piece of brownie from her hair.
“I’ve got plenty more where that came from.” She pulled his face back to hers and kissed him again.
Chapter Four
Instead of the warm kisses she had fallen asleep to in her bed, cold, wet ones greeted her, darting up her nose and covering her cheeks. Tootsie’s way of saying good morning.
“Well, good morning to you, too!” Lou kissed her on the nose and rubbed her soft fur.
Opening her eyes, she glanced around the room and saw that some of Austin’s things were still lying on the floor.
“Whew,” she let out a sigh of relief. They had made love last night and he hadn’t disappeared this time.
A few rattles in the kitchen let her know that he was downstairs making breakfast. At least she hoped he was making breakfast. She thought she detected the faint scent of pancakes and bacon.
Lou bounded down the stairs, and sure enough, there he was in his boxers, cooking his cute little buns off.
“Good morning,” he beamed, handing her a plate of bacon, eggs and pancakes.
She knew right then and there that he was absolutely her kind of guy. Any man who handed her a loaded breakfast spread like that was definitely a keeper.
They spent the morning laughing and thinking of ways to get revenge on Gina and Lyle, but in the end decided they’d rather spend their time getting re-acquainted, snuggling by the fire, eating brownies.
Author’s Note - Harlow Nash
You’ve just finished reading Begin Again, a short story by Harlow Nash. Thank you for reading! Sign up for my mailing list! to be notified about new releases. What does the future have in store for Lou and Austin? And why is that Gina so stinking mean anyway?
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Harlow Nash
Once Upon a Midnight Snowy
N.M. Silber writing as Brice Adler
DESCRIPTION: Prosecutor Kevin Taylor can’t help falling for his feisty neighbor Alison Klein twice - once in the show, and once in the night. A cryptic note and a unexplained bang bring the two would-be sleuths and lovers together for romance and mystery.
GENRE: Romantic Comedy of 5600 words or approximately 22 pages.
HEAT LEVEL: Sweet
Turn the page to begin reading Once Upon a Midnight Snowy by N.M. Silber, or click here to return to this anthology’s Table of Contents.
Once Upon a Midnight Snowy
N.M. Silber
Chapter One
I had almost made it to safety when the missile hit me in the head. Someone was going to die… . It wasn’t going to be me though. I dropped my purse in the snow, spun around, and with a lightning fast dexterity developed over many a winter growing up in the Pocono Mountains, formed a snowball. I let it fly like an Olympic javelin thrower as Hunter Macmillan, aged eight, dove for cover. Unfortunately, he made it, and coming up quickly right behind him was my neighbor Mr. Taylor. Assistant District Attorney Taylor to be precise. And orange made me look so fat. Damn. I sighed.
A moment of ominous quiet settled over the front yard of the three-story renovated Victorian house, in which our apartments sat nestled, with his above mine. I must confess, that the thought of being below him was not unappealing. He was, after all, a handsome man, and the only one of my neighbors who didn’t qualify for Social Security benefits. But Mr. Taylor had always seemed about as warm the snowball now affixed to the front of his expensive-looking wool coat. As said snowball slowly began to slide, leaving a snowy trail in its wake, he finally spoke.
“Ms. Klein,” said Mr. Taylor through gritted teeth.
“Mr. Taylor,” I replied, biting my lip and trying not to laugh.
“Uh oh,”
said Hunter, suddenly remembering that he urgently needed to get inside.
“Sorry about that,” I added, trying to sound sincere. He mumbled something and started walking toward the front door.
I felt a twinge of guilt when I noticed that the fine-looking leather of the briefcase he carried was now crowned with a blob of melting snow, and I sheepishly stepped forward to bat it off. I had forgotten, however, about my purse and managed to catch my ankle in the strap, causing me to pitch forward. My five-foot-three frame probably wouldn’t have been enough to knock over a guy who was at least six-foot-one, but snow and inertia thoughtfully helped out. Mr. Taylor fell backward and landed on the ground with a crunch. I fell forward and landed on Mr. Taylor with a cheap thrill.
We both flailed around like a couple of fish that had just become the catch-of-the-day, until I finally managed to extricate myself and stand up. Mr. Taylor sat up then, and his eyes took a quick trip from my boots to my face where our gazes locked. I expected to see anger there, but to my surprise I saw something else entirely. It was a something else that made me feel warm even in two feet of snow. One dark curl was stuck to his forehead and his deep brown eyes looked like burning embers. Mr. Taylor really was a hottie. I felt my breathing pick up a little and I swallowed hard.
But then the moment passed, and setting his jaw in a hard line, he looked away and stood up, brushing himself off brusquely. I felt like I should say something, “I’m sorry I knocked you down and flailed on you” sounded kind of lame though. Then I noticed the snow where we had landed.
“Hey, Snow Angel!” I spit out excitedly. He stopped brushing and looked up at me with a confused expression.
“I beg your pardon?” He paused and I saw a grin just barely form before he added, “Snowflake?” It was my turn to be confused, and then I realized he was teasing me. Mr. Taylor had a sense of humor.
“No, that wasn’t a term of endearment,” I stammered, annoyed with myself, all the heat in my body feeling like it was concentrated in my cheeks. “There’s a snow angel on the ground.” I pointed and he looked down.
“So, there is. Look at that.” That teasing smile was back and he shook his head as he once again headed for the building, this time giving me a wide berth. “Stay warm snowflake!” he called out to me with chuckle as he went inside. I stood there stunned for a moment, and then I smiled with happy surprise.